Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
In 1999 an on-screen EMT called Barbara Bush began appearing on WWE TV in various segments. Today we ask Whatever Happened to Kathy Dingman, the lady who played her and also had roles in WCW and TNA.
Kathy Dingman got her start in pro wrestling after meeting a couple of wrestlers at a Hooters where she worked for 7 years. After agreeing to manage them at a local independent show…Dingman caught the pro wrestling bug. After spending 3 years on the indie circuit….Dingman began sending tapes to the WWF. In 1999, she was finally hired by the company.
The original name WWF creative came up with for Dingman’s character was Nurse Connie Lingus. A play on the sexual act of giving a female oral sex. When WWF management felt that the name was perhaps a little too explicit even for the Attitude era…it was changed to the much tamer B.B. aka Barbara Bush and she was no longer a nurse…but an EMT.
The B.B. character never really wrestled much…she mainly competed in evening gown and swimming pool matches. She was used mostly to show off her assets…something Dingman never really wanted. She preferred to wrestle and manage..but accepted the role that they gave her. Dingman was eventually released from the company in 2000 and shortly thereafter joined the rival WCW. Dingman’s character in WCW was named Papaya and she was the valet of Kwee Wee (Allen Funk). She only made a couple of appearances there before quitting the company.
Word has it, that her then boyfriend Bob ‘Hardcore’ Holly didn’t want her in WCW and forced her to quit. Regardless of the circumstances of her quick WCW tenure…Dingman wasn’t done in pro wrestling. She resurfaced in 2002, for the upstart TNA wrestling as Taylor Vaughn.
Taylor Vaughn was crowned the first ever Miss TNA after winning a lingerie battle royal. The Miss TNA title was the predecessor to the TNA Knockouts title. Kathy Dingman as Taylor Vaughn had evening gown matches with “Bruce” aka Kwee Wee from WCW. Dingman eventually left TNA and for a brief period of time wrestled for an Italian based promotion called Nu-Wrestling Evolution.
So…whatever happened to Kathy Dingman? Kathy is now retired from the business and resides in Florida.