 McIntyre (left) pinningDonna Christanello (right), circa 1988 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1962-11-24)November 24, 1962 (age 62) |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Velvet McIntyre |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Billed weight | 150 lb (68 kg) |
| Billed from | Dublin, Ireland |
| Trained by | Sandy Barr |
| Debut | 1980 |
| Retired | 1998 |
Velvet McIntyre (born November 24, 1962) is a Canadian retiredprofessional wrestler. After beginning her career in 1980, she wrestled in Americanindependent promotions before joining theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). She had rivalries with bothThe Fabulous Moolah andSherri Martel and held theWWF Women's Championship andWWF Women's Tag Team Championship. After the WWF's women's division went on hiatus in the 1990s, McIntyre wrestled in several Canadian promotions, holding several championships.
McIntyre wore wrestling boots for the first four years of her career, but later wrestled barefoot when someone took one of her boots as a joke and she was forced to wrestle without them.[1] Wrestling barefoot subsequently became one of her trademarks, as well as her high flying wrestling maneuvers.[1]
McIntyre was born inDublin, Ireland.[citation needed][dubious –discuss] She had three brothers with whom she wrestled.[2] After finishing high school, she moved to Oregon in 1980 to train withSandy Barr, under whom she trained with her future opponent andtag team partner,Princess Victoria.[2]
McIntyre made her professional wrestling debut in Idaho in 1980, and began wrestling full-time three months later.[1][3] She then joined Vancouver'sAll Star Wrestling in 1981, where she feuded with Princess Victoria. She continued to feud with Victoria for the remainder of the year in both singles and tag team matches in Vancouver and theNWA Pacific Northwest under promoterDon Owen.[3]
In 1982, she joined theWorld Wrestling Federation, where she began teaming with Princess Victoria, and in March, the duo lost a series of matches against the team ofThe Fabulous Moolah andWendi Richter.[3] McIntyre defeated Richter in two separate matches inBill Watts'sMid-South Wrestling Association.[3] In November and December 1982, McIntyre worked forStampede Wrestling, where she teamed withJudy Martin against Richter andJoyce Grable; the feud between the two teams resumed in April 1983 inVerne Gagne'sAmerican Wrestling Association.[3]
In May 1983, McIntyre returned to Stampede Wrestling, where she continued her rivalry with Richter and Grable. This time, she teamed once again with Princess Victoria.[3] Victoria and McIntyre won theNWA Women's World Tag Team Championship on May 13 in Calgary.[3][4]
In 1983, the World Wrestling Federation withdrew from theNational Wrestling Alliance, and when McIntyre and Victoria rejoined the promotion in 1984, they were immediately recognized as holding theWWF Women's Tag Team Championship.[3] The duo defended the championship against the team of Wendi Richter andPeggy Lee.[3]Desiree Petersen later replaced Victoria in the team when Victoria had to retire due to a neck injury and the new duo lost the title in August 1985 to Judy Martin andLeilani Kai (known asThe Glamour Girls) in Egypt.[3][5]
McIntyre then began wrestling as a singles wrestler, immediately feuding withThe Fabulous Moolah, unsuccessfully challenging her atWrestlemania 2 (the referee counted the pin on McIntyre despite her left leg being draped over the bottom rope which should have stopped the count). It was necessary as her wrestling suit's right strap had broken during her failed top rope splash onto Moolah so they had to do this.Some speculated she was promised she'd win the title that night to get her to wrestle Moolah who she hated and cost her the chance to wrestle on an all women's wrestling tour of Syria.[3][6] She won theWWF Women's Championship on July 3, 1986 when she defeated Moolah at theBrisbane Festival Hall on the WWF's 1986 Australian tour, but Moolah regained the title six days later at theSydney Entertainment Centre (the only two times the WWF Women's Championship changed hands in theSouthern Hemisphere).This title change was never acknowledged by the WWF though some websites like Facebook have a picture of McIntyre wearing the WWF's women title.[7][8] Years later, Moolah called McIntyre the best female wrestler in Canada.[1] In 1987, McIntyre consistently lost matches to Moolah andSherri Martel.[3][9] She also competed at theSurvivor Series, teaming with Moolah,Rockin' Robin, and theJumping Bomb Angels against Martel, Leilani Kai, Judy Martin,Donna Christanello, andDawn Marie, herself eliminating both Christanello and Martel by pinfall before being eliminated by Kai.[7][10] By 1990, the WWF women's division was again on hiatus.
After leaving the WWF, McIntyre continued to wrestle sporadically on the independent circuit.[3] At that time, there were not many opportunities for females in the business.[1] She competed in theWomen's Pro Wrestling organization in the early 1990s.[11] In November 1993, she won the Canadian Wrestling Alliance's Women's Championship from Iron Maiden, but lost it to Iron Maiden again in January 1994.[3] They continued to feud into 1996, when the two women joined Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, where the two traded the Women's Championship, which McIntyre held for two months.[3] In September, they competed in astrap match—a match where the wrestlers must compete while connected via a leather strap—in which McIntyre was victorious.[3]
In November 1997, as a part of the International Championship Wrestling, she won the WWWA Women's Championship fromBertha Faye.[3] She also held the ICW Women's Championship, which she lost in July 1998.[3]
It is a common misconception that McIntyre is the daughter of professional wrestlerMoose Morowski.[12]
McIntyre retired from wrestling in 1998 after discovering she was pregnant, and she later gave birth to twins.[1][12] In her spare time, she makes and sells crafts.[1]
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