Thankfully, throughout much of the Western world, women are encouraged to live the lives they wish to lead. While we still tend to subconsciously instil gender stereotypes on young boys and girls growing up, if a woman wants to thrive in an industry typically dominated by men, she is perfectly free to do so.
As a result, it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate just how important the early pioneers of women’s rights were in forming the kind of society we take for granted today. You might hear about important women from history who were the first to do this or that, but we’ll never really know what it felt like at the time for such an impact to be made.
When it comes to professional wrestling, female pioneers are few and far between. In what is still very much a man’s world, female wrestling continues to tread water, desperately trying to prove itself worthy of our attention and admiration. Even in 2017, it is still a novelty for a company like WWE to main event a women’s match on PPV or in one of their weekly episodic TV shows. The names most responsible for allowing women’s wrestling to continue in the West could probably be counted on one hand.
One among those names is Johnnie Mae Young, and there is so much more to know about her than being the baby mother to Mark Henry’s hand. There are several reasons why the WWE are celebrating the life and career of Young by naming the upcoming WWE Women’s tournament in her honour. Here are just five things you need to know about the legend.
Also read: 5 things you didn’t know about Nia Jax
#1 Her early years were spent defying gender stereotypes
Growing up as a so-called ‘tomboy’ is not generally seen as too out of the ordinary today. More and more young women around the world choose to take up male dominated hobbies such as gaming, rock music and sport. As a result, some of the most celebrated figures in these industries today are women. Who could have predicted just a few decades ago that the UFC’s biggest star ever would be a female?
Of course, there was a time in which things were a whole lot different. Anyone with an interest in pre-Second World War US culture will be aware of just how stringently gender stereotypes were followed. During high school, men were expected to join the sports teams, while women prepared themselves for a life of domestic servitude. Against this backdrop, it is important to note just how much of a trailblazer the young Johnnie Mae Young was.
Not content with living the life of a domestic goddess, Young decided to follow her rather unconventional instincts and found herself rubbing shoulders with the very best male athletes her high school had to offer. As well as joining the high school’s male wrestling team – something previously unheard of in the States – she was also a skilled softball player and even kicked field goals for the school’s football team.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s probably not all that surprising that we speak about her today as one of professional wrestling's most important female stars. It seems she was always destined to stand out in a man’s world. And while it is difficult enough to do that today, just imagine how many people would have attempted to squash her dreams back in the ‘30s and '40s.
#2 She helped cement women’s wrestling in Japan
They say that even out of the most unfortunate tragedy, one can always find a silver lining. In December 1941, the US was attacked by Japanese kamikaze pilots at their naval base in Pearl Harbour. Seen as one of the most devasting domestic attacks on US soil, the incident would lead to the US officially joining the war effort, helping to bring down global fascism and ushering in a new era of US global dominance.
While many of the US’s young male population went off to fight in Asia and Europe, women were able to take advantage and fulfil many of the roles left behind. In the UK, we still see this as one of the most important events in the women’s suffrage movement. Perhaps less well known is the effect this had on female professional wrestling.
After the war effort significantly reduced the presence of US professional wrestling both at home and across the world, Mae was instrumental in helping female wrestling fill the void. Having already started a female wrestling scene on the Candian soil in the early 1940s, Young was one of the first women to tour Japan as part of the World Women’s Wrestling Association (WWWA) along with long-term rival Mildred Burke.
The Japanese fans gratefully received the arrival of women's wrestling throughout the 50s, leading to an explosion of interest from home-grown Japanese wrestlers across the country. The presence of female wrestling across Japan was so widely consumed that, in 1968, the All Japan Women’s Pro-wrestling (AJW) promotion officially established itself.
Legendary names such as Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong and former WWE employee Bull Nakano all cut their teeth in the AJW, and they all have the foresight of Mae Young to thank for their success.
#3 She was known for beating up and mugging men
When it comes to honouring the greats in Professional Wrestling, we inevitably have to turn a blind eye to some of the more questionable personal lives these legends have led. The WWE still continue to honour Jimmy Snuka despite a very strong case being made that he was responsible for the death of his former girlfriend back in the 1980s.
People like Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall, despite their many personal demons, always find their way back into the WWE’s good books sooner or later.
The point is, as fans, we learn to appreciate our favourite wrestlers on two separate levels. We see the in-ring personas that entertain us and make us cheer them on to victory, but we also hear bits and pieces about who they really are outside of the ring, and the two aren’t always complementary. Mae Young is no different.
While she is celebrated as a formidable woman, striving in a male-dominated industry, her aggression and strength have often gotten her into trouble with the law. Throughout the 1940's, Young faced numerous accusations of beating up and mugging men she met in bars.
In 1949, a man named Elmer J. Nelson found himself hospitalized after a night on the town with Mae. He claims the female wrestler also robbed him of $100. According to Young, she was merely teaching him a lesson due to some improper advances, and the charges were eventually dropped.
Regardless of what happened all those years ago, the WWE still see Young as an admirable figure, worthy of championing the cause of female wrestling. Whatever your views are on this, Young is certainly not the only professional wrestler with a complicated past, and she most definitely won’t be the last.
#4 She (probably) wrestled over a span of 9 decades
While the exact start date of Mae Young’s professional wrestling career is disputed, one thing Young can probably boast with quite a considerable amount of certainty is being the holder of wrestling’s longest in-ring career.
Young always claimed that her first professional match was in 1939, which means she quite possibly wrestled in 9 different decades. Wrestling historians have thrown doubts on this, however, and date the start of her career to either 1940 or 1941.
Whether it's 8 or 9 decades, you have to admit that this goes far beyond impressive. This year at Wrestlemania, we said goodbye to the career of Mark Calloway, A.K.A The Undertaker. And while the Deadman did have a consistently impressive career spanning four decades, Young almost doubled it.
Of course, one could argue that the amount of wrestling performed by Young in the latter part of her career was pretty minimal. Dave Meltzer, for example, questions how much you can call Mae Young’s bout in 2010 against Lay-Cool a serious wrestling match.
But while we have to acknowledge the large periods of inactivity, one must also appreciate the many noteworthy appearances she made for the WWF during its Attitude Era programming. Being driven through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley at the age of 70 is one such example of her incredible dedication to the wrestling industry.
While experts will continue to argue over just how long a career Mae Young enjoyed, the fact remains that the Young name continued to remain relevant for as long as anyone today can claim to remember.
#5 She was scheduled to wrestle Stephanie McMahon’s daughter when she turned 100
Professional wrestling is said to be one of those industries that you can never actually retire from. As long as your body allows you to continue, and provided the fans will have some desire to watch you perform, superstars will never really be done with the squared circle until they’re six feet under. We have seen many ‘retirement matches’ over the years, only to see those same performers come back and compete a few years later.
Mae Young passed away at the age of 90, but what some fans might not realize is that the female legend continued to harbour plans for a wrestling comeback in some form, right up until her final days. According to the woman herself, if she would have lived to be 100 years old, she was determined to wrestle the daughter of WWE’s own Stephanie McMahon! Whether this impossible match up would have actually taken place on WWE television is not known, but knowing Mae Young and her love for the sport, it’s pretty safe to say this was a genuine proposal.
As Vince used to say back in the 1990s repeatedly, 'anything is possible in the WWF', and it's far from clear whether the 17-year-old Aurora would have been able to last a one-fall matchup with such a legend of the business.
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