TNA Knockout, Tara and MMA fighter, Kim Couture have spoken out for the first time on their scuffle at TNA’s Bound for Glory pay per view on Sunday night. Both Couture and Tara, real name Lisa Marie Varon, are insisting the incident wasn’t scripted and won’t lead to a storyline on TNA television. Speaking to AOL’s Fanhouse, they say:
“She turned around and came at me. I’m not just going to stand there and look dumb. I didn’t know what she was going to do. So I kind of grabbed a hold of her, and it seems like as soon as we put our hands on each other security broke us up,” Couture told FanHouse on Monday.
“I don’t know if she was in character or if it was adrenaline. I don’t know what it was.”
According to both Couture and Varon, TNA had invited Couture to attend the pay-per-view. The plan was to have the women engage in a short staredown in the middle of Varon’s match. But since Couture arrived approximately 20 minutes before Varon’s match started, there wasn’t much time to plan it out properly.
So when Varon fell close to where Couture was sitting ringside, Couture nudged her in the back, and Varon, a 10-year wrestling veteran, immediately thought a fan had gotten physical with her. Once she turned around and saw it was Couture, she lunged at her.
“I think she didn’t know what to do, but I felt a shove behind me. At first I thought, ‘Was that a fan or what?’, because they’re not supposed to touch us at all. I turned around, because that doesn’t happen, and I just went after her. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’,” Varon said.
“I’m a very friendly person, but you just don’t invade my space kind of thing. You just don’t put your hands on me.”
After the incident, both Couture and Varon were escorted backstage by security. Varon said she received a quick tongue-lashing and even thought she was going to get suspended or fined for her retaliation.
After she cooled off, Varon was told to re-enter the match immediately. The TNA broadcast crew made no mention of the incident while it happened or later in the show, and both Varon and Couture insist that nothing will be made of it on future TNA broadcasts.
“I’m not getting into pro wrestling. I’m not doing anything,” Couture said laughing.
After Varon’s match was over, Couture approached her backstage to ask what happened, but Varon quickly replied, “I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.” Couture obliged and left.
They cleared the air over the phone on Monday and both women claim there are no lingering hard feelings. Varon says the whole scene was “just a miscommunication.”
She added that she didn’t want fans to think her budding MMA career was part of some wrestling angle.
“I’m a little embarrassed. I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t want that to happen,” she said.
Varon has recently been in contact with Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou about fighting for them in the future and has also discussed sponsorship opportunities with TapouT. She is planning on attending Couture’s fight against Kerry Vera on Nov. 20 in Kansas City, Mo., and while she still hopes to fight Couture in the future, Varon has set no timetable for her MMA debut.
Meanwhile, Couture, who says she is only focusing on Vera right now, is open to fighting the MMA rookie.
“I think it’s funny that she hasn’t even had an amateur fight yet, and she wants to call me out for her first fight. Normally, I’m pretty quiet, but I spoke up and said a few things over the past month,” she said.
“If she’s crazy enough to get in there with me for her first fight, then great.”
So… what to believe? Two conflicting stories. Jeremy Borash of TNA noted on Sunday night we’d find out what occured between Tara & Couture this Thursday night on Impact, but as the article notes there is no mention of the ‘fight’ on TNA’s website. TNA however, reportedly recorded some footage backstage between the two to air on Impact so I guess we’ll find out the truth on Thursday night.
EDIT: On her MySpace page, Lisa Marie writes:
“I think we all strive to make make smart decisions all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. In the recent TNA pay-per-view event, my behavior in my interaction with Kim Couture left something to be desired. I strive to be both a World Champion, and a role model to young people, and I didn’t act like either.”
“As for TNA, I would most importantly like to apologize to both Kong and ODB, two of the world’s best female wrestlers, for being a distraction to their match. And in the future, I will make amends by kicking butt and entertaining the fans in a way that is uniquely Tara.”
“I expect TNA to show footage of the spectacle on this Thursday’s Impact. After that, we can put that ugliness behind us, and move in a positive direction.”
I don’t think Lisa is one to speak in a manner that would fool her fans, she has always been a straight-shooter and treats her fans with respect and always speaks to them as such on her MySpace page. That said, I am inclined to believe her when she says this wasn’t planned. It’s an awful lot of trouble to go to, to apologise for her behaviour if it is scripted — but I don’t know, I think Lisa carries herself with a great respect for her fans and I’d like to believe she’s being sincere. I admire her tenacity and Lisa proves she is a great role model for wrestling fans.
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October 20, 2009 at 5:40 pm
This sounds like a desperate attempt to draw in more viewers on thursday. The ratings took a dramatic drop past few weeks, so probably they hope they can lure in some mma fans.
October 20, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Of course this was an angle. No way it was unscripted. You think Kim Couture is going to risk getting arrested for attacking a performer? She’s not a thug.
Tara is working everyone to get the angle over. I mean, come on “of course I expect TNA to show this footage” well, why would they do that if it wasn’t planned? From what I’ve heard (f4w, pwinsider) only a few people were in on it (Kim, Tara, Russo, Dixie and a few others) but it was planned. Everything about this reeks of anangle.
Tara has been known to not be entirely honest with fans. I remember her swearing blind on her myspace she had never, ever used steroids in her entire career, despite turning into the incredible shrinking woman after the WWE instituted the wellness policy.
