LadySports ::: THE FABULOUS MOOLAH

by Shiai Mata

It was easy to hate the Fabulous Moolah.

She didn't mind being hated. In fact, she wanted to be hated. She encouraged it... cultivated it. Every boo and catcall aimed at her over the years were part of a symphony written by Moolah herself, and the fans were simply playing the parts she had created for them.

The linchpin of Moolah's success was to appear to be bigger than life. To achieve that, she set herself up as the wickedest, most merciless heel in women's professional wrestling in the United States (and, from time to time, in Japan as well). Indeed, it was a role she appeared to be born to play.

History tells us that Moolah was the "undisputed" Women's World Champion for a record-shattering 28 years. But the pro wrestling history books, of course, are frequently wrong, either by omission or commission. Moolah gained a belt, yes, in 1956...and by her telling, she kept it firmly around her waist until 1984. That's not entirely the whole story.

The belt she "won" was created especially for her, as a rival title to the one held securely by June Byers, the NWA Women's Champ. For a number of years, Moolah's championship was recognized only by a handful of promoters, including some renegade NWA members like Vince McMahon, Sr. With the retirement of Byers in the early 1960s, more and more territories began to acknowledge Moolah as the titleholder, although it was never the sort of universal recognition which Moolah would later have people believe. And she dropped the belt to other wrestlers a few times over the years, although always very briefly, and with a minimum of publicity.

Managing to hold a title belt for a number of years in the business, given both the obstacles and politics, was an impressive feat. But that's not why we remember Moolah so well today.

Moolah was a competent worker in the ring, to be sure... but never really more than that. But she was brilliant in another way: She saw an opportunity to build her own booking organization, and she ruthlessly pursued it. She trained quite a bit of talent, and had most of them working for her. Within a few years, she was providing female talent for cards up and down the Eastern seaboard, and after that branched out across North America. She was adept at getting both herself and her girls covered in the pro wrestling magazines of the day, and many of them became household names to fans who never once saw them perform either in person or on television. Moolah became the central power in women's wrestling in America for decades, and through it all, she kept her belt around her waist.

Always skilled at recognizing and seizing an opportunity before most others even suspected it existed, she positioned herself to be the woman who helped open up previously forbidden territories to lady wrestlers, including New York City, thus further enhancing her reputation. She and her best talent became familiar figures in Japan, and Moolah helped bring Japanese women to the U.S. And she knew how to cut a good TV promo in an age when most women seemed to limit themselves to brief yes or no answers... when they were even allowed in front of the cameras at all, that is.

When Vince McMahon, Jr's "Rock 'n Wrestling" boom erupted in ‘84, it was powered by hip and youthful figures like Hulk Hogan... yet also by the Fabulous Moolah, past 60 and still stepping between the ropes, and still canny enough to know how to keep herself in the center of the action, even if the trade-off was to officially drop her belt at last.

Some Moolah "purists" dismiss her later years in the WWF, particularly the last few, as little more than a garish mockery of her past greatness... more comedy than crafty combat. Others will marvel that, as she approached 80, she was still able to sell a bump as good if not better than workers a full quarter of her age. For those lucky enough to have seen Moolah in her prime in the 1960s and 70s, there are fond memories of how she trotted out all of the old shopworn tricks... arguing with the ref to distract her opponent, rolling out of the ring to buy time, resorting to blatant choking and hair pulling, and, quite often, barely even bothering to cover up her cheating as she pinned yet another valiant opponent (be in Vicki Williams, Joyce Grable, Leilani Kai, Susan Green, Bette Boucher, or virtually any other big name from that era you'd care to mention)... and somehow managed to make it seem new, as if she was doing all of this only for the crowd in that armory or high school gymnasium or county fairground that night. She sold herself as the biggest bad girl in the business, and she knew that if the boos drowned out the cheers, she had done her job well that night.

You don't have to love or even like Moolah to respect her tremendously. In fact, she'd probably prefer it if you still hated her just a little.

If you did, she'd know she did her job well.

Rest in peace, Moolah... you've earned it.