Victoria Retires on Smackdown

On the Friday night Smackdown which aired 1/16/09, longtime WWE Diva Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon) fought what she called the final match of her career. Wrestling against former Divas Champ, Michelle McCool, Victoria suffered a loss in her final contest. Some fans are expressing a bit of concern over Victoria ending her career this way, but fellow former diva heel, Lita, also went out with a loss. Lita made an appearance on the Raw anniversary show along with her longtime opponent, Trish Stratus.

Victoria made the following comments regarding her decision to retire:

Choosing to leave was a very difficult decision. I think many of my colleagues considered me a "lifer". That is, they thought I'd be with WWE until I was old and grey. But I was not happy with the opportunities that were available to me within WWE. And at the end of the day, there are thousands and thousands of women who would kill or die for the chance to be a WWE Diva. It isn't right for me to fill that spot if my heart weren't in it.

Victoria also added:

And I haven't ruled out the idea of jumping back in the squared circle occasionally down the road.

(source: Wikipedia.org)

Victoria's WWE diva career spanned about 7 years, starting way back in 2002. Fans may remember back to Victoria's first appearance in the WWE as one of the Godfather's "Ho Train" members, the "Head Ho" who was at the forefront of a "Save the Hos" campaign. Victoria made her entrance as a diva later in 2002 on an episode of Sunday Night Heat, when she began a story involving Trish Stratus. Victoria claimed that Trish had betrayed her during a fitness contest they were both models in. The rest was history for this heel diva and engineer of the Widow's Peak. Within four months, Victoria had won the Women's Championship for her first reign ever. She would win the title once again, making her a two time champ. Victoria had stints on WWE Heat, RAW, and then her final roster spot with Smackdown.

Slight speculation has already started on Victoria's retirement, with Brian Fritz of The Orlando Sentinel's article, "Longtime WWE diva retires - or did she?". Fritz states that Victoria shot down retirement rumors months ago, but now it appears this is legit as Victoria has several outside business interests including her Black Widow Customs car shop.

Fans can now debate Victoria's place amongst legendary WWE divas. She served as a classic heel more often than not and displayed some of the best technical in-ring skills of most divas. This is especially evident these days as the WWE keeps several divas out of the ring strictly as valets. In addition to wrestling, Victoria acted as a ringside valet/romantic interest for several wrestlers such as Kenny Dykstra and Steven Richards, performing in mixed tag team contests. And even though she went out with a loss, Victoria still gave fans plenty of sports entertainment during her diva pro-wrestling career.

Feel free to leave comments below regarding Victoria, her wrestling career and retirement...