Part 29 of an in depth look at the growth of women’s wrestling, from noted ring historian The Phantom of the Ring.

THE PHANTOM OF THE RING

Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms, Part 29

A Short Primer on Politics

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“Politics.” What a dreaded word. Any one reading this column may well figure that I’m going to introduce it into the discussion, and being that it’s women’s wrestling, it has to be sexual politics. Well, not really. In this case we are dealing with the old specter of office politics, but on a larger canvas, as it were.

In wrestling, politics plays more of a role than with other sports. Take football, for instance. A coach, a quarterback, or even another receiver may not like Terrell Owens, but no one can dispute the fact that Owens has talent, and due to the competitive nature of football, his talents will at least be on display until he proves that he can no longer play. In wrestling, this really doesn’t hold true, because the parameters of the game are different. In wrestling, the true competition is backstage.

In wrestling, a grappler may have world-class talent, but unless he or she is allowed to show it, they will go nowhere, relegated to the bottom of the card or working dark matches and curtain jerkers in tank towns. For in wrestling, talent must be some means of alchemy, combine with opportunity and heat in order to propel the wrestler to a higher rung. There is no opportunity without something called a push and the push can only come from the promoter (or the booker, if the booker has enough power). The fact the promoter/booker determines the push is a fact. But why the push is given to one and not to the other is often shrouded in a fog of mystery. A wrestler often faces two strikes: the fickleness of the public and the fickleness of the promoter. In any case it can be a deadly combination.

Now let’s apply the notion of office politics to women’s wrestling. We know about how the women’s sport developed and how it was ultimately left to monopolists like Wolfe and Moolah because the promoters didn’t want the stigma of pushing women’s wrestling. Of course, they didn’t mind the money the women brought in, but rarely, if ever, were individual women groomed by promoters. First, there was the problem of competition: it’s difficult enough maintaining a male stable without adding even more employees to the rolls. It is cheaper to contract that part of it out to bookers like Wolfe and Moolah.

Even though Wolfe and Moolah passed by the wayside, however, wrestling talent still needed to be developed.  Women’s wrestling just wouldn’t go away; no, it was here to stay. Eventually, companies like WWE and WCW began to develop their own talent, the better to control them. But until that day came, independent trainers were still necessary.

Enter Killer Kowalski. Kowalski also trained women wrestlers. While his most famous trainee is Chyna, his best students were Malia Hosaka and April Hunter. Both could have been champions for WWE and WCW. Both should have been champions for WWE and WCW. So what got in their way? That old bugaboo, politics.

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Malia Hosaka (born October 7, year unknown, in Honolulu, Hawaii) is of Hawaiian and Japanese extraction. She trained under Killer Kowalski and made her wrestling debut on August 7, 1987, against Linda Dallas and Maddog Debbie. She moved over to the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA), beginning her career as the tag partner for Bambi and challenging the champion Glamour Girls. Also during this period she toured the independents, working against Debbie Combs, Leilani Kai and Penelope Paradise. Her first taste of a major promotion was in 1993, at ECW’s November to Remember PPV event. She substituted for Madusa on the card, wrestling Sherri Martel.

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In 1996 she defeated Debbie Combs for the NWA women’s title, which led to a meeting with Terry Taylor. As a result Hosaka landed in WCW, the highlight of which was her participation in the WCW Women’s Championship Tournament, where she was defeated in the opening round by Zero (Akira Hokuto). She was managed by Sonny Oono and frequently worked against such talent as Madusa and Leilani Kai . In 1997 she took part in the WCW Women’s Cruiserweight Tournament, losing in the finals to Toshie Uematsu.

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Photo courtesy of Jill McKee & Shimmer.
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In 1998 Hosaka moonlighted for the Florida based New Dimension Wrestling, and on August 7, she defeated Debbie Combs for the belt, losing it to Starla Saxton (Molly Holly) two weeks later. The next evening she regained the belt and held it until November 9, 1990, when she dropped it to The Foxy Lady. Hosaka and Saxton would move their feud over to WCW for the remainder of 1998.

