Did Tonya Harding wrestle?

[Sephiroth]

Just watched I, Tonya, and it seems to me I remember reading about this at some point. Something along the lines of she appeared as a special guest at some Indy promotion show and got booed out of the building. Anyone know more?

[The Ichi]

Well she definitely had the heel work down.

[Joe Neglia]

Tonya's had two different involvements with wrestling.

Not terribly long after her whole scandal, she agreed to be a manager for a lucha show held in Vancouver, WA. She managed Art Barr, Eddie Guererro and Bruiser Brian in a 6-man against Konnan, Perro Aguayo and Blue Panther. Due to state athletic commission rules, she was not allowed to stay at ringside during the match and had to sit in a chair about 30 feet away in the aisle the entire time.



Much more recently, she took part in whatever the hell this is:

[Sephiroth]

Dec 27, 2017 16:36:02 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Tonya's had two different involvements with wrestling.

Not terribly long after her whole scandal, she agreed to be a manager for a lucha show held in Vancouver, WA. She managed Art Barr, Eddie Guererro and Bruiser Brian in a 6-man against Konnan, Perro Aguayo and Blue Panther. Due to state athletic commission rules, she was not allowed to stay at ringside during the match and had to sit in a chair about 30 feet away in the aisle the entire time.



Much more recently, she took part in whatever the hell this is:

I don’t know which seems weirder to me-a Lucia show held in Canada at that time, or that a state athletic commission’s rules applied to wrestling

[lildude8218]

I never saw her wrestle but I definitely saw her box

[Sigma: Current SRW Champ!]

Dec 27, 2017 16:58:55 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Dec 27, 2017 16:36:02 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Tonya's had two different involvements with wrestling.

Not terribly long after her whole scandal, she agreed to be a manager for a lucha show held in Vancouver, WA. She managed Art Barr, Eddie Guererro and Bruiser Brian in a 6-man against Konnan, Perro Aguayo and Blue Panther. Due to state athletic commission rules, she was not allowed to stay at ringside during the match and had to sit in a chair about 30 feet away in the aisle the entire time.



Much more recently, she took part in whatever the hell this is:

I don’t know which seems weirder to me-a Lucia show held in Canada at that time, or that a state athletic commission’s rules applied to wrestling

Washington is super stringent when it comes to running pro wrestling shows. It's why Washington is a dead zone for pro wrestling. There are a couple indies and Defy out there, but that's about it.

[Joe Neglia]

Dec 27, 2017 16:58:55 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

I don’t know which seems weirder to me-a Lucia show held in Canada at that time, or that a state athletic commission’s rules applied to wrestling

Vancouver, Washington, not Canada. But yes, strange even then. Here's the line-up for that show:

Black Blood defeats Dane Rush

Billy Two Eagles, Jim Pope & Karl Pope defeat The Minnesota Maulers

Bart Sawyer & Bill Sawyer defeat Chavo Guerrero & Mando Guerrero by DQ

Mascarita Sagrada defeats Espectrito

Billy Jack Haynes, CW Bergstrom & Rey Misterio Jr. defeat Col. DeBeers, Psicosis & Ryuma Go

Bruiser Brian & Los Gringos Locos (Eddie Guerrero & Love Machine) (w/Tonya Harding) defeat Blue Panther, Konnan & Perro Aguayo

Just a weird night all around. Billy Jack was doing the Black Blood gimmick in the opener, screaming fake French all the time and the fans just kept yelling "We love you Billy!"

DeBeers - the racist gimmick - then teamed with a Japanese worker and a Mexican worker.

Whole thing was just odd. It was co-promoted by AAA.

As far as the commission thing, Washington had (has?) a really crooked athletics commission that didn't let go of wrestling when others did, and started adding all sorts of rules and stuff to it; it's part of why WWE almost never goes there.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 27, 2017 20:44:27 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Dec 27, 2017 16:58:55 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

I don’t know which seems weirder to me-a Lucia show held in Canada at that time, or that a state athletic commission’s rules applied to wrestling

Vancouver, Washington, not Canada. But yes, strange even then. Here's the line-up for that show:

Black Blood defeats Dane Rush

Billy Two Eagles, Jim Pope & Karl Pope defeat The Minnesota Maulers

Bart Sawyer & Bill Sawyer defeat Chavo Guerrero & Mando Guerrero by DQ

Mascarita Sagrada defeats Espectrito

Billy Jack Haynes, CW Bergstrom & Rey Misterio Jr. defeat Col. DeBeers, Psicosis & Ryuma Go

Bruiser Brian & Los Gringos Locos (Eddie Guerrero & Love Machine) (w/Tonya Harding) defeat Blue Panther, Konnan & Perro Aguayo

Just a weird night all around. Billy Jack was doing the Black Blood gimmick in the opener, screaming fake French all the time and the fans just kept yelling "We love you Billy!"

DeBeers - the racist gimmick - then teamed with a Japanese worker and a Mexican worker.

Whole thing was just odd. It was co-promoted by AAA.

As far as the commission thing, Washington had (has?) a really crooked athletics commission that didn't let go of wrestling when others did, and started adding all sorts of rules and stuff to it; it's part of why WWE almost never goes there.

Billy Jack Haynes teaming with Rey Mysterio is the most glorious thing I've ever heard.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

She also boxed Doug Stanhope, I believe for the Man Show.

[Sephiroth]

In retrospect her being good at boxing, at least in the capacity she did it, shouldn’t come as a surprise. She has an athletic background and probably trains to one extent or another to this very day, even if not in the sport she is most famous for. Plus she grew up abused by her mom and then by her first husband, so shouldn’t be a shock she was not phased by taking a beating and could dish it out just as well as she could soak it up.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Didn't she also appear at some show(s) in Mexico with Jake Roberts? I could have sworn that I read that somewhere.

[Joe Neglia]

You want to hear the absolute weirdest part of all this?

In March 1994, All Japan Women's promoter Takashi Matsunaga made a public offer to Harding for $2 million to come work for his company, with Akira Hokuto then publicly announcing she wanted to be Harding's trainer. This was big news at the time, getting on CNN and such. Harding declined the offer (I seem to recall it being due to her probation, but also seem to recall that being debunked, so I dunno).

[Main Eventer]

I think she was on that celebrity wresting show Hulk Hogan hosted.

[Joe Neglia]

Dec 27, 2017 22:58:56 GMT -5 Main Eventer said:

I think she was on that celebrity wresting show Hulk Hogan hosted.

Nope, she wasn't on that show. But she was on Celebrity Boxing many years ago, against Paula Jones.

[Deleted]

One of my jobs is giving ghost tours of Nashville in a hearse... one of my favorite things to point out on the tour is..

“Over on the left is Yazoo brewery, one of my Nashville’s largest independent brewers, origally founded in 2003, by 2012 production demand grew and they have had to move to their current local here on division st. Now it’s actually the former site of a boxing gym... that’s actually trained some champions... figure skating champions that is... it’s actually where Tonya Harding train before one of her celebrity boxing fights”

It gets a laugh every night.

[Deleted]

I like Tonya Harding, still to this day. I believe if she even went 50% into it she could have been good.
I know it's not exactly a high bar to reach in 1995, but it would have been interesting.