1 00:00:05,870 --> 00:00:09,190 Stay forth. I will haunt your very breath. 2 00:00:09,390 --> 00:00:12,230 I will be your shadow in the darkness. 3 00:00:12,730 --> 00:00:17,050 Hailing from wrestling royalty, Luna Vashon emerged as one of the squared 4 00:00:17,050 --> 00:00:22,810 circle's most unhinged and most unforgettable characters. When you saw 5 00:00:22,810 --> 00:00:25,890 were seeing a monster come to life. 6 00:00:26,250 --> 00:00:28,530 crazy, wild, botanic. 7 00:00:29,090 --> 00:00:36,030 Despite being consistently marginalized by a 8 00:00:36,030 --> 00:00:40,790 male -dominated industry, Luna was driven to push boundaries and redefine 9 00:00:40,790 --> 00:00:41,790 women's wrestling. 10 00:00:41,810 --> 00:00:43,170 My mom was a bad girl. 11 00:00:43,430 --> 00:00:46,290 Being far in an alley would want to run away. 12 00:00:46,750 --> 00:00:47,190 Her 13 00:00:47,190 --> 00:00:55,370 volatile 14 00:00:55,370 --> 00:01:01,030 persona sprang from a traumatic upbringing and a string of personal 15 00:01:01,030 --> 00:01:02,390 don't think it was a very easy childhood. 16 00:01:02,610 --> 00:01:06,170 Having her father, having a wrestling company, wrestlers staying in the house. 17 00:01:06,350 --> 00:01:09,770 She was a pretty young girl. They took advantage of her. While working 18 00:01:09,770 --> 00:01:14,370 some of wrestling's top stars, her battles with addiction and mental health 19 00:01:14,370 --> 00:01:15,630 became all -consuming. 20 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:17,080 She gets her credit. 21 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:18,860 That's some serious shit. 22 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,200 She would go from like, oh, thank you so much. Oh, that's so sweet. What are you 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:24,220 doing? What are you talking about? 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,360 Of course she was self -medicating. 25 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,900 Dipping yayo all day, every day. 26 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:30,680 She would stay up for a month straight. 27 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,040 Making me sick. 28 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,140 The next day, she'd be like, I don't know what happened. You don't remember 29 00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:39,140 punching this guy? 30 00:01:39,740 --> 00:01:42,380 This is destruction. A cameraman just got knocked down. 31 00:01:43,350 --> 00:01:48,110 Betrayed by the world she adored, one final act of defiance would ignite her 32 00:01:48,110 --> 00:01:51,770 self -destruction. She stood up to vent in front of everybody. She didn't want 33 00:01:51,770 --> 00:01:54,190 to just be booed. She wanted to be a wrestler. 34 00:01:54,630 --> 00:01:56,270 That was it. That was enough. 35 00:01:56,470 --> 00:02:00,670 She had it. You're in pain, you're hurting, so you turn to other things 36 00:02:00,670 --> 00:02:01,970 know, up in flames you go. 37 00:02:12,430 --> 00:02:16,070 There are two ways to thrive easily through life. 38 00:02:16,330 --> 00:02:18,110 One way to believe everything. 39 00:02:18,630 --> 00:02:20,070 Others that doubt it. 40 00:02:21,150 --> 00:02:23,090 Luna Vachon and the Black Heart. 41 00:02:23,370 --> 00:02:25,370 I used to always think wrestling was real. 42 00:02:25,590 --> 00:02:27,510 Like, when you're a kid, you think it's real. 43 00:02:27,930 --> 00:02:31,270 Like, that's what she always was to me. 44 00:02:31,550 --> 00:02:32,790 She was always Luna. 45 00:02:34,350 --> 00:02:37,250 Hi, my name is Van Heard, and my mom's Luna Vachon. 46 00:02:38,090 --> 00:02:41,950 Ever since I can remember, I was so young. The Mohawk. 47 00:02:42,220 --> 00:02:44,080 The bleached hair, the extensions. 48 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:50,280 Very, very soon, I will wipe you from this earth. 49 00:02:50,540 --> 00:02:54,380 It was nuts. Like, she would show up to my elementary school with a snake. 50 00:02:56,140 --> 00:02:59,960 I just remember she came to give me a hug, and that snake almost got me. 51 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,840 I was so embarrassed. 52 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:05,660 I hate to say it. I was. 53 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,100 But then it was just normal for me. 54 00:03:09,660 --> 00:03:10,700 That was my mom. 55 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,120 I definitely believe she loved wrestling more than she loved anything in life. 56 00:03:15,260 --> 00:03:19,700 Her passion truly was professional wrestling. Anything she's ever spoke to 57 00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:23,020 about in her deeper dark hours was pro wrestling. 58 00:03:23,660 --> 00:03:26,720 I'm David Heath, better known as Gang Girl. I've been a professional wrestler 59 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:27,740 for 34 years. 60 00:03:30,670 --> 00:03:34,170 The first time I met Luna Vachon was at a Florida Championship Wrestling show. 61 00:03:34,270 --> 00:03:38,570 She came in. She kicked the door open. She hollers in, fresh meat. She points 62 00:03:38,570 --> 00:03:40,070 me. I look around. I'm the only one there. 63 00:03:40,270 --> 00:03:43,710 And then she just slams the door and walks out. Now, you got a picture. This 64 00:03:43,710 --> 00:03:47,090 a girl with a little mohawk, blood all out of her nose. Her tongue's like, ah. 65 00:03:47,730 --> 00:03:50,110 You know, she's growling at me. So I was terrified. 66 00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:52,890 I didn't want anything to do with her after I met her that first time. 67 00:03:53,620 --> 00:03:58,360 But we became friends, so much so that we said, I would never date you. I would 68 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,560 never go out with somebody like you. She says, I would never go out with 69 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,800 somebody like you either. And I go, good, I'm glad we agree on that. And I 70 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:04,980 know, somewhere across the line. 71 00:04:06,380 --> 00:04:07,980 There's many faces to my mom. 72 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:14,060 Her real name was Gertrude, and she used to, like, tell me nightmare stories 73 00:04:14,060 --> 00:04:18,040 about how she had to stand in front of class and tell everybody her name was 74 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,140 Gertrude. And then when they found out that her dad and her uncles were the 75 00:04:22,140 --> 00:04:26,260 Vachons, and they were, like, some of the most hated tag teams ever. 76 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:34,300 Oh, the Vachon family are like wrestling royalty in Canada. 77 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:36,780 I'm Mick Foley. 78 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:39,500 often known as the hardcore legend. 79 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:46,940 Luna's uncle was Maurice Mad Dog Vachon. Her aunt was Vivian Vachon. 80 00:04:50,060 --> 00:04:52,740 Luna's father was Paul Butcher Vachon. 81 00:04:53,060 --> 00:04:58,620 All of the Vachons were, you know, odd in a beautiful type of way. 82 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,820 Brutal chop to the neck. So Butcher Paul Vachon had his moments. 83 00:05:03,140 --> 00:05:04,820 My name is Paul. 84 00:05:13,580 --> 00:05:19,660 Luna's origins with the Vachon family are rooted in a chance encounter 85 00:05:19,660 --> 00:05:23,040 a harrowing tragedy on December 18th, 1966. 86 00:05:33,790 --> 00:05:35,630 And I heard a gunshot. 87 00:05:35,950 --> 00:05:40,410 And at first, I opened the door, looked around, couldn't see anything. 88 00:05:41,410 --> 00:05:44,350 So I went back to sleep. 