The Fabulous Moolah

In 1983, Vincent Kennedy McMahon began expanding the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and Moolah agreed to appear exclusively for the WWF, and thus became the first WWF Women's Champion. The following year, singer Cyndi Lauper began a verbal feud with manager "Captain" Lou Albano, who long had a reputation of being a villain, that brought professional wrestling into mainstream culture in a storyline that became known as the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection." When it was finally time for Lauper and Albano to settle their differences in the ring, a match-up was scheduled with Albano representing Moolah against the challenge of Lauper's protégé, Wendi Richter. After much buildup and hype, the Fabulous Moolah lost the championship when defeated by Richter, who had Lauper in her corner, on July 23, 1984 in the main event of *The Brawl to End It All*.

After losing the title to Richter, Moolah aided Leilani Kai in defeating Richter for the title in February 1985. Richter won it back at the inaugural WrestleMania, but when Richter's relationship soured with the WWF, Moolah donned a mask as "**The Spider Lady**" and regained the belt on November 25, 1985, in a controversial decision. Richter promptly quit the WWF afterward, while Moolah continued to be champion for another two years—excluding a six-day reign by Velvet McIntyre during a tour of Australia in 1986—before losing the belt to Sherri Martel on July 24, 1987. She later captained a team at the inaugural Survivor Series. Her team (Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, and the Jumping Bomb Angels) defeated champion Martel and her team (Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, Donna Christanello, and Dawn Marie).

Throughout the early 1990's, she made appearances in video packages and at live WWF events. On June 24, 1995, she was the first female wrestler to be inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame. In 1998, Moolah and Mae Young re-emerged in the WWF (later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE). The WWF women's division, however, had since moved away from the traditional athletic match-ups of the past and now featured women competing in sexually-themed bikini contests and strip matches.

Upon returning, Moolah and Young began appearing regularly in comedic roles. On the September 9, 1999 episode of *SmackDown!*, Jeff Jarrett invited Moolah into the ring and smashed a guitar over her head. On the September 27, 1999 episode of *Monday Night Raw*, Moolah and Young defeated Ivory in a Handicapped Evening Gown match, which led to a title match at No Mercy on October 17. The match saw Moolah defeat Ivory to regain the WWF Women's Championship, thus becoming the oldest champion ever, though she lost the title back to Ivory eight days later.

On the September 15, 2003 episode of *Raw*, Moolah won a match against Victoria. After Moolah's victory, the "Legend Killer" Randy Orton came out and performed an *RKO* on her. Moolah and Young made another appearance at New Years Revolution in 2006, during a Bra and Panties Gauntlet match attacking Victoria and stripping her of her top. She also made brief appearances at WrestleMania 23 and the 2007 Draft Lottery on June 11, 2007. Her last WWE appearance before her death was at SummerSlam in August 2007, in a backstage segment with Vince McMahon and Raw General Manager William Regal.

On November 2, 2007, Moolah passed away.