Mary Lillian Ellison (July 22, 1923 – November 2, 2007) was born in 1923 in Kershaw County, South Carolina, and grew up in Tookiedoo. She's better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah. At age 10, Ellison was still deeply distraught over her mother's death; to cheer her up, her father took her to the local wrestling matches. Ellison liked the matches, but it was not until she saw Women's Champion Mildred Burke wrestle that "they began to mean much more" to her.

Ellison began her wrestling career with Mildred Burke's husband Billy Wolfe, the dominant women's promoter of the time. She competed with many established female wrestlers, like Mae Young, Cecilia Blevins and Mildred Burke. Wolfe was notorious for advising his wrestlers to enter into sexual relationships with either himself or competing promoters to ensure additional bookings, a practice with which Ellison refused to go along. She, however, soon began a romance with wrestler Johnny Long. Long later introduced Ellison to Jack Pfefer who gave her the moniker "Slave Girl Moolah". By the early 1950s, Moolah was a valet for "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, accompanying him to the ring while providing eye candy for the male audiences and assisting Rogers against his opponents. Ellison broke up the partnership because Rogers kept pushing her to begin a sexual relationship. She then served as the valet for the Elephant Boy (Tony Olivas). Olivas was Mexican, but had very dark skin, which caused controversy when Ellison, a white woman, would kiss him on the cheek during their ring entrance routine. At one show in Oklahoma City, a man, who thought that Olivas was a black man, attempted to stab Ellison with a knife for kissing him. Moolah later left Pfeffer's promotion and began wrestling under Boston promoters Tony Santos and Paul Bowser. In 1955, she began working for Vince McMahon, Sr.'s Capitol Wrestling Corporation.

On September 18, 1956, Moolah defeated Judy Grable in a 13-woman battle royal to win the vacant World Women's Championship, which shares a lineage with the NWA World Women's Championship. She was not immediately recognized by everyone as the NWA Champion because Billy Wolfe, with whom she had conflict earlier in her career, still controlled the promotion. After the match, Vince McMahon, Sr. dubbed Ellison with a new ring name – The Fabulous Moolah. Subsequently, June Byers came out of retirement to challenge Moolah to a match for the title. During the match, Moolah acted as the aggressor and pinned Byers to retain the championship. Moolah's first World Championship reign lasted over ten years. Moolah successfully defended the belt against the top female wrestlers in the world, such as Judy Grable and Donna Christanello.

After June Byers retired in 1964, Moolah was subsequently recognized as official NWA Champion, thus making her the undisputed Women's World Champion. Nevertheless, Moolah dropped the belt on September 17, 1966, to Bette Boucher, although she regained the title just weeks later. She also traded the belt with Yukiko Tomoe during a tour of Japan in 1968. On July 1, 1972, Moolah (Vs Vicki Williams) became the first woman allowed to wrestle at Madison Square Garden, which had previously banned women's wrestling.[ In fact, Moolah helped overturn the ban on women's wrestling in the entire state of New York, which the New York State Athletic Commission lifted in June 1972. During her quest to overturn the ban, she flipped football player Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier onto his back on The Mike Douglas Show. Moolah continued an uninterrupted eight-year reign before losing to Sue Green at Madison Square Garden in 1976. Moolah regained her title a short time later. She also bought the legal rights to the championship in the late 1970s, and after losing the championship for two days to Evelyn Stevens in 1978, began another long reign, defending her title for another six years. Also in the 1970s, Moolah held the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice with Toni Rose.

In 1983, Vincent Kennedy McMahon began expanding the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) nationally, and Moolah sold him the rights to her Women's World Championship. Moolah agreed to appear exclusively for the WWF, and thus became the first WWF Women's Champion. The following year, singer Cyndi Lauper began a verbal feud with manager "Captain" Lou Albano, who long had a reputation of being a villain, that brought professional wrestling into mainstream culture in a storyline that became known as the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection." When it was finally time for Lauper and Albano to settle their differences in the ring, a match-up was scheduled with Albano representing Moolah against the challenge of Lauper's protégé, Wendi Richter. After much buildup and hype, the Fabulous Moolah lost the championship to Richter on July 23, 1984, in the main event of The Brawl to End It All, which was broadcast live on MTV. Prior to the match, the WWF promoted Moolah as holding the championship for the previous 28 years.

After losing the title to Richter, Moolah aided Leilani Kai in defeating Richter for the title in February 1985. Richter won it back at the inaugural WrestleMania, but when Richter's relationship soured with the WWF, Moolah donned a mask as "The Spider Lady" and regained the belt on November 25, 1985, in a controversial decision. Richter was never told she would be losing the title and fell victim to a real-life "screwjob" finish known as "The Original Screwjob". Richter promptly quit the WWF afterward, while Moolah continued to be champion for another two years—excluding a six-day reign by Velvet McIntyre during a tour of Australia in 1986—before losing the belt to Sherri Martel on July 24, 1987. She later captained a team at the inaugural Survivor Series. Her team (Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, and the Jumping Bomb Angels) defeated champion Martel and her team (Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, Donna Christanello, and Dawn Marie).