89 00:05:44,950 --> 00:05:49,490 The next morning, there was a knock at my door. 90 00:05:50,970 --> 00:05:57,550 And she said, the man that owned this motel shot himself. 91 00:05:57,570 --> 00:06:00,850 He was my husband. 92 00:06:02,380 --> 00:06:09,360 And I met her daughter, who was then four years old, who became 93 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:15,980 my daughter because I married the widow to Luna. I was the only 94 00:06:15,980 --> 00:06:17,840 father she ever knew. 95 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:23,860 Adopted into the Vashon dynasty, Luna is instantly enamored by her new family's 96 00:06:23,860 --> 00:06:24,860 celebrity status. 97 00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:29,640 My aunt was one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time. She was known as 98 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:30,640 the wrestling queen. 99 00:06:33,140 --> 00:06:39,740 I grew up going on the road and cleaning up the dressing room floor and helping 100 00:06:39,740 --> 00:06:46,340 her put the curlers in her hair. And that's all I wanted to do. She wanted 101 00:06:46,340 --> 00:06:52,560 nothing more than to join that kind of pantheon and, you know, carry on the 102 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:53,560 tradition. 103 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,780 They tried to talk her out of it. She did talk about how her family said, this 104 00:06:58,780 --> 00:07:03,940 is really a very hard industry for women, but there was no stopping her. 105 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:10,780 My name is Janine Mioset. I used to be known as Mad Maxine or Lady Maxine. 106 00:07:11,020 --> 00:07:16,360 Well, I'm 6 '2", and I've always been athletic, and I love costumes. 107 00:07:16,860 --> 00:07:21,520 I'm an extrovert. I thought, why not use what God gave me to, you know, really 108 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,520 make a splash? 109 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:24,860 I went out and got a Mohawk. 110 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,320 I think Moolah saw money in my Mohawk. 111 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,700 The latest protege of the fabulous Moolah. To train at Moolah's was like 112 00:07:35,820 --> 00:07:37,220 the equivalent of going to Harvard. 113 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:42,820 I mean, she was the place that women went to become professional women 114 00:07:42,820 --> 00:07:46,740 wrestlers. It is the fabulous Moolah. 115 00:07:47,290 --> 00:07:52,810 Also training with the fabulous Moolah, Mad Maxine meets the teenage Luna, whose 116 00:07:52,810 --> 00:07:55,990 sweet demeanor is worlds away from her alter ego. 117 00:07:56,390 --> 00:08:00,970 She looked like a baby face. She had this very cherubic, very sweet face. 118 00:08:01,390 --> 00:08:06,330 And when you would say, you should be a baby face, she would get so mad because 119 00:08:06,330 --> 00:08:09,810 all she ever wanted was to be like badass heel. 120 00:08:10,810 --> 00:08:16,150 I had a strong sense of trepidation because what I saw going on. 121 00:08:16,510 --> 00:08:23,250 At this camp, the young, underage trainees, the little lambs, as I think 122 00:08:23,250 --> 00:08:28,130 them, you know, the naive young women who thought they could trust Moolah, 123 00:08:28,170 --> 00:08:31,030 thought she was like a mother figure, but then she would take advantage. 124 00:08:31,350 --> 00:08:34,870 I've never really seen her afraid of anybody, but I know when Moolah would 125 00:08:34,870 --> 00:08:38,750 into a room, she would just shake and be super nervous and scared, like they've 126 00:08:38,750 --> 00:08:41,909 been beaten or something like that. So I know Moolah held a lot of power over 127 00:08:41,909 --> 00:08:42,799 her. 128 00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:45,560 Moola would say something like, you're sleeping with me tonight, hon, or 129 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:46,560 something like that. 130 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,140 So, you know, I just heard a lot of stories like that. 131 00:08:50,020 --> 00:08:56,860 She said that Moola had sent her out to this guy in the West, and 132 00:08:56,860 --> 00:09:00,580 the guy said he'd pay her $500 to take a photograph. 133 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,460 She didn't know that you can't just trust people. 134 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,460 And so she went out there. 135 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,660 The guy attacked her, tried to rape her. 136 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:12,500 She fought him off. 137 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,520 Obviously, you can't trust a person who's going to do that to a 16 -year 138 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,300 girl. It's just, it was appalling. 139 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:26,420 But she said, you know, Moolah's the only show in town. You've got to train 140 00:09:26,420 --> 00:09:28,080 her if you want to make it in the business. 141 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,500 Every girl that trained with her has a Moolah story of some sort. 142 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:36,960 My name is Kim Sachs. You might also know me as Penelope Paradise. 143 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,320 Or, better yet, the great and powerful, beautiful but very deadly Penelope 144 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:42,320 Paradise. 145 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:49,180 She had such high hopes, and she wanted so much. I mean, she wanted to be Hulk 146 00:09:49,180 --> 00:09:52,740 Hogan. She wanted to be, like, the best heel there was. 147 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:57,800 Luna leaves Moolah's camp behind to join championship wrestling from Florida, 148 00:09:57,940 --> 00:10:02,620 where Kevin Sullivan and his Army of Darkness are terrifying fans across the 149 00:10:02,620 --> 00:10:06,100 state. Kevin Sullivan had a great mind. 150 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:12,180 You had to be able to draw from the same city every single week, and you did 151 00:10:12,180 --> 00:10:13,980 that by getting them emotionally invested. 152 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,920 Characters had to be on almost 24 -7. 153 00:10:18,140 --> 00:10:21,180 I have done some horrible things in the past. 154 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:24,880 They were not afraid to get fans upset. 155 00:10:26,700 --> 00:10:27,840 Really upset. 156 00:10:28,700 --> 00:10:32,140 Evil and darkness has always prevailed. 157 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:38,340 I saw a face of fear. Kevin had Florida scared to death of him. Just, you know, 158 00:10:38,340 --> 00:10:40,700 Tampa was scared to death of him. 159 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:42,500 Pandemonium everywhere, baby. 160 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:47,560 And people thought that he was passing curses on to them, all this devil stuff, 161 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,560 and nobody had really seen anything like that. But people were legitimately 162 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:52,560 scared of him. 163 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:58,260 On behalf of Sports Review Magazine... In October of 1985, Luna makes her debut 164 00:10:58,260 --> 00:11:03,460 as an unassuming journalist, and her character quickly falls victim to the 165 00:11:03,460 --> 00:11:04,780 powers of Kevin Sullivan. 