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 how transitioning out of a full-time wrestling career is more difficult, saying your body relaxes too much and it’s harder to bump when you aren’t ‘calloused’ enough. She said it’s even harder for women to age in the wrestling business because of the beauty standards that come with being a female veteran that’s trying to maintain a certain image.
“It’s easier to wrestle every single weekend because you’re developing that ‘hit by a car’ feeling and your body is ready for it. When you’re doing maybe one show a month or you’re taking time off and you go back to that match and that first bump, you feel it in your toes. Your body is trying to transition to ‘now she’s not taking hard hits anymore, I can relax and be ready for that’ and your body goes into that confusion of ‘am I taking a bump or not?’ The bumping hurts way more now because I’m not wrestling every single weekend. My body’s not prepared for that anymore. A lot of girls, I’m like ‘you need to work out, you need to develop muscle’ to protect your joints, your neck. I’ve never had a concussion, but you’re jarring your brain so for long every single weekend. I remember seeing a chiropractor and he took x-rays, [he asked me] ‘have you ever gotten whiplash?’ I said ‘no, I’m a wrestler’ and he goes ‘ohhh….’
We are damaging our bodies. We are bad actors that do our own stunts. We get one take, and one take only. We don’t have ‘let’s do this move again for this camera angle’ and if things go wrong, the show must go on. That’s the part about being a veteran, being able to improvise in the ring. If things go wrong or the fans are not getting into it, let’s change it in the ring. There’s a lot going on in the ring in your head; camera angles, listening to the fans, what are they biting and what are they not biting, it’s just a lot. And for us women, we’re not allowed to gain weight, we’re not allowed to wrinkle, we can’t get grey hair. It’s just a lot of pressure and you’re still trying to be that pretty, sexy image and still be a bad ass and move in the ring. It’s just a lot of pressure.”
Varon continued talking about the evolution of women’s wrestling, with Kellam pointing out how the ‘evolution’ of women’s wrestling seems to be bringing another change in those standards. Varon agreed that more body types are being acceptable once again in wrestling, and expanded on her original comments, noting how difficult it can be for her and other performers as they get older.
“I think so. When I went to TNA we had [Awesome] Kong, we had ODB, myself. We weren’t the stick figure, Barbie doll body types. When you’re in the business and you start out with that look it’s hard to change, they want to remember you as when you—when you make your mark. You’re not allowed to change. They’re like ‘oh, I remember you as this.’ so God forbid I gained ten pounds, 20 pounds when I get older. My metabolism slows down, our eating habits, we have to eat cleaner as we get older and are joints are feeling it now. I did realize now that getting out of bed for me, I’m like ‘whoa! I used to be able to jump out of bed’ and now it just takes a little bit longer to get out of bed and just prepare for a normal day.”
Related: Lisa Marie Varon On Why She Announced Her In-Ring Retirement, Going Out On Top And Passing The Torch
