Former WWE Women’s Champion, Ivory (real name Lisa Moretti) re-emerged last year, starring in a shoot interview that received a good review here at Diva Dirt. Now she’s back, teaming up with our friends at Kayfabe Commentaries for a new DVD looking back at the year in WWE in 2001. The ‘Timeline: The History of WWE’ series adds a unique spin to the regular shoot interview, as it allows for more focused discussion and gives fans an insight into how things were backstage during the year and how things played out on television.
The first thing that comes to mind is that, despite being 50 years old, Lisa looks radiant! And if you’ve seen her previous shoot interview, you’ll know she has a personality to boot. Playful, humorous and highly engaging, Lisa comes across as the ‘cool aunt’ we wish we could all have.
Like with their YouShoot series, Kayfabe niftily breaks things down for the viewer with a month-by-month look at the year that was 2001. There are often a few screens per month, highlighting the major events of 2001 that year and they simply let Lisa rip. Her comments may be on the events that were highlighted, her personal opinion on the people involved, or at times, she can even go off into discussing things that occurred in other years. And hey, who’s going to stop her?
In fact, one such moment where Lisa goes off on a tangent is probably the juiciest parts of the interview. The former champion reveals that following SummerSlam 2004 — which saw the infamous Raw Divas vs Diva Search contestants dodgeball game — the male roster actually took the Divas roster to Wrestlers’ Court for losing to the Diva Seach girls. Seriously! Lisa reveals how she served as the defense attorney for the Divas. Without giving too much away, there are some interesting anecdotes here about Jonathan Coachman and Triple H.
You’re probably wondering what she said about some of her fellow Divas, right? Well as history will tell us, 2001 was a big year for Lisa’s character, Ivory. In 2001, Lisa continued a high profile feud going into WrestleMania. Her opponent was of course, none other than Chyna. It’s no secret that Chyna didn’t want to be in the women’s division and preferred wrestling men. Lisa recalls her condescending comment to her when they first began their program: “Okay Ivory, you know how to pull hair, right?” Elsewhere, though she puts over Lita‘s great gimmick at the time with the Hardy Boys and puts over her passion for wrestling, Lisa felt that Lita was unappreciative of the fans noting that she’d leave behind fan mail, gifts etc. that she would receive in the lockerrooms. “It may not mean anything to you but it sure means a lot to the giver, so you don’t leave that stuff behind in a lockerroom. That pissed me off a lot,” she says. One Diva that doesn’t get off so lightly is Miss Kitty aka The Kat, but you’ll just have to watch to find out more!
I think Steven put it succinctly in his review of Lisa’s past interview: Lisa is honest, perhaps brutally, but she doesn’t go out of her way to bury anyone or be bitchy towards anyone.
Looking at the run time beforehand — over two hours — the DVD is highly entertaining and the length seems less daunting as you’re sucked in by Lisa’s charm. Lisa gives her humorous and unique insights into some of 2001’s big events and looking back, there were several including the maligned XFL, the purchase of WCW and subsequent Alliance angle and lots more.
To go back to the earlier analogy, Lisa really does come across as wrestling’s cool aunt! She is charming to watch on screen, her stories are highly entertaining and as we’ve come to expect from Kayfabe Commentaries, the production is top notch. Another great release following in the footsteps of the epic Maria Kanellis YouShoot.
Rating: 4/5
– Click here to purchase ‘Timeline: The History of WWE – 2001’
