Dark Side Of The Ring - The Many Faces of Luna Vachon FULL RECAP
Luna Vachon was one of wrestling’s most radical performers who battled addiction and mental illness while seeking to redefine women’s wrestling. Read the full Dark Side of the Ring recap below.
The Intro
The episode kicked off with Luna cutting a promo: “From this day forth, I will haunt your very breath! I will be your shadow in the darkness!
Hailing from wrestling royalty, Luna Vachon emerged as one of the squared circle’s most unhinged and most unforgettable characters.
Mick Foley pointed out that when you saw Luna, you were witnessing a monster come to life.
Despite being consistently marginalized by a male-dominated industry, Lunda was driven to push boundaries and refine women’s wrestling.
Her volatile persona sprang from a traumatic upbringing and a string of personal tragedies.
While working alongside some of wrestling’s top stars, her battles with addiction and mental health became all-consuming.
Betrayed by the world she adored, one final act of defiance would ignite her self-destruction.
The Episode
An early UWF promo from 1991 featuring Luna is shown where she mentions there are two ways to slide easily through life. One is to believe everything. The other is to doubt it.
Luna’s son (Van Hurd) makes his official introduction where he mentioned that he believed that wrestling was real as a kid. Ever since he could remember, the mohawk, the bleached hair, the extensions. She would show up to his elementary school with a snake. That was just his mom.
Her ex-husband Gangrel (David Heath) believes that Luna’s passion truly was professional wrestling. The first time he ever met her was at a Florida Championship Wrestling show. She came in, kicked the door open and hollered “Fresh meat” while pointing at him. He was terrified and didn’t want anything to do with her, but they became friends, so much so that they promised to never date each other.
Van Hurd mentioned that there were many faces to his mom, her real name is Gertrude.
Mick Foley gets introduced and he articulated that the Vachon family are like wrestling royalty in Canada. Luna’s uncle was Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, her aunt was Vian Vachon and her father was Paul “The Butcher” Vachon.
Luna’s father, Paul “The Butcher” Vachon makes his first appearance. Luna’s origins with the Vachon family are rooted in a chance encounter following a harrowing tragedy on December 18, 1966. Paul was wrestling in Atlanta, Georgia and was staying at a motel. He heard a gunshot and first opened the door and looked around, but couldn’t see anything. He eventually went back to sleep. The next morning, there was a knock at his door and a woman let Paul know the man who owned the motel shot himself and it was her husband. Paul met the daughter, who was then four years old. Ultimately, she became his daughter because he married the widow. To Luna, Paul was the only father she ever knew.
Adopted into the Vachon dynasty, Luna was instantly enamoured by her new family’s celebrity status.
The voice of Luna appeared, noting that her aunt was one of the greatest female wrestlers of all-time. Luna grew up going on the road with her and cleaning up the dressing room.
Jeannine Mjoseth, better known as Mad Maxine, gets introduced and noted that while Luna’s family attempted to talk her out of the industry, there was no stopping her.
Maxine cited being 6’2’’ and an extrovert with a mohawk so The Fabulous Moolah saw money in her.
Also training with The Fabulous Moolah, Max Maxine met a teenage Luna whose sweet demeanour was worlds away from her alter ego. While Luna looked like a baby, she desired to be a badass heel.
Maxine had concerns about the camp since the little lambs trusted Moolah and thought of her as a mother figure, but she would take advantage of you.
Gangrel pointed out that Luna was never afraid of anyone, but when Moolah would walk into the room, Vachon would shake and appear very nervous.
Luna told Maxine that Moolah had sent her out to a guy in the west and he would pay her $500 to take photographs. Luna didn’t know that you can’t just trust people, so she went out there and got attacked. After an attempted rape, Luna fought the man off. Obviously, you can’t trust a person who is going to do that to a 16-year-old girl, which understandably, Maxine points out is just appalling and disgusting.
Kim Sacks, known as Penelope Paradise brought up how anyone who trained with Moolah had some type of story of what they went through. Kim brought up how Luna had high hopes and desired to be Hulk Hogan.
Luna felt Moolah’s camp behind to join Championship Wrestling from Florida, where Kevin Sullivan and his Army of Darkness were terrifying fans across the state.
In October of 1985, Luna made her debut as an unassuming journalist and her character quickly falls victim to the dark powers of Kevin Sullivan. The name Luna came from the fact she was a lunatic. She shaved her head and painted all these veins on her face. Her interaction with the fans and the audience at home was monstrous while playing this part 24/7.
With her new character taking off, Luna indulged in the extreme excesses of the era which included quaaludes, cocaine and acid. Kim brought up, “How can you take 100 pills a day?” Luna wanted everything to look like everything was beautiful and all roses.
Gangrel believed that her childhood was rough with wrestlers staying at the house and she claimed to have been raped. He also believed there were some inappropriate family relations, maybe.
Luna didn’t discuss her Aunt Vivian very much, but did note to others she was abused by her aunt but left it there.
Gangrel speculated that perhaps this past led her on the path to self-destruction later on in life.
