Not every This Day in Wrestling History may be a pleasant one, but they’re still often a celebration of something; in this case we’re remembering Luna Vachon.
On August 27, 2010, Vachon left us was too early at the age of 48 years old.
As a second generation wrestler, she had dreams of becoming a wrestler early on, but her friend Andre the Giant sided with her family as they didn’t approve of her doing so.
But she wouldn’t be denied and began training with her aunt Vivian Vachon when she was only 16 years old, and then moved on to become one of the Fabulous Moolah’s pupils.
Finding a way
Vachon continued her push to be in the business and transitioned to managing in the early 90s, and this is where she met David Heath, better known as Gangrel, her future husband.
In a piece in the New York Times on May 15, 2018, Gangrel spoke about what she meant to him and how she changed his life.
Special thanks to the @awrestlinghistorian for the quote.
“Wrestling changed him in other ways too. It brought him the love of his life — his muse, his best friend — before eventually driving them apart. Without her, Heath is certain there would be no Gangrel, and perhaps, no professional career at all.
“‘I’d probably still be cutting grass, running heavy equipment,’ he says. “Something normal, or what the world calls normal.’
“Luna Vachon had been wrestling for years when Heath slowly, reluctantly fell in love with her. They got together when he was 18, and stayed together for the next 18 years.”
Nearing the end
Their relationship would continue even after their divorce as she managed him again in 2007, a year after their divorce and retired from wrestling later that year.
Out of all of her accomplishments, one that’s often forgot is that she’s the first woman to appear in a WWF game, WWF Raw that was released in 1994.
For various reasons, her time in the WWE was limited in part to a couple of fights she had backstage with Sable, but she went on to having a solid career elsewhere.
Vachon was found in her home with snorting straws and crushed pill dust.
It was ruled that she died of an accidental overdose of Oxycodone and benzodiazepine after completing a successful rehab the previous year.
Andre the Giant was a friend of her early on, and she is buried on the ranch he owned.
All things come to an end, often sooner than they should or we wish them to, and This Day in Wrestling History is another one of those.
Thank you for the memories, Luna. You made a mark that won’t be forgotten.
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