#babs wingo

[blastofsports]

[flipjack]

Flex

[v-v-viewz]

Ash Avildsen's "Queen of The Ring" is a highly embellished re-telling of the life of Mildred Burke, also known as the first female Million Dollar champ. Avildsen focuses too much on priding single motherhood as well as gender and racial politics when the focus for this picture would have been more enjoyable if it would have been all about women's wrestling like 2019's "Fighting With My Family". The film deviates not only in topics but also introduces a myriad of wrestling legends. Some who have gotten their flowers (Mae Young, Gorgeous George, Fabolous Moolah portrayed by a scene stealing Mickie James) and some who haven't (such as Babs Wingo, Marva Scott, and Trinity Fatu gifting audiences a cameo as Ethel Johnson). Also modern wrestlers (Toni Storm as Clara Mortensen, Kamille as June Byers) make noteworthy appearances. There's nods to NWA as a flagship promotion, the McMahon family, Brutus Beefcake and a slew of jargon is dropped to get casual onlookers familiar with pro-wrestling culture but the melodrama diluted the film. It's too late to put out a cautionary film about the trainer/trainee relationships that often bloom into tragic romance all throughout the history of pro-wrestling. Even wrestlers as young as Mia Friday are finding romance in between the ropes. And as an FBA viewer I could only see Babs Wingo's side story as pure pandering. She dropped her opportunity for a title and passed up on higher earnings with another promotion just to stay loyal to an anglo woman who already had her time in the sun. That and that little sneak in of a Jackie Robinson nod just felt weird. Especially given the way that Robinson was instrumental in ruining the revenue the Negro Leagues was earning as a "black business", before that term was even politicized. The semi-incest/ stepmother storyline was also strange but not surprising in the business of pro-wrestling. The constant "single mother" line being thrown in the audiences face did not work to make Mildred look sympathetic, but it made her look silly and deserved of the bumps that she sustains throughout the film for being stupid enough to mix business with pleasure and think that every man is just going to be happy to play stepdaddy. I've seen better re-enactments of wrestling matches in "The Iron Claw", but I did like that the audio from the original matches were interwoven into the film. I like that Avildsen attempted to make a film about women's pro-wrestling but I dislike the fantastical factors in the film. It was easy to see that alot of the history in this film was heavily revised. Knowing about Sweet Georgia Brown's legacy, I just couldn't stomach the embellishment of the story of Babs Wingo, Marva Scott, and Ethel Johnson. Damaris Lewis basically made Babs coon from the grave. It would have been great if she never took that role. It would have been great if Avildsen didn't frame this film to champion single motherhood and marriage only to be used as a business agreement; essentially using this period piece to cop a squat all over the Western family structure.

"Iron Claw" and "Fighting With My Family" in contrast were just more wholesome while "Queen Of The Ring" is a one-sided handicap match for every self-respecting man that ever celebrated the beauty in the art of women's pro-wrestling.

C.V.R. The Bard 16th/Mar.2k25

[siscosfavoritecomics]

I wanted to honor #BlackHistoryMonth by highlighting some of the African American/Black Pro Wrestling pioneers and legends. For today's post I wanted to highlight the First woman to desegregate pro wrestling Babs Wingo (DOB unknown - November 4, 2003)

Wingo was trained by legendary Women's champion Mildred Burke and represented by Promoter Billy Wolfe. Along side her younger sisters Ethyl and Marva and former Basketball player Kathleen Wimbley, Wingo would wrestle throughout the United States both against each other and later against other Black women's wrestlers such as Louise Green, Mary Horton and Ramona Isabella in both singles and tag matches. Wingo also wrestled in matches against Mildred Burke for the Women's Championship and against other white women's wrestlers, breaking the color line that remained in women's wrestling during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

While sister Ethyl is considered the first great Black Women's wrestler, Wingo was in no way a slouch. She was a powerhouse mat wrestler who complimented sister Ethyl's high flying style and athleticism. Wingo was able to succeed in an era of massive racism during the Jim Crow era of the United States and abroad in places such as Mexico and Japan.

#BabsWingo #WomensWrestling #HERStory #WomensHistory #WomensStudies #AfricanAmericanStudies #BlackHistory #BlackStudies #BlackHistoryMatters #ProWrestling #LuchaLibre #Poruresu #SiscosFavoriteComics #HistorySisco

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZfHptMv336/?utm_medium=tumblr

[10bellpodblog]

On today's episode Nick pitches Jake THE GREATEST MOST ORIGINAL WRESTLING GIMMICK EVER, we celebrate Black History Month, and we try to shed a little light on 3 important women seemingly forgotten by history: Ethel Johnson, Babs Wingo and Marva Scott.

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[blacknerdproblems]

While I love wrestling, I have to admit it’s just recently that I’ve begun researching in order to know more about the female pioneers of the sport, past the Fabulous Moolah and more recently Mildred Burke. Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women’s Wrestling is a good resource, by the way. In the Mildred Burke chapter, (Ethel Johnson, Marva Scott, Babs Wingo, Louise Greene, Kathleen Wimberly and Ramona Isbell are mentioned) You can cut your eyes at me when I say women had more obstacles having and maintaining careers as professional wrestlers in the Western World but on some level you, too, know it’s true.

Some of my favorite entertainers in the ring from my childhood included women of color like the biracial badass, ultimate heel (and queen of my heart forever) Aja Kong. I remember the pride I had seeing Jacqueline win the WWE Women’s Championship when it was reintroduced in 1998 (the first!) and then the cruiser-weight title belt later. (do you remember the dab she did before accepting her place in the WWE hall of fame?! ICON.) There was also Midnight with her gorgeous bodybuilder physique, who often came around with Booker T and Stevie Ray when they were better known together as Harlem Heat.

Sapphire and (Queen!) Sharmell who worked the scene as managers in different eras of wrestling for Dusty Rhodes and Booker, who also saw some ring action. I think about later on Awesome Kong dominating everywhere she went, Alicia Fox being the first and only African American woman to hold the WWE Diva’s championship, with Naomi being the first African American woman to win a WWE title at Wrestlemaina, Sasha Banks is one of the best heels in the business and Ember Moon killing it at everything she does.

On the indie scene Marti Belle, Nicole Savoy are women you should enjoy watching, alongside the “Blasian Assassin”, Mya Yim. Oh and Brandi Rhodes?! YASSSS. I’m a newer fangirl of Kiera Hogan and would channel her super kick any day all day if I could. Faye Jackson is fun to watch too and she memes herself! I LIVE! There is a legacy of Black women doing the damn thing in wrestling and there is finally a documented effort via film that explores the pioneers that set the foundation. I’m excited. You should be excited. We all should be excited. When I saw a trailer for this film I knew I had to write about it.

Read on here. [x]

[flipjack]

I'm not sure how to describe the sound that came out of me when I saw this picture.