166 00:11:05,020 --> 00:11:09,800 Oh, my God. Oh, no, he just... My mom coming out as a reporter, and then Kevin 167 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:14,040 Sullivan came out and whacked her face, and all of a sudden she turned into 168 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:20,380 Luna. You know, he was... considered crazy and crazy and lunatic, but 169 00:11:20,380 --> 00:11:22,320 the same thing, so lunatic Luna. 170 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,360 And now Luna offered up everything to me. 171 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,860 She stripped herself of vanity. 172 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:37,280 You know, she shaved her head, and she put all these kind of veins on her face, 173 00:11:37,380 --> 00:11:42,160 and she interacted with the camera and with the fans in a way that was just 174 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:43,400 monstrous. 175 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:51,120 You know, it wasn't as though she went behind the curtains after her match and 176 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:56,520 then all of a sudden she's just, you know, Luna. She carried on the pretense 177 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,240 that this was who she actually was. 178 00:12:03,140 --> 00:12:04,980 Well, that's it for Coach's Corner. 179 00:12:05,550 --> 00:12:11,030 With her new career now taking off, Luna indulges in the extreme excesses of the 180 00:12:11,030 --> 00:12:15,190 era. It snowed every day in Miami in the 80s. It's basically what everyone said 181 00:12:15,190 --> 00:12:22,130 back then. If my memory serves me correctly, it was like Quaaludes and 182 00:12:22,130 --> 00:12:23,250 acid. 183 00:12:25,290 --> 00:12:28,370 She pushed every boundary she could come across. 184 00:12:28,750 --> 00:12:33,570 How can you take 100 pills a day? How do you even get 100 pills a day? 185 00:12:34,060 --> 00:12:39,860 She wanted everything to look like, you know, everything was beautiful and all 186 00:12:39,860 --> 00:12:44,320 roses. You knew it wasn't, but that's what she tried to portray to the best of 187 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:45,320 her ability. 188 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,760 I don't think it was a very easy childhood with her having her restless 189 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:54,260 the house. I mean, she's claimed to have been, you know, raped and stuff like 190 00:12:54,260 --> 00:12:59,960 that. I believe there was some inappropriate family relations, maybe. 191 00:13:01,730 --> 00:13:04,710 I didn't know Vivian at all. I never met her. 192 00:13:04,950 --> 00:13:06,530 She didn't talk about her very much. 193 00:13:06,890 --> 00:13:11,390 She just said that she was abused by her aunt, and she just kind of basically 194 00:13:11,390 --> 00:13:12,390 left it at that. 195 00:13:12,710 --> 00:13:15,610 She didn't want people to know that. 196 00:13:16,250 --> 00:13:19,570 Like a little girl can idolize. You want to do something, and you want to be 197 00:13:19,570 --> 00:13:22,730 like somebody, you idolize something, and people will use that against you, 198 00:13:22,730 --> 00:13:25,950 I think that very much happened to her. I wasn't there, so I didn't see it, but 199 00:13:25,950 --> 00:13:29,430 with my heart, I believe some of it, and I think probably set the path of the 200 00:13:29,430 --> 00:13:30,430 course for some of the... 201 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,880 self -destruction later on in life, what she called love, that wasn't really 202 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:34,880 love, you know. 203 00:13:35,420 --> 00:13:42,120 I don't think, knowing the family that she's from, that anybody would know 204 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:43,120 that. 205 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:45,900 I don't believe it. 206 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:58,660 Luna Vachon's deranged antics captivated audiences, but unknown to fans, her 207 00:13:58,660 --> 00:14:02,900 over -the -top persona was born from a lifelong struggle with mental health 208 00:14:02,900 --> 00:14:07,240 outside the ring. She was studied from Emory University since she was two years 209 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:11,420 old for depression and being bipolar and schizophrenia and stuff like that, 210 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,750 so... It was a roller coaster, hooptie -hoops and loopie -loops. Luna has this 211 00:14:15,750 --> 00:14:21,210 persona of being tough badass, but really, she was like the shyest person 212 00:14:21,210 --> 00:14:24,290 room. A lot of people call her Angele, or I call her Angele. 213 00:14:24,590 --> 00:14:28,470 I think that's what her dad would call her, because she hated Gertrude or 214 00:14:28,490 --> 00:14:29,429 you know? 215 00:14:29,430 --> 00:14:31,370 Give it 10 minutes, it's like the Florida weather. 216 00:14:31,610 --> 00:14:33,990 If she changed, she'd be some other personality. 217 00:14:34,250 --> 00:14:37,210 There was like Angel, Trudy, Angele, you know? 218 00:14:37,490 --> 00:14:38,550 And then there was Luna. 219 00:14:38,990 --> 00:14:41,530 She was chemically imbalanced. 220 00:14:42,410 --> 00:14:43,870 She was definitely bipolar. 221 00:14:44,570 --> 00:14:46,830 In her day -to -day life, you would call her Angel. 222 00:14:47,450 --> 00:14:50,910 And she spoke with this childlike voice. 223 00:14:51,370 --> 00:14:55,150 And then you could be hanging out with her, and she'd get a phone call, and 224 00:14:55,150 --> 00:14:59,070 they'd piss her off. And then all of a sudden, she's Luna, and she's crazy for 225 00:14:59,070 --> 00:15:00,070 the rest of the day. 226 00:15:00,550 --> 00:15:04,730 I mean, one time, we were in Tampa, and Luna and I had to share a room. 227 00:15:05,010 --> 00:15:07,130 And she got into a tangent. 228 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:09,780 You know, she just snapped for whatever reason. 229 00:15:10,020 --> 00:15:13,780 One thing led to another, and it's me and her from bed to bed. 230 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:15,520 Lamps are flying. 231 00:15:15,780 --> 00:15:17,620 You would think we were killing each other. 232 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,140 You know, and then now we got to go wrestle. 233 00:15:21,220 --> 00:15:26,820 Even no matter how mad you get, somebody can hold you and say, okay, you got to 234 00:15:26,820 --> 00:15:29,340 stop. And you couldn't do that with her. 235 00:15:29,820 --> 00:15:32,500 She would always make a joke like, oh, I better take my little blue pill. 236 00:15:32,900 --> 00:15:36,540 But she knew if she was really. 237 00:15:37,359 --> 00:15:40,620 wobbly, let's say. It would be probably difficult to be married to her. 238 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:45,660 Yeah. But, like, picking Dickie wasn't the best situation. 239 00:15:46,140 --> 00:15:47,340 Dirty Dick Slater. 240 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,720 I hear they call you Filthy Richard in parts unknown, but that's another story. 241 00:15:51,940 --> 00:15:53,200 That was my first stepdad. 242 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,900 I heard he used to beat my mom up. I never saw anything. 243 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:57,800 I never even really saw them fight. 244 00:15:58,320 --> 00:15:59,540 I never saw them fight. 245 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:04,180 Ever. I never saw him lay a hand on her. I saw her with bruises after the fact. 246 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,200 And I'm quite sure she did not give them to herself. 247 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,000 And when they split up, you know, I was like, okay, good. 248 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,000 You know, that's something that's out of her life. 249 00:16:12,300 --> 00:16:13,760 So I met her at Florida Championship Wrestling. 