Former WWE wrestler opens Friday Harbor animal grooming service

In the wrestling ring, Lisa Moretti was known for such moves as the facebuster, the snap suplex and the scoop slam.

She's traded in the smackdown for shampoo and shears.

Moretti, a former pro football cheerleader and World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler, has opened a cat and dog grooming service on San Juan Island. Her number is 378-8468.

"I've never met a cat I can't bathe," she said. "That's my motto."

Moretti, 47, has been an animal advocate since moving to San Juan Island in 2000 and retiring from the ring in 2005. She has volunteered with animal shelters in Friday Harbor and Utah; helped rescue and care for animals affected by Hurricane Katrina; and in 2007 co-founded Downtown Dog, an animal daycare, grooming, training, and cat boarding company in Friday Harbor. Moretti and Jessica Ray are no longer business partners at Downtown Dog.

Moretti was born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif. She studied public relations at the University of Southern California, was a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League in the mid-1980s, and worked as a make-up artist for Revlon before joining the WWE.

As a wrestler, she won seven individual titles and two tag-team titles. She has converted her WWE trading cards into business cards, adding stickers with her phone number to the back of each card.

"My laundry room is my new shop — I have a bathing area and a grooming area. It looks fabulous," she said of her pet-grooming business, which she operates in her home. She wants to provide grooming services for four or five animals a day. Her future goals: open a B&B and daycare for pets, and teach classes in pet bathing and grooming.

"Through church and through Downtown Dog, it was really fun getting to know people through their animals," she said. "I loved what I was doing everyday."

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