Wendi Richter speaks about Fabulous Moolah.
Leading into the 34th annual WrestleMania spectacle earlier this year, WWE announced an all-women's Battle Royal that was entitled the 'Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal'. The announcement of the match was widely neglected and not because of the match itself, but because the individual that the Battle Royal was named after. WWE Hall Of Famer and former 4-time WWF Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah was immediately called out by her former trainees and wrestlers. The likes of Wendi Richter, Jeannine Mjoseth and others accused Moolah of sex trafficking, drugging and robbing her students and trainees.
WWE Hall Of Famer Wendi Richter spoke out about Moolah when she joined the 'Prime Time With Sean Mooney' podcast and stated that she has never met anyone as hateful and as evil as The Fabulous Moolah.
“It was never good. She didn’t really help me get in the business. She used me. Kinda like Elvis Presley’s manager. She got 25 percent of my pay and there was times I didn’t even know what I got paid. She would cut me a check, and so, I had to stop that. Once I started wrestling, the promoters were asking for me - she didn’t promote me. There was times, they said they tried to get me. She told them I was booked and I wasn’t, and I think… she was a very hateful person, and I’ve never been around anyone that is as hateful, and spoke so forcefully." Richter said. "I mean she was worse than a sailor. I’ve never heard anyone cuss, and her cuss-combination, and just the way she talked about people. I’d never been around that, and I wasn’t around it very long because [it] was the opposite of what I want[ed] to surround myself with. I’m a positive [person]. I look forward to things and I try to speak kindly of people or don’t say anything. But she hurt me - anytime she could, and I realized that early on. She was an evil person, and I didn’t ever want to be around her.”
Wendi Richter also reflected on what wrestling fans refer to as the original screw-job involving herself and The Fabulous Moolah. It was in November of 1985 that Richter was set to defend her WWF Women's Championship at Madison Square Garden against an opponent that was dubbed "The Spider". "The Spider" shoot-pinned Richter's shoulders to the mat along with a fast count from the referee and the masked individual unmasked and it was The Fabulous Moolah. Wendi stated that in that moment, she knew she got screwed over and that was the last time prior to her Hall Of Fame induction in 2010 that she was in contact with the WWF/E.
“That was that, and I can’t say how much that hurt me. Nobody has ever hurt me like they hurt me.” Wendi continued talking about when she knew she got screwed over, “Man, right then. Right then. Yeah, yeah that was last time I ever saw her. Nothing, she [Moolah] didn’t say anything. Nothing, and I stomped out of there and I wanted to speak with Vince McMahon, and he was nowhere to be found. I gathered up my stuff and left in my wrestling suit, to the airport, and that was the last… any communication with the WWF. I never saw them.” Mooney asked if Wendi had ever spoken to Moolah after that, “No, but they [WWF/E] contacted me a long time after that - wanted me to do a Battle Royal, and I said, ‘Is Moolah gonna be in it?’ Because I wanted to get back at her. She was already dead, and gone to hell, so I never got to wrestle her again.”
The 'Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal' was eventually changed to the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal which was won by former two-time SmackDown Live Women's Champion Naomi.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the 'Prime Time With Sean Mooney' podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