250 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:14,879 Terrified this woman. 251 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:15,880 Swore her off. Bloody no. 252 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:17,280 Scared to death. Fresh meat. 253 00:16:17,770 --> 00:16:20,810 So next thing you know, I'm tagging with a fellow named Tom Nash. We're doing a 254 00:16:20,810 --> 00:16:26,030 Blackheart thing. It turns out that Tom knew her from school. So then down the 255 00:16:26,030 --> 00:16:29,270 road, a month or two or down the road or something, he goes, hey, Luna called 256 00:16:29,270 --> 00:16:32,870 and she wants to go down to training with us. And I'm like, no, I don't want 257 00:16:32,870 --> 00:16:35,850 anything to do with her. But still, I don't know why. 258 00:16:36,070 --> 00:16:38,670 Whatever. The forces of the universe, the nature, whatever. 259 00:16:39,170 --> 00:16:42,490 We get in there. She's in the backseat. He's sitting over here. I'm driving. 260 00:16:42,870 --> 00:16:46,430 And then she crawls over and she starts hitting me. 261 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,940 Like, why don't you like me? Why don't you like me? And she's like, she rips my 262 00:16:49,940 --> 00:16:53,140 shirt off. And so I get to the house. The fellow's name's Rusty Brooks. He had 263 00:16:53,140 --> 00:16:54,140 ring in his backyard. 264 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,240 And out of nowhere, I don't know if she jumped off the top rope or where she 265 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,220 came from, but she latched down. 266 00:17:00,750 --> 00:17:04,490 and bit me in the middle of my back. She was on like a pit bull. I couldn't get 267 00:17:04,490 --> 00:17:08,550 her off. I mean, I'm like trying to reach. She's locked in there. So I end 268 00:17:08,550 --> 00:17:12,310 diving through the ropes, which breaks her off me. I got her against this tree. 269 00:17:13,710 --> 00:17:16,290 He's like, no, hey, that's Dick Slater's girl. 270 00:17:16,510 --> 00:17:18,390 I go, she's crazy. She's bit me. 271 00:17:28,749 --> 00:17:34,290 With Luna as their manager, Tom Nash and David Heath become fixtures on the 272 00:17:34,290 --> 00:17:36,890 independent wrestling circuit as the Blackhearts. 273 00:17:39,550 --> 00:17:46,430 Tom had a big crush on 274 00:17:46,430 --> 00:17:48,610 her. And the next thing you know, like... 275 00:17:49,070 --> 00:17:50,070 They were married. 276 00:17:50,150 --> 00:17:52,850 Daughter, he did. He had a daughter, and he did love her. He did love her. 277 00:17:53,170 --> 00:18:00,170 Tom Nash and my mom were married, and Tom used to go to work, and 278 00:18:00,170 --> 00:18:01,830 then Dave used to show up. 279 00:18:02,230 --> 00:18:04,090 So that's some shady shit right there. 280 00:18:04,410 --> 00:18:08,350 They got in a few fights, and then he accused me of being with her, and he 281 00:18:08,350 --> 00:18:10,030 started talking a lot of stuff. 282 00:18:10,470 --> 00:18:15,050 I know you guys are together, this and this and that, and then he swung on me, 283 00:18:15,090 --> 00:18:16,090 and then I snapped. 284 00:18:16,670 --> 00:18:19,610 I feel really bad. I puked in the bathroom the next day at the airport 285 00:18:19,610 --> 00:18:20,610 saw what I could do to somebody. 286 00:18:20,830 --> 00:18:25,390 The fallout from the fight breaks up the Blackhearts, and shortly after, Luna's 287 00:18:25,390 --> 00:18:30,190 brief marriage to Tom Nash also comes to an end. I look at her as this 288 00:18:30,190 --> 00:18:33,690 wildflower on a side road. You ever see a beautiful wildflower that's just blown 289 00:18:33,690 --> 00:18:34,489 in the wind? 290 00:18:34,490 --> 00:18:37,430 If you pick it and you cage it, it's going to die, you know? 291 00:18:37,690 --> 00:18:41,130 So you just should admire it from afar for the beauty it is. 292 00:18:41,590 --> 00:18:45,290 She was a beautiful person, and she had a lot, a lot of love in her. She just 293 00:18:45,290 --> 00:18:47,850 wanted to be loved and was so misunderstood, you know, so. 294 00:18:48,330 --> 00:18:49,330 So where was the wedding? 295 00:18:49,830 --> 00:18:53,630 It was great. It was through the Halloween, so I wrestled a steel cage 296 00:18:53,630 --> 00:18:54,629 that night. 297 00:18:54,630 --> 00:18:57,510 Came home right at midnight, and then we got married. 298 00:18:58,190 --> 00:19:00,830 Yeah, instead of wedding rings, we got vampire bites, yeah. 299 00:19:02,610 --> 00:19:03,610 Then I got her here. 300 00:19:04,790 --> 00:19:08,750 Put it on my drinking hand, so. 301 00:19:10,250 --> 00:19:12,350 I remember not to drink too much so she wouldn't kill me. 302 00:19:15,810 --> 00:19:20,530 The newlyweds performed together across the globe with an eye to eventually 303 00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:23,050 breaking into the World Wrestling Federation. 304 00:19:23,570 --> 00:19:25,370 She was sending stuff in for me to get booked. 305 00:19:26,810 --> 00:19:30,230 She was sending my stuff from Puerto Rico that had me and her in it, and then 306 00:19:30,230 --> 00:19:34,390 she got hired. And I'm not going to lie, I was like jealous and stuff like that. 307 00:19:34,530 --> 00:19:37,550 I was like, aw, but I was super, super happy for her at the same time. 308 00:19:38,860 --> 00:19:40,820 On April 4th, 1993, 309 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:47,040 Luna's dreams would come true as she debuts in the WWF on wrestling's 310 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:48,280 stage, WrestleMania. 311 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,460 You're watching WrestleMania, and all of a sudden your mom's coming out with 312 00:19:51,460 --> 00:19:57,680 Shawn Michaels, and they're in Caesar's Palace, they're outside, and then her 313 00:19:57,680 --> 00:19:59,700 and Sherry Martel get into it. 314 00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:09,100 I was like, oh, my goodness. 315 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,180 She did it. She did it. 316 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,360 That was her dream, and there she is. 317 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:19,480 She was the first female ever to be on a video game. The game is called WWF Raw. 318 00:20:21,660 --> 00:20:24,540 We got that whole console just for that game. 319 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:31,900 And I, Luna Bison, I will be the goddess of the 320 00:20:31,900 --> 00:20:33,720 square circle. 321 00:20:36,810 --> 00:20:40,390 All you're doing is trying to make it as a wrestler. And then if you put in all 322 00:20:40,390 --> 00:20:44,770 the extracurriculars, like the drugs, the depression and the bipolar, it just 323 00:20:44,770 --> 00:20:48,110 keeps, it fades, it's run into days, it keeps going fast. Next thing you know, 324 00:20:48,230 --> 00:20:49,230 it's gone. 325 00:20:55,730 --> 00:21:00,590 After 15 years of self -sacrifice and struggling in the independent 326 00:21:01,130 --> 00:21:05,630 Luna Vachon finally reaches the pinnacle of the wrestling world. Luna Vachon! 327 00:21:06,140 --> 00:21:11,680 I'd see her a little bit, sometimes once a year, once or twice a year. She was 328 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,900 grinding. She was on the road. I was with my grandma. 329 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,160 A lot of girls didn't have children. A lot of the girls did not have children 330 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:22,980 because, or they had them very late after their careers were over. 331 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,860 Because, I mean, you can't. She lived in this little pink 1950s trailer that had 332 00:21:29,860 --> 00:21:31,940 like this porch addition to it. 333 00:21:32,300 --> 00:21:37,040 I knocked on her door, and she had obviously been crying. Her eyes were all 334 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,200 swollen. And I asked her what was wrong, and she said it was one of her son's 335 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,880 birthday. And I didn't even know she had kids until that point. She did not talk 336 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:46,880 about her kids mostly. 