Wrestling / Lisa Marie Varon

As WWE Women's Champion and TNA Women's Knockouts Champion

"All the things she said, all the things she said
Running through my head running through my head
All the things she said, this is not enough"

Lisa Marie Varon (née Sole, born February 10, 1971) is an American fitness model, fitness trainer, body builder and cheerleader turned professional wrestler from San Bernardino, California best known for her work in WWE as Victoria and for TNA as Tara. She started on the independent circuit, training at Ultimate Pro Wrestling, debuting in June 2000 as HBIC. Her first onscreen role in WWE was as a member of the Godfather's "Hos," becoming officially named after he had turned heel and joined Right to Censor and thrown her through a table. She was then sent down to WWE's developmental promotion Memphis Championship Wrestling for further training. After MCW closed, she was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where she worked as the manager for the Tag Team of Doug Basham and Damaja as a member of the Power Stable the Revolution. She was officially reintroduced to WWE in 2002 as the crazed nemesis of Trish Stratus, saying that Trish had left her behind when they were both fitness models. Victoria aligned herself with Steven Richards. She would go on to become a 2x WWE Women's Champion. In TNA, she is a 5x TNA Knockouts Champion and a 1x TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion with Brooke Tessmacher.

Despite the name she used in OVW as a member of the Revolution (see Royals Who Actually Do Something below), she has no connection to Queen Vicky.

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"These ain't the tropes to mess with":

• All Webbed Up: Her most frequently used signature move was a fireman's carry spin-out sidewalk slam dubbed the Spider's Web.
• Amazonian Beauty: She was previously a fitness model. And brought into WWE solely because of her looks (the desire to wrestle came later, though unlike most examples she was already trained in pro wrestling).
• Ambiguously Bi: Her Victoria and Tara gimmicks were definitely this. In both companies she was in a tag team where she and her female tag team partner would kiss while entering the ring — Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson in WWE, Madison Rayne and Brooke Tessmacher in TNA. That being said, she's also been in relationships with Stevie Richards, Kenny Dykstra and Jesse Godderz — as well as teasing stuff with Generation Me.
• Animal Motifs: Spiders, cemented around WrestleMania XX. Tarantulas specifically in TNA.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Trish Stratus until she left WWE, after which Mickie James eventually stepped into this role in both WWE and TNA, though they got over it in the latter as Madison Rayne displaced James as her worst enemy, with and Brooke Tessmacher also being a contender for this following the end of their respective PseudoRomantic Friendships with Tara.
  • She feuded with Ivory and The Kat in MCW.
• The Artifact: Her little dance (essentially a mild example of twerking) before the standing moonsault came when Victoria returned to her dancing character during her second Women's title reign. Despite dropping that character a year later, she still kept the dance before she did the moonsault.
• Ascended Extra: A member of the Godfather's Ho Train, and, once he turned heel and joined Right to Censor, she was the first one to be named.
• Badass Bookworm: For the Brains part, she studied biology at UCLA and medicine at Lorna Linda University and worked as a Human Tissue Coordinator at the Inland Eye and Tissue Bank where she was involved in organ donation. For the Brawn part, she was a fitness model and bodybuilder.
• Bash Brothers: Steven Richards, Molly Holly (after they both ended up on WWE's main roster and before Victoria won the Women's Championship off her), Nidia (excluding OVW), Natalya Neidhart, Gail Kim.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Trish gave her a bloody nose during a hardcore match. She also got a cracked tooth in that same match.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Tara's second face run in TNA began when Mickie James saw how Madison was mistreating her, and persuaded her to free Tara from her contract in exchange for a Knockouts title shot. Even after Tara turned again, she remembered this, siding with Mickie over Melina when the latter interrupted a match between James and Amber Rodriguez during Maryland Championship Wrestling's Ladies Night.
• Boxing Battler: Particularly during her second face run in TNA, she would mount a comeback with a series of punches.
• But Not Too Foreign: She's a mix of Turkish, Japanese and Puerto Rican.
• Butt-Monkey: Renouncing his pimp ways, the Goodfather threw her through a table. On the May 12, 2001 episode of Memphis Championship Wrestling's TV show, Joey Abs hit her with his "Absolute" move. Besides these, all of her face runs to varying degrees.
• The Cameo: She's made several appearances at SHIMMER events, but hasn't done anything except observe.
• The Cavalry: Another cameo at Glory By Honor XII saw her save Kevin Steen from Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis of The Kingdom.
• Chairman of the Brawl: She hit Trish with a chair on the September 30, 2002 Raw.
