Lillian Ellison, known to wrestling fans worldwide as The Fabulous Moolah, died today at age 84. She was probably the best known professional woman wrestler of all time with a 28 year title run. This doesn't necessarily mean she was the best wrestler and that is the source of some controversy among fans because the assumption is that the champ is the best. And even in her 80s, Moolah never strayed from kayfabe and never explained anything. Some fans ask me if Moolah approved of the WWE's tendency to employing women as non-wrestlers. Well, she started that way. She was Slave Girl Moolah, valet to Elephant Boy, long before she was a wrestler.
In the 1950s, Billy Wolfe was probably the top promoter and trainer of women wrestlers. Lillian Ellison and promoter Jack Pfeffer were looking for a way to get a piece of the pie. At the time, the National Wrestling Alliance was the premiere wrestling federation and June Byers was the NWA Womens Champ. As it became obvious that Moolah wasn't going to be able do anything in the NWA, she decided to form an alliance with promoter Vince McMahon Sr. and other promoters on the east coast. The result was the creation of a new womens wrestling title belt. Moolah won this title belt in Baltimore in 1956. Some say it was a tournament and some say it was a battle royal. Which was it? I wasn't there so I don't know but in discussions with fans who were around, it may have been neither. Maybe there was no match. Think about it. Moolah owned the title belt. She didn't really have to win it in an actual match and it's not like she ever clarified it.
So now Moolah had her own title and with Buddy Lee she started training her own wrestlers. But the key event that gave Moolah the foothold she needed was the death of Billy Wolfe in 1962. There goes the competition. It meant that not only did Moolah have her own belt but eventually she got the NWA status she always wanted and they made her the champ there too. So when fans talk about Moolah's 28 year title reign, it needs to be tempered by the fact that she owned the belt and she chose to keep it on herself instead of allowing some of her wrestlers to get over. Obviously that's not good business. She would drop the belt occasionally only to get it back later that week. Of course she would tell you that she was the top heel and it's better to have the babyface chase the heel but kind of selfishness does hurt the business.
As time went on, Moolah became more closely aligned with Vince McMahon Sr. and the WWWF. Womens wrestling returned permanently to Madison Square Garden in New York with a 1972 match between Moolah & Vicki Williams. Moolah also deserves a lot of credit for training a lot of women who have entertained us for many years. In 1984, Vince McMahon Jr. convinced Moolah to drop the WWF Womens Championship to Wendi Richter because pop star Cyndi Lauper wanted to manage Wendi. Moolah got the belt back when Wendi left in Nov. 1985. Moolah also deserves credit for bringing joshi wrestlers like the Jumping Bomb Angels to the WWF as she had an ongoing business relationship with All Japan Women.
Moolah was supposed to retire from pro wrestling in 1989 but she never really did retire and returned to the WWF in the late 90s with her pal Mae Young. They were usually involved in embarassing skits. Moolah wrote her autobiography a few years ago but it wasn't very enlightening because even into her 80s, Moolah kept kayfabe. Was she the best woman wrestler ever? Of course not but she was the most famous woman wrestler ever. There are plenty of women I would prefer to watch but Moolah's business acumen is the common thread of womens wrestling over the last fifty years. For better or worse, the growth of womens wrestling is the legacy of The Fabulous Moolah. R.I.P. Here's a classic match from 1976 with The Fabulous Moolah & Toni Rose vs Susan Green & Joyce Grable.
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