page_title: Mildred Burke
section_title: Professional wrestling career
hierarchical_section_title: Mildred Burke / Professional wrestling career
caption_attribution_description: English: Mildred Burke in 1937
context_page_description: Mildred Bliss, better known by the ring name Mildred Burke, was an American professional wrestler. She is overall a three-time women's world champion under different incarnations and recognitions.
  Burke's heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, when she held the NWA World Women's Championship for almost twenty years. Burke started out in 1935, wrestling men at carnivals. She was managed by her second husband, promoter Billy Wolfe. She is a charter member of WWE Hall of Fame's Legacy Wing, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: Prior to wrestling, she was an office stenographer by day, had outstanding muscle development, and was hoping to become a professional wrestler. Locally, Billy Wolfe was training aspiring women professional wrestlers. At first, Wolfe did not want to train Burke and instructed a male wrestler to body slam her, so she would stop asking Wolfe to train her. Burke, however, performed a body slam on the man instead, which resulted in Wolfe agreeing to train her. Wolfe tutored her and realized that she was the prospect for which he was waiting. The close proximity of their training resulted in a relationship and ultimately marriage. Changing her name to Mildred Burke, she defeated Clara Mortenson for the Women's World Championship in January 1937.
  In the 1930s, Burke wrestled over 200 men, but only lost to one of them.
  Despite the riches that her husband earned as a promoter of women grapplers, there was a dark side to their marriage. On the road, Wolfe stood as a father figure to the women he trained and managed, but he also earned a reputation as a womanizer. Their marriage was not monogamous, as Wolfe enjoyed the companionship of women with whom he traveled.
caption: Burke in 1937
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