The Glamour Girls | |
---|---|
Tag team | |
Members | Judy Martin Leilani Kai |
Name(s) | The Glamour Girls The Queen's Court The Queen and his Court |
Billed heights | Kai: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Martin: 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
Debut | 1985 |
Disbanded | 1992 |
Years active | 1985-1992 |
The Glamour Girls was a female professional wrestling tag team. The members were Judy Martin and Leilani Kai
Leilani Kai was trained by The Fabulous Moolah in 1975 right after she finished high school at Lillian Ellison School of Professional Wrestling. [1] It was in 1979, that Kai first began working with Judy Martin, who at also trained at Moolah's school and would become her tag team partner. [2] During this time, in addition to wrestling individually and as a tag team (including tours of Japan with the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion), Kai and Martin worked behind the scenes as trainers at Moolah's school, where they (along with Joyce Grable) oversaw training of women such as Wendi Richter [3] and Sherri Martel. [4]
Kai and Martin competed together as a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation. They were awarded the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship from champions Velvet McIntyre and Desiree Petersen in 1985 [2] (although sources claim a match occurred between the two teams in August 1985 in Egypt). [5]
After touring on the independent circuit and Japan for a few years, Martin and Kai returned to the WWF in 1987, repackaged as the platinum haired The Glamour Girls and were managed by "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart. According to Kai, Hart had actually approached both Martin and herself at a hotel pool and told them that he liked the way they worked together, but that their look was a little too old school. He suggested they both dye their hair blonde, wear gold and black outfits and just basically change their image. He also told them that he would be willing to become their manager which was a big deal since it gave the women's division one of the leading male managers in professional wrestling (at the time it was more usual for women to be valets for male wrestlers and rare for a leading male manager to be involved in the women's division). [6] The duo appeared at the first Survivor Series in 1987 as part of then champion Sherri Martel's team to face the Fabulous Moolah's team.
They spent much of 1988 feuding with the Jumping Bomb Angels for the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. The Jumping Bomb Angels defeated them for the championship at the first Royal Rumble in 1988. [2] Kai and Martin recaptured the title months later in Japan before the belts were abandoned. [2]
The Glamour Girls regaining the Tag Team titles from the Jumping Bomb Angels was not received well by the WWF and its head booker Pat Patterson. What had happened was prior to the tour of Japan, Martin and Kai had a falling out with The Fabulous Moolah over her no longer receiving a portion of their booking fees. Moolah then sabotaged them by going behind the WWF's back and informing the Japanese promoters that The Glamour Girls were to win the Tag Team belts in the last match of the tour. The girls did query this and tried to contact Patterson by telephone but were unable to do so and agreed to win the belts. When they returned to the US, they were confronted by Patterson who informed them that they had totally screwed up the WWF's plans and that nobody within the WWF had made the decision for the title change. According to both Martin and Kai, he then refused to listen to them when told that it was Moolah who had ordered the title change. The plans Patterson had mentioned was a tag team championship match at Wrestlemania V between the Bomb Angels and Glamour Girls. The match was scrapped, ultimately costing all 4 women what would have been their largest pay day and the Women's Tag Team Championship was abandoned in mid-1989. [7]
While working for the WWF, the duo (who were experienced trainers) were often paired against rookies and younger, more inexperienced women (including Rockin' Robin, [8] Baby Doll, [8] and Olympia Hartauer [9] ) in try-out matches to help the WWF gauge their talent and potential.
In 1990, the duo joined the Ladies Major League Wrestling promotion, where they held the LMLW Tag Team Championship. While in LMLW, they were managed by Abdullah Farouk, Jr. They competed as a tag team and also become contenders for the LMLW World Championship.
In the fall 1991, Kai and Martin joined World Championship Wrestling and feuded with Madusa and Bambi in singles matches. The women's division in WCW was phased out before they were given any opportunity to compete together as a tag team.
During this time they also competed in the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association. They debuted under the new name, the Queen's Court, and were managed by Queen Christopher Love (and eventually Adnan Al-Kaissie [2] ). They wrestled as both a tag team and in singles competition as top contenders to the LPWA Championship held by Susan Sexton. After months of feuding with reigning champions Team America (Misty Blue Simmes and Heidi Lee Morgan), they finally captured the LPWA Tag Team Championship. They feuded with teams such as Bad, Black, & Beautiful (Black Venus and Bad Girl), The New Team America (Misty Blue Simmes and Alison Royal), Locomotion (Reggie Bennett and Cheryl Rusa), Wendi Richter and Rockin' Robin, and Bambi and Malia Hosaka. At the only LPWA pay-per-view, LPWA Super Ladies Showdown, the Glamour Girls defended the LPWA Tag Team Championship against Bambi and Hosaka.
