Lisa Marie Varon
| Lisa Marie Varon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 10, 1971 San Bernardino, California |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | H.B.I.C. (Head Bitch In Charge) Queen Victoria Victoria |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Billed weight | 155 lb (70 kg) |
| Billed from | Los Angeles, California |
| Trained by | Ultimate Pro Wrestling Memphis Championship Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling Molly Holly |
| Debut | June 2000 |
Lisa Marie Varon, née Lisa Marie Sole, better known as Victoria (born February 10, 1971 in San Bernardino, California) is an American professional wrestler currently working for the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Amongst female pro-wrestlers, Varon has notable arm and upper body strength, being one of a select few women to occasionally Military Press her opponents over her head.
Career
Born to a Puerto Rican father and a Turkish mother, Lisa Marie Varon grew up with three older brothers, all of whom became amateur wrestlers. After studying Bio-Med at UCLA and Loma Linda University with thoughts of becoming a doctor, Varon worked as a Human Tissue Coordinator at the Inland Eye and Tissue Bank in Redlands, California, where she was heavily involved in the process of organ donation (she has stated that she would someday like to return to the field of organ donation.)
Varon later began pursuing a career in bodybuilding, fitness competition, modeling, and acting. She appeared on ESPN's Fitness America Series in 1997 and 1998, winning on the latter occasion, and had roles in V.I.P. and Nikki in May and October 2000 respectively. While in South Florida for the 1998 Miss Galaxy Competition, Varon met and befriended fellow fitness contestant Torrie Wilson. The following year, Wilson signed a contract with the professional wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling and invited Varon to a WCW television taping.
While visiting Torrie Wilson backstage at a WCW show, a road agent asked Varon to appear in a segment with Scott Hall. Varon filmed the segment, which featured her sitting on Hall's lap and playing with his hair, and began considering pursuing a career in wrestling. After Wilson tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain a WCW contract for Varon, she returned to California in an attempt to secure work in the television industry.
World Wrestling Federation
While working for Crunch Fitness as a trainer in Los Angeles, California in 2000, Varon met World Wrestling Federation employee Chyna, who complemented her on her appearance and encouraged her to become a wrestler. Chyna introduced Varon to WWF officials Jim Ross and Kevin Kelly, and she was hired. Varon was assigned to Ultimate Pro Wrestling, a Southern Californian developmental territory and training camp of the WWF. While training in UPW, Varon was given the gimmick of a domineering cheerleader known as the H.B.I.C. (Head Bitch In Charge).
Like several other divas, including Ivory and Lita, Varon made her on-screen debut in the WWF as one of the Godfather's "hos" Victoria. After the Godfather lost a match to Bull Buchanan on July 19, 2000 and was subsequently indoctrinated by the conservative Right to Censor faction, Varon and the other hos were, in storyline terms, made redundant. Varon, billed as the "head ho," began a "save the hos" campaign, protesting with placards during R.T.C. matches. R.T.C. eventually responded, with leader Steven Richards ordering the Godfather, now known as the "Goodfather," to drive Varon through a table on the August 7, 2000 episode of RAW. Varon, in her capacity as ho, made one more appearance on WWF television. On the October 9, 2000 episode of RAW, GTV footage of Varon and another ho Mandy cavorting in a shower with Eddie Guerrero was responsible for the on-screen breakup of Guerrero and his fiancée Chyna, precipitating the second heel turn of Guerrero.
Varon, by now contracted as a wrestler, was sent to Memphis Championship Wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee, another WWF developmental territory. In MCW, she acted as commissioner for a time, managed Steve Bradley, and feuded with Stacy Carter and R.T.C. member Ivory. In 2001, with MCW closing, she was transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky, where she trained under Molly Holly. Using the name Queen Victoria (named after the British monarch of the same name), Varon managed the "Machine" Doug Basham and the Damaja, later known collectively as the Basham Brothers.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Heel
After spending a considerable amount of time training in MCW and OVW, Varon returned to the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment on the July 7, 2002 episode of Sunday Night HEAT, losing to Trish Stratus. She was formally reintroduced on the August 5, 2002 episode of RAW as Victoria, the heel trainee of Molly Holly. Her character was quickly established as that of a psychopath who was jealous of Stratus' success and wanted to make Stratus' life a living hell.