On September 3, 1988, Moolah wrestled AWA World Women's Champion Madusa Miceli to a double DQ on an independent card in Medina, Ohio. Afterwards Moolah would retire from wrestling.

During her retirement Moolah was the promoter for Ladies International Wrestling Association (LIWA) in 1990 based in North Carolina. Also the shows were held in Las Vegas. She started wrestling again in 1993 at the age of 70 when she defeated Sunny Brook. On June 21, 1996, she teamed with Mae Young at LIWA Golden Girls Extravaganza event in Las Vegas where they wrestled Liz Chase and Lori Lynn to a no contest. Moolah continued wrestling for the promotion and even continued teaming with Young. In 2000, while working for WWF; LIWA shut down. Moolah would continue working for WWF.

On June 24, 1995, she was the first female wrestler to be inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame. In the late 1990s, Pat Patterson and Ellison began jokingly discussing a comeback for her, which resulted in Patterson contacting WWF Chairman Vince McMahon about the possibility. In 1999, Moolah and Mae Young re-emerged in the WWF (later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE). The WWF women's division, however, had since moved away from the traditional athletic match-ups of the past and now featured women competing in sexually-themed bikini contests and strip matches.

Upon returning, Moolah and Young began appearing regularly in comedic roles. On the September 9, 1999, episode of SmackDown!, Jeff Jarrett invited Moolah, 76, into the ring and smashed a guitar over her head. On the September 27, 1999, episode of Monday Night Raw, Moolah and Young defeated Ivory in a Handicapped Evening Gown match, which led to a title match at No Mercy on October 17. The match saw Moolah defeat Ivory to regain the WWF Women's Championship, thus becoming the then-oldest champion ever, though she lost the title back to Ivory eight days later.

On the September 15, 2003, episode of Raw, Moolah won a match against Victoria. Moolah had been promised the match for her eightieth birthday and became the first octogenarian to compete in a WWE ring. After Moolah's victory, the "Legend Killer" Randy Orton came out and performed an RKO on her. Moolah and Young made another appearance at New Years Revolution in 2006, during a Bra and Panties Gauntlet match attacking Victoria and stripping her of her top. She also made brief appearances at WrestleMania 23 and the 2007 Draft Lottery on June 11, 2007. Her last WWE appearance before her death was at SummerSlam in August 2007, in a backstage segment with Vince McMahon and Raw General Manager William Regal.

In the late 1950s when the once-dominant promoter of women's wrestling, Billy Wolfe, was out of business, Ellison and Lee began to book their female wrestlers for more and more shows. They began calling their promoting business Girl Wrestling Enterprises (GWE). Ellison demanded a lot from the girls of GWE, including that they had to keep their hair and make-up done, act like a lady, and not date men who were in the professional wrestling business. In addition to women, Ellison also trained midget professional wrestlers, including Katie Glass in the 1960s. Ellison founded the Ladies' International Wrestling Association, a non-profit organization to help retired professional wrestlers, in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, she spent most of her time training female wrestlers at her school in Columbia, South Carolina. She also began training men.

Wrestling historian Tim Hornbaker said that Moolah "chose not to" break the "dishonest, greedy" practices established by her mentor Billy Wolfe. Pat Laprade and Dan Murphy, in their book Sisterhood of the Squared Circle, wrote that Moolah's "tactics could be just as ruthless and cutthroat as" Don Corleone, from The Godfather.

Wendi Richter and Mad Maxine both claimed that Ellison did not actually train the wrestlers at her wrestling school. According to Richter, Ellison accepted payment of the training fee (which at the time of Richter's training was $500) and had other female wrestlers within her camp (including Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, Winona Littleheart, and Joyce Grable) train the new recruits; these women did not get paid for their additional work as trainers. Richter also claimed that Ellison required all women that received training at her camp to sign a contract that allowed Ellison to function as their booker and receive 25% of their booking fee. Trainees were also required to rent duplex apartments on Ellison's property and they were responsible for paying her for rent and utilities. The training lasted six months and took place up to five hours per day inside a wrestling ring in a barn that lacked heating and air conditioning or fans. Mad Maxine said that due to owing Moolah both rent and training fees amounting to $1,500, the trainees "went into debt to [Moolah] and she controlled their lives... It was an environment ripe for abuse." Maxine also said that when she went to work for WWF, Moolah was taking at least half of her earnings. Debbie Johnson, another former trainee of Ellison's, stated that she was required to give Ellison 30% of her booking fee, and her paycheck was further reduced as Ellison deducted travel expenses, food, rent, and utilities before paying her. As a result, Johnson worked for Ellison for two years before she received any money. Johnson stated that Ellison would refuse to book certain women in her training camp if they angered her, and that Ellison monitored her and refused to let her leave the physical constraints of the training camp unless she was accompanied by someone else.

