By Scott Bowden
January 27, 2005
Fall from Grace:
According to Scott Bowden, the fairer sex can find a life in wrestling just as unfair
With the possible exceptions of NWA World champion Harley Race and AWA kingpin Nick Bockwinkel, as a young mark I believed that Lillian Ellison — “The Fabulous Moolah” — was probably the most difficult to pin for a three count than any other wrestler. Although she dropped her Women’s championship for brief periods to women such as Joyce Grabel, Moolah was billed as the undisputed champion for about 28 years.
SIDE-NOTE SLAM: Other Memphians shared this same admiration for the Fabulous One. In the audience the night in 1982 when “TV Star” Andy Kaufman bullied “ woman-from-audience” Foxy, I recall overhearing two drunkards suggesting that Moolah was possibly the only woman on God’s green earth who could put Kaufman in his place. I can’t believe Jerry Jarrett didn’t think of that. Years later, when I was locked in a vicious feud with UWSA Ladies (a loosely used term) champion Ms. Texas, I suggested a scenario in which I promised I was bringing in a top competitor to challenge the boob-jobbed beauty. After a week or two of buildup, I would reveal Moolah as my ace in the hole. Then, when Moolah is “refused medical clearance” to wrestle, I’m forced to take her place, much to my chagrin. In hindsight, that was one idea I’m glad booker Randy Hales nixed.
A natural-born instigator, Moolah began her career in the 1950s as “Slave Girl Moolah,” a conniving valet for “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. Much like the valets of the WWE modern era, Moolah interfered on occasion to give her man a winning advantage.
I recall thinking Moolah was the most vile woman I had ever seen, which is saying a lot given the area in which I grew up. She was methodical and worked the Memphis style very well: stalling, cleverly cheating behind the ref’s back, working the crowd, begging off and using tights or the ropes for leverage to score the win and retain the coveted title. A typical spot: Moolah would repeatedly pull hair, denying the infractions as the ref interrogated her at the behest of the fans. Finally, the challenger would have enough, and toss Moolah around the ring by the hair, with the champ taking a serious of bumps and then a powder.
Moolah was much like the other World champs of the day, as she seemed unbeatable, despite the fact that she sold for the challenger quite well. Hell, her grinning mug was even plastered on the championship belt, proof to a 9-year-old that the title wasn’t changing manicured hands anytime soon.
While gravity proved to be the toughest opponent for Moolah in her 28 years on top, it was Wendi Richter to whom the torch appeared to be passed when Vince McMahon Jr. added the aging Queen of Wrestling to his expanding kingdom in late 1983. Much like Hulk Hogan was signed to replace Bob Backlund as WWF champion, Richter, a fairly attractive 20-something star, was selected as the new face of women’s wrestling. Paired with then-pop-sensation Cyndi Lauper, Richter pinned Moolah to win the title in a match televised on MTV.
Months later, after all the publicity (including a ridiculous cover story in PWI suggesting that she was more popular than Hogan) had gone to her head, Richter was double-crossed (i.e., “screwed”) at Madison Square Garden. Although Richter’s shoulders were not pinned to the mat, the ref counted three anyway, awarding the title to the Spider-Lady (Moolah disguised under a hood). The story goes that Richter was so pissed, she left the building immediately still in her wrestling attire and hailed a cab.
Like he did with lot of aging icons, McMahon kept Moolah around after she dropped the title for the final time, officially bestowing her “the Queen of Wrestling” and pairing her with “King” Harley Race.
Inexplicably, Moolah’s career had a rebirth of sorts in the last five years, appearing in a series of ridiculous, often tasteless, skits with Mae Young, another elderly star. Much like Hogan and Ric Flair, Moolah will probably be appearing on WWE programming until the day she dies.
It’s hard to imagine any female star nowadays having that kind of longevity. Much like their male counterparts, today’s WWE Divas are quickly becoming tomorrow’s sad stories. Liz Hulette got her start in the business as an announcer for International Championship Wrestling (ICW), an outlaw group based in Kentucky. In the mid-’80s, she paved the way for future WWE Divas as the lovely “Miss Elizabeth,” the valet for her husband, Randy “Macho Man” Savage.