337 00:21:47,140 --> 00:21:48,500 My mom hit the road. 338 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,160 She had a dream, and she went and did it. 339 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:58,920 This man makes me hot. 340 00:22:01,550 --> 00:22:07,210 A few months later, Luna is paired with WWF star Bam Bam Bigelow. While she is 341 00:22:07,210 --> 00:22:12,230 regularly appearing on national television, Luna rarely gets to showcase 342 00:22:12,230 --> 00:22:13,189 -ring skills. 343 00:22:13,190 --> 00:22:19,830 At that time, there just wasn't a lot of emphasis on women's wrestling in WWE or 344 00:22:19,830 --> 00:22:21,070 in the United States as a whole. 345 00:22:21,530 --> 00:22:27,670 So the women who were really talented in the ring were often utilized 346 00:22:27,670 --> 00:22:30,710 as managers. 347 00:22:31,740 --> 00:22:35,880 Luna was a real wrestler. She was a hardcore, real wrestler, and she should 348 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,280 never have been relegated to ballet savvy. 349 00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:43,080 I mean, we had five to six girls on a roster. That was our roster back in the 350 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:44,080 day in the Federation. 351 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:45,840 Really? 352 00:22:46,180 --> 00:22:51,080 Hi, my name is Debra. Otherwise, my wrestling fans know me as Medusa. 353 00:22:52,340 --> 00:22:56,620 There really wasn't a women's division. 354 00:22:57,260 --> 00:23:01,500 There wasn't anything they did really well with the women. It was a men's 355 00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:07,340 committee, just men at a round table, circle jerking, not knowing what to do 356 00:23:07,340 --> 00:23:07,979 with women. 357 00:23:07,980 --> 00:23:14,100 Why don't we have our names on the freaking paper or the marquee? And it 358 00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:15,960 -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da, and more. 359 00:23:17,220 --> 00:23:19,100 We were and more half the time. 360 00:23:19,420 --> 00:23:23,580 It really pissed us off. Luna and I did not like that at all. 361 00:23:24,030 --> 00:23:29,510 The thing has always been the girls have to work 100 % harder to just get 10 % 362 00:23:29,510 --> 00:23:30,509 of the recognition. 363 00:23:30,510 --> 00:23:34,310 90 % of the guys were perfect gentlemen. They were fine. 364 00:23:34,610 --> 00:23:38,530 There's always that 10%. There's always one or two in the dressing room that's 365 00:23:38,530 --> 00:23:39,530 got to be a smart ass. 366 00:23:39,670 --> 00:23:43,010 And, you know, Luna would go around going, Mike is bigger than you. 367 00:23:43,730 --> 00:23:46,850 You know, those were things that she did. 368 00:23:47,050 --> 00:23:50,470 I remember being in Canada and we were wrestling. 369 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,760 And I said, Luna, you know, at this point, I don't give a shit. Let me drop 370 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:56,760 belt to you. 371 00:23:56,900 --> 00:24:01,320 She was like, I can't do that, man. I can't. I said, yeah, I'm going to drop 372 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:02,320 belt. What are they going to do? 373 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,000 Fire me? Okay. 374 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:10,000 Whatever. I am just so sick of them not doing anything further with us women, 375 00:24:10,060 --> 00:24:11,180 and especially you. 376 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:17,220 And they don't have the audacity just one time in Canada, of all places, won't 377 00:24:17,220 --> 00:24:18,400 even drop you the belt? 378 00:24:18,820 --> 00:24:23,250 Really? I said, let's go. When we go home, we go bada -bing, bada -boom, 379 00:24:23,250 --> 00:24:23,889 the comeback. 380 00:24:23,890 --> 00:24:26,290 Quick, you know, roll me at one, two, three. 381 00:24:27,610 --> 00:24:31,330 She goes, are you serious? You'd do that for me? I said, yes, let's do it. 382 00:24:31,710 --> 00:24:33,610 I will lay down and give you the belt. 383 00:24:33,810 --> 00:24:39,410 And she just, like, lost it. She was crying, and she's like, I can't do it. I 384 00:24:39,410 --> 00:24:42,750 won't do it. I won't let them fire you over something like this. 385 00:24:43,050 --> 00:24:46,410 I remember I was just laying getting there for the three count. 386 00:24:46,990 --> 00:24:51,150 She pulled me up and wouldn't do it, and I'm like, just do it. 387 00:24:51,390 --> 00:24:52,510 She wouldn't do it. 388 00:24:53,210 --> 00:24:54,210 I tried. 389 00:24:54,490 --> 00:24:57,830 She never, ever had the belt. She never had the title there. 390 00:25:00,830 --> 00:25:05,790 Frustrated over the lack of opportunity for female wrestlers, Luna forges a bond 391 00:25:05,790 --> 00:25:10,750 with Sherri Martell, another skilled wrestler downgraded to manager status. 392 00:25:11,190 --> 00:25:14,150 I stand just like any other good woman, Mean Jean. 393 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,000 I'm going to stand right by my man. 394 00:25:17,340 --> 00:25:18,340 Sherry, let's go. 395 00:25:18,700 --> 00:25:19,559 Yes, sir. 396 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:20,560 On her way. 397 00:25:20,620 --> 00:25:23,780 Sensational Sherry. She loved Sherry. She loved Sherry to death. 398 00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:26,020 They were friends. They traveled together. 399 00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:29,320 They were as thick as thieves. 400 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,620 They would come home like Luna would be asleep for like three days. 401 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,320 I could poke a stick at her like, what's going on here? 402 00:25:39,900 --> 00:25:43,140 I knew nothing about pills or plasters or anything like that. 403 00:25:45,370 --> 00:25:49,230 So when I found out, like, she was taking these pills and they were sharing 404 00:25:49,230 --> 00:25:50,770 that, I confronted her. It didn't go well. 405 00:25:51,850 --> 00:25:55,790 I didn't think it was her darkest times. My personal opinion was she was out of 406 00:25:55,790 --> 00:26:01,590 control, like, beyond, like, like, could have, you know, died. It was, like, 407 00:26:01,590 --> 00:26:02,590 just that bad. 408 00:26:02,750 --> 00:26:07,290 Luna could have been right there at the top, you know, and there's no reason she 409 00:26:07,290 --> 00:26:08,290 couldn't have. 410 00:26:08,330 --> 00:26:11,750 It's just between the mental... 411 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,680 deficiencies of whatever it was that she had and the drugs. 412 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:20,180 They put me in rehab because I was drinking. 413 00:26:20,460 --> 00:26:24,380 And then when I got to rehab, they fired me. 414 00:26:24,620 --> 00:26:28,840 Their excuse was, they said, it's for our own good. They were always worried 415 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,600 about her mental health. You know, they said it's for our own good. 416 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,240 Is there any positive stuff that you learned from growing up like this? 417 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,840 Yeah, don't do drugs. 