WWE Diva Victoria talks shop, training, women in the industry
By Chris Perry
June 17, 2004

World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Victoria was talking with Eugene recently at a Raw event about the old days. You see, Eugene, also known as long time WWE developmental wrestler Nick Dinsmore, was one of the trainer/students in the company’s Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory who helped Lisa Marie Varon learn the in-ring skills necessary for a now multi-time Women’s Champion.

“Backstage recently, I was just telling Eugene to look at how many OVW people are here on Raw now,” said Victoria, 33, in a telephone interview just three days before her Bad Blood pay-per-view title defense June 13.

“He and I were discussing how comfortable it is now because we went to school with most of these people and we grew up in the business with these people, so it’s not as intimidating moving up. Of course, Triple-H, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho intimidate me. They’re all very nice and very welcoming, but there is a lot of OVW people backstage. It’s amazing. We’re taking over man.”

Of the participants on last Sunday’s pay-per-view card, seven spent time in OVW honing their skills under the watchful eyes of owner, and head trainer, Danny Davis, the legendary Jim Cornette and ring veteran Rip Rogers. Advanced students and developmental talent work with students as well, such as Dinsmore and current tag team champion Rob Conway did while there.

As states “In the past five years, OVW has trained more than 30 superstars for the WWE, including former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, WWE Women’s Champion Victoria, WWE Tag Team Champions Doug and Danny Basham, WWE Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton, John Cena and many more.”

Tyson Tomco, Sylvain Grenier, Conway, Orton, Benjamin, Eugene and Dave Batista, who defeated Maven on Sunday Night Heat prior to the PPV, are all OVW graduates showcased during the Bad Blood event. This shows that a new, younger generation is finding their way up the ranks and making names for themselves on the big stage.

Victoria, a San Bernardino, Calif., native, made a name for herself in WWE first as one of Godfather’s girls four years ago. From there she worked her way up through the WWE developmental system and made her ring debut in July of 2002 against Trish Stratus. Recently she has transformed from a “psychotic” heel to an enthusiastic fan favorite.

“The response I started to get as the “psychotic” character, instead of getting booed, people started to cheer. With the crowd behind me they (WWE) decided to go with it. They (WWE) told me not to pull my hair as much. I miss being my psychotic self. You never know, it’s bottled up inside me right now, who knows when that will explode again.”

“I like being a little bit different and that’s why I introduced the dance routine as part of my ring entrance,” continued Victoria. “I took dance, and was a gymnast growing up, and I’m into hip-hop. It was a hip-hop character, but evidently the entrance was too long so we had to cut it. It was cutting into our match time. Now I do a little bit of a dance, but you’ll be seeing a little more as time goes on.”

“A lot of people ask me where my new character came from. I like to tell them I went through therapy and my therapist said instead of focusing all of my anger towards Trish Stratus, I should get involved in something else. So, I got involved in dance,” she says with a laugh.

Although she lost her WWE Women’s title to Trish Stratus at Bad Blood in a women’s four-way match also featuring Gail Kim and Lita (Startus rolled up Lita for the pin), Victoria has tremendous respect for her fellow Divas.

“In the ring, we all have different styles. I think Molly Holly and I have similar styles because we both were gymnast. Gail Kim is more of our flyer. She does more of a lucha libre style, which is a lot of flying, acrobatics, that type of stuff. She’s like very tiny to. Lita is our “grunge” competitor and has more of a traditional wrestling style. Trish Stratus, her and I have the most history. We are willing to push the line. Trish and I are willing to get really physical in the ring. We’ve had a lot of hardcore matches.”

“The WWE women’s division has stepped up so much. It’s not just T & A. It’s not just going in there and looking good. You have to back it up to. I like to describe us a tough ‘Barbie’ dolls. A lot of people think we are out there just for looks, but there are some bad assess built up inside of us.”

Women’s wrestling has moved more to the forefront of WWE in recent years and Victoria would like to see the product continue to evolve with women in prominent roles.

“Hopefully one day, and I’m not holding my breath, but who knows when the main event may be for the women’s championship. That’s what we (WWE Women) are hoping for.

“We are also hoping for those ‘puppy’ chants to stop,” Victoria continued. “To us, when we are beating the heck out of each other in the ring, it’s the most insulting chant. It’s insulting when they (fans) are just waiting for our chest to pop out and they are not really appreciating that our bodies are on the line. That hopefully will change as time goes on.”

For more about Victoria, be sure to checkout and her personal Web site .

Bad Bloody aftermath
In what is being described as the final chapter to a classic rivalry, Triple-H and Shawn Michaels went toe-to-toe for just 47minutes before “The Game” dramatically covered Michaels for the victory in the “Hell in a Cell” Bad Blood main event after two signature Pedigrees. Both men were exhausted and sporting appropriate crimson masks. The two seemed broken down — similar to Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed’s epic final duel — from a rivalry that has produced several thrilling matches over recent months.

In the evenings other headliner, World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit successfully defended his title against Kane. The Crippler had the Crossface locked in, but Kane powered out. In a slick move, Benoit maneuvered to Kane’s other side, reapplied the hold, then rolled up the monster for the pin in just under nineteen minutes.

Other Bad Blood results included Randy Orton successfully defending his Intercontinental title against Benjamin (pulling the tights for the win), Jericho over Tyson Tomko, Eugene over Jonathan Coachman and La Resistance retaining their tag team titles against Chris Benoit and Edge by disqualification (Kane attacked Benoit and Edge).

Several storylines are now in a transition phase following the June 14 Raw. Triple-H and Shawn Michaels were set to shake hands in a sign of respect for their caged war and storied rivalry when Kane viscously attacked Michaels. Kane wrapped part of a folding chair around HBK’s neck causing tremendous “damage” as fans were informed later in the show. Look for this feud somewhere down the line as Michaels and his wife are expecting their second child in the near future.

Triple-H now wants to be the number-one contender for Benoit’s world title, but it was announced during Raw that he must face the undefeated Eugene first for that honor. That match will take place during the Jan. 21 Raw from Miami, Fl. Will Eugene’s friend The Rock make an electrifying appearance?

Kane and Lita recently had a storyline where after weeks of stalking her and Matt Hardy, Lita put a stop to it by answerering “yes” to Kane’s unknown question. The story seemed to be dropped without any answers but then, in a soap opera twist, this week’s Raw revealed that Lita was “pregnant”. Is Matt the father, or is… no it couldn’t be. Could it?

News and notes
With only days to go before WWE’s first big pay-per-view in Norfolk, great seats still remain for The Great American Bash June 27 at the Scope. Look for a special feature on this big event “In The Ring” next week, including an in-depth interview with Rob Van Dam about the Bash, Smackdown and his future.

AJ Styles is the new Total Nonstop Action X Division Champion after defeating Frankie Kazarian (simply known now as Kazarian) in the main event of the June 9 PPV.