- 11/04/2007 (1:27:50 am)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
…..
Of course, Moolah disappeared from WWE in 1987. Fast forward to 1999. She makes a comeback. I was so happy, since it reminded me of how I used to root for her in my grammar school days. To see her win the belt back again in 1999 was just awesome. It was like reliving a childhood moment!
Back in the 1980s, I used to have a WWF Superstars board game. It had little photos of the wrestlers. But there were no women wrestlers in the game. So I drew my own!! In 1998, when women’s wrestling was coming back, I once again started to draw cartoons of the WWE women.
In December 1999, I heard that Moolah and Mae Young were doing an autograph signing near me. I wanted to give Moolah a gift that would really make me stand out in her eyes. So I pasted all of my women wrestler cartoons on a piece of oak tag and I put hers on top. I wrote, “You’re the Top!” She loved it. She wound up giving me a business card that had her phone number on it. From time to time I’d give her a call and I’d always introduce myself as “the guy who gave you those cartoons.” I drew a few more cartoons during 2000 for her and Mae. I began doing cartoons that had a humorous theme to them.
In late 2000 I gave them a call. Mae said Moolah was gravely ill in the hospital. She said to me, “She loves your cartoons so much. It’d probably make her feel better if you sent one.” I immediately got to work. About 2 weeks later, my phone rang. It was Moolah thanking me for the card!
Around 2002 Moolah and Mae were going to an indie show in the area, and I asked if I could have dinner with them. I was so pleased when they said okay.
The rest is history. I began to know Moolah and Mae very well. I have been to their house four times, with my most recent visit being this past September. They asked me to sit with them when Mae was inducted into the Hall of Fame in upstate New York. I sat between them at the Lipstick and Dynamite premiere in New York City. Moolah got me a free ticket to Wrestlemania in 2006 and to Summerslam in 2005. During that Summerslam weekend, I had dinner with Moolah, Mae, Victoria, and Maria, and all of us got driven in a limo to the restaurant. In January 2006 my phone rang at 11PM at night and it was Moolah telling me she just found out she was going to New Year’s Revolution and she invited me to go. Just this past August I dined with Moolah and Mae three times since they were in New Jersey for Summerslam. During that weekend, I gave Moolah a new cartoon where I drew Vince McMahon saying he was going to reveal who his illegitimate child was along with the woman that he had the affair with. When you turned the page, you see that the woman is Mae, who is pushing her child (the rubber hand) in a stroller. Moolah loved it so much that she gave a copy to Vince himself and to Stephanie McMahon, and WWE Magazine is supposed to publish it in a future issue. All of these are memories that will stay with me forever.
I got the chance to speak to Moolah just this past Sunday. She had been telling me about her upcoming shoulder surgery. If only I knew it’d be the last time I’d speak to her. Despite the difference in our ages (I am in my thirties) I still considered her to be one of my closest friends, and I will never forget her.
I'm not sure if this is appropriate to write or not, and I know it's a sensitive topic, but I felt like I should get this off my chest and I've become an avid reader and follower of your sight. I enjoy your passion and it's conveyed in your postings. Your a wrestling fan, through and through. And you support any and all wrestling events and happenings. I have a lot of respect for that.
I figured I'd write because I feel like with the death of the Fabulous Moolah, for me, it's not like the death of many other wrestlers who have recently passed. I feel like when a wrestler dies, we should miss them, obviously. However, to often recently when wrestlers I've grown up watching have passed away I've always felt as if they were "taken" from us pre-maturely. And that there deaths are more often than not surrounded by negativity as opposed to proper mourning and grieving. True, much of this is played up because of the media, but nonetheless, I've recently grown tired of reading about the men and women I idolized as a child and through adulthood passing way to early before they had a chance to see everything they accomplished in there prime become the stuff of legend and inspiration.
Not so with Fabulous Moolah. I had the pleasure of meeting her several times and even into her late 70's she enjoyed being with her fans and was in good enough shape to wrestle occasionally. What touches me the most when I look back and think about her is that she got to enjoy the fruits of her labor to the fullest extent. She was alive to be inducted into the hall of fame and see many people she worked with and trained get inducted as well. In the twilight of her life she got to watch a documentary largely about her and her contributions. Rarely when I watched Raw was her 26 years as champion not mentioned when she appeared. And she lived to see that her legacy will be properly preserved and that people will remember her for what she truly was, a legend and a champion.
May she truly rest in peace. She deserves it. And I know she'll be looking down on us as we remember her fondly, I know I'll never ever forget her.
Thank you for the memories Moolah.
And thanks for reading this.
Seth Goldberg
Lifelong wrestling fan and infamous NYC DJ
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classy lady. I so wish I had gotten to the Hall of Fame in Amsterdam
Georgie -
The loss of Fabulous Moolah is truly the end of the an era. It will be much like the day that Bruno Sammartino or Hulk Hogan pass along.
I am going to be very interested to see how the acknowledge this on TV this week, in light of all of the other real and storyline tragedies that have occurred this year.
Vince has already destroyed the 10-Bell Salute after using it for himself...which is truly a shame as there is no one who would have deserved it more.
Actually, thinking about it (and in all honesty I think Moolah would have approved) I think they have a chance if they do this right to elevate the Women's division and its workers. Go with me for a minute here...
On Raw on Monday, they have all of the women from all 3 rosters in the ring for a tribute to Moolah. They run a tribute video or have one of the women speak for the crew. Then they start a moment of silence to recognize Moolah and her career & legacy.
Then, in the middle of this, Beth Phoenix comes out and cuts a promo on how Moolah is the past, she is the future, etc. Have one of the women come back on her, with Beth giving some just flat out BRUTAL response that leads the crowd to almost rioting and the whole women's roster tearing after her. This gives them the potential for one of the most over pure women's storyline since the days of Wendi Richter (which funny enough also involved Moolah).
(For those with good memories, yes this would be a straight rip from classic ECW. At Hostile City Showdown '98, as they we doing a ten bell salute to Tommy Dreamer's late grandfather, Justin Credible came out and interrupted it and said "Tommy, you know, I wish it was you that died instead of Grandpa Joe." The crowd went INSANE, with the wrestlers chasing Justin out of the building and instantly establishing Justin as one of the top heels in the company.)
And part of why they did this storyline? Because Tommy's grandfather had said he always wanted to be a part of a wrestling storyline. I think Moolah would love to be part of one more storyline, especially if helped the girls overall.
...of course having said "if they do this right" completely insures that they will either miss the boat completely or screw it up in the first 10 seconds.
Adam Crites
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