Gertrude Vachon
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| Gertrude Vachon | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Luna Vachon Angel Baby Trudy Vachon Angelle Vachon |
| Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Billed weight | 140 lb (64 Kg) |
| Born | January 12, 1962 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Billed from | The Other Side of Darkness |
| Trained by | Paul Vachon Vivian Vachon The Fabulous Moolah Steve Lombardi |
| Debut | 1986 |
| Retired | 2007 |
Gertrude Vachon (born January 12, 1962) is a retired Canadian professional wrestler better known by the ring name Luna Vachon. She is the daughter of Butcher Vachon and the niece of "Mad Dog" Vachon and Vivian Vachon.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Beginnings
As a child, Gertrude Vachon wanted to continue her family's wrestling legacy, especially that of her aunt Vivian. Attending wrestling events she used to play in the ring, which often resulted in "unofficial training" with various World Wide Wrestling Federation stars. Though her family objected to her entering the wrestling business and tried to dissuade her, as a female wrestler's life at that time was harsh and working opportunities few, she pressed on and was eventually sent to train under her aunt Vivian, who also attempted to make her quit. She then was sent to The Fabulous Moolah, whose training was both hard and prestigious. Gertrude started her pro career wrestling for Moolah's all-women's promotion, taking Luna as her first name.
[edit] Independent circuit
In 1986, Luna debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling, where she first appeared as news reporter Trudy Herd handing an award to Kendall Windham. In the process she was brutalized and abducted by Kevin Sullivan and his Army of Darkness stable. She was given a "half-crazy, half-sane" gimmick. As part of this "two-faced" gimmick, she shaved one half of her head while the other half remained (relatively) normal, making this the first step to her trademark Mohawk hairstyle.
She originally came in as a replacement for The Lock, one of Sullivan's valets, who had recently left for Japan. However, the two women were later teamed together as the Daughters of Darkness, who fought each other while being led to the ring on chains. Looking back, she has expressed her uneasiness about some elements of the Satanism angle.[1]
During this time in Florida Luna first wrestled Madusa Miceli, beginning a long-lasting in-ring rivalry. She also traveled to Japan with her father, Butcher Vachon, who managed her in singles and the Daughters of Darkness in tag team competition.
In the early nineties she took over management of The Blackhearts, a masked tag team coming out of Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. The team consisted of Tom Nash, a childhood friend of Luna and her then-husband, and David Heath, her future husband, under the names "Apocalypse" and "Destruction" respectively. Luna worked with them in Joel Goodhart's Tri-State Wrestling, in Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, and finally Giant Baba's All-Japan, where the team split up.
[edit] World Wrestling Federation
In 1992, while wrestling in Puerto Rico, she tried to get David Heath a job with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which resulted in the WWF developing an interest in her. They hired her, but not without some complications. No one actually knew exactly where she was; even her father only knew that she was staying in Florida. The WWF actually hired a private investigator to find her. When she was found, she was working as a waitress at a Shoney's restaurant.[1]
Luna's first WWF appearance was in April 1993 at WrestleMania IX, accompanying Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels in his match against Tatanka, who was accompanied by Michaels' former valet Sensational Sherri. After the match, Luna attacked Sherri at ringside and later in the first aid area, starting a vicious feud between the two.
At the same time Luna and Sherri were at odds, Bam Bam Bigelow had a confrontation with Sherri. This led to his being attacked by Tatanka and the two of them feuding. Soon after, Bam Bam (kayfabe) announced that he had fallen in love and presented Luna as his "main squeeze". He also endearingly called her his "Tick", which fans combined with her name to the chant "Luna-tic". From then, Bam Bam was seen blowing kisses to Luna at the end of matches, and in her honor even included the Moonsault, redubbed Lunasault, into his repertoire. A mixed tag team match between the two pairs was planned for SummerSlam 1993, but had to be canceled because Luna legitimately injured her arm and then Sherri left the WWF. Instead, Bigelow and The Headshrinkers fought and lost to Tatanka and The Smokin' Gunns in a six-man tag team match.
During the summer, before her injury, Luna also competed for the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA), where she feuded with Miss Texas, defeating her for the USWA Women's title on August 2, 1993. The title was later vacated.
In the autumn of 1993, Bam Bam and Luna ran afoul of some practical jokes from Doink the Clown, leading to a Survivor Series style match at the 1993 event of the same name pitting Bam Bam, The Head Shrinkers, and Bastion Booger against four Doinks. During this time Luna was the cause of dissension between Bam Bam and his part-time tag team partner Bastion Booger, who had also (kayfabe) fallen in love with her. At WrestleMania X, Bam Bam and Luna finally got their revenge on Doink by beating the Clown and his midget side-kick Dink in a mixed tag team match.
