The first time that Otten saw Nancy Toffolini (her maiden name) was in Orlando, Florida, in 1983. She and her then-husband Jim Daus were big wrestling fans, and attended the matches every week, always sitting in the front row. Otten -- who had been a wrestling fan since the 1970s -- was photographing the event, and was struck by Mrs. Daus' beauty. She reminded him of actress Valerie Bertinelli, who at the time was married to rock star Eddie Van Halen.
Keen to build his fledgling portfolio, though rather shy in asking, it took more than one conversation for him to convince Nancy to let him photograph her. She eventually agreed, though it soon became apparent that she wasn't a natural model, as she looked much the same in every shot.
At the time, Billy Jack Haynes was on a babyface tear through the Florida territory, and approached Otten about setting up a photo shoot, that would put him over as a ladies man. Otten realised that Nancy would be perfect for this type of photo shoot, and thus she and another model both posed with Haynes as he flexed his famous physique. The picture made the front of Main Event magazine, and is remembered today by many fans of the time.
Kevin Sullivan -- who Otten referred to as "a genius" of a booker -- had been feuding with Haynes at this time, and came to Otten excitedly, with the idea of using the same girls in a photo shoot with him. Playing his occult persona to perfection, Sullivan wanted to give the impression that he had brainwashed Haynes' lady-friends, and brought them into his realm.
But only Nancy showed up that day. It was to be the beginning of new things for her, both professionally and personally.
Nancy was dubbed "The Fallen Angel," and became Sullivan's valet. Her beauty brought out an extra dimension in Sullivan's gimmick, playing him to the crowd as the master of manipulators, with a mental control over those who followed him. In reality, the two had fallen in love, and after her divorce from Jim Daus, they married in 1985. But Otten believes that Nancy's decisions may have been as much about succeeding professionally as anything else.
Kevin and Nancy moved to Atlanta and World Championship Wrestling in 1989, and it was a further six years before Otten would cross their paths again. This time, it was in ECW, when Nancy was managing The Sandman. Fortuitously meeting on an aeroplane on their way to Philadelphia, she explained that her role was to light cigarettes and open beer cans for her charge. Initially perplexed, Otten soon came to understand, and appreciate, what that was all about.
After her ECW stint had come to an end, Nancy returned to WCW, and in the storyline, was stolen again, this time leaving Sullivan to manage Chris Benoit. Bizarrely, Sullivan, who was booking the storylines at the time, suggested that Chris and Nancy share hotel rooms, and portray their alliance as a shoot. In 1997, Otten spotted Nancy with Chris in San Francisco, prior to a WCW pay-per-view. She insisted that she was merely showing him around the city, but they "seemed pretty friendly," in Otten's own words.
It would later be joked in wrestling locker rooms that Sullivan "had booked his own divorce," and Otten noted that he believed that both Chris and Nancy wanted to start a family, which likely led to their decision to get engaged, just months after Otten spotted them together. Most likely, the idea would be that Chris would continue to wrestle and provide for the family, while she stayed at home.
Otten ended the interview by noting how nice Chris Benoit had always been to him, pondering on how he would always shake his hand, and chat a little about Nancy. He had spoken to Chris only two weeks ago, with no hint of any distress on Benoit's part. The tragedy, he said, was like a real-life horror film.
That is certainly the way that other wrestling fans have seen the tragic deaths of Nancy, Daniel, and Chris Benoit. Perhaps one of the small comforts is that Nancy Toffolini, for a little while, got to enjoy a life in wrestling that so many others envied.
She would marry Jim Daus, her high school sweetheart, after the two graduated DeLand High School about 30 miles north of Orlando, Fla. The marriage would be shortlived, but the two found a common liking to wrestling.
It was when the two attended wrestling events in the Orlando area when at the age of 19, in late 1983, chance and lucked landed her into wrestling.
While modeling and doing some apartment wrestling, she met photographer Bill Otten. Otten freelanced for New York wrestling magazine editor George Napolitano, often photographing matches for Florida Championship Wrestling. It was through Napolitano and Otten that Daus was introduced to Florida booker Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan and she started a real-life romance. She would be introduced as the Fallen Angel, a name derived from a Led Zeppelin song reference, in July 1984.
She was part of Kevin Sullivan's "Satanists" which also included Luna Vachon and Sir Oliver Humperdink. Snakes, blood and anti-Christian overtones were seen as controversial for the time. The group drew strange parallels to Charles Manson and Judas Priest.
The two would marry in 1985. It was her second marriage, having divorced from Jim Daus. She continued to work Florida off and on until Jim Crockett bought the Florida promotion in 1987. Kevin began to work for Crockett (eventually WCW), based out of North Carolina.
In 1989, Kevin brought Nancy into WCW as a geeky Robin Green, a "fan" who had a crush on wrestler Rick Steiner. Green was always shown ringside during Steiner's matches, cheering her hero on, or so he believed. Eventually, Steiner allowed her to stand ringside with him. It was at this point she revealed herself as Woman, backstabbing Steiner during a televised match.
Her glasses and geeky looks were dropped, and she began managing the masked team of Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed). When Doom broke up, she was placed in a short-lived angle with Ric Flair. She was pushing the idea of buying the Horsemen, which Flair turned down on numerous occasions, but the angle hit a dead-end when the Sullivans left WCW in 1990.
The two would show up on independent dates where she was always portrayed as Woman, the persona that she got her biggest name from.
She and Sullivan would team up again in Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling, where Kevin had earned a booking position in 1992. She took on the name Devil Angel, drawing close to her original persona of Fallen Angel. Her time in Smokey Mountain was short and uneventful.
The two would eventually find their way to ECW in 1993. But when Kevin left for a return to WCW in 1994, Nancy stayed behind where she gained fame as the manager of the beer-drinking Sandman. The two were a perfect pair. She would help light the cigarettes and open the beer cans for the Sandman. The ECW style allowed her to get involved in matches like she never had to do before during her career. Kevin was able to get Nancy a position in WCW, and she left ECW where she last managed 2 Cold Scorpio.
When Nancy joined her husband in 1995, their marriage was hitting the skids. She was put into the role as a manager for the Four Horsemen, who at the time consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Brian Pillman. When Pillman left the group, he would be replaced by Steve "Mongo" McMichael. She accompanied the Horsemen alongside famed manager Elizabeth and later Debra McMichael, wife of McMichael.
Her role was small and quiet until Kevin, who was booking for WCW, began a feud with Chris Benoit. In an angle that only insiders understood, Benoit was shown dining with Woman, who Benoit would refer as "Nancy." It was to play off the marriage problems that Kevin and Nancy Sullivan were suffering in real life.
In a weird scene of where the show became reality, Nancy asked Kevin for a divorce and would begin dating Benoit, mirroring what was being booked for television. Meanwhile Kevin and Benoit still had to wrestle in the ring. The tension with Kevin as booker always haunted Benoit, who believed Sullivan had it out for him for stealing his wife. It would lead, in part, to Benoit leaving WCW in 2000 for the WWE.
Nancy would be taken off television following Benoit defeating Sullivan in a retirement match in 1997.
Nancy would give birth to Daniel Christopher on February 23, 2000. Nancy would marry the father, Benoit, November 23, 2000. She would take the name Nancy Benoit.
Although it was known by fans, Chris never spoke about his personal life. He would often refer to Nancy, if needed, as his fiancée. Although her history was never explained, she was in the ring following Benoit's win of the WWE World Title at Wrestlemania XX to congratulate him.