418 00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:40,500 For real. 419 00:26:41,230 --> 00:26:48,130 She probably chose her extracurricular activity and is a drug because of 420 00:26:48,130 --> 00:26:49,210 wanting just to forget. 421 00:26:49,850 --> 00:26:51,170 And it's like a facade. 422 00:26:51,810 --> 00:26:57,850 Sometimes you get so soaked up and just caught up into it all and you get lost. 423 00:26:58,430 --> 00:27:00,670 And she always would try to kill herself. 424 00:27:01,170 --> 00:27:02,590 She did it a couple times. 425 00:27:02,970 --> 00:27:05,750 You ever see her wrist there? Big scars. 426 00:27:06,290 --> 00:27:08,870 Weird. Like, you look at your mom like, why'd you do that? 427 00:27:09,090 --> 00:27:10,090 You know what I mean? 428 00:27:10,430 --> 00:27:11,430 Why would you do that? 429 00:27:17,590 --> 00:27:22,650 Despite her personal struggles, Luna Vachon is recommended to burgeoning 430 00:27:22,650 --> 00:27:28,630 promotion ECW by her longtime friend Nancy Sullivan, a .k .a. Woman. 431 00:27:29,170 --> 00:27:34,890 The ECW fans really embraced Luna. They had a way of seeing through the 432 00:27:34,890 --> 00:27:37,130 imposters and spotting the real deals. 433 00:27:38,170 --> 00:27:43,390 saw in her somebody that they could invest in emotionally, who could mix it 434 00:27:43,390 --> 00:27:44,289 with the guys. 435 00:27:44,290 --> 00:27:48,090 And no one doubted that she could kick Stevie Richards ass. 436 00:27:48,390 --> 00:27:50,290 And here comes Luda. 437 00:27:51,430 --> 00:27:54,670 She was the queen of extreme. That was no bullshit. 438 00:27:55,310 --> 00:27:56,690 She was in her element. 439 00:27:58,670 --> 00:28:02,630 And Richards face first into the steel again. 440 00:28:04,940 --> 00:28:09,680 She had a lot of fun being a woman versus a man in a cage and being the 441 00:28:09,740 --> 00:28:13,540 She liked being the first at a lot of things and pushing the barriers and 442 00:28:13,540 --> 00:28:14,540 like that. 443 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:19,320 I 444 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:26,420 love 445 00:28:26,420 --> 00:28:29,020 teaming up with Luna. There's a photo of us like... 446 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,740 holding on to a steel cage and snarling. She could go anywhere in the world, and 447 00:28:33,740 --> 00:28:39,020 she could entertain, and she could hold her own with anyone, and I'm including 448 00:28:39,020 --> 00:28:40,660 the men when I say anyone. 449 00:28:42,980 --> 00:28:49,680 In the late 90s, the WWF's shift to 450 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:54,160 increasingly provocative storylines would see Luna Vachon as a perfect 451 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,100 to the roster, and she eventually rejoins the company. 452 00:28:57,710 --> 00:29:01,510 However, she's once again assigned a supporting role. 453 00:29:01,810 --> 00:29:07,650 Now, just to have women in valets and stuff like that being stifled and not 454 00:29:07,650 --> 00:29:10,470 being able to work, it would piss me off. 455 00:29:10,810 --> 00:29:13,770 You'd want to wrestle when you're a wrestler, right? 456 00:29:13,990 --> 00:29:19,030 While Luna's pairing with Goldust eventually leads her back into the ring, 457 00:29:19,030 --> 00:29:22,210 clashes with the WWF's new direction for women's wrestling. 458 00:29:22,650 --> 00:29:27,710 To make matters worse, Luna is set to lose a high -profile match to Sable, a 459 00:29:27,710 --> 00:29:32,150 model groomed for wrestling superstardom who has no experience in the ring. 460 00:29:32,690 --> 00:29:33,690 Luna! 461 00:29:33,970 --> 00:29:35,390 You little bitch! 462 00:29:36,410 --> 00:29:42,810 She said, I don't have to learn to take bumps because Vince has told me I'm 463 00:29:42,810 --> 00:29:44,130 going to be the women's champion. 464 00:29:45,090 --> 00:29:46,110 Shut up, I'm reading! 465 00:29:46,310 --> 00:29:49,370 The way my psyche felt at that point. 466 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,660 Knowing the dues I had paid, how my family had stopped talking to me because 467 00:29:54,660 --> 00:29:59,920 wanted to be a lady in this business. My children were growing up without me. I 468 00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:01,640 was growing up without them. 469 00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:03,860 All for wrestling. 470 00:30:04,340 --> 00:30:05,620 It tore me apart. 471 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:07,280 Sable wasn't a wrestler. 472 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,700 And Sable was a beautiful woman. I mean, she probably still is. I don't know. 473 00:30:10,780 --> 00:30:14,420 But, you know, she didn't want to walk around with a scratch or a scar or a 474 00:30:14,420 --> 00:30:17,560 bruise or anything like that. That wasn't what her gimmick was. 475 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:23,480 At WrestleMania 14, Luna succeeds in making Fable appear as a future women's 476 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,240 champion. And now let's get it on. 477 00:30:25,860 --> 00:30:27,920 Fable, let's take that. Here we go. 478 00:30:29,180 --> 00:30:33,740 Now we're talking WrestleMania. This is the Super Bowl of wrestling. 479 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:39,340 I was told by Vince McMahon, by Bruce, you're scratch driving people. 480 00:30:43,820 --> 00:30:49,420 There's an enormous amount of pressure that goes into having a match with 481 00:30:49,420 --> 00:30:51,980 somebody who is relatively inexperienced. 482 00:30:55,520 --> 00:31:02,260 And so when you take a veteran like Luna, you are basically 483 00:31:02,260 --> 00:31:08,060 saying, we trust you to make this person look the very best they can. 484 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,060 She gets through the match and everything. 485 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,320 And Luna's, like, super stoked that she got it through, happy for the girl, you 486 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:21,640 know, come back happy for her. 487 00:31:22,900 --> 00:31:28,300 Luna comes back in, and she sees a man there, and they're clapping. She thinks 488 00:31:28,300 --> 00:31:31,880 that they're clapping at her and telling her, great job, gal, you did it, you 489 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:32,479 get it. 490 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,900 They were looking over. It was Sable behind them. 491 00:31:36,140 --> 00:31:40,000 I passed by, and nobody said thank you, kissed my ass, or sucked my dick. 492 00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:46,340 You know, I tried talking to her, I don't know what's wrong, and she just 493 00:31:46,340 --> 00:31:47,299 down in tears. 494 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:50,840 Nobody appreciates what I did. It hurt her. You know, she wanted to be 495 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,340 acknowledged for being something other than strange. 496 00:31:54,060 --> 00:31:57,400 She wanted to be acknowledged for what she could do in the ring. And on that 497 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:01,420 night, you know, we call it the grandest stage of them all, they had this barn 498 00:32:01,420 --> 00:32:08,400 burner of a match, and it really hurt her that she was not noticed for it. 499 00:32:09,650 --> 00:32:12,750 Sonny came to Luna. And I think Sonny came to Luna in a nice way. She was 500 00:32:12,850 --> 00:32:14,190 oh, don't worry about it. And she's like, ah. 501 00:32:14,830 --> 00:32:18,330 She said, get away from me. And then Sonny wouldn't get away from her. So I 502 00:32:18,330 --> 00:32:22,610 remember she just came up through her box and put her into a production box 503 00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:24,870 just kept hitting her on top of the head saying, I'm not punching her face. I'm 504 00:32:24,870 --> 00:32:25,870 not punching her face. 505 00:32:26,170 --> 00:32:28,250 Because she knew if she hit Sonny in the face, she'd be fired. 