Last night on RAW, WWE announced the 1st ever “Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal” for WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. This is the same concept that WWE has used since 2014 for their annual “Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal”, but for the female WWE Superstars on the roster.
As soon as Moolah’s name was uttered, and a tribute video was played for her on RAW, social media began to groan over the extremely shady and deplorable past of the WWE Hall of Famer.
ProWrestlingSheet.com was able to acquire a statement from from former trainee of Fabulous Moolah, Jeannine Mjoseth (Lady Maxine) about her feelings on WWE promoting Moolah’s name for the new Memorial Battle Royal.
Here’s the statement: (thanks to Wrestlezone via Pro Wrestling Sheet)
The Fabulous Moolah was a real-life heel. A lot of women paid to train at her school and then went out on the road. They risked life and limb in their matches and she repaid them with the worst kinds of abuses. She skimmed their money, she ignored women who were badly hurt, she pimped women out to creepy men and on and on. She was not a mother figure. She was more like Kali, the Indian Goddess of Destruction. I met her in my early 20s and I had never met such a monstrous person.
I was smart enough to get the hell away from her and start my own independent career in Tampa as part of the Championship Wrestling from Florida. Luna Vachon, Peggy Fowler and I all left together, which I hope put a serious dent in her confidence, if not wallet.
I understand why Moolah was so grotesque. Her family was dirt poor and she determined that she was never going to be hungry again. But it doesn’t excuse her dog-eat-dog behavior. I’d much rather see WWE establish a named match for outstanding wrestlers (and decent human beings) like Susan ‘Tex’ Green, Beverly Shade, Leilani Kai, Wendi Richter, Princess Victoria or Joyce Grable. They all put their hearts and souls into wrestling for decades and helped others along the way.
But wrestling isn’t PC. It’s about generating heat. And you can’t draw more heat than naming a match for The Fabulous Moolah. May she be the last of her kind.
It remains to be seen whether WWE reacts to this negative press by removing Moolah’s name from the battle royal. Wrestling fans on Twitter were speaking out all day against the company for glorifying Moolah & seemingly ignoring the heinous allegations against her.
HERE MY THOUGHTS ON THE FABULOUS MOOLAH & AN EXPLANATION OF MY INITIAL REACTION TO THE MATCH ANNOUNCEMENT!
The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal. Let’s Talk. #SDLive #WrestleMania https://t.co/NOXmLlp5ea
— Jay Alletto (@JayAlletto) March 13, 2018