Several decades later, Wendi Richter still has no love for The Fabulous Moolah or the work they did together in WWE.
WWE Hall of Famer Wendi Richter was a recent guest on Busted Open Radio with Dave LaGreca, Mickie James, and Tommy Dreamer to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When talking about who she loved working with, Richter admitted that she wasn’t proud of her matches with The Fabulous Moolah.
“I wasn’t proud of the matches I had with Moolah. She should have retired way before that,” Wendi Richter said. “I mean, she made the business look bad because she looked bad. Nobody that age should be wrestling. And she really didn’t wrestle. She gouged eyes, kicked people in the chest. She tried to hurt people. She tried to hurt me every time, not pin my shoulders. She wanted to hurt me and make me look bad. That’s what was on her agenda every time, and I knew it too.”
Mickie James asked about a story she heard about Moolah trying to injure her with a Boston Crab, and Richter confirmed that it happened.
“She tried to break my back. Not pin my shoulders or a submission. She didn’t even try to do that. She flipped back, and my back snapped like firecrackers going off,” Wendi Richter said. “And I told the referee I said, Get me a stretcher. I don’t want to move until examined. I was afraid I’d be paralyzed from the neck down. And nothing would have pleased her more than that.”
Richter recently spoke with WrestleZone about her in-ring career as well as her post-wrestling life. Richter now spends her time as show dog breeder and has a career in occupational therapy.
“After the WWF, I had to get saved, and that changed my life. I started going to college then and I got an associate of science in physical therapy, and I went on to get my bachelor’s in occupational therapy, and then my master’s in occupational therapy. And I really enjoy it. People say once wrestling is in your blood, it never goes out. Well, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Everyone’s different. I still love wrestling,” Richter said, “but I absolutely love what I’m doing right now.”
Richter left the WWF due to a pay discrepancy and she didn’t have any contact with them until her Hall Of Fame induction. Despite the relationship ending on bad terms, Richter says she has no regrets.
“No, and I didn’t look back either. I didn’t reach out to them, either. I probably would have shown some interest if they would have, but I couldn’t have gone to college because I was still wrestling. I wrestled for 25 years and I made more money as an independent wrestler. That was my problem with the WWF,” Richter said, “they weren’t paying me what I should have been making. What a man, a comparable lineup on the card would have made. The entry match was making more than what I was making, so being an independent contractor, I was able to basically work on the weekends, wrestle on the weekends and go to school through the week.”
What do you make of Wendi Richter’s comments? Do you think Fabulous Moolah was trying to hurt people when she stepped into the squared circle? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Busted Open with a link back to this article for the transcription.
