Mae Young
Johnnie Mae Young was an American retired professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. She wrestled throughout the United States and Canada and won multiple titles in the National Wrestling Alliance. Young is considered one of the pioneers in women's wrestling as she helped to increase the popularity of the sport throughout the 1940s and during World War II. In 1954, she and Mildred Burke were among the first female competitors to tour post-war Japan.
Beginning in 1999, Young had renewed success in her career after joining World Wrestling Federation. Young was part of a recurring comedic duo with best friend The Fabulous Moolah in appearances on WWE televised events. Young is also remembered for taking bumps well past the age of 80 on televised programming. In 2004, she was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum as part of their "Lady Wrestler" category. On March 29, 2008, Young was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
In 2017, an all-female professional wrestling tournament was introduced by WWE and was named Mae Young Classic as a tribute to her memory. Its purpose was to showcase the new female wrestlers that had signed with the company and were in development, as well as independent circuit veterans from around the world. The winner received a contract with WWE and a trophy for their achievement. After the second tournament in 2018, the tournament was discontinued.
Early life
Johnnie Mae Young was born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, on March 12, 1923. She was the youngest of eight children. Her mother Lilly Mae Young was a single mother living during the Great Depression. Young's oldest sister Inie was severely disabled by whooping cough at a very young age. Young was an amateur wrestler on her high school's boys' wrestling team at the age of fifteen. Her brothers Fred, Eugen, Lawarence, and Everett taught her to wrestle and helped her join the team. Young also played softball with Tulsa's national championship team.Professional wrestling career
Beginnings (1939–1950)
While still in high school, Young went to a professional wrestling show and challenged then-champion Mildred Burke when she visited Tulsa to wrestle Gladys Gillem. Because the promoters told her she could not wrestle the champion, she wrestled Gillem in a shoot fight, beating her within seconds. After the fight, promoter Billy Wolfe wanted Young to become a professional wrestler. She left home two years later to wrestle professionally. Young later traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she met and trained with The Fabulous Moolah and also met Ed "Strangler" Lewis who told her "I don't like girl wrestlers, women should be in the kitchen, but after seeing you, you was born to be a wrestler."There have been conflicting reports as to the year in which Young began her career. Young claimed her first match was August 20, 1939, while WWE said she "started her professional career" this year. However, Young also once said her first match was March 22, 1940. According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, historians have been unable to find any records that she began in 1939 and that her first match was most likely in 1941. Meltzer wrote, "In reality, Young is believed to have competed in seven decades, matching the record held by Lou Thesz.... You really couldn't call 2010 match anything resembling a pro wrestling match, even giving as much leeway as possible. While she always claimed to have started in 1939, at 16, historians researching have been unable to find any records of her wrestling prior to 1941, when she turned 18 and went on tour with Billy Wolfe's troupe."
In 1941, Young, along with Mildred Burke, opened up Canada for female wrestling. In Canada, they worked for Stu Hart. She was wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 7, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, which led to the United States entering World War II. During the war, Young helped women take advantage of the fact that the men were fighting overseas by expanding their role in the sport.
Various wrestling promotions (1950–1970s)
She fought under the nicknames of "The Queen" and "The Great Mae Young", but she used her real name for most of her matches. During the 1950s, she wrestled for Mildred Burke's World Women's Wrestling Association. In 1954, Young and Burke were some of the first females to tour Japan after the war. In 1951, she became the National Wrestling Alliance's first Florida Women's Champion. Five years later in September 1956, she participated in the battle royal to determine the new NWA World Women's Champion after June Byers was stripped of the title, but the championship was won by Young's friend The Fabulous Moolah. In 1968, she became the NWA's first United States Women's Champion. She wrestled for WWWF in two matches in 1969 and 1972. At this point it is unknown when Mae left the wrestling business and retired. In the late 70s, Mae worked in the real estate business in San Leandro California.As an instructor, her students included Ric "The Equalizer" Drasin and The Fabulous Moolah.
