The greatest women's wrestler of all time.

[Bernkastel]

When we think about great women's wrestlers of the past there are few that come to mind, mainly because the industry as a whole has never been up to the level of drawing power, consistency, and popularity of their male counterparts. And sadly this is historical fact. Those of us born within the last 30 years may recall the boom period of women's wrestling that started in the late 90's in the WWE. Those of us that have researched the past may have discovered the equally as successful booming period that started in Japan a decade earlier. Among those modern names are the great Trish Stratus, Lita, Sable, and Chyna. And their Japanese counterparts the great Manami Toyota and Megumi Kudo. Back a little further we have women like Wendi Richter and Chigusa Nagayo, who set high standards for their divisions at the time. And even further on back we find women like Fabulous Moolah and Johnnie Mae Young.

But to find the "greatest of all time" we'd have to look back further still. To the 1930's. The age of the pioneers. That woman's name was Mildred Burke...

Born right after the start of World War 1, Mildred Burke was an unlikely candidate to be a major star, perhaps even more unlikely than her contemporary Trish Stratus. Burke was a stout 5" 2 and a buck 130 soaking. But she was strong and her body was built to handle the rigors of wrestling. So she followed her passion by accepting the marriage proposal of former wrestler turned promoter Billy Wolfe. Wolfe had a keen eye for the business and knew how to profit from the industry. And Burke was exactly the kind of prospect he wanted.

She made her debut in 1935, gaining notoriety in traveling carnivals using the same con trick as hookers from many years before. She would challenge local men to a fight, and rarely would any of them last 10 minutes against her. Having been trained in the art of hooking, Burke was a competent shooter. And slowly her name began to spread. In 1937 she won the World's Women's title. The first of 3 reigns. She quickly became so popular as the champion that the NWA began touting her as the NWA women's champion. A title that she would hold for 20 years.

She defended the title regularly in 2/3 fall bouts that followed the same setup as her male counterparts. Her popularity grew so vast that in her heyday, her matches were stealing headlines away from her male counterparts. In 1947 an associated press poll named her the number 6th topped ranked female athlete in the world. Even world renowned wrestlers like Ed Strangler Lewis and Lou Thesz were quick to notice her skill, popularity, and growing influence on the industry.

*A picture of Burke with Ed Lewis*​

After a falling out with her husband which led to a bitter divorce, and an even bitter rivalry with her husband's daughter in law June Byers, that would have put the MaMahon family rivalry of the late 90's to shame. Burke lost her championship in a shoot match where politics forced her to relinquish the title in what was basically a screw job. A similar event involving Lou Thesz and Buddy Rogers a few years later lead to the creation of the WWWF.

Burke left the NWA and formed her own all women's promotion the WWWA where she continued to defend the NWA crown that was [technically] still hers. In the 1970's this title would be revived in Japan by the successful AJW promotion as their top prize. Burke continued to train new women's wrestlers and remained a dominant figure in the industry until her death in 1989. Her legacy is unquestionable and her accolades staggering...

- Burke was a 3 time World's Women's champion. And widely recognized as the first NWA women's champion.

- She held that title for 20 years, defended it regularly, and was always the unquestionable biggest draw. Her popularity ranking her among some of the greatest at the time.

- Sources vary. Her obituary claims that she had wrestled 150 men without suffering a single loss, while wrestling over 5,000 matches altogether. Her number of losses could be counted on one hand.

- She built the national platform for women's wrestling on her back. By the time Fabulous Moolah won the title the exploits of Burke were known throughout the world.

- She later formed the WWWA and helped train women for future generations, carving her legacy even deeper into the industry.

Mildred Burke was equally as important to the development of women's wrestling as Lou Thesz was to men's wrestling. And her legacy can still be seen and felt today. Undoubtedly she has to be the most important and greatest women's wrestler of all time.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Its hard to argue with your choice, Mildred Burke, June Byers and Fabulous Moolah could be the 3 best.

 

[The Boss]

Props for a good argument, but just for sheer longevity alone I have to go with the Fabulous Moolah. Her 30 years as a champion is a record that will likely live forever never to be broken by man nor woman. She would become the oldest person to hold a WWF/E title when she regained the Women's title at the age of 76. On September 15, 2003 she became the first 80 year old to compete in a WWE ring when she pinned Victoria.
Cementing her place in history as the first Woman inductee to the WWF HOF I must say that Moolah is the greatest.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Hard to argue with the choice of Mildred Burke. As always, though, the question in pro wrestling is how far back the "scripted" nature of the exhibition went. In the days of Strangler Lewis and Frank Gotch, there were no predetermined outcomes, right? Was that also true during Mildred Burke's era?

