Lisa Marie Varon recently took part in an exclusive interview with WrestleZone’s Kevin Kellam. Varon, known as Victoria or Tara by fans of WWE and TNA, is currently in the final year of her in-ring professional wrestling career as she has announced she will be retiring at the end of 2019.
Varon talked about her reputation in wrestling and how she was perceived as being “too nice” for the business, noting that her job was to get people over. The former Women’s and Knockouts Champion also noted her way into the business, saying she was a fitness competitor, but she often tells people looking for advice that a wrestling school is a good start.
“I was known as being too nice for the business, to be honest, I was very giving. There’s a reason why people always enjoyed working with me. ‘You wanna do that move? Yeah, I’ll take it’. There are certain wrestlers that won’t take certain moves and my job was to make the babyface look good. That was my job. I lost more in my career than I won. People forget that it takes two to make each other look good, but more the heel to make the babyface [look good].
You want people to be cheering, off their feet, standing up and cheering for the babyface. [They should be screaming] ‘Get up! Fight back!’—that was my job, making myself look a little bit more like an ass. People forget that this is entertainment, this is not MMA. I hear rumors of people getting upset if they have to drop the belt, and I’m thinking, are you kidding me? Back in my day, if you said you didn’t wanna lose the belt, you know what? The next girl would take your place. It’s entertainment, and I think people get their ego too involved in the business.”
Related: Lisa Marie Varon On Why She Announced Her In-Ring Retirement, Going Out On Top And Passing The Torch
All Elite Wrestling has taken the wrestling world by storm, and Varon says she’s just as excited to see what’s next for the upstart promotion. She noted that she wanted to be at the Double Or Nothing show, but says it’s encouraging to see wrestlers with experience in executive roles that are making positive changes for the talent’s benefit.
“I’m so proud of The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes and the young talent running this. Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, they were one of the boys, so they know how the business —how we’re treated. It’s awesome that they’re offering insurance to the wrestlers, which is unheard of. Back in my day we were ‘independent contractors’, and paid for our own insurance, and our own cars, hotels, and that kind of stuff. They are taking care of the wrestlers, which is very awesome. Kudos to them. I hope they explode. It’s nice to have more shows than just WWE and TNA. There’s room for everybody and different styles and different showcases.”
