11 Wrestling Stars We Never Thought Vince McMahon Would Make Up With 

#2. Wendi Richter

Things got ugly when Wendi Richter asked for more money.

Though she tends to get overlooked nowadays, during the original Hulkamania run, and specifically the Rock N Wrestling period when WWE co-marketed with MTV, Wendi Richter was a major star, representing a new generation of female talent when she unseated long-standing champion The Fabulous Moolah.

The generally agreed upon story goes that Richter recognized her own worth and wound up demanding greater compensation from WWE. In response, we got what has in retrospect been labelled “the original screwjob” wherein a masked Moolah pinned Richter down for a fast count that she did not cooperate with. Vince McMahon was reportedly sending a message to not only Richter but anyone else who thought to demand more money that they were replaceable. For her part, Richter reportedly left in a huff, not to be seen in a WWE ring again.

Against the odds, Richter and WWE had a degree of reconciliation over twenty years later when the company, at last, welcomed her back for the Hall of Fame—perhaps a harbinger of the Women’s Revolution that would take hold and more outwardly celebrate women’s wrestling a few years later.