When Debra left the WWE in 1995, the WWF Women’s Title would be vacant once again, until Jacqueline defeated Sable to put the belt back into play. As tough as Jacqueline was, at that time, the Women’s Title needed a name in order to put it back into prominence. Simply put, we needed a strong-willed, beautiful woman who carried herself with grace, pride, dignity and honor that would use the title perhaps to open up doors that some of the male wrestlers couldn’t. At that time, I was a HUGE Howard Stern fan, and Howard was RED HOT back then. I knew that if the WWF could have a presence on his show, then it would make wrestling more cool, hip and cutting edge. While I knew that Howard had no interest in wrestling, I knew that his male hormones wouldn’t be able to resist if we dangled Sable in front of his massive honker.
However, there was only one problem with my theory – Rena Mero wasn’t a wrestler. She was a valet then – eye candy for the male viewers to lust after from afar. I remember pitching the idea to Vince and him telling me to give Rena a call, and see what her response would be. A few hours later I called both Marc and Rena Mero and told them what my vision was. Even though I could hear a bit of fear in Rena’s voice at the time, seeing this as an opportunity, she accepted the challenge.
It was only a matter of weeks that Marc trained Rena to get her ready for her first match. I think I was more nervous than she was, being that this was my idea, and had it taken a big, nasty fart – I would have been the one held both accountable and responsible.
Sable was booked to team with Marc and take on Goldust and the late, great Luna Vachon at a little event called WrestleMania XIV. When I look back now, I realize how freakin’ out of my mind it was to book Rena in her first match on the biggest pay-per-view of the year!
Thankfully, not only for my sake, but for the sake of hundreds of women that followed in her footsteps, Rena knocked it out of the park during that match. I can just remember being so proud of her knowing how committed, and how hard she worked in her effort to reestablish a title that held such prestige over the years. That night, I had no idea that when the final bell rang, the WWE Diva Division was officially born – an era in wrestling that still carries on proudly today some 16 years later.
Both Madusa and Rena need to be recognized for first, KEEPING life, and then ADDING life to a division that the wrestling business couldn’t afford to lose. The fact that neither woman is enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame is an absolute, complete tragedy.
Hopefully WWE officials will one day understand the impact that these two female warriors had on their prestigious company.
Be sure to check out all of Russo’s Road Stories at this link!
