Princess Victoria: A Tale of Tears, Triumphs, and Turnbuckles

by Vicki Otis, John Cosper, Mary Peret

Princess Victoria feared no man, woman, or beast. The Native American warrior from the pacific Northwest carved a path all across the world wrestling the best fighters the business had to offer. She became a three time tag team champion and a rising star until a tragic accident ended her career without warning. Long before she laced up her boots, Vicki Otis was a fighter. In this new memoir, She details for the first time the horrific sexual abuse she endured as a child. She shares the story of her escape to freedom, her mentor Sandy Barr, and her unlikely entry into the professional wrestling business. She spins tales about everyone from Velvet McIntyre and Wendi Richter to Roddy Piper and Buddy Rose. She chronicles her disappearance from the spotlight, the rejection of the Fabulous Moolah, and the warm welcome she received when she returned to the pro wrestling community. The life story of Princess Victoria is a gut-wrenching horror story, a thrilling sports biography, and the testament to a woman’s determination to not only survive but thrive. The road to recovery is not an easy one, and her story is not an easy read. But as Vicki discovered over a lifetime, you can overcome any obstacles with family, and that family does not have to be blood!

204 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2021

Reviews

[Alfia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. I found it fascinating in that it revealed a world about which I know virtually nothing - the world of women in 1980s professional wrestling. The main narrator is a former professional wrestler known as Princess Victoria. Her shtick was to play a Native American princess. In unabashed colloquial style, she tells of a harrowing childhood full of neglect and abuse, and how she managed to parlay that experience of victimhood into playing, and becoming to some degree, a superhero character. Along the way we find out about how she got into wrestling and something about how it changed when Vince MvMahon Jr. took over WWF. There are narrator insets from other wrestlers and from Victoria's adopted half-sister whom she found as an adult. There are some great black and white pics.

The greatest problem with this book is that it isn't edited. The colloquial tone is fine, and adds to the atmopshere of the book, but the organization is confusing, and the extraneous personal detail often detracting. The details do give you the feel that you are listening to Vicki tell her life story while you both throw back some beers, but an editor would have skimmed off the details that just aren't interesting to someone not personally involved in the story. In terms of organization, I would have preferred more of an intro. to the world of wrestling up front before being dunked straight into the lurid tank of personal tragedy. While the family history is an essential part of the story, it needs to be told with more context to be appreciated as the victim-to-superhero story that makes this narrative especially exciting. Lastly, the book is written as if the reader already knows all the terminology and many of the characters. A glossary and chronology would have been nice. I still don't know what a turnbuckle is.

Hopefully a second edition will be professionally edited, because it is an engaging account of the wrestling world of yesteryear, as well as a compelling tale of tragedy and triumph and the harrowing road Princess Victoria has walked.