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Ellison's long reign as WWF Women's Champion came to an end in 1984 when a certain eccentric singer who just wanted to have fun got involved.
"It was when that Cindi Lauper girl came into the picture," Ellison says. "I called her Little Turkey Neck. She caused me to lose the match. I was wrestling Wendi Richter. Cindi kept running in and out of the ring distracting the referee, and he counted me out. I still say I wasn't pinned. I got Cindi by the throat, and her boyfriend started screaming "Please, don't, you're going to ruin her voice.' I said "what voice?!'"
As professional wrestling grew bigger and more extravagant, with multi-million dollar productions like WrestleMania and Smackdown, Ellison faded into the background, and focused more on her wrestling school. However, the spotlight beckoned once again when WWE President Vince McMahon called and offered her a comeback match. By the late 80s, women's wrestling was being phased out by the WWF. Their women's champion was a wrestler named Ivory. In a body-slamming, hair-pulling, dropkicking battle, the now 76-year-old Fabulous Moolah pinned the WWF Champion in a 1999 nationally televised grudge match before a sold-out Cleveland arena. Unbelievably, The Fabulous Moolah was back. It turned out to be the last time she would appear in the ring for a major wrestling promotion.
Not one to sit still, her revived status as women's champion prompted her to write her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah, First Goddess of The Squared Circle.
As we sit together in her kitchen, Ellison picks up a copy of her book and proudly hands it over. The cover shows her at 17, dressed in her leopard skin outfit, wearing big, gold, clunky jewelry, including a snake band around her arm. With her pouty red lips and smoldering eyes, she looks a bit like a dark-haired Jean Harlow. On the back it shows her 60 years later, dressed in a green leotard and displaying the WWF Championship belt, just after she won it back in 1999.
"I haven't changed that much," she opines. "Only the color of my hair, and you can buy that in the store."
I ask her how she feels about today's "sports entertainment" wrestling industry compared with the business back in her day.
"I like it," she says. "A lot of the old-timers don't, but 40, 50 years ago, you'd see two guys lying in the middle of the ring for 90 minutes holding each other's legs and grunting. Who wants to sit in a hot arena and watch that for two hours? It's disgusting. But now it's like a big movie production. If you blink, you're going to miss the action."
We step outside, and stroll across the front yard to a barn-like building where Ellison trains her wrestling students -- usually around a dozen at any given time. In the center of the big, airy structure is a standard wrestling ring. Again, the walls are covered with photographs showing Ellison during various stages of her career. She grabs hold of the rubbery ropes stretched across the perimeter of the ring and gives them a couple of good tugs. It's obvious she feels good in here -- proud, happy, and relaxed. Ellison's body has taken quite a beating over her career, but it doesn't seem to have slowed her down.
"I've had broken ankles, fingers, ribs, collarbones and cauliflower ears. But that's what makes coming back so much fun -- you get even with people."
In fact, she hopes to exact a little revenge come July 22 for her 80th birthday if WWE president Vince McMahon grants her another match. Before I leave, I ask her what, at age 79 and the great-grandmother of six, still compels her to get in the ring and mix it up.
"Wrestling is my first love; I'm married to wrestling, and I'll be that way as long as I live," she says. "I also want to show all these senior citizens that they don't have to sit back in a rocking chair and wait to die. I mean get up and go, baby! I'm ready to rumble."
Contact Sam Boykin at sam.boykin@cln.com
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