Professional wrestling has been around for at least a century, and it has changed quite a bit over the decades. Women wrestlers are now considered to be just as talented as their male counterparts, to the point that they now main-event major shows. Many women have paved the way, but when it comes to true trailblazers, the legendary Mae Young truly stands out, as she competed in a time when most women were expected to stay home.
Young's career really took off in the 1940s, where she wrestled for a number of different promotions. She won championships with NWA, but it was not until she began appearing in WWE in the mid 90s that most current wrestling fans learned who she was. She was known for taking bumps despite being well into her 80s, and when she was 77, she was powerbombed through a table.
10 Her Career May Be The Longest In History
The exact date may be unknown, but Young's first match was either in 1939 or 1940, and she did not retire for good until 2010. Young was taking bumps well into her 80s, which is virtually unheard of.
She claimed that she wrestled in nine different decades, which may or may not be true, but no one can deny the fact that her in-ring career lasted around 70 years, which is arguably the longest in pro wrestling history. Her career actually outlived several of wrestling's oldest promotions.
9 She Started Amateur Wrestling In High School
WWE created The Mae Young Classic to honor her memory, which is understandable considering everything she did for women's wrestling. She started breaking stereotypes very early on, as she was considered a tomboy while growing up, and wrestling caught her eye during her high school years.
Young wanted to join the boys' wrestling team, and she asked her three older brothers to train her. She learned fairly quickly, and she was able to win a spot on the team despite her gender. This means that she entered Pro wrestling with an amateur background.
8 She Challenged The World Champion As A Teenager
When Young was 16, she attended a show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it was there that she saw Mildred Burke perform. Burke was a trailblazer as well, which is why WWE inducted her into the Hall of Fame in 2016, and she was World Champion at the time.
Young believed she could beat the champion and asked to wrestle her, but the promoters were not fond of the idea. She wrestled Gladys Gillem instead, and she beat her in a few seconds. Burke's husband and manager was impressed by Young's performance, and urged her to become a pro wrestler.
7 The Reason Why She Quit Wrestling In 1991
Wrestlers retire all the time, and many of them decide to work normal jobs once they are done with in-ring competition. Many wrestling fans do not know this, but Young seemingly retired in the 70s and became an instructor, and in 1991, she decided to quit the wrestling business altogether.
Young quit and moved to California to take care of her sick mother, but she also became an evangelical preacher. This wasn't the first time she decided to serve a higher power, in fact she and her sister did something similar in the 1940s.
6 She's Seen The Inside Of A Jail Cell
Based on her on-screen persona, it appeared as though Young would never hurt a fly outside of the ring, but things were much different when she was younger. It turns out that she got in trouble with the law more than once in the late 40s, and this trouble included assault and robbery.
In one instance, a man allegedly kicked Young in the face, and she ended up sending him and his wife to the hospital. In 1949, she and a friend were arrested for beating up a man and stealing $100 from him. The way Young told the story, they were teaching him a lesson because of some improper advances.
5 She Never Won A Championship In WWE
A lot of talented women have won championships in WWE, and Young's close friend, the Fabulous Moolah became the company's first and longest reigning Women's Champion. Young won several championships over the course of her career, but she never held one in WWE.
Young's last WWE appearance came in 2013 when she appeared on a special episode of Raw to celebrate her 90th birthday. After an interesting segment, Vince McMahon and Triple H gave her a personalized Divas Championship belt backstage. She may have never won a championship, but at least WWE tried to rectify that with the gift.
4 She Was One Of The First Women To Wrestle In Canada
Canada has always been a great pro wrestling market, and Canadian fans have seen a lot of great matches over the decades. Mae Young is credited with doing a lot for women's wrestling in the US, but she had a major impact on the Canadian wrestling scene as well.
When she gained more experience, she became one of Mildred Burke's favorite opponents, and the two worked together quite a bit in various territories. They exposed many of these territories to women's wrestling for the first time, and when they performed in Canada, they became two of the first women to ever compete in the country.
3 She Got Women's Wrestling Started In Japan
Japan is another great wrestling market, and many wrestlers have found success in the country's promotions. In 1954, Young and Burke headlined Japan's first ever women's wrestling show, which turned out to be a huge success.
The show ended up being the catalyst for women's wrestling in Japan, and a variety of new promotions began popping up, including All-Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, which was dominant up until the early 2000s. If it was not for this show, women like Asuka, Riho, Kairi Sane and Hikaru Shida may have never become wrestlers.
2 She Was Apparently The First Woman To Do A Dropkick
Women's wrestling has come a long way, so much so, that many women can now execute complex and risky moves. During Mae Young's era, certain moves were only used by male wrestlers, but that did not stop her from performing certain moves anyway.
The dropkick is now considered to be an ordinary move, but it was groundbreaking when it was first invented in the 1930s. Young saw one of the move's alleged inventors perform a dropkick, and she immediately told Mildred Burke that she planned on using it. According to her, she was the first woman to ever perform the move.
1 She Wanted To Wrestle Stephanie McMahon's Daughter
During her Hall of Fame speech, Young joked about having a match when she turned 100, but the joke was at least partially based in reality. According to Young, she asked Stephanie McMahon if she could wrestle her daughter Aurora to celebrate the huge milestone, and Stephanie agreed.
Unfortunately, Young passed away at the age of 90, so the match never happened. Even if Young had reached 100, it is hard to believe that the match would actually get the green light since her opponent would have been a 17-year-old with no experience.