by Stephen Von Slagle
Becky Lynch. Charlotte Flair. Rhonda Rousey. Trish Stratus. Madusa Micelli. Wendy Richter. Penny Banner. The Fabulous Moolah. Cora Combs. May Young. All of them, at one time or another, rose to the top of their profession and, individually, became the biggest female stars in the sport of professional wrestling. But, whatever era they rose to stardom in, wherever there success took place, wrestling’s most successful female attractions all have one thing in common, one single factor that, ultimately, enabled them to reach the top of their profession. That common denominator, the reason they were all able to reach the pinnacle of stardom in their chosen field, is because of the trail blazed by one single pioneering woman, the Queen of the Ring, Mildred Burke.
When he first met Mildred Bliss in 1935, Billy Wolfe was a former wrestler and an aspiring promoter who specialized in women’s wrestling. At the time, the genre was still quite new to the public and a curiosity of sorts, simultaneously exciting men while empowering women. Sensing opportunity, Mildred implored Wolfe to train her for a career in wrestling. While she was a tiny woman at 5’2″ and 130 lbs., Bliss (who Wolfe soon renamed Mildred Burke) was in tremendous physical condition and possessed an impressive, well-muscled physique. Initially, Wolfe declined her requests, but he eventually came to see an abundance of potential in the petite teenage powerhouse and agreed to train her. Over the following months, Burke worked closely with Wolfe to develop her technique and she adapted quickly to her new profession. At the same time, Burke and Wolfe soon found themselves in a romantic relationship that would ultimately transform into a marriage which, over time, took them to the top professionally yet sunk them to the bottom personally.
Meanwhile, as their business relationship was skyrocketing and the restrictions on women’s competition began lessening nationwide, Mildred Burke and Billy Wolfe’s marriage was quickly, irreparably falling apart. Wolfe frequently broke his marital vows, while also becoming violent with his wife on more than a few occasions and Burke soon grew to hate her husband. However, the co-dependent nature of their highly successful promoter/talent relationship prevented either from leaving the marriage. Simply put, both had too much to lose by divorcing. With the 1940s came even greater success, as women’s wrestling was experiencing a boom in popularity and Burke found herself wrestling before very large crowds and earning unprecedented sums of money, especially for a female athlete. At the same time, Wolfe was working diligently on developing a roster of new female wrestlers who he could promote and, in many cases, exploit both financially and sexually. While not a particularly admirable man in his personal life, professionally, Wolfe was driven with ambition and a desire to become nothing less than the one and only czar of women’s wrestling. To that end, he was quite successful and in 1949 Wolfe was admitted into the National Wrestling Alliance, where he served as the sole provider of female performers.
Eventually, Wolfe was able to secure a title match for June Byers and he was determined to make sure Burke did not walk out of the ring with her championship belt. He was successful in this goal and on August 20, 1954, in Atlanta, Georgia, Mildred Burke’s sixteen years as the Women’s World champion came to an end in one of the most controversial matches in the history of women’s wrestling. The grudge match, which turned out to be a complete shoot, was scheduled to be a two-of-three falls bout. However, after Burke lost the first fall, Wolfe’s hand-picked referee declared that the match was over and raised Byers’ arm in victory. Since June Byers had only won one fall, Burke felt her title was safe. She was wrong. Billy Wolfe made sure that the local press touted Byers’ title victory and successfully petitioned the NWA to recognize Byers as the new champion, both of which hurt Burke’s claim to the title tremendously. While a handful of matchmakers remained loyal to her, Mildred Burke soon found herself ostracized by the majority of U.S. promoters, ensuring that she was unable to find steady work.
In addition to pioneering women’s wrestling in the U.S. and Japan, Burke also introduced the genre of the sport to countries such as Canada, Mexico and Cuba. In 1956, Burke wrestled the final match of her storied career in Cuba and then vacated her championship. Subsequently, the WWWA World championship was revived in 1970 when All Japan Women’s Wrestling bought the rights to Burke’s prestigious World title belt. The popular Japanese promotion would later create the WWWA World tag team title in 1971 and the WWWA All Pacific championship in 1977.
Meanwhile, after the death of Billy Wolfe in 1963 and the retirement of June Byers the following year, Lillian Ellison (a.k.a. The Fabulous Moolah) took over Wolfe’s role as the primary promoter of women’s wrestling in the United States. In the years after her retirement from the ring, Burke continued to promote shows in the southern California region and train new female wrestlers at her facility, “Mildred Burke’s School for Lady Wrestlers.”
Mildred Burke is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (1996), the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2002), and the WWE Hall of Fame (2016)
After suffering a massive stroke four days prior, Mildred Burke passed away on February 18, 1989 at the age 73.