Missy Hyatt talks death of Luna Vachon
When I heard that Luna Vachon passed away from Bill Apter, I was devastated. Luna was such a great person that had been forgotten by many wrestling fans after her quiet retirement in 2007. I spent the better part of Friday grieving. I loved Luna to death. We would run in to each other on & off over the last 14 years. Our lives might have gone in a million different directions, but we always clicked in getting along.
I met Luna during 1996, during the ill fated AWF based out of Chicago. Luna would walk up to with that gravely voice that I originally thought was her being in character 24/7. Nope, the voice was legit. I helped Luna with her wig, since she was playing the character of Peggy Sue with Honky Tonk Man. She thanked me after we got the wig down right & said �I heard that you are the biggest bitch in wrestling, but I like you�. Luna won me over as a friend for life that day.
I always felt some what guilty that when the valet craze was big, novices like me would get national TV stardom in comparison to Luna Vachon who was a second generation wrestler. Luna had to break her ass in the dying days of Florida, low pay offs in Memphis, & being one of the few regular Americans in JWP. Luna didn�t take crap from anybody & had no problems putting anybody in their place if she felt she was disrespected. She earned everything she got in wrestling from hard work & making herself unique.
Luna was one of the few American women wrestlers that made it on her own by refusing to be booked with Fabulous Moolah�s troupe. Luna balked at the premise of giving a cut of her money if she was the one taking the bumps & making the long drives. Luna�s hard work paid off when most of us first saw her in WWF in 1993 with her feud with Sensational Sherri. Sherri is one of the most universally respected women that had ever entered this business. I remember reading an interview in which Sherri put over Luna over to WWF when the premise of working with Luna was presented to her. Keep in mind that WWF in 1993 had not really exploited the cat fight craze that WCCW & UWF had presented prior to WWF.
Many people credit Sunshine & Precious with pioneering the cat fights in 1984. I say Sherri & Luna perfected it in 1993. They were beyond stiff on their famous cat fight on RAW to the point that I questioned why it took anybody so long to hire Luna on a big stage. She had a unique character that would still stand out in 2010. Her promos were not an artistic success [they could be best compared to Ultimate Warrior], but she had something that you couldn�t keep your eyes off of with the crazy hair, tattooed veins on the head, & scary voice
People fail to forget what a great worker Luna could be at times. I remember Luna worked an indy show against Alicia towards the end of her career in 2007. Luna put on a brawl that was reminiscent of Bruiser Brody in the 1980�s in which they tore the building apart. Both wrestlers made the most jaded fan suspend their belief for a few minutes at the stiffness of the match. At the end of Alicia taking a stiff beating, Luna would put her over cleanly. In the end, Luna was over for being a crazy brawler & Alicia had her stock rise to the local fans for beating an established star.
I remember Luna & others telling me about the infamous fight she had with Alundra Blayze in 1994. Alundra would work too stiff with Luna nightly with the excuse that she was working �Japanese style. One night, Luna could take no more & beat the hell out of Blazye for not lightening up. The end result was that they never had a problem in the ring ever again.
In 2007, I was busting Luna�s chops about her biker boyfriend at the time being possibly an anti-semite. I was just doing it to see if I could get a rise out of Luna. Luna would call me up a few days later & say �F*CK this sh*t about the Jews & The Hells Angels, I still love you no matter what�.
Too bad not many people saw the kinder side of Luna, since she would probably be pissed that it would kill off her character. Luna was such a sweet heart that she would offer a friend of a wrestler a couch to crash on, since being a friend of Luna was enough for her to go out of her way for a stranger. Luna would go out of her way to look after a young referee that got sick from partying with the other wrestlers. Luna had such a kind heart that she looked after the young referee because she didn�t want him to lose his job at the start of his career.
I love Luna for willing to fight New Jack when he went on his drunken tirade on me at last years Ring Roast. Luna had more guts then almost any wrestler that night in refusing to back down in the confrontation. She earned my life time loyalty for sticking up for me. I remember after the Roast, Luna apologizing that she should have beaten New Jack up. Luna would then pause, then blurt out that she just found out that she�s a grandma. I was amazed how Luna could switch modes from wanting to kick ass to being ecstatic that she now got a grandson. Unfortunately that night would be the last time I would run in to Luna.
A couple of weeks ago, I found out that Luna lost all of her belongings in a fire. I tried to make every phone call & email to track down Luna to help her out. Unfortunately I could not get in touch with her to find out what kind of clothes that I could mail her. I felt terrible that all I could do for Luna was find her post office address & put up a plug for where to send any donations.