When the WWF's women's division was revived, Luna's old rival Madusa, who had entered the WWF under the name Alundra Blayze, won the Women's Championship. Luna set her eyes on the title and had a series of matches with Alundra, all resulting in victories for Blayze. It was during this time the relationship between Luna and Bam Bam first showed cracks after interference in a match backfired. In the summer Luna sold Bam Bam's contract to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, who was beginning to build his "Million Dollar Corporation". Luna then "invested" the money to bring Japanese wrestler Bull Nakano into the WWF, hoping she would win the Women's title from Alundra Blayze. Nakano dominated Blayze in their matches, but Blayze managed to retain her title until November 20, 1994 when Nakano succeeded in defeating Blayze in a match in Tokyo, Japan. However, Luna left the WWF shortly after this title match.
On Halloween 1994, Luna (legitimately) married fellow wrestler David Heath, whom she had managed for some time before. The WWF even broadcast a segment of Luna's "midnight wedding to a vampire" (Heath).
[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling
After leaving the WWF, Luna wrestled on the independent circuit. Upon the recommendation of Kevin Sullivan's wife Nancy, she entered Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). She was brought as Tommy Dreamer's new valet in his long running feud with Raven. Luna and Raven (as Johnny Polo) had worked in the WWF simultaneously and Dreamer announced Luna as "someone out of your past". While in ECW Luna would stand with Tommy, feuding with Raven and his lackies, which included Stevie Richards, and even her husband The Vampire Warrior (who, in kayfabe, had become jealous of the time she was spending with Dreamer). She had more than a few physical confrontations with Richards, including a steel cage match. By this point, Luna enhanced her bust line to generous proportions.[citation needed]
[edit] World Championship Wrestling
In early 1997, Luna had a short run with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), again going after her rival Madusa. Luna interfered in Madusa's matches against WCW Women's Champion Akira Hokuto, preventing a title win by Madusa. Luna and Madusa met each other in a series of matches, including a match at the 1997 Slamboree. Although Luna dominated the matches, Madusa managed to get the pinfall every time.
[edit] World Wrestling Federation
Later in 1997, Luna returned to the WWF, first as Goldust's manager, helping him to reinvent himself as "The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust". The pair sported a variety of different outfits and roles, including a dominatrix and slave, a "New Year Baby", and his nurse. Their first feud was against Vader. Luna's first appearance had her wheeling the allegedly paralyzed Goldust to the ring and then blinding Vader with some "medical fluid". Later when Goldust, dressed like a Christmas tree, recited poems in the ring, he was attacked by "Santa Claus", who turned out to be Vader. Vader eventually defeated Goldust at the 1998 Royal Rumble. The Goldust/Luna pairing also took to imitating other wrestler's gimmicks, often those of Goldust's opponents. At one point Goldust and Luna impersonated European Champion Triple H and Chyna in a title match against Owen Hart. What Triple H had intended as a "joke" resulted in Owen beating Goldust and Commissioner Slaughter awarding the title to Hart, considering Goldust to be a legit replacement.
At this time, Goldust also teamed up with Marc Mero, which led to another feud, as Luna and Mero's valet Sable started to fight outside of the ring. The feud culminated in a mixed tag team match at WrestleMania XIV, pitting the two couples against each other and ending in Sable pinning Luna. After this, Luna challenged Sable to an Evening Gown match at Unforgiven 1998 and scored the victory by stripping her opponent down to her underwear. The animosity between Luna and Sable was not entirely kayfabe. As Sable's popularity increased, she adopted a presumptuous attitude towards other competitors. According to Luna, as the two trained in the preparation for their WrestleMania match, Sable refused to learn how to "take bumps" while Luna was threatened by WWF officials that hurting her opponent in the ring would put her job in jeopardy. Sable also annoyed Luna with bragging about being promised the Women's Championship, a goal that had hitherto eluded the veteran Canadian. Luna was also hurt after she had carried Sable in their match, as Sable was universally congratulated while Luna was only consoled by Owen Hart. Still, Luna described the match as "one of the most awesome nights of my life".
In August 1998, Luna had apparently patched up her differences with Sable, as the latter, now split from Marc Mero, introduced her as the newest member of the Human Oddities stable. Luna attacked Marc Mero's new valet Jacqueline (the former Miss Texas), thereby renewing another old rivalry. Luna scored a pinfall victory in August, but lost a rematch in September. She managed the Oddities in tag team matches against Kai En Tai (SummerSlam 1998), The Brood (headed by her husband Gangrel), the Insane Clown Posse, The Headbangers, and Tiger Ali Singh.
In December, Sable, who had won the reinstated WWF Women's Championship, was attacked by the masked "Spider Lady" (reprising a gimmick once performed by The Fabulous Moolah), who turned out to be Luna. She justified attacking her partner with the words: "It's about me, it's about what I deserve." In this feud against Sable, Shane McMahon personally supported Luna's efforts to win the championship after taking personal offense to Sable's attitude towards him and booked a Leather Strap match at the 1999 Royal Rumble. Leading up to that event, in the storyline, Luna was repeatedly attacked by an obsessed Sable fan. At the Royal Rumble, Sable successfully retained the title thanks to the interference of that fan, who now entered WWF competition as Tori. During the weeks prior to the Royal Rumble, Luna also defeated Gillberg, a WWF parody of WCW's shooting star Goldberg. Luna was due to challenge Sable for another title shot several weeks later at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre PPV, but the match was canceled due to Luna's suspension for "unruly behavior" backstage.
