 Richter in 1984 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1960-09-08)September 8, 1960 (age 65) Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Wendi Richter Wendy Richter |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 140 lb (64 kg)[1]–150 lb (68 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Dallas, Texas[1] |
| Trained by | The Fabulous Moolah[1] Judy Martin[3] |
| Debut | 1979[1] |
| Retired | 2005 |
Victoria "Wendi"Richter (born September 8, 1960)[4] is an American occupational therapist and formerprofessional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as theNational Wrestling Alliance, where sheteamed withJoyce Grable, with whom she held theNWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice. In the 1980s, she joined theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF). She held theWWF Women's Championship twice and feuded withThe Fabulous Moolah over the title. She was also involved in a storyline with singerCyndi Lauper called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". Richter, however, left the WWF after losing the championship in controversial fashion. She then worked in theWorld Wrestling Council andAmerican Wrestling Association, where she held both companies' women's titles.
Wendi Richter was trained atThe Fabulous Moolah'sLillian Ellison School of Professional Wrestling byLeilani Kai,Judy Martin andJoyce Grable and made her professional debut in 1979.[1] In early 1982, Richtertag teamed with Moolah againstVelvet McIntyre andPrincess Victoria for three matches for theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation.[5] Richter was later paired with Joyce Grable, with whom she also trained for six weeks, to form a tag team called The Texas Cowgirls.[1][3][6] In late 1982, they wrestled in a series of matches in Canada'sStampede Wrestling against Velvet McIntyre andJudy Martin.[5] She continued her feud with McIntyre inBill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling Association, where she was defeated twice.[5] While in Mid-South Wrestling Association she was a friend ofJim Cornette who made her an honorary member of theMidnight Express.[7] Richter and Grable continued their rivalry with McIntyre and Martin into April 1983 inVerne Gagne'sAmerican Wrestling Association.[5] In May, the team reformed in Stampede Wrestling in matches against McIntyre and Penny Mitchell.[5] The team also won theNWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice.[8]
Richter returned stateside signing with theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1983. In April 1984, Richter teamed withPeggy Lee for a series of matches with old rivals Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria.[5] WWF ownerVince McMahon brought inCyndi Lauper for a feud withLou Albano (who had appeared as Lauper's dad in herGirls Just Want to Have Fun music video).[9] Albano secondedWWF Women's Champion Fabulous Moolah, while Lauper was in the corner of Wendi Richter. Richter defeated Moolah atMTV'sThe Brawl to End It All for the Women's Championship on July 23, 1984, with Richter lifting her own shoulder off the canvas during a double-pinfall situation while Moolah's shoulders remained down.[1] With the win, she ended what was billed as the longest championship reign in professional wrestling history (Moolah's 28-year reign as recognized by the WWF; in reality she had lost the title several times between 1956 and 1978, and Richter's win had in reality only ended a nearly seven-year reign by Moolah as champion).[1][2] The broadcast of the women's match earned MTV its largest ratings in history up to that point.[10] This match was also the beginning of the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection", an era that combined both music and professional wrestling.[1][11] Richter faced Moolah's protégé,Leilani Kai, who defeated Richter for the title, in early 1985 atThe War to Settle the Score.[1] She regained the title at the firstWrestleMania one month later.[11] While wrestling for the WWF, Richter referred to herself as "150 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal".[2][3] Richter was also animated for aCBSSaturday morning cartoon,Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling.[12] In addition, she appeared in Lauper's music video for "She Bop".[13]
In 1985, after losing and then regaining the title from rival Leilani Kai at the inaugural WrestleMania, Richter was scheduled to defend her title atMadison Square Garden on November 25 of that same year against a mysterious masked opponent known only as The Spider.[1] During the match,The Spider broke from the planned events and pinned Richter's shoulders to the mat. The referee—who was in on the plan—delivered a swift three count, despite Richter kicking out after a count of one.[14] Richter ignored the bell and continued to attack The Spider, unmasking the new champion to reveal that it wasThe Fabulous Moolah in disguise.[14]
