Lisa Marie Varon Says Spider Handler Made More Than TNA Mid-Carders

During a recent conversation with Rene Dupree as part of his show Cafe de Rene, Lisa Marie Varon looked back on how spiders became intertwined with her in-ring character. She revealed that it was actually the Legendary Undertaker that suggested it as a symbol.

"Undertaker pulls me aside and he says, 'hey, come here'. And of course, he's in the bleachers, you know, he waved like, 'hey, come here,' and you're like, 'oh, yes sir, yes sir'. He's like, 'you know who you remind me of? That cold player is called Black Widow'. And I go, 'I'm going with it, I'm going with it'. So I started putting the Black Widow symbol on all my gear even though they hesitated every time about calling me Black Widow.

"And when I went to TNA, they were like, 'you're the spider girl'. And I'm like, 'oh yeah, I'm the Black Widow'. And they're like, 'we have these boxes', and there were three boxes. And they're like, 'you're Tara'. My name, I thought they were going to give me Lisa. It wasn't in my contract about changing my name. I open the box and I go, 'what is this for?' It's tarantulas, three in three boxes. So I'm like, 'what is this?' They go, 'after you do your finisher, you're going to put this on their bodies. Are you afraid of spiders?' And I go, 'I don't know'."

When she began to use real spiders in TNA/Impact Wrestling, Varon admits that she was a bundle of nerves when handling the tarantulas. She tried to do research and, despite the fear, make the segment as good as she possibly could.

"I was like, 'so the venom is out, right?' And they're like, 'no, it's still venomous'. And I go, what happens if I get bit?' And they go, 'are you allergic to bees?' I go, 'I never got stung'. I went to the locker room there, I go, 'guys, please help me Google tarantula.' They were like, 'why did you bring three?' They were like, 'we want to see which one's temperament is best'.

"They were from Gatorland, okay? The tarantulas were from Gatorland, they were always around people, putting in their shoulders and being helped. But they wanted to know — Rose Tarantulas, something Rose. It was pinkish on the top, so anytime I would have, on the first episode, you can see my hands like this, shaking. I don't know what the hell I'm doing here, I don't know. I didn't get very much information on the spider. And it kept on going like this, like this on the back, and I would come back itching. So I would look at the ref and go, 'the spider's gonna bite me'. He goes, 'what are you going to do?' I go, 'I'm going to no-sell it. I can't drop the spider.' I just googled it, they explode like lightbulbs if you drop it. I don't need PETA after me."

There was an instance on an indie show where the crew wanted her to incorporate a spider into her match. However, this spider had a different origin than the TNA spiders and that made Lisa too uncomfortable to execute the spot.

"I went to an indie show. They have a spider in an aquarium and they go, 'I want you to push this for your finish'. And I go, 'well, where did you get the spider? Did you go to the zoo?' They go, 'no, we got it at the, what's it called, the pet store'. I go, 'no, the spiders I used are from Gatorland, they're used to being around people all the time. You can't buy one from the pet store'. It was at a pet store where you get dogs, fish, goldfish, snakes, and all that kind of stuff. And I go, 'I'm not touching that spider. I am not touching that spider. Are you kidding me?' And in TNA, the guy from Gatorland had to be on-site because in Universal Studios, if you have an animal, you have to have an animal professional on-site. So the guy was making more than some of the mid-carders."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Cafe de Rene with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.