In 1999 she appeared on Raw for the WWF as a fan answering Ivory’s challenge to wrestle for the WWF Women’s championship, but on her way to the ring she was jumped by Ivory’s bodyguard, Nicole Bass and double-teamed by both Bass and Ivory until WWF Security broke it up. Word of her appearance spread across the Internet and killed the angle. The WWF did keep her around for a year under contract but claimed they couldn’t find a character for her and released her.

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Malia with tag team partner Lexie Fyfe. Photo courtesy of Jill McKee & Shimmer.
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Since then she has worked the independent circuit except for a brief tour with TNA in 2003. Over 20 years of hard work in the ring has taken its toll and Malia now works only the occasional match, retaining a full-time career as a flight attendant.

Comments from Malia Hosaka:

Take the birth year out, 1) it is not correct and 2) I do not tell anyone my age.  I am only of Japanese decent not Hawaiian.  My winning the NWA title did not lead to me meeting Terry. I met him on an Indy show for a promoter I had worked for most of my career in GA, Ben Masters. I actually lost the NWA title back to Debbie the night after I won it, in TN working for Beau James.

Zero was not Akira, they were 2 separate wrestlers, but I did work against both in WCW.

If you want politics pointed out, then my appearance as a fan led to me being signed, but I was sent home without a character the week that Terry and Vince Russo jumped ship, and was later released due to lack of character dev.  I pitched several ideas to Kevin Kelly but they fell on deaf ears as the new regime had no use for me.

I never really worked  for TNA; I did one appearance against Trinity, but again, powers that be thought I was/am not marketable as talent/model.

I work full time as a flight attendant as I chose not to try to play the political games.  My era has come and gone, and I am happy with my decisions and career. I love wrestling and working for promotions like Shimmer, Slamminladies, and WWW, helping new girls learn. I miss being a part of the ring, but I do not miss the politics of the biz.

Malia Hosaka
http://www.maliahosaka.net

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Another victim of Old Man Politics was April Hunter. It’s odd, but Hunter had everything to make her a main eventer in WWE: Good looks and big boobs. However, it may have been her work rate and independent spirit that kept her out.

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April was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 24, 1973. As a young girl she relocated to Enterprise, Alabama, with her father when her parents divorced. She began a modeling career at age 14, later becoming a burlesque dancer at the age of 18. A year later she began a secondary career as a centerfold and fitness model, appearing in such magazines as Playboy, Penthouse, Maxim, and Ironman.

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Her appearance in Playboy led to a call from WCW’s Terry Taylor and a stint in WCW as a valet for the NWO. This gave April a taste for wrestling and led her to sign on at Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school in Boston. One often wonders why she didn’t just go to the WCW Power Plant, but perhaps there wasn’t an offer to do so. Anyway, she made the right decision, for with Kowalski students learned to wrestle, while with WCW they mostly just learned to do calisthenics.

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Upon graduation she began receiving offers and formed a tag-team with fellow grad Nikki Roxx in World Xtreme Wrestling, calling themselves The Killer Babes. Later she teamed with Talia Madison as T & A. Offers continued to pile in, mainly because of her striking good looks, but any opponent that tried to take advantage and rough her up was in for quite an unpleasant surprise. Kowalski once told me not to let “her good looks fool you. She’ll rip your face off without giving it a second thought if you cross her.” He also proudly noted that he trained her to be that way. “She was the only woman in the class. I told her she had to be tough, or leave.” She began touring the world: working in Mexico for AAA and CMLL; Japan for Now, A to Z and Zero One, Germany, France, England, Canada and Puerto Rico for the IWA. She also worked for TNA in 2002, suffering the humiliation of being defeated by Miss TNA Bruce as part of his Miss TNA Challenge. TNA sure knew how to manage its talent.

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She returned to the Independents, working until accumulated injuries forced her retirement from full time wrestling in 2008.  She also developed a passion for photography, which Kowalski, who was also an excellent photographer, told me she had quite a talent for. She also runs her owns website, http://www.AprilHunter.com and publishes her own newsletter for subscribers. To view her remarkable photos, go to http://www.myspace.com/AprilHunterPhotography

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April Hunter’s Comments:

Everything is pretty much correct… I was offered the Power Plant through WCW, but I went and had an interview with Jim Ross and WWE who set up Killer Kowalski’s for me.

