Someone remarked to me once a while back that I seemed to have a lot of blogs that had "R.I.P." in the title, and the reason for that is when someone passes who I had a fondness for or a connection with, I feel good in remembering that person. Here today is one of those people. She's not one I ever met but her impact on the professional wrestling industry is bigger than anyone could probably ever fairly convey. Last night, The Fabulous Moolah passed away at her home in Columbia, South Carolina, where she resided for the better part of her life.
Lillian Ellison was a pioneer in women's pro wrestling and really was the first to become such a powerful figure in a very male-dominated business at the time. She was tough as nails, could outcuss any sailor and at the same time probably send him home limping with his tail between his legs. Her ring name developed one time when a promoter asked her why she wanted to wrestle, and she snapped back without hesitiation, "Because of the moolah!" She lived a healthy lifestyle, always staying in shape, never smoking and rarely drinking. She stepped on a lot of toes throughout her career, and depending on which side of the story you believe, broke up at least one marriage too. But she was powerful enough and popular enough to hold the recognized women's world championship for the better part of several decades, including during the 1980's when the WWF "Rock 'N' Wrestling" boom occurred.
It was during this time when Moolah was seconding a wrestler named Leilani Kei, and Kei had defeated Wendi Richter for the WWF women's championship. Wendi wound up getting Cyndi Lauper in her corner for rematches, and Cyndi would tussle with Moolah and manager Captain Lou Albano outside the ring while Wendi and Leilani would fight inside. They wrestled on MTV and were such a hot act that they were actually the main event over all of the men's matches at house shows for months.
This all passed and over time, Wendi Richter wound up losing the belt, but back to Moolah. However, she didn't know it was Moolah. Wendi, behind the scenes, was holding out for more money on a new contract, and the WWF decided it was time to cut ties, so they booked Wendi at Madison Square Garden against the masked Spider Lady, who was another wrestler on the roster. However, whoever the Spider Lady normally was, it wasn't her on this night. It was Moolah. Wendi was pinned by Spider despite her shoulder clearly being off the mat. The referee still made the count. Wendi, realizing she'd just been legitimately double-crossed by the company (outside of the management backstage, the referee and Moolah were the only ones in on it), tore off the mask and revealed it was Moolah. Wendi left MSG in a cab with her tights still on and never came back to the WWF again. And believe it or not, all of this really happened. It was not part of the show.
Moolah finally retired over time but still made a lot of appearances for WWE, usually with her longtime friend Mae Young. Moolah released a book some years ago that I was dying to read, but for better or for worse it showed a lot of old-school Moolah in that she still treated everything as if it was real. As this is called in the business, she "kept kayfabe", which is basically the wrestling language of treating everything as real to the public. Nonetheless, it made for interesting reading.
Better though, go find and rent "Lipstick and Dynamite, Piss and Vinegar", a fantastic documentary that chronicles the pioneers such as Moolah in the pro wrestling business. It is a fascinating piece of work. Moolah housed a lot of former wrestlers in South Carolina at a home she kept, basically like a group of apartments for the great former females of the ring to continue to bond and aid one another. The documentary shows a lot of this and the book delves into it as well.
Moolah's age is a bit of a mystery but she's believed to have been 84 years old. At age 76, she actually stepped back into the ring and was given an 8-day reign as the women's champion once again. Vince McMahon was told by Moolah years ago that she wanted to wrestle on her 80th birthday, so Vince gave her the OK to do that as well. After the match in the back, Vince swore to Moolah that he'd be seeing her in the ring if she still wanted to be on her 100th birthday.
Moolah in recent years had some ailments and also was going to get a complete shoulder replacement surgery done soon. With her passing, the business has lost someone that can flat-out never be replaced. With both Sherri Martel and Moolah now gone, two of the all-time greats in women's wrestling have left us in 2007.
Tonight I toast Lillian Ellison, The Fabulous Moolah. One in a zillion.
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