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Viva Van continues to pave the way.
As the first-ever Vietnamese-American female pro wrestler, “The Hellbent Vixen” Viva Van is no stranger to making history. In December 2023, Van made history yet again as she and 27-year veteran Sumie Sakai became the first women to main event a wrestling show in the country of Vietnam. This milestone moment took place under the banner of VPW’s Immortal Glory event, where AEW’s Chris Jericho also inducted Van and Sakai into the VPW Hall of Fame.
WrestleZone’s Ella Jay recently spoke with Van about this moment, which she described as special.
“I thought, when I had planned to go back to Vietnam, that, I’m going to do a show, I’m just finally going to be able to get booked for VPW. The first time I hit them up, I was like, ‘Hey, I would love to get booked.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, we would love to have you, but we just don’t have the budget to fly you in. We don’t even have a ring.’ So it went from that to like okay, I’m finally here,” Van recalled.
“I had no idea that they were going to surprise me with inducting me into the Hall of Fame with Sumie Sakai. She’s someone that has always been so helpful to me since early on in my career, and I will never forget that. And so I knew that I wanted to share this very special moment with her. It’s crazy.”
This month was special. I became the first Vietnamese woman to wrestle in Japan ?? & Vietnam ?? and the first women to main event in Vietnam (It Sold Out!)
If I don’t make it after this, I’ll die knowing I paved the way for other Southeast Asian Wrestlers like me. Thank you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/BjLDJgLf8d
Looking ahead, Van hopes to return to Vietnam Pro Wrestling sometime, specifically with the aim of challenging Yuki Kamifuku for the VPW Women’s Championship.
“I definitely want to come back and maybe challenge [Yuki] for the VPW women’s belt, but we’ll see,” Van said.
Watch our full interview with Viva Van below:
