Mae Young

About Mae Young

Johnnie Mae Young (born March 12, 1923) is a former female professional wrestler. She was one of the most recognizable female wrestlers during the 1940s. Beginning in 1999, Young had a high-profile "second career" in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Young, along with best friend The Fabulous Moolah (until her death in 2007), were a part of the WWF/WWE family by making occasional appearances on WWE television.

Mae Young was an amateur wrestler on her high school's boys' wrestling team at the age of fifteen. Her brother taught her to wrestle and helped her join the team. She also played softball with Tulsa's national championship team. While still in high school, Young went to a professional wrestling show and challenged then-champion Mildred Burke when she visited Tulsa to wrestle Gladys Gillem. Because the promoters told her she could not wrestle the champion, she wrestled Gillem in a shoot fight, beating her within seconds. After the fight, promoter Billy Wolfe wanted Young to become a professional wrestler. She left home two years later to wrestle professionally.

In 1941, Young, along with Mildred Burke, opened up Canada for female wrestling. In Canada, they worked for Stu Hart. She was wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee on December 7, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, which led to the United States entering World War II. During the war, Young helped women take advantage of the fact that the men were fighting overseas by expanding their role in the sport.