• Character Check: The crazy violent shade of her character would briefly emerge again during a feud with Christy Hemme and then against champion Mickie James. Both times she soon reverted into the goofball without a comment from anybody. And she's back to "crazy" and into Richards in House Of Hardcore.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • She started out as a ho, then a goofy ex-ho who danced a lot, then suddenly paired up with Steven Richards and went psycho. Then she kind of snapped back to the dancing character without explanation and didn't want anything to do with Richards anymore because he was crazy.
  • When she first did her signature standing moonsault, she did it without the booty pop taunt she now uses.
• Clothing Damage: During the Victoria-Trish-Jazz match at WrestleMania XIX, Trish pulled down the back of Victoria's outfit, briefly exposing her butt on camera.
• Continuity Nod: She was not at all happy that Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah interrupted the Bra & Panties Gauntlet match just for Mae to striptease. She then attacked them - reminding us that she was still annoyed at Moolah defeating her on her 80th birthday.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: As the Commissioner in MCW, since she was also working as a heel manager for Steve Bradley and competed and interfered in matches.
• Crazy Sane: The closest her change in character ever came to being acknowledged is when Victoria decided she would have to go wild and crazy if she was to defeat Mickie James.
• Cruel Cheerleader: HBIC's gimmick in Ultimate Pro Wrestling was that of a supposedly high class and definitely snobbish cheerleader.
• Cute and Psycho: She's beautiful and did a great job playing a "crazy" character.
• Cute Bruiser: Less so in her WWE run where she was almost always the largest woman on the roster and frequently a brutal heel or odd goof. In TNA though she had the roughly equal in size Alissa Flash, larger Awesome Kong alongside less conventionally cute ODB and Daffney while she herself was much more subdued than any of her WWE personas. Still Victoria is a lot stronger than she looks, on the third House of Hardcore show the crowd lost it when they saw her carrying around, tossing and slamming Carlito
• Deadlier Than The Male: She adopted a black widow spider motif in her WWE run. This also applied to her relationship with Stevie Richards, where she was clearly the dominant partner.
• Defeat by Modesty: Tried to strip Trish Stratus at Spike TV's Video Game Awards's (there was a relevant "performance" put on for every video game that won an award, when a WWE game won, Trish and Rey Mysterio took on Victoria and Chris Jericho in a tag team match, first just Rey and Chris until Victoria interfered)
• Demoted to Extra: And started losing all her coolness when she started jobbing left and right to anything that's not nailed down or on fire.
• Denser and Wackier: Starting in 2004 when she readopted her dancing goofball character. Although she went Darker and Edgier when she turned back heel, she became a comedy character in 2007 again. Likewise a serious heel turn in TNA eventually led to a comedy pairing with Jesse Godderz.
• The Dragon: Has served this role for a few other Knockouts.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Tara helped Madison antagonise Mickie James many times, but helping run her over with a motorcycle was what really started the disillusionment.
  • She defeated Jillian Hall at OVW Fall Brawl 2 on September 1, 2004 (aired Semptember 4th). During the match, the back of Jillian's top came untied and the ref tried to tie it up again, and Victoria simply stood there and gave her all the time she needed, which the announce team (Jim Cornette and Dean Hill) acknowledged.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Head Bitch In Charge at Ultimate Pro, or HBIC to appease the censors. She was also "Head Ho" in WWE, though eventually we did learn her first name.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: When she used "All The Things She Said" as her entrance music, her video started with an image of an eye in the palm of a hand.
• Fanservice Pack: Her 2002-2003 attire was on the modest side - with long pants and a modest sports bra. In 2004 she suddenly showed more cleavage and started wrestling in hot pants.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Tara lost the Knockout Title in such a "match" against Madison Rayne just three days after winning it at Bound For Glory.
• Finishing Move: Widow's Peak, a sudden-drop neckbreaker version of the Gory Special.
• Friendly Enemy: She was incredibly polite to all of the TNA Knockouts at first, even The Beautiful People, who at one point assaulted her three on one and whom she basically blackmailed a title shot out of by exploiting their fear of tarantulas. She thanked Angelina Love after winning the belt. Became less friendly though, when ODB started attacking her prior TNA career, The Main Event Mafia took over the show and Daffney stole her pet tarantula Poison with intent to eat it.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Defied. She tore her ACL in 2002 while she was Women's Champion. Rather than undergoing surgery and being taken off TV, she opted to wear a knee brace and train her other leg to act as a support.
• Gimmick Matches: Was in the first women's steel cage match sanctioned by WWE, against Lita. Also won her first Women's Championship in a Hardcore Rules match. Also did street fights and of course bra & panties matches.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: She kissed Candice Michelle on the lips at least twice while they were Vince's Devils. In TNA she would make this a habit with whoever she had a regular partnership with, most notably Madison Rayne and Brooke Tessmacher.