Although the character reportedly was originally scripted differently, Miss Elizabeth’s classy, quiet — borderline elegant — demeanor proved to be a winning contrast to Savage’s machismo. The two formed the classic “beauty and the beast” couple, with Elizabeth achieving a level of popularity no Diva has achieved since.
If you were a fan of hers in the ’80s, it’s almost unfathomable how Elizabeth’s life ended: an apparent drug overdose at the age of 42 at her boyfriend Lex Luger’s place in an Atlanta suburb. Some have claimed that Liz and Luger, once beacons of fitness, looked horrible on occasions in the months before her death.
Sounds eerily similar to Joanie Laurer, the artist formerly known as Chyna. Since leaving WWE, Laurer has gradually been spinning out of control in a desperate attempt to stay in the spotlight. Rumors of alcoholism and drug use have plagued her. I cannot say for sure, but something in her life has certainly eroded her once-chiseled body, along with her reputation.
Some say, however, that they could see the writing on the locker-room wall for Laurer during the height of her popularity with WWE. Reportedly, more times than not, the former Chyna was aloof, even downright rude, backstage. When her demands for more money were not met by WWE in 2001, she was released. (Admittedly, the fact that Triple H, her ex, was seeing Steph McMahon probably hastened her departure.)
Some females in wrestling, Laurer and Sable in particular, seem to forget that wrestling is what made them — without it, they don’t offer much to mainstream entertainment. They receive offers for Playboy shoots and TV guest-starring roles solely based on their popularity in the business. Even the striking Torrie Wilson, perhaps the prettiest of the three WWE women to appear in Hef’s mag, is nothing special compared to a Playboy Playmate; however, at the time of her initial shoot, she was the most beautiful woman in wrestling.
When women use wrestling as a springboard to a bigger payday elsewhere (Hollywood), the end result has to be disappointing for them. That’s probably what alarmed me most about the conversation I had with Stacy Keibler, which I mentioned last week. While her desire to take acting classes and leave wrestling behind is somewhat understandable, I wonder if she could really tolerate being out of the spotlight, while devoting the amount of patience and time required for a successful acting career in Los Angeles. I doubt it.
Some women who depart WWE, no matter whether they were released or they quit, have nowhere to go. Before there was Torrie and Stacy, Sunny was the most popular woman in the former Fed. At a time when the Internet population was rapidly growing in ’95-’96, Sunny’s pictures were the most downloaded of any other woman in cyberspace. The first time I met Sunny, a.k.a. Tammy Sytch, was in late 1992, a year or so before either one of us became heel managers. I knew she was trouble the first day I met here — let’s just say her constant flirting with Eddie Gilbert during a drive from Nashville back to Memphis was embarrassing for all, especially boyfriend Chris Candido. Supposedly, her success made it even worse to be around her. Right before the Fed exploded in 1998, she was fired, supposedly because of her bad attitude.
Time hasn’t treated Sytch kindly. Although her chances of returning to WWE were practically nil anyway, her involvement with Wrestling ViXXXens, a site featuring nude photos of her and former valet Missy Hyatt, ended any hope of that. Before that, she was fired from WCW in controversial fashion following a locker-room incident. Today, she looks nothing like the Sunny who broke hearts years ago. Some blame her appearance on hard living, others on a thyroid problem — either way, it’s an unfortunate end to a once-promising career in the business.
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With so much focus on the dangers men face in pursuing a career in professional wrestling, the same lessons are to be learned for females in the business as well. The future of women in WWE doesn’t look good. Vince continues to kill the concept with the incessant pillow fights on RAW, while Playmate of the Year Carmella DeCesare, who finished runner-up to Diva Search winner Christy Hemme, was arrested in a Cleveland nightclub and charged with assault after allegedly attacking another woman. Hemme, a self-proclaimed “work hard, party hard” kinda girl, is perhaps the least talented of the current crop of Divas. She’ll never last.
Ah, who needs either one of them, anyway? After all, Moolah and Mae Young are still available.
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