Backlash Over WWE's Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, Mainstream Media Attention, Petitions

By Marc Middleton

As noted, WWE announced on Monday that the first-ever Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal will take place at WrestleMania 34 with female Superstars from WWE NXT, RAW and SmackDown competing, likely for a trophy. The match is named after WWE Hall of Famer and NWA Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, a four-time WWE Women's Champion and a five-time NWA Women's Champion. Her last WWE match came on September 15th, 2003 as she defeated Victoria on RAW, a match that she was promised for her 80th birthday, making her become the first octogenarian to wrestle in a WWE ring. She made a few more non-wrestling appearances for WWE over the years before passing away at the age of 84 in 2007.

There has been significant backlash among fans on social media since WWE made the announcement on Monday night.

Moolah has been accused over the years of essentially being a pimp to younger women's wrestlers back during her prime, taking advantage of them and screwing others out of work and pushes, among other allegations. The stories on Moolah come from shoot interviews with women's wrestling stars such as Luna Vachon, Wendi Richter, Leilani Kai and others, plus other industry talk. You can read a "Wrestler's True Colors" Reddit thread on Moolah at this link, which details some of the claims made about Moolah before and after her death, some of which have been denied by Moolah.

"Moolah did send girls out to this guy in Arizona and pimped them out," Jeannine Mjoseth, a former student of Moolah who briefly wrestled as Mad Maxine, told Slam! Wrestling in 2014. "I actually spoke to him on the phone and asked him what he was looking for. He said, 'If I'm spending all this money, you know what I want.' That was part of Moolah's way of making money. She was just a bad person. Moolah didn't have a good bone in her body."

WWE Announcement On The First Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, Superstars React, Video Preview
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WWE Announcement On The First Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, Superstars React, Video Preview

Forbes has picked up on the backlash at this link and fans have launched a Change.org petition to have the name of the battle royal changed at this link. The petition has 3,165 signatures and counting as of this writing. There's also a petition to have the match canceled at this link. That petition has 3,231 signatures and counting as of this writing. These Change.org petitions never force any actual changes in WWE but they are worth mentioning.

As seen below, fans have responded to various tweets from female Superstars regarding Moolah and the match, including tweets from Stephanie McMahon and WWE NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon. Liv Morgan had made a tweet on the match but it appears she deleted it due to the feedback from fans.

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