In the culmination of a feud lasting four months, Victoria defeated Stratus for the WWE Women's Championship in a Hardcore match at Survivor Series 2002. The following night on RAW, she defeated Stacy Keibler and debuted her finisher the "Widow's Peak." After the match, Steven Richards foiled an attempt at retribution by Stratus, beginning a pairing with Victoria that would last for over a year.
Varon's feud with Stratus continued for several more months, encompassing a street fight on the January 27, 2003 episode of RAW which was won by Victoria, considered by some fans to be among the best women's matches in WWE history. Varon's reign lasted until WrestleMania XIX when she lost to Stratus in a triple threat match which also included Jazz. Following the loss, it was speculated that she had dropped the title in order to allow for her to have surgery on her right knee, which she had injured some time earlier. However, instead of having surgery, Varon opted to wear a knee brace during matches, a practice she continued for several years.
Victoria's most notable theme music during this time was "All the Things She Said" by t.A.T.u.. For the remainder of 2003, Victoria continued to compete in the women's division, in addition to accompanying the by now self-proclaimed "General Manager of HEAT" Stevie Richards wherever he went. As time progressed, she began to receive face reactions, prompting the WWE creative team to turn her into a face by the end of the year.
Face
With the WWE creative team unconvinced that Varon's gimmick would befit a face wrestler, Victoria began to exhibit certain characteristics of a "good girl," such as having a more revealing wardrobe, allowing young boys to kiss her while she approached the ring, and dancing at the top of the ramp to techno music. The drastic character change was criticized by a number of fans who complained that it lacked an explanation and deprived Varon of a unique gimmick.
Victoria's face run began with a feud with Women's Champion (at-that-time) Molly Holly. On the February 23, 2004 episode of RAW, Victoria won a four-way elimination match to capture the Women's Championship for a second time. Her feud with Molly reached its zenith at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004 , where Varon pinned Holly, who subsequently had her head shaved bald as a result of a stipulation of the match. She lost the Women's Championship on June 13, 2004 at Bad Blood 2004 in a four-way match which also included Gail Kim (with whom she was feuding with at the time), Lita, and a heel Trish Stratus who won the match by pinning Lita.
Varon renewed her feud with Stratus with Stevie (who had left her without any on-air explanation several months earlier) coming to her aid while dressed as a woman when she was menaced by Stratus' henchman Tyson Tomko. However, a hand injury suffered by Stratus at a house show would derail the feud for several weeks. Their feud resumed after SummerSlam 2004, but by this point WWE was more concerned with building up a feud between Trish Stratus and Lita, so their feud received little attention. Their second feud culminated on September 12, 2004 at Unforgiven 2004, where Stratus retained her title with the help of Tomko.
Following the end of the feud, Victoria continued to compete in the women's division, albeit with her on-air time greatly reduced. The releases of Gail Kim, Nidia, and Jazz left little competition in the division for Victoria. Due to these releases and the signing of women from the WWE Diva Search competitions, it was widely assumed that Varon would be released from the company. However, this was not the case.
Back As A Heel
On the May 30, 2005 episode of RAW in Calgary, Alberta, Victoria reverted back to her psychotic heel character once again by attacking Maria Kanellis, Candice Michelle, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Christy Hemme following a loss to Christy in a swimsuit contest, citing jealousy at the opportunities that Hemme had received. Her actions were met with applause by the audience, which was interpreted by some as annoyance on the part of the crowd at the influx of female performers with limited wrestling experience. This resulted in a six person tag team match in which Christy's team was disqualified after Hemme refused to stop choking Victoria. In the following weeks Victoria would break a glass jar over Hemme's head during a backstage interview. Victoria would go on to defeat Hemme at Vengeance 2005 on June 26, 2005, where once again she enjoyed the support of the live audience. During this time, she also had a brief rivalry with Stacy Keibler, which led to a match on an international edition of WWE Heat in which Victoria won.
Victoria was eventually introduced as the enforcer of Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle on RAW, eventually becoming known as "Vince's Devils," a play on the Charlie's Angels TV show and movies. She helped them attack 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro. She would stay with the stable while they feuded with Trish Stratus, Ashley Massaro, Mickie James, and Maria.
