First Goddess of the Squared Circle

November 4, 2007 7:37 AM

RIP Fabulous Moolah. 84 year old Lillian Ellison died in Columbia, SC Friday. She was a wrestling champion for 28 years until losing her crown to Wendi Richter in 1983 in a match involving MTV and Cyndi Lauper. More here, here, and here, with obligatory YouTube link here.
posted by TedW (11 comments total)

Aw. That girl just wanted to have fun.
posted by CheeseburgerBrown at 8:39 AM on November 4, 2007

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posted by Jikido at 9:04 AM on November 4, 2007

And, she helped Mae Young give birth to a rubber hand, live on TV!

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posted by papakwanz at 9:44 AM on November 4, 2007

Moolah had recently undergone an eye transplant and was scheduled to have her shoulder replaced.

Eye transplant?! Cornea, I should think. Sorry, but that line in the story just sent me off googling for news of the first successful full eyeball transplant, of which there is none.

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posted by mumkin at 9:23 AM on November 4, 2007

Lipstick & Dyanmite was a recent documentary about women's wrestling. It had a small release, but it is available through Netflix. Maybe it's not Citizen Kane, but then again, Orson Welles didn't offer a knee drop clothesline as his signature move.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:46 AM on November 4, 2007

Seconding "Lipstick & Dynamite" -- well worth seeing.
posted by spilon at 12:29 PM on November 4, 2007

Eye transplant?! Cornea, I should think.

I noticed the same statement. But this is professional wrestling we are talking about, so the facts really can't be expected to get in the way of a good story.
posted by TedW at 12:38 PM on November 4, 2007

Thirding Lipstick & Dynamite. Moolah was an astoundingly tough broad.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:22 PM on November 4, 2007

I randomly picked up her autobiography last year from a discount book store. I only remembered her from the crazy WWF days when she was sorta the evil counterpart to Miss Elizabeth. It's a pretty fun read, especially the stuff about the early days of professional wrestling (which I knew nothing about).
posted by web-goddess at 7:45 PM on November 4, 2007

So many of the "old school" wrestlers couldn't make the transition to the modern, glitzy "sports entertainment" approach McMahon pioneered when he took the WWF to a national level, but Moolah did with pure guts, talent, class and charisma. One thing to bear in mind... her famous matches with Wendi Richter during that transition took place when Moolah was over 60 years old. She wrestled in seven decades, starting in the 1940s through the 2000s. Just an amazing career.
posted by MegoSteve at 7:48 PM on November 4, 2007

I saw this on the news last night and was going to post it, but I'll just chime in here on the enjoyability of Lipstick and Dynamite. I went to a showing here in Columbia at the Nickelodeon and she showed up and signed autographs and posed with her fans. A class act that one, she will be missed.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 6:55 AM on November 5, 2007