I read about a match between Burke and June Byers (in Wikipedia) in which they claim: "It was a grudge match that quickly became a shoot contest." If that's so, doesn't it mean the result was scripted but things got out of hand and they wound up fighting for real? (There was no Vince McMahon Jr. to scream at them for going off the script)

So, it comes down to the speculation wrestling fans often engage: how good would some of these gals be in a "for real" match? From what we've read about Mildred Burke, she would have been great. Same for Moolah, although she never seemed great enough to have legitimately held a title for 30 years.....Moolah's matches seemed more like exhibitions than genuine athletic contests anyway; she would take these huge flops during a match....then, once all seemed lost, she'd pull out a victory from nowhere. But that was during the late 80's when many of us saw her; I wonder what her matches were like in the time before we can remember.

Same with Mildred Burke; I've never seen film of her, yet based on the description given by the OP, I wish I had.

At any rate, back in that era, I would think women had to know something about how to wrestle; they couldn't have gotten away with the spot-hitting messes we're often forced to endure in this era.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Props for a good argument, but just for sheer longevity alone I have to go with the Fabulous Moolah. Her 30 years as a champion is a record that will likely live forever never to be broken by man nor woman. She would become the oldest person to hold a WWF/E title when she regained the Women's title at the age of 76. On September 15, 2003 she became the first 80 year old to compete in a WWE ring when she pinned Victoria.
Cementing her place in history as the first Woman inductee to the WWF HOF I must say that Moolah is the greatest.

I'd have to go with Moolah as my pick as well. Her record as Champion is incredible- THIRTY YEARS? Was the Women's belt actually active throughout that period though, that's something I am unsure of...30 years is far longer than most wrestler's entire careers!

The fact that Moolah (and Mae Young) remained so popular into their late 70s-early 80s in the Attitude Era again emphasis how talented and how well respected by the office she was. Moolah was an absolute legend, and very well-deserving of her spot in the HOF. We'll never see an 80 y/o wrestle in a WWE ring ever again. Incredible.

 

[enviousdominous]

"Greatest" is a relative term. I respect Mildred Burke's and Moolah's legacies, but for me it's a matter of who truly kept me marking out during my time as a fan. I realize that it's unfair for me to vote for the greatest of all time based on personal preference, I like to believe that I add some logic to my choice of greatest of all time.

I don't pay much mind to who's won more or who's held a belt for the longest amount of time. We're talking about pre-information age here. You didn't have to be great to win or hold a championship, you had to be the sparkle in the booker's eye and nothing more. Moolah was great, but half of her matches involved strutting around the ring and no-selling due to arrogance and a lack of athleticism. Mildred Burke was great, but she was also married to a promoter.

If it were up to me, an underappreciated talent named Harley Saito would have been recognized for her ability to put on consistent 5-star matches during a time when 4-star matches were the norm. Harley was about Mildred's size and weight, but she would throw kicks like Van Dam and could take bumps like Mick Foley. If I had to list the top ten female performers of all time, they would all be Japanese. Off the top of my head: Akira Hokuto, Bull Nakano, Mayumi Ozaki, Dump Matsumoto, Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka, Aja Kong, Shinobu Kandori, Manami Toyota and Minami Suzuka. Watch a Moolah match and then watch any match of the names I just mentioned and ask yourself which performer served their art with more passion.

Then there's also Lola Gonzales, possibly the greatest Luchadora of all time and is worth looking up for those who've never read up on her.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This is a bad question... there is no way Mildred Burke can truly be compared to an AJ, Paige or Sara Del Ray of today, a Bull Nakano or Manami Toyota or Madusa in any meaningful way... They are different just as George Hackenschmidt or Karl Gotch cannot truly be compared to CM Punk or Bruno Sammartino.

If you ask me the question then I am not counting Burke... Moolah and Mae Young enter the discussion as pioneers but you are talking about those who have actually made the artform of womens wrestling either better known, more accepted or more popular.

Vivian Vachon can't be ignored, she was so well thought of that a whole documentary film was made about her. Sherri Martel was able to parlay her abilities to become the first true mainstream heel woman's character. Some like Trish and Lita and Chyna were able to take that on to the point where the Womens/Diva's division was not an afterthought but an equal part of the show...Chyna even taking part in the Rumble and winning the IC title. Over in Japan you had the similar situation, the womens stars being as important as the men their equals in ability.

In today's world, Paige and AJ are reaping the benefits of all the above, showing ability and "nouse" beyond their years and becoming real players...and newcomers like Charlotte quickly making names for themselves.

Who do you call the best?

I have to look at it in terms of who had the most impact in terms of ability, turning that into mainstream success and helping the business.

It's between Trish and Bull Nakano for me with Trish getting the nod based on her overall rise from "fitness model" to Hall of Fame level talent. Trish was not trained in a Dojo or groomed for success like Nakano. She applied herself and learned from everyone around her, older stars like Ivory and Terri who were veterans of GLOW and Mae and Moolah when they showed up. She learned from Fit Finlay, this guy was no "flash in the pan", he knew how to use a female talent and train them as he had with his own wife "Princess Paula" during his original UK career...

