Fabulous Moolah passes away

Vince135792003

wwe.com

WWE is saddened by the passing of Hall of Famer Fabulous Moolah.

In the world of women’s wrestling, there will always be one irrefutable legend that stands head and shoulders above the rest: The Fabulous Moolah. She was the longest reigning champion in the history of her chosen sport, or any sport for that matter. And with more than 50 years in the business to her credit, she established a legacy that will never be forgotten, making her name synonymous with female wrestling.

WWE.com will have more on Fabulous Moolah as it becomes available.

Double C

http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/fabulousmoolahpasses

Sad news, one of the greatest women wrestlers ever.

Cactus Col

that's a shame. RIP

Peyton Manning

Sad news. R.I.P.

When will they do the drug test?

krudler

Least she died of (presumably) old age and natural causes, sad to see someone in the business die but at least she wasnt found od'ed in a hotel room

Fozzy

Sad to hear, she lived a very full and unique life though

RIP

Mr.Nice Guy

That's sad news. I bet they do a good tribute for her on Raw as she was well thought of.

Ruu_Old

Rest in peace, great character.

krudler

Didnt herself and Mae Young have lifetime contracts? as in jobs until they died?

The Sparrow

Rest in Peace.

slicus ricus

Very sad news - a true great of professional wrestling. Widely considered to be tougher than the majority of the male pro wrestlers of her generation. I will definately watch Raw this Monday to see the tribute they do for her.

RIP

fatal

krudler wrote: »

Least she died of (presumably) old age and natural causes, sad to see someone in the business die but at least she wasnt found od'ed in a hotel room

I totally agree....
Damn,she was one of the pioneers of the womens division in wrestling.It was good to see her and mae young pop up from time to time on RAW/Smackdown.
She definitley deserves a big tribute on raw.

Rip Lillian

ShawnRaven

Echo the above.
She lead a long, full life and was entertaining not only as a wrestler, but even as a character ffrom 99 to present day. I still find the Heenan/Okerlund Moolah/Mae skit at Wrestlemania a couple of years back hilarious!

Lilian Ellison: 1923-2007
VR!

Minto

RIP

Sad news indeed. I will miss the skits with her and Mae Young.

EdK

Rest In Peace, never afraid to do even the craziest angles

AlphaMale 3OO

RIP Fabulous Moolah.

Doctor DooM

Rip Moolah.

RebelRockChick

Very sad news!

Moolah along with Mae Young were always characters that people knew of cos the were bound to appear during the year in funny skits. Hope they pay her a decent tribute on Raw, she did accomplish so much as a female wrestler!

R.I.P

Wompa1

She was one of the funniest people on WWF/WWE shows during the whole attitude era, herself and Mae played off each other perfectly, she will be missed...I was hoping they'd have another sketch at Mania this year, oh well...

Bubs101

At least she can't get 'em out for the lads anymore

ShawnRaven

Oh god, Royal Rumble 00, even with the big red censored X and we could still see em!
VR!

Lita Forever

Very sad news. The good thing is she did live a full life, and helped a lot of women along the way. Whenever anyone thinks of women's wrestling, it's Moolah that'll always be thought of.

It's been a horrible year for women in wrestling death wise, with the losses of Sherri, Woman, and now Moolah. The sad thing is, most of the new generation of diva search losers have probably never heard of these women, have no idea what they accomplished in the sport, and don't appreciate the path that's been paved for them. And with the loss of three female legends this year, there's very few women legends left for aspiring women wrestlers to look up to, so that's not something that looks likely to change.

RIP Lillian Ellison.

Vince135792003

Sad and historic picture I guess taken by Mike Lano of Moolah, Thez and Buddy Rogers all of whom have passed away:

HorseRadish

R.I.P. Moolah

Tricity Bendix

R.I.P.

The most courageous woman to enter the squared circle.

nacho libre

She must have been a very tough lady considering some of the vignettes in recent years required some physical stuff on her part. A few of the funnier moments on WWE tv, in recent years, she was involved in.
RIP Fabulous Moolah.

Minto

Just saw the tribute from RAW and I gotta say, it was perfect. One of the finest tributes WWE has ever done.

One question though, when Moolah had the belt for 28 years, did it have her picture in it or was it just photoshopped in for the video?

Bounty Hunter

yeah nice tribute on Raw alright.

R.I.P easily the top female wrestler ever

Fozzy

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

R.I.P easily the top female wrestler ever

Hmm...have you ever seen any of her matches from years ago? She wasn't really that great in the ring. The reason that she was the NWA Women's champion for most of the 28 years was because she owned and booked the belt. Like HHH only greedier!

Bounty Hunter

true although record books wise easily the best champ. not my favourite female wrestler but then again she has essentially been an old lady used in only comedy skits during my lifetime and im 22, although i have seen a few but not many of her matches.

Minto

Fozzy wrote: »

Like HHH only greedier!

Fozzy, Fozzy Fozzy! You really should know better by now. If my broadcast colleague good ol' VR sees that, the whole MNG/VR thing is gonna happen in this thread too!

EDIT: Surely their rivalry has to be some kind of record for "most threads with the same basic argument".

Vince135792003

Article by Bruce Mitchell from the Torch [url]www.pwtorch.com:[/url]

WWE aired an amazing tribute on Raw to one of the legends of the professional wrestling business, "Fabulous Moolah" Lillian Ellison.

It's even more amazing to think of all that Ellison achieved doing none of things that other legends had to do. Moolah never drew a house, she was never more than a mediocre worker for her time, she was an afterthought in the only memorable matches of her decades-long career, and she spent the last ten years of her career being degraded by the company that supposedly respected her so much in creepy sexual "skits."

Moolah wasn't the pioneer of women's wrestling, either; that was the much more talented Mildred Burke - who certainly did draw big houses and was highly regarded for her wrestling ability. She was as advertised, though. As Jerry Lawler pointed out on Raw, Lillian Ellison was about the money - her own. She gained control of women's wrestling at the same time she gained control of the title belt and ran her own mini-monopoly within the larger territorial NWA/AWA/WWWF monopoly that enforced the boundaries of the business then.

If you were a woman wrestler back then, Fabulous Moolah booked you - for a substantial cut. If you didn't like it, well, that limited your options substantially. Women's wrestling, something that had been a real success in the Burke years, stagnated. It's never really recovered.

There was more to Moolah than literally keeping women down on the farm, and it explains why she always had a job with the McMahon family. Moolah toured all the territories, knew all the talent and gossip. Guess who she shared all that information with?

RebelRockChick

From Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

-- Fabulous Moolah held off her shoulder replacement surgery for years, since she knew that once she had the surgery, her wrestling career would be over. She finally had the surgery to her left shoulder the day before Halloween. WWE called Moolah before the surgery offering to take care of her expense, but she informed them that she had insurance and didn't need financial assistance. After the surgery, she was in a lot of pain for the next few days. She got nauseous on Friday, November 2nd, and after she was given a shot, she was no longer breathing. It is believed that she may have had a heart attack, likely caused by the stress from the surgery, or possibly a blood clot stemming from the surgerical procedure.