Both inside and outside of the ring, LuFisto is an innovator. whether it be going up against the O.A.C or stepping inside the ring for some of the industry’s most brutal hardcore matches of recent memory, the Canadian icon has blazed the trail for a generation of wrestlers to pursue their careers on their own terms.
“How cool is it for you that you have made such a tangible impact on the business with stuff like that?” I asked when we recently chatted for Love Wrestling. “It does seem like the opportunities that have come about, a large part of that is due to what you’ve done in the past.”
“I don’t know exactly,” she answered. “I’ve worked really hard for women and I still do. When I see something that’s bad for women wrestling, I’m gonna stand up. I am still the one who’s gonna say ‘hey,’ like happened with CZW. It was like, ‘hey, guys, we didn’t sign up for this.
‘ So I’ve waited but after two months of just they kept going and using names that we did not agree on and stuff, I was like, despite all my love for CZW and everything, it felt wrong for me not to say anything because there were some girls who didn’t know about it. It’s like, ‘hey, did you know that’s what they do? Because if you go back and you work there, that might happen to you.’ Again, people might think that’s like, ‘oh, she’s hard to deal with or she creates problems’ No, she’s looking for solutions so women wrestlers can have a great future and can have a good career free of drama.”
“I mean, (in) wrestling, there’s drama as it is,” she laughed, recognizing the irony in the statement. “It’s entertainment. I mean, sports in general, life has drama. But, I mean if I can help avoid some of the stuff that you don’t have to deal with, then I’m gonna stand up and fight for it. It comes from a good place, and when I do it, it’s always like – when I did the CZW video, I think it took me like 10 or 20 takes because I was like, ‘ah,’ and then I was like, ‘I have to do this. I have to do this.’ I will always do what I think is right for the collectivity and everyone involved.”
“Is that a bit of a culture that you had to change for yourself?” I inquired. “I know you’ve mentioned in the past [that] even when it came to your first match, someone was literally throwing water on your gear before you entered the ring [and] you have to change the entire thing on the fly. It seems like that’s a bit contradictory to the sort of way that you were brought up in professional wrestling.”
Lufisto nodded in affirmation.
“Yeah, and I would say it’s probably one of the main reasons why I’m so protective of who I wrestle with, the younger girls, especially,” she replied. “When I started, I feel like I didn’t have that wrestling Mom. I didn’t have that protection. I didn’t have that somebody I could go to and ask for advice.
I learned a lot by making mistakes, and I’m trying to avoid that as much as I can for people who’re starting, or I’m trying to give them what I feel was really lacking in my career.”
“I really wish I had that person you would like, ‘Hey, you can’t say that, because. You can’t do that, because,’ and then explain. Usually, you make the mistakes and then they call you a piece of shit and you’re like ‘what did I do wrong? Please explain! I don’t know, so please explain to me so I can learn and get better.’ Yeah, it was a lot of trials and errors when it comes to my career. And then, you know, by learning on the fly and becoming older and becoming smarter, then you kind of get it.
But I feel it took a lot longer for me than somebody today because there’s so many resources now that they can go to and ask for advice, and there’s great schools everywhere.”
“Yeah, (it’s) definitely something that I wish I had,” Lu concluded, “and that’s why I think I’m really focused on making sure that they do have those tools that I feel I was lacking.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotations used.