I think it was rather funny that when I was writing about the kindness of Luna that my computer crashed. I thought for a moment that maybe it was divine intervention that Luna didn�t want me exposing that she was a sweet heart despite the rough exterior. I hope Luna�s sons are aware that their mother was one of the toughest-big hearted woman that I had ever encountered in the business.
I always think the best way to remember a wrestler life is to watch highlights of their career as a remembrance and a thank you for all of the sacrifices they made to entertain all of us. I listed some youtube links of Luna.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLLkNizCrns&feature=player_embeddedwww.youtube.com/watch?v=9HWnxilGny4www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G3ecEHtzPE&feature=relatedwww.youtube.com/watch?v=BPYXGFcPzBQwww.youtube.com/watch?v=J60b_IRFRHAwww.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ3eDRIboc4&feature=player_embeddedwww.youtube.com/watch?v=b04AiwRxaLYI finished writing this article on Friday & I cried my eyes out for almost an entire day. I loved Luna for being one of the most genuine people that I ever met in the business. I hope many other friends, fans, wrestlers, & family members of Luna have just as many fond memories of Luna that I have.
Please pardon any typos or grammatical errors. I wrote this article from the heart. I wanted to share my thoughts & memories on one of the nicest people I ever met in the biz.
Missy Hyatt
From JR's blog:
www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/luna-vachon....hts-unique-ladyQuote:Fri, 08/27/2010 - 5:21pm — J.R.
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* Wrestling
It is said that death comes in three's. Apparently that's morbidly correct. Upon hearing of Luna Vachon's passing this morning came another reminder that no one is guaranteed tomorrow.
The exact cause of Luna's passing has not been determined but 48 is much too young for anyone to be taken from this world and our sincere condolences go out to Luna's family and the many friends that she had in and out of the wrestling business.
When Luna reported to me in WWE's talent relations department many, many years ago she was a hard working, passionate, almost obsessive performer who definitely had the wrestling business in her blood.
Her family, the Vachon's, will always be known as one of the best known 'wrestling families' ever in the business. Her father, Paul (Butcher), and her famous uncle, Maurice (Mad Dog) Vachon were stars for decades.
Luna told me that being a wrestler was the only thing that she wanted to do since she was a small child. She said she couldn't remember the time when she didn't want to wrestle for a living.
Inside the ring was where Luna seemingly felt the most comfortable with herself both professionally and personally. She was an excellent in ring performer who helped many of her fellow females become better wrestlers.
At times, Luna was very hard on herself when she felt that she didn't have the match that she wanted to have and was more often than not her own worst critic. I found out that praising her and doing what I could do to help her self esteem motivated her to no ends.
While Luna Vachon wasn't perfect, none of us are for the record, she was more often than not fun to be around.
Like many other human beings, Luna was susceptible to personal challenges and WWE assisted on these matters on multiple occasions.
The last time that I saw Luna was in Las Vegas a couple of years or so ago at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion when Bret Hart was honored and I attended along with Steve Austin. Luna was so happy to see us both. We had our photo taken together and had a great visit. She was driving a tow truck in Florida and Steve and I both enjoyed Luna's 'tow truck stories.'
One could tell that she missed the wrestling business but was pleased that she was an independent woman, had a job and was apparently garnering much needed stability in her life.
We talked about her being diagnosed with being bi-polar and her having issues with depression of which she battled on an on going basis for a good while. Luna was a battler and was a tough individual who said she was going to keep fighting the good fight but that it wasn't easy. Steve and I both gave Luna many words of encouragement and spent significant time with her at the CAC function talking old times and mostly laughing about our mutual experiences. Without question, laughter is good medicine for all of us.
I know Luna loved her family, especially her children, and had a twinkle in her eye when talking about them. It was as if she wanted to make up for lost time with her family, especially her sons. Being off the road and working a 'regular job' was going to give her the opportunity to do so.
Luna and I couldn't believe that it had been well over a decade since we had talked as she left WWE, I believe, in 2000 or so. When one is younger we ask, "Where did the day go?" and when we get older we catch ourself asking, "What happened to that decade?"
Luna Vachon had a unique and often times challenging life but even with the issues that she battled she had many friends who, as will I, always look back upon the good days that we shared.
Perhaps now Luna can finally find peace and tranquility in Heaven where her existence will finally be problem free.
Rest in Peace Luna. You will be missed.
