Wendi
Richter was one of the top female wrestlers of her time
and dominated the 1980's. She was trained at Fabulous Moolah's
Women's Wrestling school and made her wrestling debut in 1979.
At 5'8, she could easily dominate her a opponents and became
a very hated heel. She was later one half of the NWA Women's
Tag Team Champions with Joyce Grable as the Texas Cowgirls.
Wendi later signed to work for the WWF in 1983
In the WWF, she rose to stardom rivaling the popularity
of Hulk Hogan and helped the WWE to rise in mainstream
media. After Captain Lou Albano appeared in Cyndi Lauper's
Girl's Just Want to Have Fun video he began taking credit
for her success. A feud then pitted Cyndi Lauper to manage
her while Lou Albano sided with the Fabulous Moolah. On
July 23, 1984 at "The Brawl to End it All" televised on
MTV from Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, Wendy
with Cindi Lauper defeated The Fabulous Moolah for the
WWF Woman's title. The match was national news and Wendi
became a huge commodity.
She successfully defended the title for months until a
revengeful Fabulous Moolah manged Leilani Kai to a victory.
Leilani Kai defeated her on February 18th 1985, which
later aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling. She however regained
the title. On March 31th 1985 at
Wrestlemania I,
Wendy Richter defeated Leilani Kai to regain the WWF Women's
title.
On November 25th 1985, the masked Spider Lady defeated
her for the WWF Women's title. Fabulous Moolah was revealed
as the woman under the mask in a controversial WWF moment
which has since been referred to as "The Original Screwjob."
Wendy Richter was allegedly booked to win the match however,
after a fast count from referee, Moolah was declared the
champion. It was later revealed that Wendi was having
contractual disputes with Vince McMahan. She was a huge
draw for the WWE and even appeared on Hulk Hogan's cartoon
series, however it was her last match in the WWF.
It wasn't the end of Wendi however, she continued to wrestle
and still had a large fanbase. She reigned as American Wrestling
Association Women's Wrestling Champion with many great matches
for the company, including a feud with Madusa Miceli. She also
had a stint in Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA).
After retiring, Wendi continued making wrestling appearances
and occasional matches. On January 29th 2005 at WrestleReunion:
Team Richter (Wendi, Malia Hosaka,Bambi & Jenny Taylor)
defeated Team Martel (Sherri Martel, Peggy Lee Leather,
Krissy Vaine and Amber O'Neal)
