Women’s Wrestling Herstory: Luna Vachon

In honor of Women’s History (Herstory) Month, I’ll be spotlighting four women who contributed to women’s wrestling but are often overlooked.

Luna Vachon was ahead of her time.

That’s an overall sentiment among wrestling fans. As it often happens with those who are ahead of their time, they get their flowers long after they’re gone.

Vachon had a unique look with her shaved head, blond mohawk, dramatic eye makeup, drawn-on veins, and black lipstick. Add in the deep growl of a voice and you have someone that should be front and center. However, for most of her career, she was relegated to the role of manager. She excelled in the role, but it greatly undermined her talents in the ring.

She came from the famous Vachon family and wanted to be just like Vivian’s aunt. Determined to carry on the family legacy, she trained with Fabulous Moolah. She soon found her way to Florida and Kevin Sullivan along with Woman. Vachon eventually found her way to the Blackhearts. She managed them and married Tom Nash. She eventually married the other half of the Blackhearts, David Heath, better known as Gangrel.

The couple wrestled all over the country and according to a story that Gangrel told on Dark Side of the Ring, Vachon would send tapes of the two of them to places like Puerto Rico and she’d be the one to get booked.

This eventually led to her finally making her dream of wrestling in the WWF. She made her debut on the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania IX, as Shawn Michaels’ manager. His opponent was Tatanka, who was accompanied by Sensational Sherri. Following the match, Vachon attacked Sherri, leading a feud.

Vachon eventually moved on to an on-screen relationship with Bam Bam Bigelow. She finally got to wrestle some more when she feuded with Alundra Blayze, who was the Women’s Champion. Vachon would lose all six of their matches. Before leaving WWF, she was the first woman included in a WWF video game.

When she eventually moved on to ECW, Vachon really got her opportunity to shine as a wrestler. One of her standout moments was a cage match with Stevie Richards. She made history by becoming the first woman to win an intergender match in the company.

Vachon briefly wrestled for WCW where she revived her feud with Blayze, now wrestling as Madusa. She the headed back to WWF and resumed her role as manager. In 1998, she began a feud with Sable, who didn’t actually wrestle. Vachon and Goldust had a match at WrestleMania XIV against Sable and her real-life husband, Marc Mero.

Vachon and Sable would face off for the WWF Women’s Championship. Vachon was told that if she put so much as a scratch on Sable, she would be fired. Vachon made Sable look good in her victory. After the match, Vachon saw Vince McMahon with flowers and thought it was for her. Sadly, it was for Sable and Vachon was very hurt by the lack of acknowledgment from the company. She was once again fired from the company in 2001.

Vachon struggled with mental health from a young age. She coped by taking pills, doing drugs, and heavy drinking. WWF sent her to rehab due to her alcoholism and fired her after a week or two of being in rehab. She passed away in 2010 as the result of a drug overdose. WWE posthumously inducted her into the Hall of Fame in 2019.

It was hard for Vachon to thrive in WWF in a time where the didn’t value women’s wrestling. Had she been in wrestling for the last 15 years, Vachon would’ve been a big star and would be much more appreciated for her originality and uniqueness. It’s important to keep her memory and contributions alive.