Trivia / Sable

• Actor-Inspired Element: The hand-pasties in the bikini contest at Fully Loaded were her idea.
• Creator Couple:
  • She was already married to Marc Mero by the time she started doing storylines with him. They remained together until 2004.
  • She appeared in NJPW as the valet to Brock Lesnar when they were already together.
• Creator's Favorite: Vince Russo was especially high on Sable and it was his idea to push her as much as possible, convinced she would generate good PR for the company.
• Creator's Pest: Jim Cornette named her (along with Ultimate Warrior) as the talent he most hated to book, citing her lack of passion, poor attitude, and unwillingness to share the spotlight with the other women in the locker room.
• Follow the Leader: Because of her popularity WWE brought in more women such as Debra, Miss Kitty, Tori and Ivory.
• Hollywood Hype Machine: Her mainstream popularity was quite high in the late 90s, leading to her getting two Playboy covers (one as Sable, the other under her real name), a comic book series, appearances on TV series like Pacific Blue, an autobiography and some film offers. It ultimately didn't take and she wasn't launched onto anything else.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • She and Luna were good friends at the start, but their relationship soured during Sable's Women's Championship reign. According to Luna, Sable kept refusing to drop the title to her. Luna was eventually fired for fighting with her backstage.
  • She and Sunny were intense rivals at the time - and Sunny to this day argues that she was the original Diva instead of Sable. This allegedly stemmed from a spot where Sunny had to be slapped and Sable, still being very new to the business, hit her unintentionally hard. Jim Ross says Sunny always resented Sable's success.
  • A very public argument between her and Chyna aired on a Canadian talk show before WrestleMania XV, where Chyna scoffed at the idea of fighting in the women's division. It is however unknown if this was a work for a program that never happened as Sable left WWF shortly after. ^note  Jim Cornette, who was working on screen and backstage at the time, says it was a shoot.
  • By her last night in the company at the UK edition of No Mercy, Sable and Marc changed into their ring gear in a hidden area backstage because they had so many enemies by that point they were worried about reprisals. Despite this they still came back to discover that Sean Waltman had found their bags and left a parting gift in them.
  • History Repeats in her second round with WWE, as she and Torrie Wilson were friends at first. But Torrie says she inexplicably turned on her in 2004 - even having a shouting match with her and bragging that her Playboy cover had sold more copies.
• I Am Not Spock: You can blame the WWF for this one and most other wrestlers with this mentality. All the same. She did however try to get the rights to use the Sable name once she left the company - but was unsuccessful.
  "My name is Rena Mero, Sable was just a character".
• Money, Dear Boy: WWE didn't take a cut of Sable's first Playboy cover, but they wanted one of her second. Sable didn't want to, and that's thought to be the basis behind her famous $142 million lawsuit.
• No Export for You: Her film Ariana's Quest - a Czechsploitation piece - was never released in the English-speaking market.
• Playing Against Type: Given that she's more remembered for playing a cocky heel and Femme Fatale, it can be surprising that Sable's initial on screen character was a Plucky Girl face.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It was reported at the time of her appearance in the crowd at WCW Nitro was meant to be the start of an angle where she would turn out to be the driver of the white hummer that hit Kevin Nash. Whether that was the plan or not is up for debate, and it was scuppered by her lawsuit against WWE (see below).
• Reality Subtext:
  • Sable would always flip out in matches if her opponents went after her face. She had strict regulations on how many bumps she could take (no front bumps at all, nothing that might damage her face) and for her match at WrestleMania 14 her opponents were warned not to disfigure her in any way (she had a Playboy shoot coming up).
  • Her Face–Heel Turn was - according to Vince Russo - a reflection of her real life behaviour after her Playboy cover. He noted that after she became more famous, when the office wanted to speak to her - they had to talk to Marc Mero first and then he would relay Sable's opinion to them. Terri Poch also confirmed that the storyline was constantly changing because of Sable not approving of the ideas.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Debra becoming Women's Champion came about because Sable wanted to leave WWF, and thus they needed to take the title off her.