Luna’s father said, “I don’t think, knowing the family that she’s from that anybody would do that to her. I don’t believe that.”
Luna Vachon’s deranged antics captivated audiences, but unknown to fans, her over-the-top persona was born from a lifelong struggle with mental health outside the ring.
Luna was studied from Emory University since she was 2 years old for depressing and being bipolar and being schizophrenic. She was chemically imbalanced, which led to quick shifts in her personality.
In day-to-day life, you would call her Angel, but if you pissed her off, she suddenly became Luna while becoming crazy.
Kim shared a story of Luna snapping where the two of them starting fighting in a hotel room. You would think they were killing each other and then they must go wrestle.
Luna got into a relationship with Dirty Dick Slater, which wasn’t an ideal choice. It’s alluded to that Dick Slater beat her.
Tom Nash and David Heath would become The Black Harts with Luna managing them. Suddenly, Luna and Tom Nash got unexpectedly married. Tom accused David of being with Luna, which led to a major fight along with a fallout of the tag team.
Eventually, David Heath (Gangrel) and Luna got married on Halloween. He wrestled a steel cage match that night, came home and right at midnight, they got married. Instead of wedding rings, they got vampire bites.
The newlyweds performed together across the globe with an eye to eventually breaking into WWF.
Luna was sending in material for David to get booked, such as footage from Puerto Rico. With Luna featured in the footage, she got hired while David did not. He admitted to being somewhat jealous, but he was also extremely happy for her.
On April 4, 1993, Luna’s dreams would come true as she debuted in the WWF on wrestling’s grandest stage, WrestleMania. At Caesar’s Palace for WrestleMania 9, Luna would clothesline Sherri Martel, who was managing for Shawn Michaels.
As part of the video game WWF Raw, Luna’s was the first female to ever be featuring in a wrestling video game. Luna’s family purchased the console just for the game.
Luna’s son noted only seeing her once or twice a year since she was grinding on the road for WWF. Van Hurd would be with his grandma.
A few months later, Luna would be paired with Bam Bam Bigelow. While she is regularly appearing on national television, Luna rarely got to showcase her in-ring skills.
Mick Foley pointed out that at that time, there just wasn’t a lot of emphasis on women’s wrestling in WWF or the United States as a whole. The women who were really talented in the ring were often utilized as managers.
Debrah Miceli (Madusa) makes her official introduction, pointing out the women’s division only consisted of about 5 wrestlers. Madusa and Luna hated the fact they were left off marquees and barely even promoted.
Lisa brought up how 90% of the men in the locker room were perfectly fine, but 10% of them were jerks, but Luna was walk up to them and say, “My clit’s bigger than your f*cking dick!”
Madusa remembers being in Canada and they were wrestling. Madusa said, Luna, let me drop the belt to you. Luna refused, but Madusa insisted and thought, “What are they going to do? Fire me? Whatever.” Madusa was not happy with WWF not doing anything further with the women and especially Luna. In Canada of all places, why wouldn’t the company just drop the belt to her, Madusa added.
Luna was moved by this but refused to pin Madusa in the match in fear of them getting (specifically Madusa) getting in trouble.
Luna eventually forged a bond with Sherri Martel, another skilled wrestler downgraded to manager status. The two were friends, even travelling together.
When Luna arrived home, she would be passed out for three days. David, her husband, knew nothing about the pills she was taking and would always poke her to ensure she was okay. It ended up being Sherri who confronted Luna and it did not go well.
At this time, Luna could have been at the top, but between the mental illness and the drugs, it was a dangerous combo.
The voice of Luna appeared to explain that WWF put her into rehab because she was drinking. Upon arriving at rehab, the company fired her.
David pointed out, WWF’s excuse was, “It’s for her own good.” They were always worried about her mental health.
It’s speculated that Luna took drugs to forget about her past.
Luna’s son brought up how his mom always attempted to commit suicide.
Despite her personal struggles, Luna Vachon is recommended to ECW by her longtime friend, Nancy Sullivan aka Woman.
Mick Foley believed the ECW fans really embraced Luna because she was the real deal. No one doubted that she could kick Stevie Richard’s ass.
She was the first woman to face a man in a steel cage, which was a point of pride.
Mick loved teaming up with Luna, nothing that she could go anywhere in the world and entertain.
In the late 1990s, WWF’s shift to more proactive storylines would see Luna Vachon as a perfect addition to the roster, and she eventually rejoined the company. However, she was once again assigned a supporting role.
While her pairing with Goldust eventually led her back into the ring, Luna clashed with WWF’s direction for women’s wrestling. To make matters worse, Luna was set to lose a high-profile match to Sable, a model groomed for wrestling’s superstardom who had no experience in the ring.
The voice of Luna appears and brings up an old conversation with Sable where the model said, “I don’t have to learn to take bumps because Vince has told me I’m going to be the Women’s Champion.” The way Luna’s psyche felt at that point, knowing the dues she paid, how her family had stopped talking to her because she wanted to become a lady in the business, tore her apart.
