EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a series on women’s wrestling Hall of Famer Toni Rose.
Toni Rose was a spirited, vibrant-eyed teenager when she left her native Indiana in 1963 to pursue a profession in the rough and raucous planet of women’s specialist wrestling.
It wasn’t extended soon after she created her mat debut, although, that Rose had established herself as 1 of the far more talented and athletic females in the sport.
Educated by The Fabulous Moolah (Lillian Ellison) at her renowned facility in Columbia, exactly where she broke in most of the aspiring lady grapplers of that era, Rose was a rapid learner who embraced the company and set out to make her mark.
The dark-haired beauty was a top rated-ranked competitor in a women’s division that integrated such stalwarts as Moolah, Penny Banner, Bette Boucher, Judy Grable and Susan “Tex” Green. As a singles wrestler, Rose would capture the Georgia version of the NWA Southern women’s championship in 1970.
Even though Moolah had been her trainer and a frequent tag-group companion, Rose was also an occasional contender for Moolah’s NWA women’s planet championship. Like quite a few other folks, although, Rose was by no means in a position to wrest the title from her mentor.
Rose may possibly have been even greater recognized as a tag-group specialist, sharing the NWA women’s tag title on 5 diverse occasions with two diverse partners.
“She didn’t like tag teams since she didn’t want to share the glory with any individual, and these had been her words,” Rose says of Moolah. Nevertheless, the two joined forces to win the NWA planet tag-group belts twice. Operating as heels, their designs had been equivalent, says Rose.
“She educated me, so our designs had been substantially alike. I tagged with Moolah rather a bit in the starting. She was generally a heel. I got along with her fine. And I wouldn’t have wanted to be a babyface,” she stated “It was substantially far more exciting getting a heel … yes it was!”
Rose was 1 of the couple of girl wrestlers for the duration of that time who didn’t reside on Moolah’s home.
“I truly didn’t have any dilemma. I didn’t reside more than there. But we got along effectively on the road,” she stated.
Rose also defends Moolah against criticism in current years from some of her former charges, for taking what they claimed had been inordinate booking costs, along with taking the very best bookings for herself as the perennial planet champion.
“She didn’t hold a gun to anyone’s head. No one had to remain there,” contends Rose. “They could stroll out any second they wanted to. But she’s dead now. She can not defend herself. I just consider it is incorrect that they knock her down so badly.”
Moolah, née Mary Lillian Ellison, passed away in 2007 at the age of 84.
Scare in Australia
Toni Rose, who is now 77 and a longtime resident of Columbia, says she was fortunate to have escaped main injury for the duration of her 17 years in the company. The most really serious, she says, occurred for the duration of a match in Australia in 1969.
“Jessica Rogers stuck her finger in my eye, and I went completely blind in each eyes,” recalls Rose, who suffered a torn cornea. “I left the arena and went to an eye medical professional. They place medicine and all that in it. It was a week or far more prior to I could see. The medical professional stated the other eye went out in sympathy, what ever that is.”
Rose, even so, somehow nonetheless had to wrestle and fulfill her dates. Promoter Jim Barnett came up with an notion to assist her go by way of the motions and perform the series of matches on her schedule.
“They’d send somebody to the ring in front of me dressed in strong white,” says Rose, “and I would be in a position to see the shadows. I worked many matches like that. That surely wouldn’t have occurred in today’s planet.”
Rogers, of course, hadn’t meant to inflict such an injury to her opponent.
“Jessica didn’t imply to do it. It was just a thing that occurred,” says Rose.
Tag-group chemistry
With a penchant for tag-group competitors, Rose says she also enjoyed operating mixed tag matches with the midget ladies who had been utilised as unique attractions in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Commonly these bouts would pit heels Rose and Diamond Lil against babyfaces Bette Boucher and Darling Dagmar, Fran Gravette and Dagmar, or Brenda Scott and Dagmar.
“We utilised to perform a lot of mixed tags with the midgets. That was exciting. Diamond Lil was generally my companion. She’s a funny small girl,” she says of Lil (Katie Glass), who also nonetheless lives in Columbia and whom Rose talks to consistently. “You by no means knew what they had been going to do subsequent. We all enjoyed that.”
Rose would take pleasure in 1 of her largest runs with a talented lady grappler from Pittsburgh who also served as Moolah’s proper-hand individual at her education compound in Columbia.
Winning the NWA women’s planet tag title on 3 diverse occasions, Rose and Donna Christantello teamed for many years, touring Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and South America.
Immediately after a 3-year reign as champions, they had been defeated for the title by the group of Joyce Grable and Vicki Williams in October 1973 at Madison Square Garden. It wasn’t till October 1975 that Rose and Christantello regained the title from Grable and Williams, holding it for around 4 years.
“We had been fantastic buddies,” says Rose. “Donna generally had your back and would generally appear out for you. She was a fantastic worker and was proper there with you no matter what.”
“She was also a fantastic cook. Sloppy, but fantastic,” laughs Rose. “She loved to make these Italian dishes. She’d make a sauce that may well take me ten minutes to make, but it took her all day. Of course mine wouldn’t be practically as fantastic as hers.”
Donna Christantello (Mary Donna Alfonsi) passed away in 2011 at the age of 69.