• Girl Posse: With Torrie Wilson and Candice as Vince's Devils, though only Victoria and Torrie wrestled regularly.
• Groin Attack: Accidentally gave one to Candice after Candice kicked Torrie out of Vince's Devils and later put Torrie in a version of Akio's illegal neck hanging hold. Victoria decided to give Torrie a body avalanche while this was happening but Torrie moved...
• Halloween Cosplay: Usually something practical, like a baseball player but during her goof phase she wore such highlights as a Sumo Wrestler Fat Suit and scuba gear with snorkel and flippers. She attempted to wrestle in the latter two too, with predictable results.
• Handshake Substitute: She and Jay Lethal slap each other in the face instead, but they're friends, really!
• Hearing Voices: Her theme by t.A.T.u., "All the Things She Said".
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Her 2010 heel turn in TNA was suddenly abandoned when she put her career on the line against Madison Rayne. She played the face in the match, and was a heel when she returned later in the year.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: In her return to TNA run. Quickly ditched after a Heel–Face Turn.
• Hijacked by Ganon:
  • Subverted, Molly took a liking to Victoria decided to show Victoria the Widow's Peak because she was probably strong enough to use it on any woman on the roster at the time. Of course, Molly's main hope would that Victoria would go after Trish Stratus, which she did but Victoria also overtook Trish as the #1 contender to Molly's championship and took it.
  • Played Straight when Victoria's feud with Mickie James overtook Melina's, who had finally moved on but went back to antagonizing Mickie to stay off Victoria's hit list.
• I Like My X Like I Like My Y: Once joked, "I like my men like I like my coffee, two at a time, just kidding."
• Improbable Weapon User: Fun fact, using a motor cycle helmet as a club makes it useless as a motorcycle helmet!
• Kayfabe: Oh yeah. She appeared on the September 4, 2012 edition of The Late Live Show. Host Joe Kwaczala asked her "Is wrestling fake?," which she called the most insulting question she'd ever been asked, and as punishment, announcer/sidekick Joe McAdam had to take her Standing Moonsault, with Kwaczala counting the "pin". After, she rhetorically asked the McAdam, "Was that fake?"
• Lightning Bruiser: While she wouldn't quite qualify as a powerhouse wrestler, she is used to throwing her opponents around with ease, and is agile enough to perform standing moonsaults on a regular basis.
• Lingerie Scene: The WWE Divas Undressed photoshoot.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the scene when she is playing with the shirt, there is a brief scene, visible through slowing down, where her right nipple is visible. This is immediately followed by a crossout circle appearing over her right breast, complete with a comical sound effect.
• Mascot: Poison, her tarantula, during her first run with TNA. Mysteriously disappeared when she was employed by Madison Rayne but made a few appearance afterwards.
• Mrs. Robinson:
  • She was 'manager' of Kenny Dykstra, back when they were, in all likelihood, the youngest Superstar and oldest Diva on the roster.
  • At almost forty, she once had a semi-mutual fling with the early to mid-twenties Generation Me.
  • Her last beau in TNA, Jessie Godderz, was 26.
• Ms. Fanservice: Remember, her start on TV was a dancing Ho. She also had entrance attire she would strip off when her Heel–Face Turn saw a return to her dancing gimmick. Remained very attractive in her mid-forties.This is her Halloween costume in 2015, complete with underboob and an exposed midriff.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Her heel persona has been in a tug of war between this and Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain from Sunday Night Heat onward do to inconsistent booking and psychology. At some points she seemed almost completely indomitable, taking on multiple people at once. At others, falling out of the ring after getting kicked was one of her signature spots. 2005 Taboo Tuesday is a good example of the former, her entire Smackdown run for the latter.
• Oh, Crap!: When Tara won her fourth Knockouts title, she was initially happy. Then she did a massive oh crap face when she realised that she was supposed to help Madison Rayne win - not win herself. This led to the Fingerpoke of Doom above.
• The Ophelia: Dark version, in her early TV career. Once Molly and Jacqueline fell out of the picture during her feud with Trish, Victoria was free to jump right off the deep end. She didn't just want the women's title, she wanted to make Trish bleed, break her bones then to take Trish's soul. Then she started hating anything that resembled Trish (like Terri Runnels, apparently), then she bit off Stacy Keibler's finger nails, then she started to talk to people that were not there. Then she lost the title back to Trish but still held her hands as if she the title was still in them. She got to be in a few hardcore matches and street fights to let her cut loose without disqualification too. On the other hand, she was still in plenty of WWE.com photo shoots and focuses.
