As the wrestling world continues to open up via YouTube and streaming, more and more fans have realized that not everyone gets their starts in major organizations like AEW or WWE. Wrestlers historically honed and developed their craft across the US, Japan, Mexico, or the UK, and there was one person in particular who was instrumental in giving women's wrestlers a break into the business as well as the development that later helped them become stars in WWE.
Most wrestling fans are familiar with the name David McLane, likely because he is "the guy behind GLOW." Indeed, the Indiana native was the founder of the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling promotion that would later gain even more fame thanks to the popular Netflix series "GLOW," a fictional recounting of what became the first major showcase for women's wrestling on North American television. But McLane's legacy with women's wrestling doesn't stop there after leaving GLOW early in the promotion's existence, McLane made another go at a women's wrestling promotion with Powerful Women of Wrestling in Indianapolis, running it for three years before closing up shop in 1990. For the last 25 years, moreover,McLane has owned Women of Wrestling (WOW), most recently with the help of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.
Through it all, McLane whether personally or via the promotions he himself created helped find some women that have since gone on to have Hall of Fame careers. The first is none other than WWE Hall of Famer Ivory. Though best known for winning the WWE Women's Championship three times, Ivory first got her start in wrestling when she and a friend auditioned for GLOW in 1984. She would be cast, took the name Tina Ferrari, and wound up winning both the GLOW Championship and the GLOW Tag Team Championship during her run. Ivory continued her association with McLane when she joined Powerful Women of Wrestling after its opening, twice winning the promotion's top title.
Ivory wasn't the only PWOW alumni that would reach the WWE Hall of Fame, though. Other notable names who worked for McLane during PWOW's run include Madusa (aka Alundra Blayze), Luna Vachon, and even Wendy Richter. In fairness, McLane shouldn't get full credit for developing these three names; all three had experience prior to signing up with PWOW, with Vachon having wrestled in Florida for several years, Madusa getting her start in Minnesota, and Richter several years removed from a run in WWE where she had arguably been the promotion's top women's star. Still, the PWOW run proved to be beneficial for all, particularly for Vachon and Madusa, who have since been credited as pioneers of women's wrestling.
