It saddens me to bring you this news, but the first Diva in Professional Wrestling has passed away at age 90. Mae Young, what can I possibly say that has not already been said through the years about her accomplishments to Professional Wrestling, but I will try.
While still in high school, Young went to a professional wrestling show and challenged then-champion Mildred Burke when she visited Tulsa to wrestle Gladys Gillem. Because the promoters told her she could not wrestle the champion, she wrestled Gillem in a shoot fight, beating her within seconds.
She fought under the nicknames of "The Queen" and "The Great Mae Young", but she used her real name for most of her matches. During the 1950s, she wrestled for Mildred Burke's World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA). In 1954, Young and Burke were some of the first females to tour Japan after the war. In 1951, she became the NWA's first Florida Women's Champion. Five years later in September 1956, she participated in the battle royal to determine the new NWA World Women's Champion after June Byers was stripped of the title, but the championship was won by Young's friend The Fabulous Moolah In 1968, she became the NWA's first United States Women's Champion
As an instructor, her students included Ric "The Equalizer" Drasin and The Fabulous Moolah.
On March 29, 2008, Pat Patterson inducted Mae Young into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2008. She along with Wendi Richter, Sunny and Trish Stratus are the only living females currently in the WWE Hall of Fame.
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