Trish is the first to acknowledge the others who forged the path like Moolah, Mae, Burke and the like, but she was the first Womens wrestler who really WAS Hall of Fame level and she didn't have 30 years with a title, she had talent, found herself a natural and maximised that talent to the best potential...and the WWE/F benefitted big time from it.

 

[Meth Head]

Trish is the first to acknowledge the others who forged the path like Moolah, Mae, Burke and the like, but she was the first Womens wrestler who really WAS Hall of Fame level and she didn't have 30 years with a title, she had talent, found herself a natural and maximised that talent to the best potential...and the WWE/F benefitted big time from it.

Moolah, Mae, Burke, and all those other trailblazers in women's wrestling all came decades before Stratus was even born and yet somehow the latter was the "first" women's wrestler to attain "true" Hall of Fame level? How'd that happen, bud?

 

[Dilligaf]

IMO, if it went for the Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young & Mildred Burke setting the trail for women's wrestling, we wouldnt have women's wrestling.

Ive seen SHIMMER Women's Athletes, and even though their shows are only held in small venues, the matches are really good, its a shame I cant get their DVD's in the UK.

But for me, it was Lita who helped revolutionize modern women's wrestling, with the matches she put on with the over-the-top aerial moves she did, back in her era sometimes I thought her matches could rival the men for match of the year.

Its just a shame WWE piss all over the women's division & wont let their matches be as good as they was back in her era.

Or maybe even go as far as Tara vs Mickie James in recent history on impact.

My vote is for Lita.

 

[shalliin]

Hard to argue with the choice of Mildred Burke. As always, though, the question in pro wrestling is how far back the "scripted" nature of the exhibition went. In the days of Strangler Lewis and Frank Gotch, there were no predetermined outcomes, right? Was that also true during Mildred Burke's era?

I read about a match between Burke and June Byers (in Wikipedia) in which they claim: "It was a grudge match that quickly became a shoot contest." If that's so, doesn't it mean the result was scripted but things got out of hand and they wound up fighting for real? (There was no Vince McMahon Jr. to scream at them for going off the script)

So, it comes down to the speculation wrestling fans often engage: how good would some of these gals be in a "for real" match? From what we've read about Mildred Burke, she would have been great. Same for Moolah, although she never seemed great enough to have legitimately held a title for 30 years.....Moolah's matches seemed more like exhibitions than genuine athletic contests anyway; she would take these huge flops during a match....then, once all seemed lost, she'd pull out a victory from nowhere. But that was during the late 80's when many of us saw her; I wonder what her matches were like in the time before we can remember.

Same with Mildred Burke; I've never seen film of her, yet based on the description given by the OP, I wish I had.

At any rate, back in that era, I would think women had to know something about how to wrestle; they couldn't have gotten away with the spot-hitting messes we're often forced to endure in this era.

Moolah was the female prototype of Ric Flair. Flair might have taken his nickname from Buddy Rogers but he took a lot of his in ring work and arrogant personality from Moolah. Every Flair match followed similar patterns to Moolah's matches.

 

[shalliin]

It's hard to say as I don't know much about any women from outside the US/Canada and others I didn't ever see so I can't compare.
Mae/Mildred/Moolah are the pioneers and deserve their status, but while Burke could hook (not that kind---well maybe, I don't really know what she did in her spare time), and Moolah and Mae could work a crowd, the styles were so stilted compared to what people have grown to expect in the last 20 years. Even the stars of the 80's to mid 90's like Wendi Richter, Madusa, and Luna Vachon were stronger and more athletic, they still had extremely limited styles compared to the men of their time.
It wasn't until the mid 90's and the arrival of people like Lita, Chyna (and as much as it pains me) Sable that started to raise expectations of what Women could do. Trish, Sunny, Marlena, and others started to form a solid core of people were instead of women wrestlers, they were wrestlers who where women, if you catch the difference.

Some started in mediocre talent and grew to become great (Trish), others were eyecandy given too much time and picked up a few things (Torrie wilson and the other Torri, Sable), and others were hard workers who loved the biz and worked hard to be great performers (Lita, Ivory, Victoria).

So it makes it difficult to really judge who was the greatest of all time. There's been too much change over the years to the division to really compare the various eras anywhere near as closely as men's division. Now they are athletic and powerful, many with great in ring skill (pushing on from Trish and Lita and the like) but sadly the main draw is their appearance and not their skills. It's transitioned, at least in WWE and TNA, from a true wrestling draw to eyecandy and TnA, or at least as much TnA as a pg audience can handle. So that is a back step in the evolution of women's wrestling.

 

[rmp0012002]

It hard to choose a greatest. Back in the era of Burke and Moolah women didn't get into the sport without really being able to handle themselves. Today's era you got into the sport on how you looked on a poster and then went from there. The knock against Burke and Moolah is that they booked their own careers that's why they were champions so long. Even when Moolah wrestled in the WWF the McMahons left how the women were run to Moolah and didn't get involved.