Wrestler of the Week: Sable

Albert Ching
Luna Vachon, Sable (source: WWE)

RondaRousey.com’s Wrestler of the Week series profiles significant wrestlers from the past and present. 


Sable isn’t best known for her in-ring prowess. Her two stints in WWE were both during periods where women in the company were primarily featured based on sex appeal. But she was perhaps the epitome of that era, a three-time Playboy cover model with the catchphrase: “This is for all the women who want to be me and all the men who come to see me.”

Yet she still stands as one of the most influential and successful women in WWE history—and her late ’90s popularity remains a vital step on the evolutionary chain that led to last night’s first-ever women’s match to main event WrestleMania.

Sable debuted in WWE—then WWF—at 1996’s WrestleMania XII, accompanying Triple H (then known by the full “Hunter Hearst Helmsley”) to the ring for his brief match against the Ultimate Warrior. She wasn’t introduced as a wrestler, which was just as well, because there wasn’t a women’s division in WWF at the time. Her association with Triple H only lasted for one night, as she soon became the manager of her real-life husband, Marc Mero. Before long, Sable started to outshine Mero, something that only became more pronounced once Mero was out with an injury and Sable’s star continued to grow.

As part of their storyline, Mero grew increasingly jealous of Sable, leading up to her in-ring debut in 1998’s WrestleMania XIV—a pivotal show in the Attitude Era, which included the start of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin‘s first run as WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Sable and Mero teamed for a mixed tag team match against ring vet Luna Vachon (posthumously inducted this past weekend into the Legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame) and Goldust. Two years after her WWF debut, the world got the first glimpse of Sable as a wrestler—stunning fans with her in-ring acumen, delivering a powerbomb on Luna (subsequently dubbed a “Sable Bomb”) and her version of Mero’s TKO finisher—surprising and delighting a Boston crowd already firmly in her corner.

Not only did this prove that Sable had ability as a wrestler and not just a personality, it was also the first time women had been a part of a WrestleMania match in four years, since Alundra Blayze vs. Leilani Kai at WrestleMania X—all due to Sable’s undeniable popularity.

Shortly after WrestleMania XIV, the inevitable Sable/Mero split happened, with Mero aligning with WWE Hall of Famer Jacqueline, who was new to the company after a stint in WCW. While their first competition against each other was a bikini contest (remember, this was WWF in 1998), things soon got more physical with a mixed tag team match at that year’s SummeSlam: Mero and Jacqueline against Sable and her mystery partner, the recently debuted Edge.

Sable and Jacqueline’s feud became one of the hottest rivalries in WWF programming in a very hot time for the company and prompted the promotion to reactivate its Women’s Championship for the first time in nearly three years. Jacqueline captured the title first, but Sable won it at Survivor Series 1998, with her one and only reign lasting nearly six months, including a defense against Tori at WrestleMania XV. Sable’s character turned villainous at this time, with success going to her head—leading to her self-identifying as a “Diva,” the WWF’s first significant use of that term.

Shortly after losing the title and amid a number of reported backstage issues, Sable not only left WWF but filed a major lawsuit against the company. She then mostly disappeared from the pro wrestling scene, seemingly for good—until making a shocking return in 2003, feuding first with newly-minted Hall of Famer Torrie Wilson and later with Stephanie McMahon—leading to a spirited match between the two at WWE Vengeance in July 2003.

Yet in this second run, Sable’s in-ring time was fairly limited, with her again primarily playing the role as a pot-stirring antagonist (such as harassing Torrie and having an on-screen affair with Vince McMahon, an ironic role given the lawsuit from a few years earlier).

By summer 2004, Sable was once again gone from WWE, albeit under much more civil circumstances this time around. She hasn’t returned since, not even a stray cameo appearance with her husband, Brock Lesnar; but while it may be difficult to see the connection between the evening gown matches of Sable’s era to the hard-hitting action of today, Sable’s presence in the late ’90s demanded a place for women on the show at a time when there was none. And the previously on-again, off-again women’s division hasn’t gone dormant since.


Take a Sablelicious trip through history by watching Sable’s greatest matches and moments on the WWE Network.

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