Wrestling Hall of Famer Mae Young died earlier this week, at age 90. She wrestled in 7 decades, as recently as 2010, a record unlikely to be broken with current wrestling lifespans. After becoming the first women’s champion in the 50s, and pioneering women’s wrestling along with the Fabulous Moolah, Young made a comeback to the ring with the Moolah in 1999, and was famously powerbombed by through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley at the age of 80. She also showed her puppies, had an affair with Mark Henry and gave birth to a rubber hand in one of the signature moments of the “Attitude Era.”
She was one of the toughest wrestlers of all time. I don’t follow wrestling much these days but I’ll miss Mae Young.
Mae was one of the toughest and best wrestlers back in the days when wrestling was referred to as WRESTLING–unlike today’s “sports entertainment” garbage. R.I.P., Mae—you’re one of the last of a breed that, sadly, isn’t around anymore.
Mae was pretty amazing, and I am glad they interviewed her for a documentary before she passed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick_and_Dynamite,_Piss_and_Vinegar:_The_First_Ladies_of_Wrestling
As for the “Sports Entertainment” you don’t like, why not try some of the smaller companies like Ring of Honor, Wrestling Cares, Dragon Gate and others. There is a LOT of good stuff out there currently.
Fuck Dragon Gate. The cocksucker Sapolsky pays guys $10.00. Pay nthat fat fuck $10.00 to jump off a cliff !
Sorry, I don’t get the reference. What’s this got to do with comics?
RIP.
@B Wrestlers are superheroes & supervillains. We don’t need Roland Barthes, Wendy Haslem’s nifty article in “Super/Heroes” or the Hulk Hogan’s Rock’n’Wrestlin’ cartoon to see the connection – comics such as Superman #155 (with Antonino Rocca) and Detective 355 (the Hooded Hangman) reflect the fluid boundaries between these two worlds.
For folks who grew up immersed in both wrestling and comics I imagine the blend is so intuitive that explanation seems superfluous. I know it was for me as kid growing up in the interzone between Hamburg & Allentown, which are where Vince McMahon built his empire. In my imaginary world acted out with Mego & GI Joe action figures, Batman and the Doctor (Jon Pertwee, to be clear) would team up with Ivan Putski to take on Doctor Doom, the Silurians and Baron Miguel Scicluna. It never occurred to me that they all lived in irreconcilably different worlds.
Mae and Moolah were iconic, especially early on before they became more comic figures in later life. Wrestling, like comics, was a male-dominated business & culture, and they arguably were more powerful than 1950s/60s Supergirl and Wonder Woman combined.
I remember ‘All-Star Wrestling’ here in San Antonio, It was great fun to watch. They toured all the small towns in the area. The most under rated skill though is the interview monologue. That drove popularity as much, or perhaps more than, performance in the ring.
Thanks, Jeff… Makes sense.
Fuck Dragon Gate. The cocksucker Sapolsky pays guys $10.00. Pay nthat fat fuck $10.00 to jump off a cliff !
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Could be worse. I remember hearing about a promoter in California that charged wrestlers to wrestle on his shows. He got away with it by telling them “they’ll be scouts from Japanese promotions in the audience”. At the time, the All-Japan and New Japan promotions were the best paying promotions in the world. He then would get some of his buddies to attend the shows dressed in suits, pretending to take notes during the matches. Not even Vince would do something like that At least, I don’t think he would.
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