October 20, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I still think this is all scripted….thats all it is trying to boost up ratings…everything was planted to confuse the fans like most r now…thinking is this Real or Not.
October 20, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I think it might be real but then again I thought Balloon Boys father was innocent..
October 20, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I can buy the thought that it was supposed to be a stare down that went wrong. Maybe Kim touched Tara to try to get her attention for the stare down, and Tara over reacted? Ya know, we’ve given TNA credit for a great setup, but maybe it’s the opposite and they didn’t work out the details to the stare down and it got physical. The fact that it was leaked that they worked it out on the phone kind of kills a supposed angle, doesn’t it? And if they are setting up an MMA angle, why now? Kim fights in November and wouldn’t fight again until early next year.
October 20, 2009 at 7:03 pm
i think it was pretty obviously scripted. why bother mentioning kim couture on impact the last couple weeks if it wasn’t meant to happen? they haven’t received any major coverage since the event, and this is their way of trying to do so.
October 20, 2009 at 7:16 pm
it was scripted Kim Couture twitted Tara needs to stick with the fake stuff I just got trough beating her @$$ now its time to sleep and now that twitt is gone hmmm.
October 20, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I’m just glad this is not storyline because tara has better things to do in TNA this fight with this chick
October 20, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Gina22 — Is there any evidence to support that steroids claim?
I love Lisa Marie Varon. I think her resurgence in TNA has been one of the most refreshing things about professional wrestling this year. Here is a woman otherwise considered on the wrong slant of thirty making the biggest impact in her career thus far. However, as much as I admire how she wears her heart on her sleeve, I still believe the whole thing was kayfabe. Vince Russo’s fingerprints seem all over this one. I can imagine that it was probably a very hushed affair kept between the few key people — in which case, was undoubtedly unfair to both Awesome Kong and ODB, as it detracted from their performance. They might play it subtle on Impact, but I imagine there’ll be some shoot-style follow up on the matter somewhere along the line.
October 20, 2009 at 10:34 pm
as far as the steroid thing that Gina22 brought If theirs any type of illegal drug that Victoria has done it would be ether cocaine a craving reducer or Zodine or whatever that drug was called that they say a lot of female wrestlers not that I’m saying I think she’s taking it anyways I agree it looks like work to me especially Kim’s comments on her twitter that probably was the biggest dead giveaway right there.
October 20, 2009 at 11:12 pm
WTF im sure this was planned
why was tara going up the ramp otherwise?
October 20, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I do remember Lisa Marie Varon writing a blog in which she ferociously denied using any sorts of drugs and defended the rumours that the Divas were prescribed with weight reducing pills also. Obviously she’s not going to admit to drug abuse, but the way she went out of her way to neutralise the reports online (she threatened a tough initiation for anyone coming into the business amongst other things) makes me want to believe she’s a real competitor. I wouldn’t say she’s ever been a slim Diva, but there has been points where her muscle tone seems to have decreased. I would have presumed that would have been the effects of bad dieting or lack of training, seeing as the WWE started to use her less and less properly after 2005. But, what do I know? I’m a big fan of Lisa Marie and would hope she never touched drugs.
October 21, 2009 at 12:25 am
My oh my, can we say Ballon Boy II boys and girls?
October 21, 2009 at 4:18 pm
RE: Victoria’s steroid use. She’s never been convicted or proven and it would be unfair to state as a fact that she was/is.
However, my opinion (and that’s all it is) is that she likely has used steroids in the past. It’s fairly well known that some of the divas have had histories with certain body shaping drugs (Sunny has talked about using fat burning steroids to stay in shape in the 90s, I think Chyna has admitted to using steroids as well) and I’ve seen pictures of Victoria when she looked huge, and it doesn’t look natural at all. It’s even more difficult for a woman in her late thirties to look like that. And then factor in that as soon as the wellness policy came in, she drastically slimmed down… well, it’s a heck of a coincidence, isn’t it?
Her crazy, over the top reaction (saying she’d take a polygraph, threatening to make life miserable for any wrestler who did an interview with a news site) didn’t convince me of her innocence. Male wrestlers lie all the time about steroids (Kennedy, Edge, Chavo) why wouldn’t women lie?
Basically, I wouldn’t believe everything I read on myspace.
October 21, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I’d like to put an end to this conversation. It’s very bold to make accusations of drug abuse or speculate drug abuse for that matter.
October 21, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Gina22 you bring up such a good point before the wellness policy was put in place by the wwe, Lisa Marie Varon was a Animal and after the Wellness policy was put in place she all of a sudden shrunk down. I really don’t believe that she lost all of that musle mass from doing MMA or Jijitsu come on. In my own opinion i do believe that Lisa, like Chyna did do steriods in the past but who didn’t do steriods back in the day when wwe didn’t really care, its an easy fix. Also I think Lisa should of never brought up her personal agenda into TNA, she should keep her wrestling life and MMA life seperate and sorry to say when and if she is given the great opportunity to fight Kim Couture, she is going to get her ass handed to her. She has yet to have a real MMA fight and she is already calling out the Big Wigs. This was bound to happen Kim couture is a legend in the MMA world and Lisa Marie Varon is a legend in the wrestling world, they both maybe legends but like Kim Couture said what she does is real and what Lisa Marie Varon does is Fake.