506 00:32:29,270 --> 00:32:32,710 Poor Sonny never knew what hit her. Yeah, it was kind of crazy. 507 00:32:33,150 --> 00:32:36,630 But it was just Luna being really hurt and lashing out. 508 00:32:37,050 --> 00:32:40,450 Nobody talked about mental health, but, like, at the same time, that was her 509 00:32:40,450 --> 00:32:43,150 gimmick, too. So, like, it wasn't a show. 510 00:32:43,630 --> 00:32:47,370 I can tell you it wasn't. I think it was all the same. 511 00:32:47,730 --> 00:32:50,930 There was no line. It was blurred lines, you know? 512 00:32:51,790 --> 00:32:54,370 Luna, Angel, Trudy, Mom. 513 00:32:55,390 --> 00:32:57,090 No one spoke about that shit. 514 00:32:57,430 --> 00:33:01,070 You know what I mean? About people's mental illness or whatever. 515 00:33:01,330 --> 00:33:04,090 They saw and they were scared and they just didn't. 516 00:33:04,670 --> 00:33:05,670 That was it. 517 00:33:06,090 --> 00:33:11,310 Her just being not accepted in this business to a level where she thought 518 00:33:11,310 --> 00:33:17,990 deserved it because of her skills and as a worker and what she brought 519 00:33:17,990 --> 00:33:18,990 to this business. 520 00:33:31,530 --> 00:33:35,950 WWF's creative direction for women's wrestling is increasingly at odds with 521 00:33:35,950 --> 00:33:41,130 Luna's desire to showcase her in -ring prowess, making a final showdown with 522 00:33:41,130 --> 00:33:42,730 Vince McMahon inevitable. 523 00:33:43,290 --> 00:33:46,730 When the Attitude Era started, it was just all sexuality. 524 00:33:47,130 --> 00:33:50,850 I couldn't believe even Luna was putting up with that shit, really, because she 525 00:33:50,850 --> 00:33:52,130 was so old school like me. 526 00:33:52,430 --> 00:33:56,610 She definitely felt pressured. She didn't feel pretty, you know? 527 00:33:57,300 --> 00:34:00,660 Now you got models around you. It can't, it can't feel good. 528 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:08,780 They want a lunar to take her top off. And she said, you spent all these years 529 00:34:08,780 --> 00:34:12,300 making me ugly and be ugly. And now you're asking me to, and she's, she's 530 00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,239 up the vents in front of everybody. I guess what you see is what you get. 531 00:34:15,460 --> 00:34:16,460 Okay. 532 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,940 You're asking my opinion. I don't know. They didn't fire out now for refusing to 533 00:34:20,940 --> 00:34:23,820 take that off and standing up to him. I think it waited like a week or two. And 534 00:34:23,820 --> 00:34:25,500 then they use that as the excuse to fire. 535 00:34:26,010 --> 00:34:31,070 After a number of backstage incidents and escalating erratic behavior, Luna is 536 00:34:31,070 --> 00:34:34,070 released from the WWF for the final time. 537 00:34:52,029 --> 00:34:57,950 And it had nothing to do with the money. It just had to do with me really caring 538 00:34:57,950 --> 00:35:01,910 about this business and caring about women in this business and seeing that, 539 00:35:02,010 --> 00:35:03,970 wanting it to be different. 540 00:35:05,770 --> 00:35:09,130 When she got fired, when we came home, she said, I'm in the bedroom, vampire. 541 00:35:09,790 --> 00:35:13,010 I actually just shook my head and kind of laughed when I seen this. So cocaine, 542 00:35:13,490 --> 00:35:15,730 she had written out, you, Vince. 543 00:35:16,770 --> 00:35:17,770 And she goes, what? 544 00:35:17,870 --> 00:35:20,450 And she just started like, I'm like, oh, and then it was just. 545 00:35:21,089 --> 00:35:22,089 downhill after that. 546 00:35:23,930 --> 00:35:29,270 I mean, an easy night, an easygoing night could be, I don't know, a couple 547 00:35:29,270 --> 00:35:30,930 eight balls, ten hits of ecstasy. 548 00:35:31,410 --> 00:35:32,410 Yeah. 549 00:35:33,050 --> 00:35:38,070 I didn't understand her need to, like, got to have more, got to have, like, I 550 00:35:38,070 --> 00:35:40,870 got to get more, let's go get more. I'd be like, no, you know. 551 00:35:42,490 --> 00:35:44,390 That's ultimately what drove us apart. 552 00:35:46,390 --> 00:35:48,450 He was smart enough to get out. 553 00:35:48,990 --> 00:35:50,330 That's how bad it was, yeah. 554 00:35:50,810 --> 00:35:54,770 I remember him telling me that, that he didn't have a choice. 555 00:35:54,990 --> 00:35:55,990 He had to. 556 00:35:56,570 --> 00:35:58,030 Otherwise, they'd both be dead. 557 00:35:58,690 --> 00:36:01,110 When we talked, she would talk about getting back together sometimes. 558 00:36:01,370 --> 00:36:05,970 I said, we can't. So then I think what I did is I ran away as far as I could to 559 00:36:05,970 --> 00:36:10,430 California. Unfortunately, I got married, and it wasn't the right thing 560 00:36:10,430 --> 00:36:13,790 just went and did everything I could not to come back. 561 00:36:15,210 --> 00:36:18,310 She was in a lull, and she was, like, trying to be... 562 00:36:18,670 --> 00:36:23,130 normal she didn't she wasn't wrestling she was a waitress and there was a time 563 00:36:23,130 --> 00:36:27,770 luna showed up at my house she like is beating on the door i opened the door 564 00:36:27,770 --> 00:36:30,890 runs past me and she's got a gun in her hand i don't know where she got the gun 565 00:36:30,890 --> 00:36:34,210 i don't know what you know is somebody chasing you what you know and she's just 566 00:36:34,210 --> 00:36:38,510 talking crazy i had to get the gun away from her and and i still never knew what 567 00:36:38,510 --> 00:36:43,030 happened but she was frantic and she was crazy you know so i could never have 568 00:36:43,030 --> 00:36:47,830 anything like that around my kids I was like, Luna, you know, I got these kids 569 00:36:47,830 --> 00:36:51,910 and I mean, I'm not going to beat around the bush. I said, I can't. 570 00:36:52,130 --> 00:36:55,890 You're not stable enough that I was like, it's just not going to work. 571 00:36:57,850 --> 00:37:01,090 She wasn't in control of her entire life. 572 00:37:01,790 --> 00:37:07,470 And so there's this real feeling of gratification that comes from being able 573 00:37:07,470 --> 00:37:09,510 hold a crowd in the palm of your hand. 574 00:37:11,390 --> 00:37:13,950 Like, maybe you don't have it all together. 575 00:37:14,570 --> 00:37:19,050 the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, but for that 15 minutes you're in 576 00:37:19,050 --> 00:37:21,370 the ring, you are completely in control. 577 00:37:21,630 --> 00:37:23,090 And that's a powerful feeling. 578 00:37:25,350 --> 00:37:30,450 The biggest challenge that all of us who love it face is trying to find 579 00:37:30,450 --> 00:37:35,730 something that makes us feel the way we felt when we were in the ring. 580 00:37:36,350 --> 00:37:40,570 And I don't know if Luna ever found that thing. 581 00:37:40,850 --> 00:37:43,790 How did your relationship with your mom change after she left wrestling? 582 00:37:44,410 --> 00:37:48,390 We didn't talk that much because I was in culinary school. 583 00:37:48,950 --> 00:37:50,870 I was in Texas. She was in Florida. 584 00:37:52,410 --> 00:37:58,730 I remember her driving a tow truck. She was hanging out with these bikers, 585 00:37:58,790 --> 00:38:00,610 outlaw bikers. I don't know why. 586 00:38:01,290 --> 00:38:04,950 She never even met my daughter because I don't think she thought she was good 587 00:38:04,950 --> 00:38:07,210 enough. That's that mental illness, you know. 588 00:38:14,380 --> 00:38:20,520 I talked to Luna for a final time just a few weeks before she left us. I was so 589 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,060 surprised because she told me she was in a good place. 590 00:38:24,060 --> 00:38:25,660 It came as a shock. 