Wrestlers Speak Out Against Fabulous Moolah Allegations That Led To WWE Changing WrestleMania Match
Nine women's wrestlers who were associated with WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah are speaking out against the allegations that led to WWE removing Moolah's name from the women's battle royal at WrestleMania 34.
As we've noted, WWE was forced to change The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal to the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal due to fan backlash over controversial allegations from Moolah's past. The backlash included fans contacting WrestleMania sponsor Snickers and their parent company, which appears to be the final straw for WWE. Moolah remains in the WWE Hall of Fame but the company will not be honoring her at WrestleMania.
The Matt Riviera Show sent us the following press release today:
9 Women Wrestlers From "Camp Moolah" Denounce Allegations Against The Fabulous Moolah
Recent social media outrage has led to the WWE removing the name of legendary women's wrestler, the late Fabulous Moolah's (Lillian Ellison) name from a planned featured Women's Battle Royal, which was to honor her at the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event, set for New Orleans, LA on April 8, 2018.
World Wrestling Entertainment was pressured to remove Moolah's name by the event's sponsor, Snickers, after rumors and unsubstantiated allegations from such names as Sherri Martel, Luna Vachon, & Sweet Georgia Brown, involving Ellison's activities while a performer, trainer, & manager to many female wrestlers became echoed on social media. These claims involve accusations of stealing money, the drugging, & prostituting of female wrestlers who worked for The Fabulous Moolah.
Now, in the wake of these allegations, 9 former female wrestlers who worked for Moolah have stepped forward to denounce these allegations against Moolah, & proclaim her innocence. These women represent many different generations, & many of these women lived for decades at the infamous "Camp Moolah", located in Columbia, SC, where the majority of the rumored wrongdoings are said to have occurred.
You can listen to the testimony of these 9 women at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtm1biU-1Bc (Site Note: we have embedded this video above.)
One of the women, Leilani Kai, is a former WWE Women's Champion & lived at Camp Moolah for 20 years: "She had never once drugged any of us" Kai stated on a recent episode of Madusa's Full Throttle Podcast. "She was a champion, she was a booker, and she was a great legend. And she deserves to be honored for enternity?"
One man who has been working diligently to shed light onto this situation is wrestling industry insider, Nigel Sherrod, who has been interviewing former female wrestlers that worked for Moolah ever since the controversy broke. He has interviewed 8 of Moolah's girls, so far, including:
Former NWA Women's Champion, Susan "Tex" Green: "How much (money) did Moolah take from you?" Sherrod asks. "30%" replies Green. "Which... I signed a contract. I didn't have a problem with that? she was putting me in the ring, in front of the people, in front of the writers that put my face & pictures out in magazines. So I took that all in stride." As for allegations of Moolah pimping girls? "? nobody ever came to my room late at night".
"Golden Girl" Lisa Darnell, the youngest trainee ever at "Camp Moolah" at age 16: "She never did anything that was inappropriate at all? And me being the youngest person there, like they said, she was pimping the girls out? That's just ridiculous? I would have been the one she pimped out. I was a young, fresh girl, you know?"
Moolah's daughter, Mary Ellison, who also trained at "Camp Moolah": "I don't know who made up the rumors, but it's a lie? About Sweet Georgia Brown, I don't know who brought that up, but she did go with Buddy Lee (Moolah's Ex Husband) when they split? some of the girls went with him, & some of them stayed with my mother. And the ones that went with him, I wouldn't be surprised if there were drugs & prostitution involved. Which would be back on him, not on my mother."
Brittany Brown, Multi Time Champion: "If anything like that ever did happen to me, I would have flown back home to Boston faster than you could even write her name down? and I'm sure most everybody else that I knew there would've, too? I saw the contracts. It spelled out word for word, by the penny, what percentage she took?. 40 years later or 30 years later, for people to say, "Oh, my God! I can't believe she took 30% of my pay. I should've been getting that." Well, no. You signed the contract. You wanted to be on TV so bad, that 30% was okay with you? Was it high? I don't know, but if you thought it was, you shouldn't have signed it."
Little wrestler, Diamond Lil on Moolah pimping out wrestlers: "That's a lie, it never happened. Whoever's saying that is crazy."
Native American wrestler, and former Tag Team partner of Luna Vachon, Winona Littleheart: "No way. She never pimped me out. And as far as I know, none of the other girls that I know.
Former WWF Superstar, Peggy Lee Leather: "No, she was not a pimp. She was my booker. She booked me for a certain percentage. And all this about being a pimp, it just makes me just almost sick inside. Because that's saying that I was pimped out by The Fabulous Moolah. She was nothing but a business woman. A shrewd one. On allegations by the late Luna Vachon that Moolah forced her to take inappropriate pictures for a local doctor while she was underage: "I think it was Dr. Goldstein, and he liked women's wrestling, and he liked to take photos of them? Moolah would just, you know, approach the girl & just ask them would they like to go out there? I know several of them that went out there? not one of them told me that he did anything derogatory in any way or mentioned anything about sex? When Luna got there, she'd already had two children at that time & she was going through a divorce with her husband? She was in her 20's when she got to Moolah's, she wasn't 16.
Multi Time Champion, Joyce Grable: "As far as I was concerned, she never sent me 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 #1 on the list"
For updates on this ongoing story and to listen to these interviews in their entirety, visit: www.thefabulousmoolah.com