As the dust settles on the big news of the weekend, it’s all but confirmed that former two time Women’s Champion, Victoria is heading to TNA. Given the timing of the announcement (this past Friday), it has led me to speculate if Victoria – real name Lisa Marie Varon – could make her debut tonight at the company’s Sacrifice pay per view.
Whether you agree with it or not, and let’s make no mistake – I myself am indifferent to this move on Varon’s part, the once loved Diva known as Victoria will be becoming a Knockout. For a Diva who led a respectable career in WWE, something that is highly unusual given WWE’s treatment of it’s Divas and it’s turnover of females for that matter, Victoria’s career could be described as storybook. It had a beginning, middle and an end. WWE gave the Vicious Vixen a decent send-off in my opinion, allowing her to leave with some grace and dignity and say goodbye to the fans. Her WWE.com profile we moved to the Alumni section, which in my eyes, is a pre-cursor to eventually joining the Hall of Fame. I am certain that Victoria would could be a Hall of Fame candidate after the likes of Trish Stratus and even Lita are inducted.
However her jump to TNA puts her good standing with WWE at jeopardy now. Like Mick Foley, Victoria could hurt her chances at being inducted into the Hall of Fame and I have no doubt that WWE.com will pull her Alumni page the moment she debuts in TNA.
But what’s done is done and we can’t wonder about the “What ifs?” Instead I aim to look to the future in this blog and look at where Victoria’s career could go in TNA. I won’t sugarcoat and say that Victoria was a ‘top draw’ in the same way as Trish Stratus, but her longevity in WWE and the respect she garnered from women’s wrestling and casual fans alike will no doubt help her standing in TNA. If you ask me, the company’s search for a new top babyface Knockout is over. Here she is – Victoria. Sure she may have played the heel for most of her career, but characters and gimmicks aside, Victoria is extremely well respected in this industry and I think she could act on that and convince fans to get behind her.
I won’t pretend to know why Victoria is going to TNA but looking at the last few years of her career in WWE, it could be for another ‘stab at glory’ considering she was primarily used to job out to the likes of Maria and the Bella Twins in the last year alone. And if that is the case, who can fault her? The tease of real women’s wrestling, real athleticism and even the chance to be a champion again is not something to sneer at, and I’m sure Victoria didn’t.
If I’m to be really frank, I have to admit: I think the Knockouts division has many of the same flaws as the Divas division in WWE. The wrestling may be far superior but that doesn’t mean booking and storylines shouldn’t be scrutinised at the same level as we seem to with WWE. TNA hasn’t really appealed to me because aside from the matches, I find the booking to be all over the place in the same way as WWE.
With that said, I can’t say that TNA’s creative team will really do much with Victoria and to be honest again, I don’t really have high hopes. The Wrestling Globe Newsletter ran one scenario that’s being talked about as a way to bring her in and let’s just say, it sounds like crap.
I honestly think TNA could make an impact (no pun intended) with Victoria and make her a big company-wide draw. The tease of her signing with the company is enough to draw eyeballs onto the product and no doubt, fans – and not just Diva fans – will be tune into Impact out of curiosity. TNA could use the opportunity to push Victoria as the serious women’s wrestler she is, as the multi-talented woman she was never really allowed to be in WWE. Bringing her in and really backing her, in the way that WWE never did, from the outset and I think Victoria could be a huge hit with TNA audiences and even bring in extra viewers like myself who would be curious to see her in TNA.
I defy TNA to prove me wrong, up until this point there hasn’t been enough substance in the Knockouts division to hook me in. I defy TNA to bring Victoria in, put some weight behind and book her solidly. For a company that loves to stick it to WWE, I ask TNA to use Victoria in the manner that so many of us so wished to see her in WWE – because to me, that would be the biggest ‘FU’ to WWE that TNA could ask for. Don’t just wave her in their face as a new acquisition that you ‘stole from them’, book her well and let her shine in the way that WWE never allowed her to. Actions speak louder than words.