591 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,160 How did you find out she passed away? 592 00:38:29,220 --> 00:38:36,180 I was flying to do a chef dinner in Ohio from Connecticut, and 593 00:38:36,180 --> 00:38:41,900 my grandma called and said that my mom had... 594 00:38:42,110 --> 00:38:43,810 She had just found my mom dead. 595 00:38:44,910 --> 00:38:46,990 That had been a rough time for her. 596 00:38:47,650 --> 00:38:51,110 You never want to see your kids, you know, die before you do. 597 00:38:52,150 --> 00:38:58,090 I heard she choked, but then I also heard it was an overdose, the wrong mix 598 00:38:58,090 --> 00:38:59,090 things. 599 00:38:59,130 --> 00:39:02,110 It could have been either one, honestly. I don't really care. 600 00:39:03,050 --> 00:39:07,890 She's not here anymore. That sucks, you know. I don't really care how she died. 601 00:39:08,670 --> 00:39:11,050 On August 27, 2010, 602 00:39:11,850 --> 00:39:16,670 Luna Vachon's battles with addiction and mental illness finally come to an end. 603 00:39:16,870 --> 00:39:22,390 You know, the thing is to really 604 00:39:22,390 --> 00:39:27,870 love people and understand them while they are alive. 605 00:39:28,590 --> 00:39:30,590 Nobody survives this world. 606 00:39:30,870 --> 00:39:35,430 We've lost so many people in this business. You know, not just from drugs 607 00:39:35,430 --> 00:39:39,210 pills and steroids, but I mean from mental health, from just... 608 00:39:40,590 --> 00:39:47,370 I truly believe that there could have been a lot of help for a lot of talent 609 00:39:47,370 --> 00:39:48,550 in our business. 610 00:39:48,910 --> 00:39:51,810 We need to do better as an industry. 611 00:39:52,670 --> 00:39:56,210 I remember just my heart aching. 612 00:39:56,530 --> 00:39:58,830 You know, I was really hurting. 613 00:39:59,390 --> 00:40:02,110 I really adored her. 614 00:40:02,790 --> 00:40:09,170 I thought that her family and her fans would appreciate a eulogy of sorts. 615 00:40:09,710 --> 00:40:13,470 And so I'd like to read this a little bit if I could. 616 00:40:13,990 --> 00:40:18,970 I said, in a world full of butterflies, it took balls to be a caterpillar. 617 00:40:19,990 --> 00:40:24,390 I love that quote from Luna. And in a way, I can't help but hope that this 618 00:40:24,390 --> 00:40:28,990 was but a chrysalis of thoughts for her, that for a woman who never seemed 619 00:40:28,990 --> 00:40:33,410 completely comfortable in her own skin, this life was just a prelude to becoming 620 00:40:33,410 --> 00:40:36,550 the beautiful butterfly God always meant for her to be. 621 00:40:37,190 --> 00:40:39,730 But that would be too easy and so anti -Luna. 622 00:40:40,310 --> 00:40:43,030 There are enough beautiful butterflies out there already. 623 00:40:43,770 --> 00:40:47,310 Maybe we should be able to appreciate the beauty of the caterpillar without 624 00:40:47,310 --> 00:40:49,950 needing or wanting it to change for our viewing pleasure. 625 00:40:51,170 --> 00:40:53,470 Maybe Luna was perfect just as she was. 626 00:40:54,770 --> 00:40:57,450 Maybe she was exactly who she was supposed to be. 627 00:40:59,230 --> 00:41:02,350 She never thought she was pretty enough to be with us. She never saw herself as 628 00:41:02,350 --> 00:41:04,710 beautiful. If you look at her eyes, they're green. She had the most 629 00:41:04,710 --> 00:41:08,290 eyes. If you looked into him, you know, but people just seen this loner. They 630 00:41:08,290 --> 00:41:12,950 see this character and this, this persona, but they never seen Trudy or 631 00:41:12,950 --> 00:41:16,190 or, you know, looked in there and seen the innocence. It's really in there. The 632 00:41:16,190 --> 00:41:17,190 innocence lost. 633 00:41:18,670 --> 00:41:20,830 People say, how did you stay together so long? And then. 634 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,300 And then I go, if you really want me to be honest, I was just worried nobody 635 00:41:24,300 --> 00:41:27,600 else could even take care of her. I love her so much, but, like, should we have 636 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:29,280 been together that long? No. 637 00:41:29,540 --> 00:41:33,260 Were we self -destructive and explosive and everything? 638 00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:40,280 Yes. But I feel a lot of guilt for her passing, you know, and, like, I feel 639 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,380 I wasn't there to take care of her. Like, you know, maybe it was selfish on 640 00:41:43,380 --> 00:41:46,840 end. It probably was selfish, but I don't think we're both going to make it. 641 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:48,440 would have both ended up in a dark fate. 642 00:41:49,770 --> 00:41:53,090 And I'm sorry. I'm totally sorry for that too because I miss her. 643 00:41:53,790 --> 00:41:55,930 I'm sorry for being selfish like that. 644 00:41:57,910 --> 00:42:03,430 To not have a funeral, I think that was one of the hardest things for me 645 00:42:03,430 --> 00:42:05,470 to accept. 646 00:42:06,810 --> 00:42:13,750 When Luna passed, if it was Luna's choice, she would have had like a team 647 00:42:13,750 --> 00:42:14,910 of Harley Davidsons. 648 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:20,760 Pulling down the streets of Tampa with her casket and, you know, firecrackers 649 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:25,200 and fireworks and sparklers shooting out of it. And everybody would know, you 650 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,340 know, they were all going to come see her final hurrah. 651 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:31,900 No, she wouldn't have wanted that. 652 00:42:32,820 --> 00:42:34,820 That's not her style. She was private. 653 00:42:35,260 --> 00:42:36,620 She wanted to be left alone. 654 00:42:37,140 --> 00:42:38,140 She was good. 655 00:42:39,340 --> 00:42:40,340 Any regrets? 656 00:42:41,100 --> 00:42:45,380 Well, I wish that I would have changed things for women more. 657 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:51,200 I regret that I gave up my family and didn't get what I wanted the most, and 658 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:57,840 that was the WWF Women's title, which I guess basically isn't all that I 659 00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:58,840 thought it was. 660 00:42:58,900 --> 00:43:03,300 Luna would have loved today's women's wrestling environment. She would have 661 00:43:03,300 --> 00:43:04,580 loved the physicality. 662 00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:12,840 She would have loved that she would get to work with some of the best wrestlers 663 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,300 in the world on a nightly basis. 664 00:43:14,780 --> 00:43:19,820 Yeah, I think she'd be really happy to know how far women's wrestling has come. 665 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:27,380 She was such a colorful character. She added so much to everything she was part 666 00:43:27,380 --> 00:43:30,840 of. And she was great in the ring. There's nobody like her. 667 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,160 She's original, that's for sure. 668 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:40,360 If Luna were here today and she was talking to you, like if she was behind 669 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:44,500 shoulder with her hands on my shoulder, she would look into the camera and go, 670 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,320 What the f*** is wrong with you? 671 00:43:47,700 --> 00:43:53,140 Why did you wait till I was dead before you did anything about me? I should have 672 00:43:53,140 --> 00:43:54,300 had this done when I was alive. 673 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:57,840 You could have come over and you could have talked to me. You wouldn't have 674 00:43:57,840 --> 00:43:59,300 little bitch imitating me. 675 00:44:00,500 --> 00:44:01,500 That's what she would have said.