Mae Young Lives On...

She was WWE's crazy old grandmother. An elderly woman who was as endearing as she was unpredictable. Tough as nails, but with a heart of gold. She was "The Great" Mae Young. Without checking, I would imagine that the last time Mae had been mentioned in this blog was following her passing in 2014. We all thought that Johnnie Mae would go on forever, but all good things must come to an end. Or do they?

At press time, WWE had just finished up the Mae Young Classic. The 32-woman tournament, an exclusive to WWE Network, was won by Japanese star Kairi Sane. Could Mae herself have imagined that she would one day have a tournament named after her? If you'd have asked her a half century ago, chances are she'd have said no...and you may have been handed an ass-whooping in the process for even mentioning it.

What's interesting about Mae Young's earlier career is that the records do exist, but you have to look. She simply did not attain the press that many of her contemporaries got, despite collecting many accolades during her career. Was it her rough-and-tumble nature that saw her featured far less than other lady grapplers of the era? Perhaps she was too busy living the often wild and crazy stories that she seemed so proud of later in life.

Speaking of later in life, there's no question that Mae achieved her greatest fame in her twilight years. That being said, it did not keep her out of the ring or away from the splinters of a wooden table that she was just put through. It was in this period that Mae finally saw an action figure, trading cards, and Hall of Fame inductions. Indeed, Mae Young made it big. And while her companion The Fabulous Moolah is the more celebrated name, Mae emerged as the wilder of the bunch and, to many, the more beloved.

Mae certainly loved meeting the fans, as well, and was no stranger to planting one of her famous kisses on them. I'm not sure that I'd feel as if my wrestling fandom was complete had I not been the recipient of a Mae Young smooch. It's just something that you had to do...

With the success of the Mae Young Classic and the popularity of women's wrestling today, I would not be surprised to see more editions of this tournament. It is a wonderful tribute to a woman who brought a lot of joy to fans and whose contributions to the in-ring side of wrestling are essentially lost to time. While she may be marveling at what the female wrestlers of today are doing, there's no doubt in my mind that "The Queen" is looking down with that classic smile on her face, ready to jump right in with them and kick some ass.