Lisa Marie Varon reflected on her WWE ‘homecoming’ on the latest episode of GAW, noting that she felt a lot of pressure but says it was an awesome experience.
Varon is one of the hosts of GAW and she sat down this week to talk about her surprise appearance in the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble match, noting how she wasn’t sure how it was all going to go down until it was over.
“What touched my heart too, is when I came back after performing, Mickie and Torrie came over, crying, they’re tearing up and it was… yeah. It was incredible. I did not expect that at all. 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, you know? When I found out we had a rehearsal, just to find out what number we’re coming in and stuff like that and I found out I was 10—my birthday is February 10, so I don’t know if they did that purposefully, I don’t know— it was crazy,” she explained. “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, and then Mickie was like, ‘Sis, you deserve this! This is your moment, the people have been waiting for this!’ And 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?’ Like uhhh—I don’t know! I had no clue [if they would give me a warm reception].”
Read More: Lisa Marie Varon Decided She Was Retiring 30 Minutes Before Her Final Match Against Melina
Varon talked about how she got the appearance on short notice, claiming she only had two weeks to get ready and put a lot of pressure on herself to make sure she put on a great performance. Originally announcing her retirement from full-time in-ring competition in 2019, Lisa says it took her three days to recover from the Rumble appearance and added that it was a lot to take in during such a short time.
“I was blown up. I was out of breath because I got the call two weeks ago—three now—but two weeks before the Rumble, and you cant get in ring shape in two weeks. It’s just impossible. I bought a recumbent bike. A recumbent bike…” she joked. “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 was 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. It’s just a lot of friggin’ pressure.”
Lisa said it was reassuring that she saw many of the same faces on the production team, and shared how close to the vest she kept her surprise appearance. She said Torrie Wilson and Jillian Hall came to her and said they couldn’t believe she didn’t text them, but says she only told Val, Mickie and a ‘handful of people’ about her plans so she could keep it as a genuine surprise.
“It was also cool going through certain moves, stuff like that, the girls were like, ‘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! Wait!’ [feigns dodging] ‘I’m not used to this!’ “I go, ‘Am I bumping, or are you guys bumping for me?’ And then I put Peyton [Royce] in the Widow’s Peak, all the girls you saw,” Varon said, “they lined up going, ‘Can you give me the Widow’s Peak? Can you give me the Widow’s Peak?’ It was so freakin’ awesome!”
Check out the full episode below:
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