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For as long as there has been a wrestling industry, there have always been screwjobs enacted when the various parties involved aren't quite on the same page. Though Montreal might be the biggest and most controversial, Vince McMahon and WWE was no stranger to pulling the rug out from under a performer live in the ring. Before they did it to one of the biggest male stars in Bret Hart, one of the company's top women's wrestlers, Wendi Richter, also became a victim of politics and scheming.
Wendi Richter's Road To WWE
Wendi Richter's journey in professional wrestling began in the late 1970s. Like many women aspiring to become professional wrestlers in this period, Richter went to learn the trade at the Lillian Ellison School of Professional Wrestling, ran by The Fabulous Moolah. Richter's first few years were spent in the American south, competing in the likes of Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South Wrestling, various NWA promotions, as well as some tours with All Japan Women.
In 1982, Richter made a brief appearance in WWE, joining Moolah and a selection of fellow wrestling school graduates. Richter continued to hop from territory to territory for the next couple of years, having a tenure in Stampede with the Harts, even being made an honorary member of the Midnight Express by Jim Cornette in Mid-South. Richter would soon make her way back to WWE, with some big plans in store as McMahon looked to change the wrestling landscape forever...
Wendi Richter In The Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection
In 1984, Captain Lou Albano featured in the music video for Cyndi Lauper's hit 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun', portraying the pop star's disapproving father. The two agreed to turn the video's story into something more, as they appeared on an edition Piper's Pit, Albano maintaining the grouchy character and badmouthing Lauper. To solve the dispute, they both chose a representative to fight for them in the ring. Albano picked The Fabulous Moolah, whilst Lauper selected Wendi Richter.
The clash was set for The Brawl to End It All inside Madison Square Garden. The Richter vs Moolah match was the only bout from the card broadcast live on MTV, becoming the most viewed program the station had put on in the process. The WWE fudged some numbers to make the match even more spectacular, advertising Moolah as holding the WWE Women's Championship for 28 years, choosing to ignore some interruptions to her reign. With the supposedly unbeatable champion opposite, a pop superstar in her corner, promoted on MTV and emanating from The Garden, Richter was positioned as the ultimate babyface.
Richter bested Moolah and took the WWE Women's Title, being propelled into a superstar in the aftermath. Billed as "150 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal", Richter appeared in Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling animated series, and had more high profile title bouts, joined again by Cyndi Lauper at The War to Settle the Score and WrestleMania 1. After 'Mania, Richter held the WWE Women's Title for much of the year, but dissatisfaction in other areas led to a fateful night in Madison Square Garden.
Wendi Richter, Victim Of The Original Screwjob
Though Richter's career seemed to be going from strength to strength, she didn't feel like her pay reflected that. According to Richter, as Women's Champion she was making less money than the opening acts, despite being in the semi-main event. Practically all of her pay was being put towards travel expenses. Richter pushed to renegotiate her contract, wanting more compensation for her work and more royalties for her use in the Rock 'n' Wrestling cartoons. Apparently Vince McMahon admitted that she had a legitimate gripe, but that he wouldn't do anything about it.
With an increasingly disgruntled champion refusing to sign a new contract, McMahon decided to take action, calling upon a woman he had done plenty of business with for aid. In the run-up to their next show at The Garden, Richter had been facing a masked wrestler called The Spider on house shows, normally portrayed by a wrestler named Glen Deane. But, on November 25, 1985, The Spider looked much different as they made their way to the ring. The Spider immediately threw stiff and cheap shots at Richter as the match began, and the champion was under no illusion as to who was under the mask - Moolah.
The match devolved into anarchy. Doing her best to protect herself, Richter got caught in a small package, with the referee counting a lightning fast pinfall. Clearly assuming the match was still going, Richter kept at Moolah, ripping off the mask and revealing the villain inside. It wasn't until Howard Finkel hopped onto the microphone that Richter stopped, with Moolah announced as the new women's champion.
Richter walked straight out of the building, gathered her things, and headed to the airport, not even stopping to get changed out of her gear. She didn't pick up any of the calls from the office. Vince never reached out, neither did Moolah. In less than a year, Richter went from a top WWE crossover star to screwed out of the company.
Richter continued her career for a few years more, most prominently in the AWA, holding their women's title for over a year, before wrestling sparsely in the 1990s, last competing in 2005. Like so many that were considered blacklisted by WWE, Richter made her way back, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010. Though Richter found fulfillment in other areas after wrestling, The Original Screwjob and the WWE's treatment of her speaks to the fragility of women's wrestling in the 1980s, and how a company can, and will, tarnish someone rather than compromise.