By the time I got trained, both ECW and WCW had folded. I’d been asked back to WCW (to manage Kwii Wee) after I’d moved to Boston, but I’d declined, figuring I should focus ahead instead of behind.

I was offered a developmental deal a few years ago, but declined it for personal reasons.

April Hunter
www.AprilHunter.com

Scroll down to the end of the article for some extra photos courtesy of AprilHunter.com

In short, either of these ladies could, and should, have been headliners for WWE and WCW. Hosaka has often said that the reason she didn’t pan out in WWE was because she didn’t fit their cookie-cutter image. That is not mere sour grapes. One often wonders why Hosaka and Hunter were bypassed. Both are gorgeous women, each easily surpassing the best both WWE and WCW had to offer. But I think it was their independent spirit that kept them from the gold belts. There is an old saying: “They can take everything from you except your integrity. That you have to give them.” Malia Hosaka and April Hunter are living proof of that saying.

Photos of April and Malia below are courtesy of SlamminLadies:

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PHAN MAIL – Sorry I haven’t been answering my mail, but a combination of health and personal issues have made such a luxury impossible until recently. Now that I’m nearly back to old form, all mail will be answered ASAP and kept for later columns.

Who was Masked Yu (Crane Yu)? Also I am trying to find out who The Masked Tarantula really is.  My hobby is finding out who the masked men/women of wrestling really are. I have had this hobby since 1978, and have been a wrestling fan for 51 great years. Thank you very much.

jim”tex”evans   te666x@yahoo.com

Crane Yu may have begun her career as a masked wrestler. There was a Masked Yu wrestling in the early 80s. The Crane Yu I saw was a bottle blonde and part of Dump Matsumoto’s crew. Accordingly, she dressed like Matsumoto, with the leather look and dragging a chain. “Crane Yu,” I believe, refers to a kung fu move, but Crane is Japanese. As to her real name, I have not been able to discover that. I also used to keep a record of real names, so that information is very important to me. As to The Masked Tarantula, she was billed as from Mexico, but again, I have not been able to discover her real name. She did unmask at Mimi Hagiwara’s retirement ceremony and made it a dual retirement ceremony. I have a couple of inquiries in and hope to obtain some answers. As soon as I have them, I’ll be glad to share them with our readers.

Greetings, I have a question for you.  I know that Judy Grable held a couple titles during her career but have never heard when and where she won them or who she beat to win them,  I do know that Sweet Georgia Brown beat her for one, and Ann Casey for another, but can you document any of Judy`s title history?

John Hood Jthood@ncn.net

I can tell you that Judy won the AWW Women’s Championship, on May 14, 1947. From whom she won it and to whom she lost it are themselves lost to history. Judy was also credited with holding the Georgia version of the Southern Women’s Title (there was a Florida version). Her title reign dates back to March 21, 1959. She may have dropped the belt to Mae Young in 1960. No record exists. On February 15, 1961, she is listed on a Georgia wrestling card as The Southern Women’s Champion. How she got the belt or from whom is unknown, as the last recorded title change was Barbara Baker defeating Penny Banner for the belt in Columbus, Ohio, on November 30, 1960. The next listed holder according to records is Cora Combs on September 6, 1963. There is an article posted online about Ann Casey defeating Grable for the belt in Mobile, Alabama. No information as to when or to whom Casey dropped the belt. This is the sorry state of wrestling history, particularly the history of women’s wrestling. The belts were controlled usually by Billy Wolfe or Moolah and were defended at the local promoter’s discretion. And that’s not the worst of it. I can remember Ida Mae Martinez telling me that before booking a match, a promoter usually wanted a “sample” from the women if they were to work. I don’t think I have to tell you what “sample” is referring to.

– The Phantom of the Ring

You can write to the Phantom care of Karen Belcher

kabelchr@verizon.net

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Wowww!, Very informative thanks.

Most informative. Much of this piece confirms what I already believed about how the WWE mostly disrespects REAL woman wrestlers, past, present, and future.