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WWE Is Right To Not Memorialize The Fabulous Moolah
of the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, after a fan outcry led Snickers, sponsor of WrestleMania, to put its foot down. What I’m here to say is thank god for Snickers. It would be nice if WWE had the decency and sense to make the right decision on their own, but barring that at least money talks.
Maybe you haven’t been on Twitter in the past week and you’re still confused about why everyone hates Moolah. After all, WWE has not been talking about her much recently, but she’s historically been its most honored female wrestling pioneer, with her close friend Mae Young as a close second. She was the first woman to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and kept appearing on WWE TV all the way up until her death in 2007. Unfortunately, as we all know, WWE likes to write their own history. Moolah was friends with Vince McMahon and his father, and worked closely with them to bring her brand of women’s wrestling into WWE, so in WWE history, she’s the most important woman wrestler of all time.
In this era of “making history” and “women’s evolution,” and of a new breed of feminist fans advocating for the importance and validity of women’s wrestling, it certainly looks strange from the outside for these same fans to say that this one pioneering woman should not be honored, and in fact is best disavowed and forgotten. In the case of the Fabulous Moolah, however, it’s the right call.
To respect women’s wrestling and the many past and present female performers within it, you have to let Moolah go. There was nothing Fabulous about the way that she treated women, or what she did for the art of women’s wrestling. WWE may never acknowledge that, but the least they can do is stop talking about how great she was.
It’s stuff like this that makes the whole WWE Women’s Revolution feel a bit hollow. I don’t believe, for one second, that Vince genuinely respects women.
Hollow in the sense that it’s motivated by PR and money, but it’s still a pretty fucking great thing that the WWE sees good PR and money in promoting actually decent women’s wrestling (not as a reflection of the WWE, but in terms of wrestling fandom).If you’re looking for pure altruism in your progress, you’re often going to be found wanting.
@Dude Harrison You said, in 100+ words, what I said in about 25. It’s all about PR with Vince. Nothing about it is genuine.
@Riley James Hall Please enlighten me, then. WWE pulled the name after Snickers heard backlash from WWE fans. I remarked that the fact that WWE would only pull the Moolah name from the Classic after having their bottom line potentially affected makes me know that their “women’s empowerment” movement is not motivated by anything other than money. Not saying they’re “bad” for it, just observing it isn’t about gender equality or fairness. Vince still thinks Moolah is a good person.
@riley Oh I see. You read the headline, then read my first comment, and thought I was opposed to removing the Moolah name. Apologize and I’ll forgive you.
They would have done the right thing by never mentioning her. They already have the black eye now.
Honestly, i thought this was why the ball women tournament was named after Mae Young.
The WWE is right in not celebrating a monster. HOT TAEK!!!
Great article, but the title should really be “Fans Are Right To Force WWE Not To Memorialize The Fabulous Moolah”
Because when wrestling fans complain about something on the internet, WWE is always quick to listen and adjust course. I’m always down for a Barry Horowitz self back-patting sesh, but if the Mars Corporation had ignored this, WWE 100% wouldn’t have changed the name. Someone in the Mars Corporation is good at keeping their ear to the ground and saw this and was able to get it to higher ups before it became a thing beyond a few articles on mainstream sports sites. I didn’t hear of any concerted effort by wrestling fans to boycott Snickers bars, or Wrestlemania for that matter. (Granted the latter would be difficult, since tens of thousands of people have already bought tickets, and booked flights/cars/hotels which are often non-refundable)
Also, for the record, I don’t believe a single executive at the Mars Corporation did this because they care about the wrestlers that Moolah abused and exploited between 60-30 years ago than they care about the child-slaves that pick cocoa beans from the farmers they buy from in West Africa.
@denseMan1 well, “Fans Are Right To Raise A Stink That Advertisers Noticed Who Then Forced WWE Not To Memorialize The Fabulous Moolah” is kind of long for a headline.
@DenseMan1 You seem to be talking out of both sides of your mouth here. You’re saying the fans don’t deserve the credit for shaming WWE into changing the name, while simultaneously acknowledging that Snickers/Mars don’t actually care about Moolah’s past actions. So who deserves the credit, nobody? Yes, WWE would’ve never listened to the fans until their advertising dollars were threatened, but Mars would’ve never acted if they hadn’t noticed the online backlash in the first place. If the Internet had quietly accepted the Moolah tribute, then so would Mars.
Someone on another post suggested that Steph hated Moolah. Any evidence of this?
So why are fans perfectly OK celebrating a multiple wife beater in Austin again? And of course, Austin has never publicly apologized for that as far as I’m aware of. So why we fans not raging over him not being erased from h.o.f?
You really have a stick up your ass about Austin. Did he stiff you for an autograph when you were a kid or something?