Ladies International Wrestling Association (LIWA) (1993–1998)
In 1993, Young would come out of retirement and started wrestling again for the first time in over 20 years. She worked for Fabulous Moolah's Ladies International Wrestling Association based in Las Vegas. On June 21, 1996, she teamed with Fabulous Moolah at LIWA Golden Girls Extravaganza event in Las Vegas where they wrestled Liz Chase and Lori Lynn to a no contest. She continued working with LIWA and even teaming with Moolah until 1998. She left the promotion and went to the WWF in 1999.World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE (1994, 1999–2013)
Early appearance and arrival (1994, 1999–2001)
Before her official recognition by WWE fans, she made a cameo appearance being shown by the camera along with The Fabulous Moolah, Freddie Blassie, Lou Albano, and Nikolai Volkoff in the crowd of the WrestleMania X event on March 20, 1994.Young made her official debut in the World Wrestling Federation on the September 9, 1999, episode of SmackDown!, where she was introduced with The Fabulous Moolah and later was attacked by Jeff Jarrett being put into the figure-four leglock. After this appearance, both Mae and Moolah began appearing regularly on WWF televised shows. Mae made her WWF in-ring debut on the September 27 episode of Raw is War; along with Moolah, she competed in a handicapped evening gown match against WWF Women's Champion Ivory, who stripped Mae from her gown before Moolah picked up the victory. At No Mercy on October 17, Mae managed Moolah, who defeated Ivory for the championship – her last wrestling title before her death in 2007. At Survivor Series on November 14, she and Moolah competed in an eight-woman tag team match along with Debra and Tori against Ivory, Jacqueline, Terri Runnels, and Luna Vachon, with their team coming out victorious.
At the Royal Rumble event on January 23, 2000, Mae Young won the Miss Royal Rumble 2000 swimsuit contest and afterwards flashed her breasts. However, she was actually wearing a prosthesis and did not actually expose herself. At the end of 1999 and through 2000, Mae developed a storyline along with "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry where she started dating him, which included a kayfabe pregnancy and attacks by The Dudley Boyz, specifically Bubba Ray Dudley who performed powerbombs on Young through tables twice in consecutive episodes of Raw – the first being in the ring and the second, in which Young was originally reliant on a wheelchair, being off the entryway stage as what has been described as the most notorious powerbomb in WWE history. Mae was 77 years of age at the time, but expressed enthusiasm for the stunt. Her child was eventually delivered and found to be nothing more than a bloody rubber hand. On April 2, Mae accompanied The Kat at WrestleMania 2000 to her match against Terri Runnels; Kat lost the match as Mae was distracted by kissing the guest referee, Val Venis, before attacking Terri and her manager, Moolah.
On December 24, 2001, Young and Moolah appeared backstage on the Christmas Eve edition of Raw, which marked their last appearance before returning in the summer of 2002.
Return and sporadic appearances (2002–2007)
On the July 29, 2002, episode of Raw, Mae Young returned along with Moolah, to promote her new book: "The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle" before being attacked by 3-Minute Warning on orders of general manager Eric Bischoff. On the September 15, 2003, episode of Raw, she accompanied Moolah at her last wrestling singles match, in which she defeated Victoria before being attacked by Randy Orton and an infuriated Victoria. On June 15 at Bad Blood, Mae appeared during a segment along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff where she stripped herself in the ring and shared a passionate kiss with Eric Bischoff and performed a bronco buster on Bischoff before being stunned by Austin.In 2004, Mae Young was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum as part of their Lady wrestler category class of that year. On the September 23 episode of SmackDown!, Young teamed with Moolah and defeated Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson.
On March 23, 2005, Moolah and Mae Young appeared on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show to promote their 2005 documentary in which they starred about their 1950s heyday along with several other lady wrestlers of their era. On January 8, 2006, at New Year's Revolution, Young re−appeared along with Moolah during a bra & panties gauntlet match where she stripped herself before being attacked by Victoria as she left the ring, which led to both women retaliate and rip off Victoria's shirt. At WrestleMania 22 on April 2, Young appeared along with Moolah during a backstage segment with Snitsky.
At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007, Mae Young appeared during a backstage segment along with several other WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers. On the August 24 episode of SmackDown, Mae Young made a special appearance winning a Divas bikini contest. Mae's last appearance with Moolah before her death came at SummerSlam in August 2007, both appeared during a backstage segment along with Vince McMahon and Raw's general manager, William Regal, two months prior to her friend's death. On the December 10, 2007, episode of Raw's 15th Anniversary, Young was involved in a segment alongside Melina, Sunny, Hornswoggle, Triple H, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon.