On This Day In Wrestling - July 20, 1998

Former NWA & AWA Women's Champion June Byers

On this day in 1998, the wrestling world lost former NWA & AWA Women's Champion June Byers. She was 76 years old. June was brought up in a wrestling family & was often spotted playing in the ring during her childhood. As she grew up, she met some wrestlers & got to know them & they taught her a few wrestling moves. After a few years, she was spotted by popular women's promoter Billy Wolfe, who gave June her formal training in pro-wrestling and arranged for her debut in the pro-wrestling business. Byers debuted in 1944. She started off as a jobber, losing to the likes of Mildred Burke & Mae Young.

After a few years, she started a tag team with Millie Stafford & the duo won the regional NWA Women's Tag Team Titles on two separate occasions. In 1953, then-champion Mildred Burke had a bitter falling out with Wolfe and left his promotion, leaving the championship vacant. Byers won a 13-woman tournament to clinch the title and shot to mainstream fame, appearing on several game shows, including What’s My Line.

Burke eventually made her return for a title match, Byers won the first fall, second fall was a draw. Byers was declared the Undisputed Champion by the Atlanta Athletic Commission. Byers became the face of women's wrestling across the next decade, only retiring after a car crash which caused her serious leg injuries and permanently blurred her vision. Eventually she relinquished the NWA Women's Title & allowed the Fabulous Moolah to rise to the top. Byers settled in Houston after retiring from wrestling & became a real-estate agent. She died at her home of pneumonia.

Here’s a match between Penny Banner & June Byers all the way from 1955: