One of The Fabulous Moolah's trainees comes to her defense.
This past week has been a whirlwind for the name of the late Fabulous Moolah, real name Mary Lillian Ellison. It was announced this past Monday on RAW that at WrestleMania 34 a battle royal would take place featuring the women superstars of WWE and it would be entitled the "Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal". Immediately after the announcement fans bashed the naming of the battle royal on social media considering the stories that are associated with the former 4-time WWF Women's Champion.
The Fabulous Moolah has been accused by her former trainees and wrestlers of "pimping" them out for money and even drugging some so that they could be sexually taken advantage of. This eventually led to WWE dropping the "Fabulous Moolah" name from the battle royal and renaming it the 'WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal'. The sports-entertainment company would release the following statement concerning the situation:
"After further consideration, we believe it’s best to proceed with the name ‘WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.’ What remains most important is that this historic match is part of WWE’s unwavering commitment to the Women’s Division."
It seemed that the entire wrestling world was against Moolah, but one of her trainees/wrestlers Joyce Grable, who is in the Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame and a former NWA United States Women's Champion came to bat for Moolah in an interview with Nigel Sherrod, who is on a campaign of sorts to clear Moolah's name.
“Well, Moolah trained me in 71’ and I wrestled for her until 1984, and I was a four-time world tag team champion, so I’ve been around a long time." Joyce Grable shared.
As noted, there are many allegations against Mary Ellison but Joyce shot those allegations down as she stated she's never experienced any of that.
"Well no, I never experienced that and all of the ones you named they’re dead so how could they be saying anything. Maybe the family, or just making it up, but as far as I was concerned, she never sent me to nobody, and hey, I had a good body, back then. I was kind of pretty, long blonde hair. Especially when I went to Puerto Rico, Mexico; if she was gonna pimp somebody out, I would’ve been number one on the list." She would continue, "I never recall anything on that…. Moolah was 110% against any types of drugs. If she found out you smoked marijuana, she would X you off; told you ‘You can’t do that’. She told you how to dress when you went to arenas, how to act like a lady, and as far as I’m concerned, you know, I mean, she was a little stiff on some things, but she was my boss. I had to do what she told me to do. I had to go places; Japan, Australia, New Zealand. But hey, this is what the business is about, for me to go all over the world and not having to pay for nothing and as far as anything else, she never ever…. In fact, she wanted us to stay away from the guy wrestlers. She was….. when one of us were dating one of the guys, she was so afraid we were gonna marry em’, go off with them, and then she would lose a top girl. And so she never promoted the girls and the guys getting together, or anyone. She was like, ‘You’re on your own in that situation, but this is what I’d like for you to do’".
To further catch up on the situation regarding The Fabulous Moolah, click here. If you are going to use any of the quotes above, please credit Nigel Sherrod, with an H/T to Fightful.com for the transcriptions.
