Laverne Clarence Gagne was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA), the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.
Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.
Carlene Denise Moore-Begnaud is a retired American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring name Jazz. She is best known for her time at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where she was a two-time WWF/WWE Women's Champion. She has also competed for the National Wrestling Alliance, where she held the NWA World Women's Championship for over 900 days. She's currently a producer and the head of women's division for NWA.
Keiko Aoki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional golfer better known as Bull Nakano. She began competing in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) as a teenager under the ring name Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was a villain, who often teamed with her mentor Dump Matsumoto. In Japan, she held several of AJW's singles and tag team championships. After being phased out by the company in the early 1990s, she traveled to North America, where she first competed in Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), becoming its first World Women's Champion. In 1994, she made her way to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where she had feuded with Alundra Blayze over the WWF Women's Championship. After holding the title once, she also competed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1998, Nakano began competing as a professional golfer, and in 2006, she joined a tour with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame on 2001 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024.
The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when André the Giant was posthumously inducted with a video package as the sole inductee that year. The 1994 and 1995 ceremonies were held in conjunction with the annual King of the Ring pay-per-view events and the 1996 ceremony was held with the Survivor Series event. After an eight-year hiatus and after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002, the promotion relaunched the Hall of Fame in 2004 and has held the ceremonies in conjunction with WrestleMania ever since. Since 2005, portions of the induction ceremonies have aired on television and since 2014, the entire ceremonies have aired on the WWE Network, which was extended to Peacock in 2021 after the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock that year.
Debrah Ann Miceli, better known as Madusa, is an American monster truck driver and retired professional wrestler. She is currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a producer. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the ring name Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Outside of the WWF, she wrestled under her professional name of Madusa, which was shortened from "Made in the USA". Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she once held the AWA World Women's Championship. In 1988, she was the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so.
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.
Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon. Over the course of her 22-year career, she wrestled for promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and World Championship Wrestling. She was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame.
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.
Joseph Maurice Régis Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Mad Dog Vachon. He was the older brother of wrestlers Paul and Vivian Vachon, and the uncle of wrestler Luna Vachon.
Paul Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was a member of the Vachon wrestling family. He is perhaps best known by his ring name Butcher Vachon.
Iryna Oleksiyivna Merleni, née Melnyk (Мельник), married name Mykulchyn (Микульчин) is a Ukrainian wrestler, who competed in the – 48 kg weight class at the 2004 Summer Olympics and claimed the gold medal. In the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal. She is a three-time world champion, and has also won the European Championships once.
Diane Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler and singer, best known by her ring name Vivian Vachon. A member of the Vachon family of wrestlers, she was the sister of Maurice and Paul Vachon, and the aunt of Luna Vachon. She is considered one of the best female wrestlers of the 1970s.
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. Inductees receive commemorative medals that have their names inscribed on it with the logo of the NWA.
The Vachon family is a French-Canadian family long associated with professional wrestling in Canada and the United States, headed by Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, his brother Paul "Butcher" Vachon - both longtime NWA and AWA veterans - and their sister Vivian. At one point the Vachons were joined by a storyline brother named "Stan Vachon" who worked with Maurice and Paul Vachon in tag team matches.
Angel Orsini is an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder and mixed martial artist. She has competed in North American independent promotions including Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), Women's Extreme Wrestling (WEW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where she was known as The Prodigette who managed the stable the 'Sideshow Freaks' during the last years of the promotion.
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.
Susan Tex Green is an American professional wrestler. She began wrestling at the age of 15 and was trained by The Fabulous Moolah. She was the frequent tag team partner of Sandy Parker, with whom she won the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship. The title reign, however, is unrecognized. In 1976, Green was recognized by Pro Wrestling Illustrated as the Girl Wrestler of the Year. In 1992, she joined the Professional Girl Wrestling Association, holding the promotion's championship and later acting as commissioner.
Toni Rose is an American retired professional wrestler. During her wrestling career, Rose captured the NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship on five occasions; three times with Donna Christanello, and twice with her trainer, The Fabulous Moolah. Rose is also a former one-time NWA Southern Women's Championship.
Beverly Wenhold, known by the ring name Beverly Shade, was an American professional wrestler. Her career spanned from the 1950s to the 1980s, a fixture in the women’s wrestling scene for decades. During her career, she held the NWA Women's Tag Team Championship.
