News

WWE Removes “Fabulous Moolah” Name from Battle Royal, Renames It “WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal”

By John Canton • Published 15th March 2018
TJR Wrestling

It was announced earlier this week that WWE would hold a women’s battle royal match at WrestleMania just like the men have done for the last four years. The men’s battle royal is called the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the women’s battle royal was going to be called the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal named after the Hall of Famer Fabulous Moolah, but the name is gone now.

In a statement from WWE that was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet, WWE announced that it will simply be called the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.

“After further consideration, we believe it’s best to proceed with the name ‘WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.’ What remains most important is that this historic match is part of WWE’s unwavering commitment to the Women’s Division.”

The reason for the change is that a lot of people complained online about the Fabulous Moolah due to numerous reports of Moolah treating women poorly throughout her career. Some women claimed she would prostitute the women to wrestling promoters and keep money from them. There was a lot of backlash about it from a lot of fans on the internet and some mainstream websites picked up on it, so WWE obviously made the call to remove Moolah’s name. Here’s a Deadspin article on it if you want more details.

The main sponsor for WrestleMania is Snickers, who sent this statement to WrestlingINC about how they were disappointed about it.

“We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment.”

As of this posting, Moolah’s picture was still on the WrestleMania page, but that will likely be changed soon.

Here’s a statement from WWE’s Stephanie McMahon on the change.

The Moolah battle royal video aired on Raw and Smackdown this week. I’ve pasted it below, but there’s a very good chance that WWE will remove it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4upD8cJtsZ8