Wendi Richter

HOFRetired

Real Name:

Victoria “Wendi” Richter

Billed From:

Dallas, Texas

Billed Height:

5′ 8″

Billed Weight:

141 lbs

Debut:

1979

Retired:

2005 (26 year career)

Birthday:

09/08/1960

Age: 65

Promotions Wrestled in:WWF | AWA | NWA | Stampede | WWC | CWF

Eras Wrestled in:The Territorial Era | The Golden Era | The New Generation Era | The Ruthless Aggression Era

Championships Won (2):

2x WWF Women's Champion

Career Summary

Wendi Richter was one of the biggest crossover stars of women’s wrestling in the mid-1980s, and a key face of the WWF’s Rock ’n’ Wrestling boom. She broke in during 1979 and made her name across the NWA system, where she and Joyce Grable became a strong tag team and held the NWA Women’s World Tag Team Championship multiple times.

Richter’s defining run came in the WWF, when the company paired her with Cyndi Lauper as part of a mainstream push aimed at the MTV audience. On July 23, 1984, she defeated The Fabulous Moolah at “The Brawl to End It All” to win the WWF Women’s Championship, which became one of the most replayed moments from that era.

She later regained the title from Leilani Kai at WrestleMania I, keeping her at the center of the company’s women’s programs during the first WrestleMania cycle.

Her WWF exit is remembered for the “Original Screwjob” finish at Madison Square Garden in late 1985, when she lost the title in a controversial angle involving “The Spider Lady”, who was really The Fabulous Moolah in disguise.

After that, she continued working elsewhere, including WWC and AWA, and she remained active on and off into the 2000s, with her final recorded match taking place in 2005. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010.