Women who defined wrestling in the 20th century

#1 Mae Young

Mae Young

Mae Young is considered as one of the pioneers in women's wrestling as she helped increase the popularity of the sport throughout the 1940s and during World War II. Having already started female wrestling scenes on the Candian soil in the early 1940s, Young was one of the first women to tour Japan as a member of the World Women’s Wrestling Association (WWWA) and laid the seeds for the establishment of the All Japan Women’s Pro-wrestling (AJW) promotion. Most of her early days as a wrestler were spent in defying the gender stereotypes and wrestler in front of a fairly conservative crowd in the '30s and '40s.

Young's name was synonym with the indy wrestling in the mid 20th century as she went and spread awareness about women wrestling in various parts of the world by being part of various promotions like WWWA, NWA, and WWF.

She did not only win championships in her long career that expands to 8 decades, but she also won hearts of the people around the world and taught a whole generation filled with conservative people that women can wrestle with equal grace and attitude as men.

So, it seemed quite fitting that a Mae Young Classic Tournament, which is organized to find talented women across the world, was kept in her honor.