Six months later, Luna returned at SummerSlam 1999, chasing then Women's Champion Ivory backstage after a successful title defense against Tori. This started a feud between the two with Luna even scoring a pinfall victory during an impromptu, non-title match. However, at the Unforgiven PPV she lost to Ivory in a Hardcore Rules match. During that feud, Luna also answered a challenge from then Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett and defeated him via disqualification, thanks to Ivory's interference.
From then on, Luna reassumed her role as manager for her husband, now working for the WWF under the name Gangrel, participating in several mixed tag team matches and helping Gangrel beat his opponents.
At Survivor Series 1999, she joined forces with her former rivals Ivory, Jacqueline, and Terri Runnels, against Tori, Debra, The Fabuolous Moolah, and Mae Young. Luna's team was defeated when Moolah pinned Ivory. At the 2000 Royal Rumble she participated in the Swim Suit Contest, though in protest against the whole event she refused to take off her gown. This angle reflected Luna's legitimate dissatisfaction with the "sexualization" of the WWE's women's division. Vachon then became involved in a brief feud with Jacqueline after the latter had pinned Harvey Wippleman to capture the Women's title. She was the first person to challenge Jacqueline on the February 7 edition of "Raw", but failed following a DDT. Gangrel, who accompanied her to ringside, responded by executing his Impaler DDT on the champion. This led to a mixed tag on the following episode of Smackdown, in which Vachon and Heath defeated Moore and her partner Prince Albert.
Plans to have Luna reintroduced fully into the hunt for the Women's Championship were scrapped when, in February 2000, it was announced that Luna had been released from her contract due to allegedly taping the mouth of a producer shut. She described this event as "a joke" and that "everyone had a big laugh over it, including the producer", alleging that her release has more to do with real life animosity with Sable and Marc Mero.
[edit] Recent years
After leaving the WWF, Luna continued to manage Gangrel during his independent tours all over the world, as well as wrestling on her own.
Her ex-husband David Heath was considered at one point to be a part of WWE's new ECW brand in a gothic-like "Vampire" faction with Kevin Thorn and his valet Ariel. Heath was, indeed, under contract with World Wrestling Entertainment but was not used on television. On January 18, 2007, Gangrel was released from World Wrestling Entertainment.
On June 9, 2007, Luna became the first Great Lakes Championship Wrestling's Ladies champion defeating Traci Brooks. On December 5, 2007, Luna Vachon announced her retirement; her last match took place on December 7 for Great Lakes Championship Wrestling in Milwaukee. She successfully defended her GLCW Ladies Championship against Traci Brooks and then retired as champion.
[edit] Personal life
Luna was married twice: first to childhood friend Tom Nash, with whom she has two sons, Joshua and Van. After breaking up, she dated Dick Slater for a while and then became involved with David Heath, whom she married on Halloween in 1994.[2][3] During this marriage, she was stepmother to David's sons, David Jr. and Donovan.[4] The two divorced in 2006 but, according to Heath, remain best of friends.[3]
Luna became a born again Christian in 2004, after which she was seen on tour with Christian wrestling organization, World Impact Wrestling. She is currently working as a tow truck operator.[5]
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Luna Eclipse (Diving splash)
- Luna Bomb (Corner slingshot splash)
- Lunasault (Moonsault)
- Flowing DDT
- Charging 180° spinning facebuster
- Body slam
- Snake Eyes
- Crotch claw
- Sitout powerbomb
- Snap suplex
- Swinging neckbreaker
- Wrestlers managed
- The Blackhearts (David Heath and Tom Nash)
- David Heath, known as Vampire Warrior or Gangrel
- Shawn Michaels
- Bam Bam Bigelow
- Bull Nakano
- Stevie Richards
- Tommy Dreamer
- Goldust
- The Oddities
- Damien Kane
- Sideshow
- Entrance Themes
- "Enter Sandman" by Metallica (WWF)
- "Man In The Box" by Alice in Chains (ECW, as partner of Tommy Dreamer)
- "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz[citation needed]
- "Engine Rock" (WWF)
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- American Wrestling Federation
- AWF Women's Championship (1 time)
- Great Lakes Championship Wrestling
- GLCW Ladies Championship (1 time, current)
- Ladies' Major League of Wrestling
- LMLW Women's Championship (1 time)
- Sunshine Wrestling Federation
- SWF Ladies' Championship (1 time)
- United States Wrestling Association
- Wild Women of Wrestling
- WWOW Television Championship (1 time)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Feinstein video Shoot interview, Summary at TheSmartMarks.com.
- ^ Fact list referencing her Halloween marriage
- ^ a b AdultFYI - Conversations with Gangrel; Gangrel on "Prince of Porn" Evan Stone: It's the Little Man Complex
- ^ RAW Magazine, February 2000.
- ^ Interview references what Luna is up to now
