WWE Hall of Famer Wendi Richter is safe following reports made by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that her home burned down this past week. Contributions to help Richter have been arranged, as the Cauliflower Alley Club (where Richter is the 2012 Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award recipient) have a fundraiser set up to help her during this trying time.
A spearhead for women's wrestling, the former two-time WWE Women's Champion refused to be just another cog in the machine of women featured in a long lineage of women's wrestling. She built the machine. Her technique and courageous approach put her on similar monikers with stars like Hulk Hogan, especially when she participated in the "The Brawl to Settle It All" with coach/Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, in July of 1984, at Madison Square Garden. This match remains to be one of the biggest women's wrestling matches on television in U.S. history. Their rivalry would open the first-ever forbidden door for any wrestling promotion to have a partnership with any red-hot commodity outside of the industry, which happened to be MTV, at the time, with additional involvement from "Captain" Lou Albano and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/poster child of MTV, Cyndi Lauper. With the MTV connection, that match produced a 9.0 rating, the second largest cable television rating in pro wrestling history (behind Hulk Hogan versus Roddy Piper on MTV in 1985, according to Dave Meltzer).
Unfortunately, Moolah's unrelenting grip and contractual disputes in WWE cost Richter's chances of evolving into a more promising star, as she was one of the first in a long line of wrestlers to get cheated out of her title run based off a fallacious pinfall victory to The Spider (Moolah), although Richter kicked out before the three count. Some consider this moment in 1985 the "Original Screwjob" at the hands of Vince McMahon. That would be last time the wrestling world saw the former Women's Champion wrestle.
Although Richter was the first to set the bar immensely high, on Saturday, "Timeless" Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone hope to make Richter proud by showcasing what they're projecting to be the biggest women's match in AEW history at All In: Texas. The record-setting four-time AEW Women's World Champion has been consistent in her attempts to set up a tussle with Richter, to which the latter responded she would be open to, if the price is right.