  • Her leaving the second time was because she wanted to spend more time with her family.
  • The WWF Divas: Come Get Some video was filmed right before she left the company. As a result her segment is heavily downplayed - consisting mainly of her Women's Championship match against Jacqueline. The first cover for the VHS had her on it. After she left, her picture was replaced with Tori's.
• Reclusive Artist: After leaving WWE the second time, she rarely gives interviews, avoids the mainstream and keeps a low profile, save for occasionally publicly appearing to support Brock Lesnar in the UFC. Indeed, many of Sable's former friends from WWE say they lost touch with her after she left the industry. Torrie Wilson was even told not to mention her in her Hall of Fame induction speech, as she preferred to remain anonymous.
• Romance on the Set: She dated Brock Lesnar in 2004, though their relationship didn't really progress until after the two were out of WWE. In fact, she left WWE (according to him anyway) because they didn't like being apart while she was on the road.
• Screwed by the Network: Invoked this when she left WWF, claiming sexual harassment among other things. Her claims were disputed in court by various WWF executives. She won the rights to money made from Sable merchandise, but she didn't get the rights to the Sable gimmick or get her no-compete contract clause revoked so she could work for WCW.
• Trope Codifier: Certainly codified what it meant to be a WWE Diva: beautiful, glamorous, strong-willed and willing to get physical. As Sable was more of a Faux Action Girl, she was later succeeded in this archetype by Trish Stratus.
• Troubled Production: Luna Vachon described Sable's mixed tag at WrestleMania 14 as the most choreographed match she'd ever had to be in. Sable reportedly refused to learn how to take bumps in preparation. As she had a Playboy shoot coming up, Luna was warned not to disfigure her in the ring in any way - and was threatened with a release if she hurt Sable in the ring at all. That being said, Luna still has fond memories of the match nonetheless.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The angle with Tori was originally going to have her turn out to be Sable's sister. They went with the obsessed fan story instead. Tori has said that the storyline was changing every week, due to Sable not approving of various ideas.
  • She was apparently meant to drop the title to Luna several times (if Luna is to be believed). But it never happened due to Sable protesting or claiming she'd forgotten to bring the belt with her. A title match between them for the St Valentine's Day Massacre PPV was scheduled, but cancelled after Luna was fired.
  • WWF wanted to give Goldust's valet Marlena an ambiguously lesbian gimmick to match Goldust's Gorgeous George gimmick, and wanted Sable to be the other half of it, but Sable refused.
  • The strap match at the 1999 Royal Rumble was pulled from the card after Marc Mero protested that Sable had no training for such a match, but it was reinstated after she was granted a walkthrough.
  • She was also asked if she would bare her breasts at the UK-exclusive Rebellion PPV shortly before she left, which she also refused.
  • After leaving WWF, Sable was supposed to head to WCW. Kevin Nash reportedly wanted to have her come in as the new Hollywood Hogan's manager. She had a no-compete clause in her WWF contract, but it was widely expected that it would be overruled in her lawsuit against the WWF. It wasn't^note the lawsuit decision gave Rena Mero rights to 100% of the profit from any and all Sable merchandise, but didn't overrule the no-compete clause or give her rights to the Sable gimmick, so she wasn't allowed to work for WCW in any capacity.
  • She was asked to return for the 2018 Evolution PPV, presumably for the battle royal that featured many other past WWE women, but she turned it down.
  • During her original break-up angle with Marc Mero, it was pitched that she would team up with The Undertaker and become his new bride, taking on a new 'gothic princess' persona. Undertaker's real wife at the time put an end to that idea.
• Written-In Infirmity:
  • A minor example. Sable got a black eye from one of her horses, and they had her attempt to cover it with sunglasses on TV to suggest that Marc Mero had been abusing her.
  • Her involvement at WrestleMania XX had to be reduced because she had a boob malfunction going into the event. It was originally an evening gown match but was changed to a regular tag match in lingerie.

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