• Power Stable: (in OVW): The Revolution (led by Doug Basham and also featuring Damaja [WWE's Danny Basham], Rob Conway, Big Bad John [Heidenreich], Mike Hard^note Mike Howell, aka ECW/TNA's Jack Dupp or Mike Maverick in The Hardyz' OMEGA promotion, Kanyon, Mark Magnus [Muhammad Hassan] and Jackie Gayda.)
• Power Trio: Team Original Divas Revolution with former enemies Jazz and Mickie James in Chikara
• Put on a Bus: Her on screen reason was a Game-Breaking Injury caused by Michelle McCool.
• Retcon: When she feuded with Gail Kim in TNA, the women and commentators acted as if the two hadn't wrestled each other since their WWE days. This is ignoring that Gail's return match in TNA was against Tara - and she took the Knockouts Tag Team Title Belts from her and Tessmacher with Rayne.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She was billed as Queen Victoria in OVW as a member of the Revolution.
• Screaming Warrior: For a time, though more known for Trash Talk.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • An interview during her time in Ultimate Pro had her rant about how they always got body builders who walked in thinking that because they were body builders they could be wrestlers too. She herself had a body building background.
  • In her segment on the WWE Divas Undressed DVD, in re her role as a member of the Godfather's Ho Train, she joked, "Who better to play the Ho role?"
• She Cleans Up Nicely: As the Blooper Reel Easter Egg on the WWE Divas South of the Border DVD proved, Victoria with makeup and Victoria without makeup are quite different.
• Signature Move: An over the top leg drop (to the point on WWE Byte this she mentioned trying to use it less so she would not become associated with it), the Spider's Web (standing fireman's carry to sidewalk slam), a standing moonsault sometimes preceded by a dance shake or standing directly on top of the opponent, a super kick but only during her second Women's championship title run.
• Sitcom: Played "Chickasaurus" on the Nikki episode "Topless."
• Snakes Are Sexy: The 2005 Divas magazine shoot included a picture of her with an iguana on her back.
• Start My Own: Fat Tony's, her pizza restaurant in Louisville, KY. She had a car customizing business called Black Widow Customs, which was destroyed in a fire in 2010. She and her husband opened a restaurant in Chicago in 2013 called the Squared Circle.
• Tag Team: TNT with Miss Tessmacher.
• The Teetotaler: Seems to be a curious case of cultural isolation combined with a bad first experience. When Kevin Nash took control of TNA Impact, he ordered Tara and ODB to each down a six pack of beer and then immediately wrestle a no holds barred match. Cut to a visibly disgusted Tara holding an open beer bottle and exclaiming she had no idea what she was drinking and was going to finish them only so she could get her hands on ODB. Bottle Fairy ODB, on the other hand, was not handicapped by this at all.
• That Came Out Wrong: Victoria telling Ivory that she'd have to have her first before she could have Stevie Richards.
• To Be a Master: When she went to TNA, she cut a promo saying she wanted to be remembered among the best wrestlers in the world and did not think that would happen if she stayed on Smackdown but could do it in TNA if she could beat Awesome Kong.
• Unholy Matrimony: With Stevie Richards during much of her WWE run.
• Unnecessary Roughness:
  • Her 2002 feud with Trish Stratus saw her attacking Trish backstage and even hitting her with a steel chair.
  • In a 2008 match with Kelly Kelly on ECW, she threw Kelly face-first off the apron. This knocked her out and led to a no contest.
• Villain Team-Up
  • Helped Molly Holly and Gail Kim more or less win their feud with Trish Stratus and Lita. But these pleasantries came to an end when Molly's foolishness lead to her losing her hair and blaming Victoria.
  • When Victoria was challenging Mickie James, she approached Melina to help her out - in exchange for getting the first shot at the title when Victoria became champion.
• We Used to Be Friends
  • While she wouldn't be controlled by Molly Holly, Victoria wasn't adverse to hanging out or working with her and wasn't happy when Jazz beat up Molly after a match. This stopped when she shaved Molly bald but it was Holly's decision to put her hair on the line in the first place, trying to make up for some unwise words to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and then she tried to shave Victoria first despite losing the match.
  • Tara ended up ending her friendship and tag team with Ms Tessmacher after Tessmacher won the knockouts title belt and being a good sport proved insufficient in winning it off her.
• Worthy Opponent: When Tara won a #1 contender's match in 2012, Gail Kim was actually impressed and said she was looking forward to the match.
• Yandere: Victoria could have been more of a case of Hate Makes You Crazy, at least in her feud with Trish. She had her own straight example in Stevie Richards after her face turn though.
• You Taste Delicious: Licked Stacy Keibler, claiming she could taste her fear.