Tori (wrestler)

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Tori
Tori in 2011
Birth nameTerri Poch
Born (1964-08-20) August 20, 1964 (age 59)[1]
Portland, Oregon, U.S.[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Taylor Made
Terri Power
Tori
The Black Ninja
Billed height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[2]
Billed weight140 lb (64 kg)
Billed fromPortland, Oregon
Trained byBrad Rheingans[3]
Roddy Piper[4]
Debut1988
Retired2001

Terri Poch (born August 20, 1964) is an American former

World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Tori. She has since opened her own yoga
studio in Portland.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1988–1993)

Poch debuted in 1988 as Taylor Made, a valet for Scotty the Body in Portland's Pacific Northwest Wrestling.

She joined the

Super Ladies Showdown in Rochester, Minnesota in the Mayo Civic Center, she defeated Lady X for the LPWA Championship. She was never defeated for the title, as the LPWA ceased operations shortly after her victory. She also teamed with Reggie Bennett
during their mutual stint with the short-lived organization.

In the summer of 1992, Poch began wrestling for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. She competed in the Japan Grand Prix, finishing ninth, and the Fuji Network tag team tournament with Kyoko Inoue as her partner. She remained in Japan until 1993, when she took a hiatus from wrestling.

World Wrestling Federation / WWF

Sable's fan; early feuds (1998–1999)

In 1998, Poch was hired by the

World Wrestling Federation (WWF).[2] She debuted on the December 28 episode of Raw entering the ring before a match to hand Sable a yellow rose. She continued in becoming an obsessed fan over the next few weeks, constantly at ringside during Sable's matches. At the Royal Rumble, she helped Sable defeat Luna Vachon in a strap match
. She later introduced herself as Tori and tried to gain the respect of Sable, who continually degraded and humiliated her. Tori defeated Luna in a singles match which resulted in a disqualification against Luna. Tori soon challenged Sable to a match for the Women's Championship at WrestleMania XV, which Sable won following interference from her bodyguard, Nicole Bass.[5] Following Wrestlemania Tori and Ivory went on to defeat Sable and Jacqueline with Tori pinning Jacqueline via a backslide, immediately after Tori challenged Sable but this was cut short by the Ministry of darkness who came to the ring to pursue Sable.

Tori feuded with Jacqueline in April and May 1999 scoring several pinfalls over Jacqueline and then began pursuing Ivory's Women's Championship in July. Tori scored a pinfall over Lexie Fyffe prior to her match against Ivory at SummerSlam, Ivory would go on to retain her championship. Tori defeated Ivory the following night in an evening gown match and after this their feud became more and more heated, leading to the first-ever WWF women's Hardcore match on the September 6, 1999 edition of Raw. Ivory retained her title once more in a match which involved Tori having a mirror smashed over her head and being burnt with an iron. On September 26, Tori attempted to gain a measure of retribution by attacking Ivory during a match but instead was pushed into a crate by Ivory. Tori was part of an 8-woman Survivors Series match in 1999 where her team would go on to be the victors. She wrestled Luna, Ivory and Jaqueline in a femme fatale four-way match at the UK pay per view Rebellion in 1999. Tori wrestled The Kat in a thong chocolate pudding match which resulted in a loss on the December 13 episode of Raw.

Kane's girlfriend and D-Generation X (1999–2000)

Main article: D-Generation X

She was challenged by male wrestler

fake Mankind hired by Triple H, and Chyna, who manipulated Tori to get Kane to attack Chris Jericho
.

Kane continued to feud with X-Pac, and on January 27, 2000, he was ambushed in the ring by the McMahon-Helmsley Faction when tricking him into joining DX, X-Pac's allies. After tying Kane up, X-Pac revealed that Tori was now his girlfriend.

The Kat and Terri Runnels. She helped Stephanie retain her title by attacking Lita and allowing Stephanie to enter the ring and claim victory. She continued to participate in high-profile storylines with the McMahon-Helmsley faction for the next few months. Along with X Pac and the Road Dogg she began feuding with the Dudley Boys, twice putting Bubba Ray Dudley through a table. At the King of the Ring in June, Tori, X-Pac, and Road Dogg participated in a table and dumpster match against the Dudley Boyz that ended with the Dudleyz powerbombing her through a table.[7] Poch was sidelined with a torn labrum on June 24, which Jim Ross described as an unfortunate set-back to her push. She underwent surgery with Dr. James Andrews. On the October 30 edition of Raw, Tori returned in a segment at WWF New York
, confronting and slapping X-Pac due to the events at King of the Ring.

The Black Ninja (2001)

Poch returned in January 2001 as The Black Ninja, a masked villainess in a black bodysuit who helped Raven retain the Hardcore Championship.[8] Raven's Hardcore title feud with Crash Holly, led to a feud between The Ninja and Crash's on-screen cousin Molly Holly. Holly finally unmasked the ninja on the March 11, 2001 episode of Sunday Night HEAT, revealing her to be Tori. Subsequently, Poch's character was removed from television.

After working as a trainer on

WWF Tough Enough throughout the summer of 2001, Poch was released by the WWF in September 2001. At the time, she made accusations about Scott Levy (Raven), claiming he had verbally abused her. WWF road agent Gerald Brisco and Executive Vice President of Talent Relations Jim Ross
claimed, however, that these allegations were not true.

She subsequently retired from wrestling to concentrate on her career as a yogini. Two decades later DX was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, however, Poch's name was not mentioned.

Outside of wrestling

Before beginning a career in professional wrestling, Poch worked as a bodybuilder and fitness model.[4] Following her release from the WWF, she has been working as a yogini[2] and currently runs a yoga studio in Portland.

Other media

Video games

Tori has appeared in four WWE video games. She made her in-game debut at WWF WrestleMania 2000, and appeared in WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown! and WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1996 The Silencers Mariam Film debut
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2001 18 Wheels of Justice Desiree Episode: Come Back, Little Diva
WWE Tough Enough Herself/Trainer Two episodes
2003 The Best Sex Ever Dancer Episode: Bump and Grind

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ All Japan Women (AJW) video profile
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  3. ^ Lethal WOW bio
  4. ^ a b c d e Lenker, Dave (2000). "Torrie or Tori? What's the Story?". The Wrestler (July).
  5. ^ Powell, John (March 29, 1999). "Austin wins title at WM15". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2010-03-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original
    on 2011-08-25. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  7. ^ Powell, John (June 26, 2000). "Angle, Rock, KOTR victors". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved 2010-03-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ "Raven". SLAM! Wrestling. May 31, 2005. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2010-03-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terri Poch.
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