While working in LPWA, Kai and Martin were credited with helping to train and develop many of the rookies and younger talent, including Malia Hosaka [10] [ unreliable source? ] [11] and Terri Power. [12] [ unreliable source? ]
Martin retired from professional wrestling in 1999, while Kai retired in 2015. The duo currently makes appearances at various wrestling conventions and reunions, mainly located on the east coast. [13] [ unreliable source? ] [14]
Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.
Sherry Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.
Patty Seymour is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Leilani Kai. She began training with The Fabulous Moolah right after finishing high school. In the 1980s, as part of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection, a storyline that combined wrestling and music, Kai defeated Wendi Richter to become the Women's Champion. Kai, however, lost the title at the inaugural WrestleMania event. She was later paired with Judy Martin, in a tag team that would become known as The Glamour Girls. The team held the Women's Tag Team Championship twice and the LPWA Tag Team Championship once.
Robin Denise Smith, better known by her ring name Rockin' Robin, is an American retired professional wrestler. The daughter of Grizzly Smith, she is a second-generation wrestler; her brother Sam Houston and half-brother Jake "The Snake" Roberts also wrestled. Smith is best known for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1987 to 1990, where she held the WWF Women's Championship.
Velvet McIntyre is an Irish-Canadian retired professional wrestler. After beginning her career in 1980, she wrestled in American independent promotions before joining the World Wrestling Federation. She had rivalries with both The Fabulous Moolah and Sherri Martel and held the WWF Women's Championship and WWF 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.
Victoria "Wendi" Richter is an American former professional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as the National Wrestling Alliance, where she teamed with Joyce Grable, with whom she held the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice. In the 1980s, she joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). She held the WWF Women's Championship twice and feuded with The Fabulous Moolah over the title. She was also involved in a storyline with singer Cyndi Lauper called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". Richter, however, left the WWF after losing the championship in controversial fashion. She then worked in the World Wrestling Council and American Wrestling Association, where she held both companies' women's titles.
Debbie Szostecki is a retired professional wrestler better known as Debbie Combs.
The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Women's Heavyweight Championship was a title for the women's professional wrestling division in World Championship Wrestling. It lasted from 1996 until 1998, when it was abandoned. It is not to be confused with prior women's titles recognized by the promotion.
Malia Hosaka is an American professional wrestler. She is a former NWA World Women's Champion.
Heidi Lee Morgan is a retired American professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation, International World Class Championship Wrestling, Ladies Pro Wrestling Association, and National Wrestling Federation. She was also a member of the wrestling stable Team America.
Judy Hardee is an American retired professional wrestler, better known as Judy Martin. Martin is a former WWF Women's Tag Team Champion. She held the title with partner Leilani Kai as The Glamour Girls. The Glamour Girls also held the LPWA Tag Team titles.
The Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA) was a women's professional wrestling promotion which operated in the early 1990s. It was considered a successor to such women's promotions as Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), but it differed in that, while GLOW slanted more toward WWF-style sports entertainment, the LPWA treated its product seriously and put its primary emphasis on in-ring athletics.
Desiree Petersen is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. She was born in Calgary, Alberta, however, was often billed from Copenhagen, Denmark, the place where her mother is from. Petersen used to wrestle for World Wrestling Federation in the 80's, where she once held the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Velvet McIntyre.
Selina Majors, better known by her ring name, Bambi, is an American professional wrestler.
Peggy Lee Fowler, also known by her stage names Peggy Lee Leather, Lady X, and Thug, was an American professional wrestler who worked in the WWF, AWA, and WCW.
Betty Wade-Murphy, better known by her ring name Joyce Grable, was an American professional wrestler. She was the long-term tag team partner of Wendi Richter. She held the NWA United States Women's Championship once and the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship six times—three with Richter and three with her other tag team partner Vicki Williams.
Winfred "Winnie" Childree, also known as Winfred Barkley was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Winona Littleheart and The Lock.
The Brawl to End It All is a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and broadcast live on MTV. It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on July 23, 1984. The show was a major event in the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection in the mid-1980s WWF, and began a storyline that ultimately culminated in the first WrestleMania. The main event featured The Fabulous Moolah defending the WWF Women's Championship against Wendi Richter. Richter pinned Moolah to win the Women's Championship. It was the only match of the event that was shown on national television. In the main event from closed-circuit television Hulk Hogan pinned Greg Valentine to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The entire event was recorded and shown on the Madison Square Garden Network however.
Olympia Hartauer is a retired American professional wrestler.
Ladies Major League Wrestling (LMLW) was a women's professional wrestling company that operated from 1989–1992. Their cards were promoted under the Wild Women of Wrestling (WWOW) name.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)