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Victoria Comments on Returning to WWE at Royal Rumble 2021: “It Was Freakin’ Awesome!”, More

There were plenty of surprises during the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches eight days ago at the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. One of them saw former two-time Women’s Champion Victoria (real name Lisa Marie Varon) return to a WWE ring for the first time since 2009. Victoria was a mainstay in WWE throughout the 2000s mostly as a heel that had rivalries with women like Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James, Melina and others. After her nearly decade-long run in WWE ended, she went onto TNA Wrestling where she became a five-time Knockouts Champion. Now retired as an active wrestler (she turns 50 in two days on February 10!), Victoria was thrilled to be in the Royal Rumble match.

Victoria is one of the three hosts of GAW TV (Grown Ass Women) on Youtube along with WWE’s Mickie James and So Cal Val of Impact Wrestling fame. They have new shows every Wednesday with different guests or sometimes it’s just the three hosts talking about life. On a special episode of GAW TV that was posted yesterday, Victoria and Mickie talked about their Royal Rumble appearances. Here are some comments from Victoria with thanks to the good people of Fightful for the transcript of the comments.

Victoria on what she thought going into the Women’s Royal Rumble match:

“I thought I was gonna come in there and bump and feed for everybody else, and let everybody else shine on me because that’s what I’m used to. When I found out, we had a rehearsal, just to find out what number we’re coming in and stuff like that and…I don’t know, it was crazy. And when they were like, Victoria is coming back, she’s gonna clean house, everybody’s been waiting for her to be coming back, I couldn’t even talk. I started crying. The response from the other workers, the girls, I didn’t think I was going to be, I thought they were going to go, oh, who the hell is this coming back? I don’t know, I had no clue.”

Victoria commented on when she found out she would be in the Rumble match and how tough it was on her body:

“I was blown up. I was out of breath because I got the call two weeks before the Rumble, and you can’t get in ring shape in two weeks. It’s just impossible. I bought a recumbent bike. A recumbent bike. I’m sitting on my butt pedaling going, oh my god, I don’t want to look like, as Mickie would say, a sack of potatoes coming out. You’re not ready because the adrenaline, it was just a lot to take in. I’m like, am I ready? Oh my God, I don’t want the fans to be disappointed in my performance, I want them to still think I can kick ass. There’s a lot of pressure, man.”

Victoria talked about different women in the Rumble match wanting to work with her:

“It was also cool going through certain moves, and stuff like, that the girls were like, can you give me a move, can you give me a move. I want to take a move. I wasn’t used to it. I got in the ring and all the girls were cluttering me. I was going, whoa. I go, am I bumping or are you guys bumping for me? Then I put Peyton [Royce] in the Widow’s Peak, all the girls you saw line up going can you give me the Widow’s Peak, can you give me the Widow’s Peak? It was freakin’ awesome!”

Victoria also shared a story about how Bayley met her at autograph signings when she was a kid and now Victoria was in a ring with Bayley:

“Bayley, I remember coming to two autograph signings. I was with Maven and then I was with Edge on one. You hear a girl going, I’m going to be a wrestler just like you, but you hear that all the time. [Usually] They don’t put the work in, they don’t know you have to move to this place and give up your family and all that sacrifice you do. Bayley was like, her and Ruby [Riott] kept on coming up [and asking] do you want to go over anything, do you have it? They were just so helpful at making me feel calm.”

Here’s a Bayley tweet posting a photo from meeting Victoria and Edge at a signing many years ago, and then a backstage photo from the Royal Rumble last week.

You can check out the full video below with more comments from Lisa, Mickie and Val.

TJR Thoughts: It was a really fun show. I played a part in setting up GAW TV with these talented women last May when it started and I’m proud to see their show continue to grow. It’s also available in podcast form if video isn’t preferred by you. Check it out.