How would Madusa be viewed today if WWE hadn't erased her from history?

[Creepy Old Man]

Okay, so she's going into the Hall of Fame this year. But all I know of her is that she is some woman who disrespected the saintly WWE by throwing one of their belts in a garbage can on WCW TV (WWE never actually gave her career any props, they've just mentioned this oh-so-terrible incident on their retrospective, revisionist DVDs). I wasn't watching the WWF when she was in it, have never seen any AWA, and as a UK kid, was never really interested in WCW. WWE owns the footage of everything she did in those promotions in the 80s, 90s and 00s, but have never given her any acclaim or air time beyond revisiting the belt-trashing.

So yeah, she was pretty much erased. Say the belt incident never happened - how would she be viewed today? After all, WWE decides how people are remembered. Thanks.

 

[OYDK]

She SHOULD be remembered as one of the greatest female talents of all time imo. It really is a shame that WWE blackballed her from their history for almost 20 years, but I'm glad she's getting her rightful spot in the HOF, nonetheless. From about 1991-1996 she was relatively the only American female known to the American audience, and despite being terribly booked for the majority of her WWF/WCW career, she was very over. She was a special breed of athleticism and sex appeal.

She spent arguably her best years in AWA and NJPW, participating in many high profile feuds with the likes of Sherri Martel, Wendi Richter, Chigusa Nagayo, and Luna Vachon, but she was also a 3-time WWE Womens Champ and had some great matches against Bull Nakano.

She was super over everywhere she went whether it be Europe, Japan, or North America. She was the first ever female PWI Rookie of the Year in 98, held the AWA, IWA, and WWE Womens titles throughout her career, and was the first woman to ever win the WCW Cruiserweight championship. I think if the whole incident had never happened, Madusa would be remembered today as the "matriarch" of the modern era Women's Division.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I was a huge Madusa fan back in the day but I didn't like the whole throwing the title in the trash incident I thought it was quite disrespectful towards the WWF.
So her being inducted to the hall of fame for her even though her career more than warrants it was I think still quite gracious on the WWE's part after what she done to their title, I'm glad she's going in though as I think she's maybe in the top 3 female wrestlers of all time.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It really is a shame that WWE blackballed her from their history for almost 20 years, but I'm glad she's getting her rightful spot in the HOF, nonetheless

A worthy comment, yet I would say she blackballed herself. If any of us were the CEO of a company and an ex-employee went to our competition and made a public event of trashing our corporate logo, would we be extolling their virtues in the years following? True, Madusa did this on orders from the WCW braintrust, but she still had to know it was a bridge-burning maneuver.....and had she wanted to leave her options open with WWE in case things didn't work out with WCW......too f'n bad, Debbie.

That WWE is now inducting her into its HOF indicates either a magnanimous attitude on their part......or an even clearer indication that they're running out of Hall of Fame-worthy people to put in there.

Still, the question asked by the OP is how Madusa would be viewed had WWE not "blackballed" her....and I'd say it depends on how aware of her you were outside WCW confines. I remember her in a federation in the early 90's.....all women, all competing seriously (this wasn't GLOW; it was after that). We saw Madusa wrestle, without storylines.....just competition. She was very good, but others were just as good. Once, she was matched against the woman we came to know as Ivory in WWE. It was a terrific example of what women can do in the ring when treated as wrestlers instead of fashion models.....but I would say Ivory brought as much to the match as Madusa.....and I don't recall anyone viewing Ivory as a great wrestler.

In WCW, of course, if Madusa wanted to wrestle as she did in the women's federation, she must have been as disappointed as she was with her WWE tenure. They featured her as a sexpot, once defeating a man by tantalizing him with "snake charmer" movements; he was pinned without a wrestling hold being used. Ugh.

When WCW folded, I wonder how she felt about trashing the WWE title belt and closing the door to a return. Maybe she'll tell us about it in her induction speech.

I believe she'll be remembered as a good woman wrestler who essentially operated in a vacuum, in that most of the places she performed didn't utilize her technical skills properly because they didn't have enough competent women to oppose her.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If she hadn't dumped that belt on Nitro she'd be long forgotten. The WWF Women's division was TV filler, nothing more. She might've held the title but she was no more important than Barry Horowitz.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I started watching WWF around 1993, so I was watching for her whole run in the company. The thing is, if you look at women's wrestling in WWE at that time there were basically two performers Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano. There were other women in the company like Luna and Sherri, but they weren't competing in ring. The WWE would bring in additional performers from time to time like Moolah or Lelani Kai, or the occasional Japanese workers, but by and large Alundra and Bull was really it, to be honest if you think the women's matches are an afterthought today, they were practically nothing back then.

It really wasn't until the Attitude Era that the WWE started making any kind of real effort with their women's division and having a bigger roster. Which means there was a gap of about 3 years where there basically was no women's division.