Life on the road
Whilst life on the road could be grueling for quite a few wrestlers for the duration of that era, it was just a way of life, and Toni Rose knew that from the begin. It supplied an chance to see the planet, she says.
“I got to go to locations I would have by no means gone to or had the chance to check out. I wouldn’t want to do it now, but back then it was exciting,” she stated.
For Rose, it was an education of a lifetime, traveling all through the United States, Canada, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and quite a few other locales.
1 of the strangest locations she had to wrestle, she says, was in India.
“It was just weird. We wrestled outdoors most of the time, and folks sat on the ground about the ring,” she stated. “We wrestled some Indian girls, but we didn’t truly know them at all. We didn’t see them prior to the match or something. We stayed there for more than a month. We went more than there for a promoter in Canada (Tiger Jeet Singh) who was operating some shows there.
“I truly loved Singapore,” she says. “It was such a lovely city with flowers and orchids everywhere.”
She also had the chance to perform for a selection of wrestling promoters and the main wrestling organizations, which includes the NWA, WWWF and AWA in this nation.
“I truly liked North Carolina and San Francisco,” says Rose, providing props to Jim Crockett Sr. and Roy Shires respectively.
“Jim Crockett was a fantastic man. He was generally good to us. He’d come in and speak to us and sit down in the dressing area a couple of minutes each time we had been on the card. Roy Shires was hard, but he was fantastic.”
Rose says she also liked operating for WWWF boss Vince McMahon Sr., Ray Gunkel in Atlanta and Ed Francis in Hawaii.
“We generally loved getting there in Honolulu,” she stated.
Rose also mentions the late excellent Charleston promoter Henry Marcus.
“Was he ever a character! He utilised to contact a yacht a ‘yatchet.’ I do not know why I bear in mind that, but I do,” she stated.
‘Tough broads’
Rose had her share of rugged battles more than the years, but a couple of “tough broads” stood out amongst the pack.
1 grappler she feared finding into the ring with was the legendary Mae Young.
“That was 1 hard lady,” says Rose. “I worked with her a couple of occasions, and she was hard all proper.”
That opinion would be shared by no much less than the excellent Ed “Strangler” Lewis, who as soon as told Young, “I do not like women’s wrestling, but if ever there was 1 born to be a wrestler, you are it.”
Truth be recognized, in her prime, Young was tougher than quite a few of her grizzled male counterparts on the circuit. The late Fred Blassie, 1 of the greatest heels ever, as soon as opined that Mae was tougher than in all probability 60 % of the guys in the company. And that, by most accounts, was a conservative estimate.
“She was a rough, hard broad,” stated 1 of her old opponents. And Rose was effectively conscious of her reputation by way of Moolah, who came up by way of the company in the very same generation.
“Bette Boucher and I had been coming by way of Arizona on our way back to South Carolina when Moolah referred to as us. She stated that Johnnie Mae was operating some matches that evening in some town in Arizona. We weren’t far from there, so we stopped,” she stated. “She and the girl she was with had been good, but we told Johnny Mae that we had to go back to the hotel and get a small rest prior to the show.
“Big error,” laughs Rose. “Mae had been drinking, rather heavily, and she didn’t have the ring up. She just couldn’t get it up. So we left and drove on back to South Carolina.”
Rose got yet another opportunity to perform with the Remarkable Mae Young for the duration of a Florida tour.
“I was down there by myself, and she came out, crazy and not figuring out what she was undertaking. I told Moolah that I didn’t care how you do it, but you greater send somebody down right here to take my spot, since I’m not producing sufficient income to perform with this crazy lady,” she stated. “I’m not finding hurt this way. I do not know what she ultimately did, but I left.”
Whilst Rose generally worked as a heel, operating with Young was an exception.
“You couldn’t be a heel with Johnnie Mae,” she laughs. “With Johnnie Mae you had to be a babyface.”
Rose also mentions Ann LaVerne, who broke into the sport in the 1940s and was recognized as the only female wrestler of that era to have a cauliflower ear, as amongst the toughest females in the company.
With an intimidating presence and feared by quite a few of her opponents, LaVerne would take on all challengers, females or guys.
“She was a toughie,” Rose stated of LaVerne, who died in 1999 at age 77. “I worked with her many occasions about the Mobile region. She was good to me, but she’d scare you to death. All she had to do was appear at you. She was 1 hard lady. I didn’t know her personally, but I’m buddies with her daughter Marie LaVerne Nelson. I speak to her a couple occasions a week.”
Marie, coincidentally, had 1 of her very first pro matches with Young, who was a pal of her mother.
“She was amazing,” Nelson as soon as stated of Young in an interview. “She had the reputation that she would throw a punch at anyone, which includes guys. If folks attempted her, they would obtain out how genuine she was. The 1 conversation I bear in mind most is 1 time she told me on the telephone, ’If somebody attempted to make a film about my life, they’d have to censor pretty much each scene.’ She was a character.”
Young passed away in 2014 at the age of 91.
Subsequent: Life soon after wrestling for Toni Rose.
Attain Mike Mooneyham at bymikemooneyham@gmail.com, or comply with him on Twitter at @ByMikeMooneyham and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MikeMooneyham. His most recent book — “Final Bell” — is now accessible at https://evepostbooks.com and on Amazon.com
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