Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Fighting Star (10): Mildred Burke

Almost nobody disputes that Mildred Burke (1915-1989) was the ladies wrestling pioneer despite some controversy about who was the first world champion. She changed women wrestling from an exotic show in carnivals - where she started her career - to a legitimate sport and entertainment genre.


Below is a quite old clip - from 30's - where Mildred disposed of her foe using her unusual strength and technique.


As important as Mildred's wrestling career was her role as female wrestling coach and promoter. She produced dozens of pro-wrestling combats in pro-style in the Super8 movie times.
Many of them are available here at Rockin-Roxanne site. She was also a pioneer in the nude pro-fighting as reported in this blog post.

She played herself in the Below the Belt (1980) movie whose plot is close to her real story.



Much more details about her adventurous life can be found at the Professional Hall of Fame and Museum and at Wikipedia.

Some videos and tapes of fights where Mildred appears can be found here at Manzeman's and at Catfight sites.
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