How were Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young able/allowed to wrestle in the late 1990's?

[Macho_King]

I have been watching wrestling since the 1980's and have seen many old timers wrestle well beyong their years....but never have i seen two ladies in their late seventies to mid-eighties wrestling in the big time of the wwe. It was truly amazing in my opinon and hilarious what these ladies were able to do at their ages. Now granted they were very talented wrestlers with tons of experience in their earlier days but to put on matches and take huge bumps off the top ropes and to be powerbombed off stages onto tables had to really hurt them. (usually if a person falls down off their bed even at that age you can break a hip)

Their second careers in WWE were memorable to me. Wrestling from 1999-2003 and sporatic appearances to present day. One of the crazy things often forgot about from the attitude era of WWE. I know that Moolah passed away in 2007 and the WWE stopped letting Mae do in ring work because of a fall she had at an event. (that i can't think of at the moment)

Anyways i wont go into their amazing histories here but simply ask the question. Do you think the WWE would have been in deep if one of those older ladies got seriously injured or worse during a match? And what did you think of their work for athletes their age?




Heres a quick example of some of Moolah and Mae's work in the WWE 1999-2004 range. Theres tons of other great stuff of them on youtube as well.

Moolah & Mae Young vs The Dudleys vs The Acolytes (12/20/99)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izqiucTGTKI

Fabulous Moolah vs. Mae Young
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1I8jw89nbo

3 minute warning attacking Mae and Moolah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljav2KVv18U

None WWE event but hilarious interview clip of Mae and Moolah on Conan o' Brien Show from 2005:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoPgUCVYntw


Also feel free to post your favorite mae/moolah skit or match if you have one.

 

[FutureChamp328]

I'd imagine that they kept in shape and knew their limits. You gotta remember that these were girls who could go and knew what they were doing. They knew when too much was too much and had the sense to draw the line.

Also I know they are older than him but if Flair can do it why not Moolah and Mae?

 

[Macho_King]

I'd imagine that they kept in shape and knew their limits. You gotta remember that these were girls who could go and knew what they were doing. They knew when too much was too much and had the sense to draw the line.

I'm sure they were in shape but to take huge bumps at age 80 is just amazing to me.

 

[Karilas]

Gotta say some of Mae Young's powerbomb spots would have been considered SICK were they performed on young men, let alone an octogenarian lady. Mae Young is quite possibly the toughest old bird to ever lace up them boots. Massive props to her.

As for the insurance/legal obstacle to Mae and Moolah competing, health and safety laws have changed a lot in the last ten years, but even still, I'm willing to bet the premiums were pretty high for a few of those appearances.

 

[FutureChamp328]

If you watch the videos of her taking bumps many times shes being spared the brunt of the bump by the other guy. In the clip of her and the Dudleys Bubba is clearly holding her above where the impact was and if you go to the 2:04 mark like it says in a comment you can see her squeeze his arm a few times to tell him she's alright. The glory of a good wrestling match is that neither person gets hurt beyond some bumps and bruises. If you look through all the recent stuff Mae has done it's usually with a very competent worker.

 

[boozinjedi]

Mae Young is quite possibly the toughest old bird to ever lace up them boots. Massive props to her.

NO ARGUMENTS THERE!!!

You'll have to put her in her coffin kicking and screaming!!
Chances are she'll take a couple of guys with her as well!!

 

[TUFFY54]

It really made me cringe. I've never said the WWE has gone to far, but that stuff was kind of hard to watch. I know they were up for it, but those bumps should have never happened.

 

[mral82]

The reason why they were/are able to is due to Vince and the opponents knowing how to take it easy on them due to their age and all. Just go back and watch Mae Young at the Old Skool Raw a year ago. LayCool did a great job by selling and Layla was perfect then as she sold the punch. Mae will wrestle when she's 100 I swear as long as God doesn't git her before that.

 

[nikvoodoo]

Is it sad that I enjoyed watching all of those matches more than I like half of the current divas?

The match between Mae and Moolah was nothing to worry about. They were taking care of each other from the get go. You can see the respect they have for each other while they were working and were very careful.

I'd say the most dangerous thing that happened in any of those matches was with the Dudley's but that's just because Bubba is a notorious douche. It was good to see that even he has his limits and you can see him take the extra precautions to protect Mae during the body slam and the "Whassap" diving headbutt.

....I'm still not sure how Eddie was able to spare Mae from breaking her chest cavity into dust with the splash though

But as for the question: Yes. Yes WWF would have been royally boned if footage of a big black man diving into a 78 year old woman's crotch while his white partner held her prone to it got out to mainstream news coverage. come on...you know someone somewhere would have brought race into it even if it was a fringe whack-job on either the left or right...it's fine that it was happening to an old white lady, but the fact that it was a black man...well that's just too far!

It was at a time when wrestling was very mainstream, the 24 hour news cycle was already in existence, and they never would have heard the end of it especially since just 7 months prior to that Dudley/Acolyte match Owen died in that freak accident. If something had happened to either of those ladies, there probably would have been a media blitz on the WWF for endangering their performers.

 

[GameOver]

It was there choice to step into the ring, i doubt anyone was holding a gun to there heads.
just an FYI Moolah didn't wrestle during the last decade, only Mae Young.

It's obvious she (Mae) was enjoying herself and the opponents were totally letting her do whatever she wanted. I found them entertaining as a comedy duo but at the same time nauseating to look at, but it's like a car wreck, you don't want to watch but u can't help but look.