While women’s wrestling in WWE was never much of a focus for the company before the mid-to-late 2010s, there were a number of highlights over the years, including Molly Holly. A top performer in the division as the Attitude Era transitioned into the Ruthless Aggression era, Molly Holly would go from a valet for a tag team to a singles competitor, and collect some championship gold in the process.
Molly Holly’s run as an active performer in the wrestling business lasted less than a decade, but there are a number of things fans should know about the WWE Hall of Famer.
10 Trained By Dean Malenko
Born in Minnesota, Nora Greenwald possessed a background in powerlifting and gymnastics when she moved to Florida in the late 1990s. There, she pursued pro wrestling, where she trained under Dean Malenko, who at the time was performing for WCW in the cruiserweight division. Debuting in 1997 under the ring name Starla Saxon, the future Molly Holly wrestled on the indie scene and in squashes for both WCW and WWE, including one challenge against WWE Women’s Champion Jacqueline.
9 Miss Madness
Before becoming an official part of WCW, Greenwald found herself tasked with training Randy Savage’s real-life girlfriend, Gorgeous George, to take part in in-ring stuff on WCW television. The two women hit it off, and George urged Savage to bring her to television with them, so Greenwald became Miss Madness, one of several valets along with Gorgeous George in Savage’s heel faction, Team Madness. Eventually, however, kayfabe tensions would rise and Miss Madness would be fired from the group.
8 Mona
Miss Madness’ ousting from Team Madness would not only result in a face turn, but a persona change as well. For the rest of her all-too-brief run with WCW, she would be Mona, who wrestled in a blue cocktail dress with no shoes.
As Mona, she’d wrestle pretty consistently on WCW television and engage in a couple of feuds, but she’d be released from the company in 2000 before the company would officially re-establish a women’s division.
7 Managed The Holly Cousins
At the behest of Dean Malenko, WWE would sign Greenwald later in 2000, where she’d enjoy a stint in developmental before debuting as Molly Holly, the kayfabe cousin of Bob Holly and Crash Holly. Her first rival would be Trish Stratus, who managed the Holly Cousins’ rivals, Test and Albert. The mixed-gender trio set-up would result in several mixed tag matches, including a three-on-three against Stratus and T&A. Molly Holly would also challenge for the Women’s Title numerous times shortly after debuting, often against Ivory.
6 The Molly-Go-Round
While Molly Holly’s era was marred by female talent being forbidden to get impactful offense in against one another lest they upstage their male counterparts, Holly had a pretty exciting finishing maneuver. Called the Molly-Go-Round, it’s a high flying maneuver that amounts to a front flip into a seated senton that looks a bit like a Lou Thesz press. The move ends with Holly sitting on her opponent’s chest, allowing for a natural pinning position.
5 Romance Angle With Spike Dudley
Following the feud with T&A, Molly Holly got into a relationship angle with Spike Dudley, kayfabe brother of the Dudley Boyz. Naturally, the low-class Romeo & Juliet trappings led to tensions between the two tag teams, which resulted in several matches, including a tables match on the 5/28/2001 episode of Raw and a three-on-three match between both trios on the 6/11/2001 Raw. Eventually, however, Molly Holly would separate herself from her cousins and Spike Dudley, moving on to a new gimmick.
4 Mighty Molly
Shortly after splitting up from the littlest Dudley and moving on from the Holly Cousins, Molly Holly aligned with WWE’s resident superhero goofball The Hurricane, adopting a costumed persona of her own in Molly Holly. In other words, she was a Nikki A.S.H. for her time.
During this period, she only managed to capture one title, the Hardcore Championship, which she won by turning on The Hurricane at WrestleMania 17 before promptly losing it the same night.
3 Turning Heel
With that betrayal of The Hurricane, Mighty Molly didn’t just turn heel — she changed her whole persona. Becoming Molly Holly again, the newly minted villain changed her hairstyle, remaking herself as a self-described wholesome performer in opposition to the more provocative female talet on the roster. To solidify this gimmick, she feuded with Trish Stratus, eventually taking the Women’s Championship from Stratus in 2002 and holding it for three months before dropping it back to her.
2 Two-Time Women’s Champion
On the 7/28/2003 episode of Raw, Molly Holly defeated Gail Kim to recapture the Women’s Title, after which Kim forged a partnership with the new champion. Together, the two targeted Molly Holly’s biggest rival, Trish Stratus, and Holly avoided dropping the belt every time, including in a triple threat where she got a quick pin over Kim amidst a double-team on Stratus. Holly would also defend the title against Lita, coming out on top at Survivor Series in a near-seven minute effort — an Okada-esque epic by 2003 WWE women’s division standards.
1 Shaved Her Head
Eventually, Molly Holly would drop the title to Victoria in a four-way elimination match on a February 2004 Raw, ending her reign at 210 days. A rematch would happen weeks later at WrestleMania 20, with incredibly high stakes as Molly Holly put her hair on the line — reportedly Holly’s own idea. Victoria would retain, resulting in Holly’s head being shaved. In typical WWE heel fashion, Molly Holly would deal with the embarrassment by hiding her scalp under obvious wigs.