Tuesday, October 8, 2013

THE PIONEERS OF WOMEN'S PRO-WRESTLING

Today's WWE "Divas" owe their position in the sport (and livlehood) to the efforts and tribulations of the female wrestlers such as Moolah and Mae Young who were turned into comedic caricatures by the WWF/WWE during the first decade of the 21st century.

After the virtual nationwide triumph of the NWA in the late 1940s, female wrestling did not get any more support than it did when the pro-wrestling world was completely broken up into regions and seperate promotions. Lady wrestlers were looked down upon and considered a sideshow one step above the midget wrestlers.

The ladies found support from promoters like Billy Wolfe who treated women's wrestling as a legitimate part of the sport, and superstars like Nature Boy Buddy Rogers who worked with and trained Nell Stewart, the Fabulous Moolah, and others. Wolfe was, in fact, married to superstar pioneer woman wrestler Mildred Burke.

Unfortunately, the majority of today's fans have no knowledge of not only the founding wrestlers of the WWWF such as Buddy Rogers, but are completely ignorant of the contribution of the pioneers of women's wrestling such as Mildred Burke, June Beyers, Penny Banner, Judy Grable, Nell Stewart, Moolah, Mae Young, etc.

- Mike

MILDRED BURKE




JUNE BEYERS




PENNY BANNER




NELL STEWART




NELL STEWART BODY SLAMS NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS DURING TRAINING




MAE YOUNG IN HER HEYDAY BEFORE BEING REDUCED TO A COMIC FIGURE BY WWE





THE GREATEST WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPION IN HISTORY - THE FABULOUS MOOLAH

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