During her time in Vince's Devils, Victoria wrestled male competitor Carlito in a Beat the Clock match on the December 26 edition of RAW. Despite interference from all the members of Vince's Devils, including Torrie Wilson's dog Chloe, Victoria would lose the match in two minutes and thirty-six seconds after suffering Carlito's then-newly introduced modified swinging inverted neckbreaker finisher. Carlito then spat an apple in Victoria's face after the match.
The next week, Victoria, angered by her loss to Carlito, led Vince's Devils to the ring, interrupting Maria's Kiss Cam segment. They attacked Maria until Ashley made the save.
Vince's Devils would appear regularly on WWE TV until Candice, with Victoria by her side, turned on Wilson a few weeks before WrestleMania. Following the implosion of Vince's Devils, Victoria would remain active in the Women's Division and make sporadic appearances on RAW, as well as try-out matches with independent women's wrestlers on WWE HEAT. She would face the likes of Talia, Cheerleader Melissa, and Mercedes Martinez in these matches. In a RAW match, Victoria fractured Beth Phoenix's jaw after giving her a full open palm slap while Phoenix's mouth was open. Despite the injury, Phoenix won the match following her Down In Flames Slam. Recently, on the July 17, 2006 edition of RAW, Victoria was in a tag match with her and Mickie James vs Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson, with Candice as the special guest referee. During the match, Candice slapped Mickie James, and was scolded by Victoria. Victoria would try to clothesline Candice but would miss. The results ended up with Trish hitting the Stratusfaction on Victoria, and with Torrie and Trish being victorious. This would also mark Candice's second face turn.
Finishing And Signature Moves
- Widow's Peak (Gory neckbreaker)
- Black Widow (Sitout inverted powerbomb)
- Spider's Web (Swinging sidewalk slam)
- Hanging Hair Pull
- Standing moonsault
- Slingshot somersault legdrop
- Powerslam
- Bridging reverse chinlock
- Savate Kick
Wrestlers managed by Victoria
Trivia
- Her current entrance theme is a slower, more sinister version of her previous "Don't Mess With" entrance theme from the WWE ThemeAddict album.
- Victoria was involved in the first ever Women's steel cage match. She was able to escape the cage before her opponent, Lita, for the victory.
Championships and accomplishments
- 2-time WWE Women's Champion
- PWI Woman of the Year Award (2004)
Personal information
She has been married to Alexander Varon since 1998.
Varon and Trish Stratus used to be fitness models together. This real life fact was actually used as an often-overlooked key element to the first "psycho heel Victoria vs. Trish" angle. When explaining her psychotic jealousy against Trish in an interview on RAW, Victoria went on to reveal that they were fitness models together until Trish left for success in wrestling without her, although this was not all completely the case in real life.
In a January 2005 interview, she was quoted as confessing that she was legitimately jealous of the salary and opportunities given to diva search winner Christy Hemme. She later retracted and refuted this statement on her website, claiming that the reporter had twisted her words and that she and Hemme were friends. She cites Ivory as a wrestler whom she was inspired by and Torrie Wilson as being her best friend. Varon relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in order to train in Ohio Valley Wrestling and continues to reside there. In June 2005, she opened a restaurant in Louisville named Fat Tony's Pizza.
Varon has frequently expressed interest in posing nude for Playboy. However, she has stated that she has yet to be offered a chance to appear in the magazine.
Varon is thought by some to be a "spiritual sibling" to wrestler Lance Storm due to them both having dark hair and a widow's peak hairline (hence the name of her WWE finishing move). They were also both subjected to poorly received dancing gimmicks. In a running gag on his website, Storm maintains that he and Varon are siblings, but this is not the case, as the two are unrelated. [citation needed]
References
- Solie's title histories
- Sunday Night Heat results archive (2002)
- Victoria at OWW.com
- Victoria comments on Christy Hemme again
- Victoria's secret
- Complete Interview: Victoria
External links
- Official Site
- WWE profile
- Fat Tony's Website of restaurant Varon owns.
- Victoria Web (fansite)
- 1971 births
- People from the Inland Empire, California
- Louisvillians
- Puerto Rican-Americans
- Turkish Americans
- American bodybuilders
- American models
- American actors
- Television actors
- Professional wrestling managers and valets
- American professional wrestlers
- Female professional wrestlers
- Multiracial entertainers
- Living people
- Fitness & figure competitors