Bertha Faye

**Rhonda Ann Sing** (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler. After training with Mildred Burke, she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper. In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede Wrestling, where she was their first Stampede Women's Champion. In 1995, she worked in the World Wrestling Federation as the comedic character Bertha Faye, winning the WWF Women's Championship. She also wrestled in World Championship Wrestling to help generate interest in their women's division.

## Birth and Death Details

born: march 15, 1978

died: may 24, 2011

cause of death: suicide

## Professional wrestling career

Bertha Faye used to watch women's wrestling on TV and thought to herself that she wanted to grow up and be a wrestler one day, when she grew up, she met the hart family in her neighborhood, where she found Owen Hart and Bret Hart. Bertha asked them for training but she got rejected because they never accepted women's training at the time. During a trip to Hawaii in 1985, she saw Japanese women's wrestling on television and decided she wanted to pursue the sport. She later wrote to Mildred Burke, after a friend gave her a magazine with Burke's contact information, and sent her a biography and photo. Shortly thereafter, she joined Burke's training facility in Encino, California.

After a few weeks of training with Burke, Sing was scouted by All Japan Women (AJW), despite her inexperience. Sing's debut match in Japan was a tag team match with partner Mami Kumano, defeating the Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) in January 1979. In Japan, she began wrestling under the name Monster Ripper. Although she found adjusting to the Japanese culture difficult, Sing held AJW's title on two occasions and was the first Calgary born wrestler to gain success in Japan. During her time in the company, the Japanese female wrestlers gave her a hard time because they did not like losing to foreigners. Sing also had difficulty because of her youth and inexperience in the ring. Sing, however, was comforted by New Japan Pro Wrestling's Dynamite Kid, who had also trained in Calgary. Sing won the WWWA World Single Championship from Jackie Sato on July 31, 1979. Despite losing the title to Sato six weeks later, she regained it on March 15, 1980. The title was vacated in August 1980.

After another stint in Japan, Sing returned to Stampede Wrestling in late 1987 and was renamed Rhonda Singh by Bruce Hart, the owner of the company. There were plans to pair her with Gama Singh, but they never came to fruition. During 1987, she was named their first Women's Champion because she had defeated Wendi Richter prior to returning to Stampede. She held the title until September 22, 1988, when she lost to Chigusa Nagayo.

Over the next few years, Sing once again traveled throughout the world and wrestled for a number of companies, holding several titles. Between 1987 and 1990, Sing worked in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council (WWC), where she held the WWC Women's Championship on five separate occasions by defeating Wendi Richter, Candi Devine, and Sasha in matches for the title. . As Monster Ripper on the WWC 18th Anniversary Show (July 6, '91), she faced and beat El Profe on a woman vs man match.

## Life after wrestling break

She worked as a caregiver for the disabled after her break, however she did return to wrestling in 2008.

## Death

Bertha felt sad after she was less recognized to the WWC community, she commited suicide by a self inflicted gunshot wound on May 24, 2011.