Over the years, various female wrestlers have come forward with stories accusing Ellison of being a pimp who often provided various wrestling promoters with unsuspecting female wrestlers that would be used as sex objects. Penny Banner directly described Moolah as a pimp who "in return for money," rented her female trainees out "in bulk" to wrestling promoters so that the promoters and the male wrestlers could have sex with them. Banner said the women who were "sent on these tours were not told of this 'arrangement' ahead of time," and that "those who refused to have sex with wrestlers and promoters were raped." One of the most notorious accusations is from the family of Sweet Georgia Brown (Susie Mae McCoy), who was trained by Moolah and her husband, Buddy Lee. The Columbia Free Times reported allegations made by her daughter in 2006, in which she said her mother told her that she was often raped, given drugs, and made an addict in an intentional attempt by Ellison and Lee to control her. Ida Martinez, who wrestled during the 1960s, also recalls that many of the regional promoters "demanded personal services" before they would pay the female wrestlers. Mad Maxine described Moolah as an "evil person," saying Moolah made money by sending trainees "out to this guy in Arizona and pimped them out." In a 2002 interview, Luna Vachon claimed that when she was sixteen years old and training at Ellison's camp, Ellison sent her out of state to be photographed by an older man. Although she remained clothed during the photo shoot, Vachon stated she felt taken advantage of by Ellison and the older man. Vachon also stated that her aunt, Vivian Vachon, witnessed Ellison abusing alcohol and having sex with her female trainees. Sandy Parker, a lesbian former pupil of Ellison's, also claims that Ellison forbade her from going to any gay bars and tried to press her to date men. Parker says this enraged her, because "(Moolah) was two-faced because she had her own little dalliances that we all knew about."

As well as allegedly exploiting female wrestlers sexually, Ellison was accused of using her influence to control the women's wrestling scene and ensure that other women did not gain greater recognition. In addition to being a key participant in the original screwjob on Wendi Richter, Ellison used her influence to take over the spot originally held by her protégé Mad Maxine on the animated series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Maxine was about to receive a big push by Vince McMahon but left the WWF shortly afterwards, as Ellison was unwilling to provide her with additional bookings. Maxine said that Moolah never told her about the WWF's plans to include her in the cartoon. Numerous other former trainees defected from Ellison after growing tired of sharing their paychecks with Ellison. Women wrestlers including Vivian and Luna Vachon, Ann Casey, and Darling Dagmar moved into other regions where Ellison had less control and negotiated their own payouts with promoters.

Both Judy Martin and Leilani Kai told in later interviews that Moolah would collect the women wrestlers' pay from promoters and, after taking out her own pay, would only give the girls half of the money they were owed (keeping half of their pay for herself, plus her own pay) and telling them that was all the promoter gave her to give them. Martin stated that shortly before Ellison left the WWF in 1988 (shortly after falling out with Martin and Kai due to Ellison no longer receiving their booking fees), she sabotaged the duo while they were touring Japan. Martin stated that Ellison contacted Japanese promoters and informed them that the Jumping Bomb Angels were supposed to drop the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship to The Glamour Girls before Martin and Kai returned to the United States. This was contrary to the booking decision made by Pat Patterson before the Japanese tour began. Unable to reach Patterson by telephone, Kai and Martin agreed to win the titles from the Angels since Ellison had already misinformed the Japanese promoters. Martin stated that upon returning to the United States, Patterson was angry with them and confirmed that nobody within the WWF made the decision for the title change and that due to her long-standing relationship with the company, the WWF refused to listen to their explanation of Ellison's deceit. Shortly thereafter, the WWF phased out the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. In a later shoot interview, Leilani Kai told that had things gone as the WWF originally planned, The Glamour Girls would have had a title match against the Jumping Bomb Angels at WrestleMania IV and that Ellison's actions had cost the four girls what would have been ultimately their biggest payday ever.

In a career that spanned 5 decades, Moolah is overall an eight-time world champion and is still widely recognized as the longest reigning champion of any wrestler in the wrestling business, holding the NWA/WWE Women's Champion for 10,775 days. Her last reign made history when she became the oldest female in WWE history to win the WWE Women's Champion at the age of 76. She was considered as an important figure and the forefront of women's wrestling from 1960s-1980s. Some of her notable trainees were Wendi Richter, Sherri Martel, Leilani Kai, Mad Maxine and Donna Christianello. For her impact, longevity and contributions, she became the first female inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995.

An animated version of Moolah was included on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. In addition, she appeared in one of Cyndi Lauper's music videos, "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough".

Ellison died on November 2, 2007, at the age of 84 in Columbia, South Carolina. According to her daughter Mary, the possible cause of death was a heart attack or blood clot related to a recent shoulder replacement surgery.

This skin was made for me by Yondee & Prawler Art.