Professional wrestling career Mildred Burke

1 professional wrestling career

1.1 divorce billy wolfe
1.2 dealings nwa
1.3 genuine animosity
1.4 legacy

professional wrestling career

burke in 1937

prior wrestling, office stenographer day, had outstanding muscle development, , hoping become professional wrestler. locally, billy wolfe training aspiring women professional wrestlers. @ first, wolfe did not want train burke , instructed male wrestler body slam her, stop asking wolfe train her. burke, however, performed body slam on man instead, resulted in wolfe agreeing train her. wolfe tutored , realized prospect waiting. close proximity of training resulted in relationship , marriage. changing name mildred burke, defeated clara mortenson women s world championship in january 1937.

in 1930s, burke wrestled on 200 men, lost 1 of them.

despite riches husband earned promoter of women grapplers, there dark side marriage. on road, wolfe stood father figure women trained , managed, earned reputation womanizer. marriage not monogamous, wolfe enjoyed companionship of women whom traveled.

divorce billy wolfe

tensions emanated extramarital activity , in 1952, wolfe , burke went own ways. burke found herself frozen out of professional wrestling among national wrestling alliance (nwa) channels. desperate, burke decided consult jack pfefer help. nwa attempted reconcile couple, agreed upon solution 1 sell out other. burke volunteered sell wolfe burke s attractions, inc. went bankruptcy , hands of receiver james hoff of columbus. 8 months later, hoff named wolfe administrator , approved franklin county judge william bryant. memorandum dated august 20, 1953, circulated wolfe, in boldly announced booker burke , stable of 27 wrestlers. claim disputed burke on august 26, 1953, stating issue settled in courts. emphasized contract prohibited wolfe competing in wrestling , in breach of binding agreement. consulted leroy mcguirk , hoped vindicated nwa @ september 1953 meeting in chicago.

dealings nwa

burke faced many obstacles, women banned yearly nwa conferences, , diminished importance of women in professional wrestling. example of discrimination evident during dispute wolfe. burke sat in lobby of blackstone hotel in chicago male dignitaries argued behind closed doors future. wolfe s voice 1 heard membership. in end, nwa declined recognize women s wrestling after meeting, wolfe regained stake, many women loyal burke , refused wrestle wolfe.

genuine animosity

in letter nwa members on november 4, 1953, burke refuted wolfe s claim wrestle 1 woman grappler. claimed there twelve grapplers whom work. wolfe, however, used influence frozen nwa members , promising run in southeast cowboy luttrall , paul jones in 1954 fizzled.

emotionally exhausted, burke wrestled wolfe s daughter-in-law june byers , there genuine heat between two. match took place on august 20, 1954 in atlanta. grudge match became shoot fight, due genuine enmity between 2 women. wolfe had local commission in corner , slid friendly referee match. burke later admitted had given legitimate first fall intention of competing stronger in second. second fall never had finish. officials called match, , burke left ring believing title safe because had not lost 2 falls. result many in press stated byers had defeated , importance of burke s championship began diminish.

legacy

in 1950s, burke started world women s wrestling association in los angeles, california. returned promotion after match byers, still recognizing herself world women s champion after nwa had recognized rival june byers champion since then, , continued defend it. vacated title in 1956, when retired professional wrestling. in 1970, title revived japan women s pro-wrestling (ajw) top prize.

after tensions wolfe , nwa, burke traveled escort rest of career protective measure. started international women s wrestlers inc. bill newman , promotion had offices in new york city, san francisco , sydney, australia. these offices served in dual capacity of booking offices , training centers.

her efforts spread women s wrestling internationally reached japan , brought world wide women s wrestling association (wwwa).

in later years, burke ran women s wrestling school in encino, california. among students canadian rhonda sing, went on fame wwwa world champion, monster ripper, , wwf women s champion bertha faye.

burke died stroke on february 18, 1989 in northridge, california. in 2002, posthumously inducted professional wrestling hall of fame.

on april 2, 2016, burke posthumously inducted wwe hall of fame legacy member.