At WrestleMania 14, Luna succeeded in making Sable appear as a future Women’s Champion. Vince told Luna that if you bruise or scratch Sable, you will be fired. Ultimately, Luna did a great job of putting over Sable. Upon returning through the curtain, Vince and producers were clapping at her and telling her: “Great job, gal. You did it. You get it.” Sadly, these compliments were directed at Sable and not Luna.
Mick Foley asked Luna, “What’s wrong?” She broke down in tears and said, “Nobody appreciates what I did.” This hurt her since Luna wanted to be acknowledged for being something other than strange. She wanted to be acknowledged for what she could do in the ring.
Sunny came to Luna in a nice way and said, “Don’t worry about it.” Luna took it out on Sunny by throwing her into a production box and punched her in the body since a face shot would likely result in getting fired. This was just Luna lashing out and being hurt, so Sunny was merely an innocent victim here.
Luna’s son pointed out there were no blurred lines and that Luna. Angel, Trudy and mom were all the same person. No one spoke about mental illness.
Madusa believed that Luna not being accepted in this business to a level where she thought she deserved it because of her skills and what she brought to the business caused her great pain.
WWF’s creative direction for women’s wrestling was increasingly at odds with Luna’s desire to showcase her in-ring prowess, making a final showdown with CEO Vince McMahon inevitable.
Madusa recapped that when the Attitude Era started, it was just all sexuality. She couldn’t believe Luna was putting up with it. They were so old school.
Gangrel brought up how WWF wanted Luna to take her top off and she would say, “You spent all these years making me ugly and now you’re asking me.” She stood up to Vince in front of everybody.
After a number of backstage incidents and escalating erratic behaviour, Luna was released from WWF for the final time.
Luna’s voice appeared again to say, “Dare to be different. Dare to have the balls to do the gimmick that I do and rip my vocal cords until I don’t sound like a female.”
When Luna returned home after being fired, she had written out F*ck you Vince in cocaine.
Gangrel said, “An easy night could be a few 8 balls and 10 hits of ecstasy.” He never understood her constant need to want more, which is what drove them apart. Gangrel didn’t have a choice and was forced to leave. When they conversed, she would often bring up getting back together, but he noted, we can’t. He went off to California to escape and got married again.
By this point, Luna was visiting friends while waving around a gun and wasn’t in control of her life.
Mick Foley pointed out that the biggest challenges those in the business constantly face, are trying to find something to make them feel the way they felt when they were in the ring. He doubts Luna ever found that thing.
Luna’s son went to culinary school and relocated to Texas while Luna was in Florida.
Eventually, Luna would eventually drive a tow truck and hang out with outlaw bikers.
Mick chatted with Luna just weeks before she left the world. He was so surprised because Luna told Foley that she was in a good place. It came as a shock.
In terms of hearing about the passing of his mom, Van Hurd was flying to do a chef dinner in Ohio and his grandma called to find her daughter dead. He heard she choked but also a potential overdose, citing a mix of the wrong things. He doesn’t care how she died, it just sucks as a whole.
Luna’s father would say, “You know, the thing is, to really love people and understand them while they are alive. Nobody survives this world.”
Madusa pointed out how we’ve lost so many people in the business, not just from drugs, pills and steroids, but also from mental health. She truly believes that there could have been a lot of help for a lot of talent in the business. As an industry, we need to do better, Madusa stated.
Mick recalled his heart aching and just really hurting. He really adored her. Mick felt her friends and family might appreciate a bit of a eulogy of sorts, so asked to read something.
He said, “In a world full of butterflies, it took balls to be a caterpillar.” I love that quote from Luna and in a way, I can’t help but hope that this life was but a chrysalis of sorts for her, that for a woman who never seemed completely comfortable in her own skin, this life was just a prelude to becoming the beautiful butterfly God always meant for her to be. But that would be too easy and so anti-Luna. There are enough beautiful butterflies out there already. Maybe we should be able to appreciate the beauty of the caterpillar without needing or wanting it to change for our viewing pleasure. Maybe Luna was perfect just as she was. Maybe she was exactly who she was supposed to be.”
Gangrel believed that Luna never thought she was pretty enough to be a wrestler, but had the most stunning green eyes. All people saw was the persona, but they never saw Trudy or Angele or looked inside to see her innocence and the innocence lost. When others asked Gangrel, “How were you together so long?” To be honest, he felt that no one else could even take care of her and he loved her so much. Should they have been together that long? No, he answered. Were we self-destructive and explosive and everything? Yes, he also stated. But he still feels a lot of guilt for her passing because he wasn’t there to take care of her. Despite knowing they would both be destined for a dark place if he didn’t leave, Gangrel is still sorry.
Luna’s voice answers, “Any regrets? I wish that I would’ve changed things for women more. I regret that I gave up my family and didn’t get what I wanted the most and that was the WWF Women’s Title, which I guess, isn’t all that I thought it was.
Mick believes that Luna would have loved today’s wrestling environment. She would have loved the physicality, she would have loved that she would get to work with some of the best wrestlers in the world on a nightly basis. She’d be really happy to know how far women’s wrestling has come.
Madusa stated, “There’s nobody like her. She was original, that’s for sure.”