Fabulous Moolah's Former Colleagues Defend Against 'Pimp' Allegations

Back on the March 12 edition of Monday Night Raw, WWE announced the first-ever women's battle royal at the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event would be named after former Women's Champion Fabulous Moolah.

But while WWE painted Moolah in an overwhelmingly positive light as a pioneer of women's wrestling, certain accusations of her behavior during her career as a wrestler and trainer popped back up. The outrage got so loud on social media that Snickers' parent company Mars Incorporated, WrestleMania 34's main sponsor, posted a statement condemning WWE for their decision. Within 48 hours of the initial announcement, WWE decided to change the name of the battle royal to the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, dropping any and all references to Moolah.

However, not everyone is happy with WWE's decision and Snickers' actions. Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that a petition at Change.org has been filed to get Snickers to issue an apology for pressuring WWE into the name change. Two retired female wrestlers, Joyce Grable and Peggy Lee Leather, were interviewed by the creators of the petition and defended Moolah against the accusation that she had "pimped" out and abused young female wrestlers.

Grable was trained by Moolah back in 1971 and went on to have a 13-year in-ring career. She said she never experienced anything like what the families of Sweet Georgia Brown, Luna Vachon and Sherri Martel all claim.

"I never experienced that, and all of the one's you (the interviewer) named are dead, so how could they be saying anything? Maybe their families are just making it up. But as far as I was concerned, she didn't send me nobody," Grable said, referencing the claim that Moolah would send men to the rooms of her trainees at night.

"If she was going to pimp somebody out, I was going to be number one on the list," Grabe said. She also said Moolah was absolutely against any type of drug use, another accusation that had been floating around.

"(Moolah) was nothing but a businesswoman, a shrewd one ... a very shrewd one at that ... but as far as this pimping, that's a big bunch of bulls—," Leather said in her interview.

Leather said she was "upset" and "disturbed" by the fan's outrage and Snickers' actions over Moolah's name in the battle royal.

"I'm upset about the fact that Snickers can come in and put down an icon like The Fabulous Moolah that they don't even know anything about. And the fact that they're saying all the girls that wrestled and trained and worked under her were prostitutes, that just gets my blood boiling."

WrestleMania 34 takes place on April 8 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.