It was reported that the plan to rid Richter of the title was concocted by WWF ChairmanVince McMahon, who brought in Moolah after Richter allegedly refused to sign a new contract with the WWF.[14] Richter, however, claims she was still under her original five-year contract, though she did regularly have disagreements with McMahon about her compensation.[15] She also claims that when she arrived at the arena that day, she was surprised to find Moolah backstage, as she never showed up to events at which she was not scheduled to wrestle.[15] After the match, an infuriated Richter left the arena in her wrestling gear, took a cab to the airport, and booked herself on a flight out of New York.[15] Afterward, she never spoke to Moolah again.[15]
Upon leaving the WWF, Richter wrestled in Puerto Rico, Japan, and throughout the United States inindependent promotions. In Puerto Rico'sWorld Wrestling Council, she traded theWWC Women's Championship withMonster Ripper, holding the belt twice: once in May 1987 and once in July 1987.[15]
Richter surfaced in theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1987 to challenge championMadusa Miceli for theAWA Women's Championship, winning the title in December 1988.[1][15] On December 13, 1988, she participated in amixed tag team match atSuperClash III with partners The Top Guns (Ricky Rice andDerrick Dukes) againstBadd Company (Paul Diamond andPat Tanaka) and Madusa Miceli.[16] Richter's team won the match when she pinned Miceli.[16]
She wrestled only a few times in the 1990s.
On January 29, 2005, Richter appeared atWrestleReunion in an eight-woman tag team match (teaming withBambi,Malia Hosaka, and Jenny Taylor) wrestling againstSherri Martel,Peggy Lee Leather,Krissy Vaine, andAmber O'Neal.[17] In August of that same year, Richter appeared at the second WrestleReunion event,WrestleReunion 2, in a six-person tag team match.[17]
In the years after her retirement, Richter was uninvolved with wrestling. In a 2005 shoot interview, she expressed disgust toward the portrayal of women in theWWE product, and was still hurt over her WWF exit.[15] In 2010, Richter was offered induction in theWWE Hall of Fame Class of 2010, which she accepted.[18] She was inducted byRoddy Piper.[19] In contrast of her shoot interviews, her speech spoke fondly of her wrestling career and how theWWE Divas thanked her for her influence. Richter's speech ended joyfully, exclaiming "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!"[20]
On the June 16, 2012 episode ofRaw, Richter appeared in an in-ring segment along withCyndi Lauper, Roddy Piper and then-Diva's ChampionLayla as part of the "1000th episode" buildup. Piper expressed his gratitude to Richter and Lauper for their "Rock 'N Wrestling" angle and presented Lauper with a gold record, with which she eventually hitHeath Slater, who at the time had a gimmick of insulting veteran Superstars before getting his comeuppance.
On December 31, 2023, during theWorlds End 2023 post-show press conference, theAEW Women's Champion “Timeless”Toni Storm was asked if there are any free agents that she would like to seeTony Khan sign to AEW.
“Tony, I don’t care how much you’re going to yell at me for this after, but yes, there is quite the free agent out there, isn’t there?” she said. “There is money written all over it. Wendi Richter … I’m going to fuck you up!”[21]
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Born in 1960, Richter grew up inDallas, Texas, and before she entered the sport of professional wrestling, she worked on her family's ranch and took part inrodeo competitions.[3][11] She attended Bossier High School, where she participated in volleyball, track, and cross-country.[3] She later majored in computer programming at Dallas's Draughon's Business College.[3] In the 1980s, she moved toCrystal River, Florida.[3]
After leaving the wrestling business, Richter worked as a real estate agent.[22] She also returned to school for 13 years, earning a degree inphysical therapy and amaster's degree inoccupational therapy.[15] Aside from therapy, Richter competes indog shows, including theWestminster Kennel Club Dog Show.[15] She was once married toHugo Savinovich, a former Spanish announcer for the WWF.[23] In 2019, she was featured in the documentaryCircle of Champions: The History of Women's Pro Wrestling directed by Christopher Annino.[24]
She currently[when?] works as an occupational therapist for Rehab Partners Inc.[25][better source needed]
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