Where did you see em first?

[Klaus]

A fan who got in contact through my blog asked me to pose the question of where did fans first see a woman wrestle for the first time?
He himself recalled the Horshoe Bar at Blackpool Pleasure Beach where he saw for the first time Klondyke kate.
This set me thinking as I do have some knowledge of that promotion,the man behind it was the late Bobby Baron who put on a fairly normal promotion until he teamed up with Manchester's Abe Ginesberg a great showman in and out of the ring.He introduced a wrestling booth style show where challengers could take on champions,who at the time included"The Mighty John Quinn"and Steve Regal now well known to fans in the States.
The shows always featured ladies bouts,quite often Mrs.Baron who first took to the ring as the Gypsy Sarah would appear taking on the likes of Klondyke and the late Paula Valdez,to complete the perfect family in her mid teens and still at school their daughter started to appear as Sarah Robin often in tag action with Julie Starr.
The pics are of the late Bobby Baron(Dave Shilletoe)his wife Rita as the Apache Princes and daughter Sarah Robin with tag partner Julie Starr also from the North of England Wrestlers Reunion Rita Shilletoe collecting the 2011 Respect Award for her late husband.
So come on guys and girls where did you see em first?

[brsimmons]

The first women's match I saw in person (the first I saw in a magazine was Sheri Whitlow vs Kathy Patronis, and I was hooked ever since) was Maria DeLeon vs Evelyn Stevens. Next was Betty Niccoli, though I can't recall if she wrestled Evelyn or Jean Antone.






IIRC, it was for the Texas Women's Championship. Stevens won. And DeLeon looked a lot sexier than she does in the photo. I saw her maybe five or more years after that shot

[caddy77]

Originally Posted by Klaus [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

He himself recalled the Horshoe Bar at Blackpool Pleasure Beach...

Yeah. This brings back childhood memories. I remember that the male wrestler open for challenges was the size of a house! The women's one was a stunt (plain to see even to this kid!) where the Cherokee? or Apache? Princess (the woman in your photo) was challenged by a "student" who came out of the crowd - I think it might have been Julie Starr. Obviously, this got my attention but I also remember liking the sheer showbiz chutzpa of the whole thing as well. No - we didn't pay to go in and see the show.

Thanks for this post Klaus - it's brought back some half-forgotten memories.

[djpapajoe]

My first live viewing of a live woman's wrestling was in New Jersey. Mid to late sixties in Elizabeth, NJ my family (who were big wrestling fans) went to a show featuring Bruno Sanmartino. Being an Italian family, he was the end all be all. Also on the card was 4 woman wrestlers. Fabulous Moolah and Toni Rose were two of the 4. The other two escape me. There were 3 matches featuring the women. 2 singles and one tag team. At that point, I forgot all about who else was on the card. I wanted the women to wrestle all night. Thanks for the great post

[ffejdb]

On TV in a hotel in Washington DC on a school trip. Lily Bitter was one of the wrestlers; I don't remember the other. Bitter was wonderful and I was hooked.

[Npom]

I first saw a woman's match on TV in the early 70's. I was about 11 at the time. It was Moolah giving a real beating to some blonde. Can't remember who it was. The first time I actually witnessed two women wrestling was about a year later when my friend's mom and another woman were playfully wrestling. First actual match I saw in person was between Joyce Grable and Velvet McIntyre