So him expressing regret is good enough. For beating his wife multiple times.
Yet…with Hogan who has profusely apologized publicly over a private talk of simply saying a word can’t be forgiven.
So Wrestling fans can easily forgive (hell, did Austin even really get any backlash? Hell, around same time period he did the unprofessionalism of walking out)
But with Hogan? Nope. Can’t forgive something that is not even close to being as bad as what Austin did.
You’re not helping your case with Hogan, since Hogan was just being insincere. Hogan only regreted being caught.
Hogan shouldn’t be forgiven. Nor should Austin. But Vince bases his decisions on public perception. People have forgotten about Austin (unfortunately). They haven’t (yet) forgotten Hogan’s indiscretion. Give it another year or two. Hogan will be leg-dropping Asuka or Rousey before you know it.
Ray Rice was essentially banned from the NFL for what he did.Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t for being twice accused of sexual assault. Kobe Bryant just won an Oscar and continued his playing career for nearly another decade after he went to court for rape. Times have changed, and if Austin did what he did now, he would get the Hogan treatment. But I don’t know why you’re on a one-man crusade to keep bringing Austin’s domestic violence past up in every post about him or tangentially about him. But keep fighting the good fight. I’m sure you’ll make headway with WWE and wrestling fans with your constant anonymous posts here. *thumbs up*
Austin has/had a dog named Moolah. So honestly you guys, I think AmzingRed has a point here…
In fairness (and I love Austin and it always pains be to think about his actions) Stone Cold does always get a free pass. Bret, Austin and Taker are treated, by a large majority, as paragons while guys like Shawn (who I love), Hogan (who I hate) and Hunter (who I meh) are treated as awful, awful people.
It’s a blind spot. Taker was, by all accounts, a bigger politician than anyone for a majority of his career. Bret, as Brandon has shown in his vintage reports, had some REALLY backwards views on race and gender equality. And Steve……did that stuff.
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong I just find it super interesting how we have blind spots for certain performers. Hell, I was watching 1993 ECW and Paul Heyman keeps calling Tito Santana a “wetback”.
It’s too bad Chyna can’t be memorialized since she did a porn, and Triple H doesn’t want his kids to google that, while he trots out dusty ass Uncle X-Pac on Raw’s 25th anniversary as if anyone ever gave a fuck about him.
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I wonder what would happen in Hunter’s kids googled “DX blackface”?
If Simpsons writers turn out to be horrible people (aside from the Apu thing) we’re all screwed
Sam Simon was genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever known.
By the “Apu thing” do you mean the accusations of racism because of the stereotype being used, while conveniently ignoring that pretty much everyone has been stereotyped on that show (Groundskeeper Willie, Otto, The Texan, Bumblebee Man, etc, etc)?
@DravenCage I haven’t and won’t see that doc, but I’ve heard an interview with the comic that made it, Hari Kondabolu, and he seemed genuine in saying he just wanted people to think about it. He wasn’t asking for a boycott of or an apology by The Simpsons. His mistake was putting it out in the current socio-political climate, where an accusation of racism less and less leads to serious discussion and progress, and more and more leads to publicly ostracizing the accused, forcing them to apologize, and then making sure their career is ruined anyway.
The movie, which again I haven’t seen, also made the mistake, perhaps, of focusing too heavily on Hank Azaria’s role or complicity when he’s just a voice actor getting paid to do the same Indian accent people have been doing since the 60s.
The Moolah entry in Sisterhood of the Squared Circle is horrifying. Some of her trainees were sent on the road for the first time with no clue of what was expected of them.
Oh snnp, I forgot I bought that on ibooks. Gotta read that muug.
I believe I have that Glamour Girls vs Jumping Bomb Angels match, wasn’t it Survivor Series 87? Won’t know til I get home
The first Royal Rumble had one for the tag titles. I think it was one for the tag titles that the JBA won. Moolah Listen
Of course, condemning a dead woman does nothing but make us feel better not ourselves. She already lived her life, and was still on the good side of public opinion when it ended. So while we can keep future events from bearing or honoring a name, we’re really just pissing in the wind, hub?
It’s better than continuing to spread the lie that she was a good person though.
Though i do wish this would have come back to bite her while she was still among the living.
If any of you are actually that concerned about people being exploited, and not just jumping on the current bandwagon of the week, I strongly suggest no longer watching wrestling.
It is a business and in no way do I expect anyone to act out of altruism. Like Vince McMahon has always said – “It’s all about the mon-ey.”
Cornette explains it best why Chyna is not in the Hall of Fame.
I’m a wrestling fan but people have to be honest. Tons of people who are involved in the business are absolutely shit-stains of human beings. Even moreso back in the day. Tons of the greats are total assholes who have committed crimes. And as it’s already been pointed out it’s all about money. That’s it.
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