This makes Madusa/Alundra's place in WWE history kind of odd. Because WWE acquired so many video libraries the other companies she worked for aren't in a position to keep her legacy alive, because WWE owns most of it. Even still, she really represented the women's division during a very bleak period. It's not to take away from her abilities as a performer. I would've loved to seen her work matches with Trish, Lita, Molly, and the current crop.

In her era though, she was mostly unmatched and given little to no real competition, so for that reason I don't think even if the belt incident hadn't occurred that it would've made much of a difference. The group of women to come after her generation made such an impact that it massively overshadowed her time in WWE.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In terms of ability, Madusa/Blayze was great inside the ring. She genuinely had some strong matches in WWE, especially against Bull Nakano. If she was 25-30 years old today, she'd easily be among the top female workers going and someone that a lot of fans would hope & pray wound up in WWE.

A good portion of her time in the AWA, at least for the first 12-18 months, she was mostly a valet managing "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly. After winning the AWA World Women's Championship in late December 1987, she also began managing Curt Hennig, who was AWA World Heavyweight Champion at the time. She dropped the title to Wendi Richter after holding it roughly 11 months before she & Hennig both joined the Diamond Exchange, the stable led by Diamond Dallas Page. She was the first female to be voted Rookie of the Year by PWI.

It really wasn't until about 1989 that she headed to Japan and began learning different styles and learning martial arts like kickboxing and Muay Thai and eventually signed a 3 year deal with All Japan Pro Wrestling and became a big star there. She came back to the states in 1991 and worked in WCW as part of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance, where she once again served as a valet/eye candy to Rick Rude. She was eventually kicked out of the Alliance and her most memorable me in WCW resulted in her beat up Dangerously at a Clash of the Champions event before coming to the WWF as Alundra Blayze.

Based on what I've read, she was released in late December 1995 as part of a cost cutting sure. She appeared in WCW shortly thereafter and dropped the WWF Women's Championship in the trash can. So as far as her being blacklisted, it seems to me as though it was her own fault rather than WWE. Nobody gun to her head and forced her to drop the WWF Women's Championship belt in a garbage can on live television and what promoter wouldn't be pissed off and insulted by such an action? Why would Vince or any other promoter give her the time of day after something like that? She grievously insulted Vince and the WWF, she hitched her wagon to WCW and she had to accept the consequences. Because of her falling out with Vince, she opted not to stay in WCW when Vince bought it, though she may have been released anyhow she retired not long after that.

Like most female wrestlers before the 2000s in terms of general fame, Madusa/Blayze wasn't really viewed as a star in the minds of most American fans. She was a good wrestler with general credentials to back it up, but due to the times in which female wrestling found itself in during the 1990s, she'll mostly be remembered for literally trashing the WWF Woman's Championship on Nitro.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

She may be known by more people for more things but she would not be as intriguing of a person. Her blackballing makes her more relevant than she ever would have been if WWE had just shrugged her off and threw her in to history the same way they treat most every other woman.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Madusa was an excellent performer, and it's a shame that most modern fans aren't that aware of her, due to WWE blackballing her until now and never highlighting her as a pioneer of their Women's Division, but that's completely understandable.

Throwing the WWE Women's Title into the bin on Nitro was a huge sign of disrespect to WWE, and Vince was totally right in erasing her from history as much as possible. The company was in a war with WCW and a former employee trashing their former employer in that way is going to end with that person being exiled from the company, so that's why we've never seen Madusa on WWE TV since WWE closed down.

It's good to see that the 2 sides appear to have mended bridges, because Madusa is a perdormer whose accomplishments deserve to be remembered, but it's entirely her own fault why they haven't been seen by a lot of the current WWE fanbase.

 

[rbv13]

Just a take on the WWE situation. No what she accomplished before joining the E.

Without looking up exact details and dates involved in her career I recall her WWE run as being fairly lackluster. By no fault of her own, she worked some great matches, the E really wasn’t really investing in women’s wrestling. Her move to WCW likely equaled a major payday but looking back at her going along with tossing the title in the trash was a major career killer. WCW never really developed a women’s division and with what they did have Madusa was never really put over. I guess she got a bit of a rub working with Savage but if I recall correctly she ended up working joke matches against the likes of Oklahoma. Had she not completely pissed of the E their could had been a potential return that would have seen her work against the likes of Luna, Jackie, Lita and Trish. Think about the mega match that could’ve been Madusa vs. Chyna.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Now the HOF is done I think it's safe to say she is no longer erased from history and I think we will see more of her going forward... I don't think many thought she'd be the best speech of the night, still hot and actually relevant.

They are making a big thing of Women's wrestling "coming back" and now Charlotte is seemingly on her way, she's a perfect person to wear that belt that just came out of the bin... Keep the Diva's title if you must but the real womens title is back in play now and Madusa/Alundra is now the measuring stick once more... WWE has been fixated on "Divas" for so long, it's impossible to call Madusa one, she wasn't... she was a top, top ladies wrestler... but that is now what's in vogue again... Some like Trish and Lita will straddle the two camps but it's actually perfect the way Madusa can now slip back into the canon...