The Fabulous Moolah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Fabulous Moolah |
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Moolah in 1970
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| Birth name | Mary Lillian Ellisor |
| Born | July 22, 1923 Kershaw County, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 2007 (aged 84) Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Walter Carroll (divorced) Buddy Lee
(m. 1961; div. 1970) |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Fabulous Moolah The Fabulous Moolah Slave Girl Moolah The Spider Lady |
| Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
| Billed weight | 138–160 lb |
| Billed from | Columbia, South Carolina |
| Trained by | Mildred Burke Mae Young Johnny Long |
| Debut | 1949 |
| Retired | September 15, 2004 |
Mary Lillian Ellison (born July 22, 1923 – died November 2, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, manager, and trainer. She was best known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.
Moolah started her wrestling journey with promoter Billy Wolfe and his wife, the wrestler and trainer Mildred Burke. She also worked with "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. In 1956, she won the NWA World Women's Championship. She held this title for a very long time, becoming its most famous champion for 28 years. Overall, she was an eight-time women's world champion. She still holds the record for the longest time as a world champion when all her title reigns are added together.
In the 1980s, Moolah joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). This was part of the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" storyline. She had a big rivalry with singer Cyndi Lauper and wrestler Wendi Richter. Richter defeated Moolah for the WWF Women's Championship in 1984. Moolah won the Women's Championship two more times. She then started to wrestle less often. She continued to appear in WWF/WWE until she passed away. She often had funny roles with her friend Mae Young. In 1999, at age 76, she became the oldest champion in wrestling history when she won the Women's Championship one last time.
During her life, Moolah was seen as a very important person in women's professional wrestling. Many thought she was one of the greatest wrestlers ever. In 1995, she became the first woman to be put into the WWF Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Contents
Early Life and Discovering Wrestling
Mary Lillian Ellison was born in 1923 in Kershaw County, South Carolina. She grew up in a place called Tookiedoo, near Columbia. She was the youngest of five children and the only daughter. Her parents owned a farm, a grocery store, and a gas station.
When Mary was eight, her mother sadly passed away from cancer. Mary went to live with her grandmother. She worked on her cousin's cotton farm to earn money. When she was 10, Mary was still very sad about her mother. To cheer her up, her father took her to local wrestling matches. Mary liked the matches. But when she saw Women's Champion Mildred Burke wrestle, it became much more special to her.
Mary later returned to live with her father and brothers in Columbia. She finished school at Columbia High School. She married L. Walter Carroll, and they had a daughter. Mary then decided to start her own wrestling career.
The Fabulous Moolah's Wrestling Journey
Starting Out in Wrestling (1949–1955)
Ellison began her wrestling career with Mildred Burke's husband, Billy Wolfe. He was a very important promoter for women's wrestling at the time. She wrestled against many well-known female wrestlers. These included Mae Young, Cecilia Blevins, and Mildred Burke.
Ellison later became a valet for "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. She would go to the ring with him and help him against his opponents. After this, she worked as a valet for the Elephant Boy (Tony Olivas). Ellison later left this group and wrestled for other promoters. In 1955, she started working for Vince McMahon, Sr.'s company, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation.
Becoming a World Champion (1956–1983)
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On September 18, 1956, Moolah won the vacant World Women's Championship. She won a 13-woman battle royal by defeating Judy Grable. After the match, Vince McMahon, Sr. gave Ellison her famous ring name: The Fabulous Moolah.
Moolah's first time as World Champion lasted over ten years. She successfully defended her title against top female wrestlers like Judy Grable and Donna Christanello. Moolah also said she became friends with famous people like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
After June Byers retired in 1964, Moolah was officially recognized as the NWA Champion. She briefly lost the belt to Bette Boucher in 1966 but won it back weeks later. She also traded the title with Yukiko Tomoe during a trip to Japan in 1968.
On July 1, 1972, Moolah made history. She became the first woman allowed to wrestle at Madison Square Garden. This famous arena had banned women's wrestling before. Moolah helped change the rules for women's wrestling in New York State. She even flipped football player Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier on his back on a TV show to show her strength. Moolah held her title for eight more years. She then lost to Sue Green in 1976 but quickly won it back. She also bought the legal rights to the championship in the late 1970s. After losing it for just two days in 1978, she began another long reign, defending her title for six more years. In the 1970s, Moolah also won the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice with Toni Rose.
Joining the World Wrestling Federation (1983–1987)
The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection
In 1983, Vincent Kennedy McMahon started to make the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) a national company. Moolah sold him the rights to her Women's World Championship. Moolah agreed to wrestle only for the WWF. This made her the first WWF Women's Champion.
The next year, singer Cyndi Lauper started a storyline with manager "Captain" Lou Albano. This storyline brought wrestling into mainstream culture and was called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection." Lauper and Albano decided to settle their differences in the ring. Albano represented Moolah, and Lauper represented her protégé, Wendi Richter. After a lot of excitement, The Fabulous Moolah lost the championship to Richter on July 23, 1984. This match was the main event of The Brawl to End It All, shown live on MTV. Before the match, the WWF said Moolah had held the championship for 28 years.
After losing the title, Moolah helped Leilani Kai defeat Richter for the title in February 1985. Richter won it back at the first WrestleMania. Later, Moolah put on a mask and called herself "The Spider Lady." She won the belt back on November 25, 1985. Richter then left the WWF. Moolah continued to be champion for two more years. She briefly lost the title to Velvet McIntyre for six days in 1986. Moolah finally lost the belt to Sherri Martel on July 24, 1987. She later led a team at the first Survivor Series. Her team won against champion Martel's team.
Later Career and Hall of Fame (1990–2007)
Moolah retired from wrestling in 1988. During her retirement, she promoted shows for the Ladies International Wrestling Association (LIWA). She started wrestling again in 1993 at age 70. She even teamed up with Mae Young in 1996.
In the early 1990s, Moolah appeared in WWF videos and live events. On June 24, 1995, she made history again. She became the first female wrestler to be put into the WWF Hall of Fame. In 1999, Moolah and Mae Young returned to the WWF (later called WWE).
When they came back, Moolah and Young often appeared in funny roles. On September 9, 1999, on SmackDown!, Jeff Jarrett invited Moolah, who was 76, into the ring. On September 27, 1999, on Monday Night Raw, Moolah and Young won a match against Ivory. This led to a title match at No Mercy on October 17. Moolah defeated Ivory to win the WWF Women's Championship again. This made her the oldest champion ever at that time. She lost the title back to Ivory eight days later.
On September 15, 2003, on Raw, Moolah won a match against Victoria. This match was promised to Moolah for her 80th birthday. She became the first person over 80 to wrestle in a WWE ring. After Moolah's win, Randy Orton came out and performed his move, the RKO, on her. Moolah and Young also appeared at New Years Revolution in 2006. She made brief appearances at WrestleMania 23 and the 2007 Draft Lottery in 2007. Her last WWE appearance before she passed away was at SummerSlam in August 2007.
Training and Promoting Wrestlers
Ellison and her second husband, Johnny Long, started training women to become wrestlers. Some of their trainees included Ella Waldek, Daisy Mae, and Katherine Simpson. Long later contacted promoter Jack Pfefer, who agreed to book some of their wrestlers.
After Moolah left Pfeffer's company in the 1950s, it was hard to get her trainees into shows. Ellison and her husband, Buddy Lee, worked hard to make money. They later started booking their wrestlers, including Judy Grable, in Boston.
In the late 1950s, Ellison and Lee started their own promoting business called Girl Wrestling Enterprises (GWE). Ellison had high standards for the girls in GWE. They had to look good and act like ladies. Besides women, Ellison also trained midget professional wrestlers, like Katie Glass in the 1960s.
In the late 1980s, Ellison started the Ladies' International Wrestling Association. This was a non-profit group to help wrestlers who had retired. In the 1990s, she spent most of her time training female wrestlers at her school in Columbia, South Carolina. She also started training men, including Del Wilkes. In 1995, she trained more men than women.
Moolah's Impact and Legacy
Moolah's wrestling career lasted five decades. She was an eight-time world champion. She is still known as the longest-reigning champion in wrestling history. She held the NWA/WWE Women's Champion for an amazing 10,775 days. Her last championship win was historic. She became the oldest female to win the WWE Women's Champion at age 76.
She was seen as a very important person in women's wrestling from the 1960s to the 1980s. Some of the notable wrestlers she trained include Wendi Richter, Sherri Martel, Leilani Kai, and Donna Christianello. On July 1, 1972, she and Vicki Williams were the first women to wrestle in Madison Square Garden. Because of her impact and long career, she was the first female put into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995. She was also inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.
After her death, many people praised Moolah. Kevin Eck wrote that Moolah "didn't just dominate women's wrestling... she was women's wrestling." He called her "unquestionably the most influential and famous female wrestler in history." Mike Mooneyham described her as "one of the greatest female performers to ever step into a professional wrestling ring." She was the only female wrestler included in WWE's Top 50 Superstars of All Time DVD, ranking 27th. WWE called her "the true pioneer and biggest legend in the history of women's wrestling." Her house was on Moolah Drive in South Carolina, a street named after her.
Other Appearances
An animated version of Moolah was in the cartoon show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. She also appeared in one of Cyndi Lauper's music videos, "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough". In 2002, Moolah wrote her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle.
Personal Life and Health
Ellison's first husband was Walter Carroll, and they had a daughter named Mary. Mary wrestled for a short time but decided not to continue. Ellison had six grandchildren. Ellison and Carroll divorced. Later, Ellison married wrestler Johnny Long, but they also divorced.
Ellison then met a wrestler named Buddy Lee. She called him the "love of her life." They married and later divorced in 1970 after nine years. However, they remained friends until Lee passed away in 1999. In the early 1980s, Ellison opened a bar and grill called Moolah's Hideaway. Her daughter Mary ran it, and famous wrestler André the Giant often visited.
When she returned to wrestling in 1999, Ellison started feeling dizzy sometimes. Her doctor asked her to wear a heart monitor. A few days later, Ellison went to the hospital. She had two clogged arteries and viral pneumonia. She was in the hospital's intensive-care unit for 24 days. She was unconscious for fifteen of those days. After leaving the hospital, she became unconscious again at home. She fell and crushed several vertebrae in her back. She had successful back surgery in mid-December.
Passing Away
Mary Lillian Ellison passed away on November 2, 2007, at age 84. She died in Columbia, South Carolina. Her daughter Mary said the cause of death might have been a heart attack or a blood clot. This was possibly related to a recent shoulder surgery. Ellison is buried at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Columbia, South Carolina.
Championships and Awards
- Cauliflower Alley Club
- Ladies Wrestling Award (1997)
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA World Women's Championship (4 times)
- NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Toni Rose (2) and Patty Nelson (1)
- NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Stanley Weston Award (1991)
- Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
- Class of 2003
- Stampede Wrestling
- Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
- World Wrestling Federation
- WWF Women's Championship (4 times, inaugural)
- WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Worst Match of the Year (1984) vs. Wendi Richter on July 23
- Other
- JWPA Women's Championship
- USA Women's Wrestling Championship
- Women's World Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
Images for kids
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Moolah in 1970
