Sue Green
Encyclopedia
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 1975, Green defeated Moolah for the NWA World Women's Championship
, which is unrecognized by the NWA. The following year, Green officially won the NWA title briefly and also 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.
against Maria DeLeon. While still in high school, Green wrestled in approximately 40 professional matches.
After graduating from high school, Green went to South Carolina to meet with The Fabulous Moolah
, a promoter for female wrestling, who began booking her for matches. By the age of 20, she had toured in both Vietnam
and Hong Kong
. She later formed a partnership with Sandy Parker
, with whom she defeated Donna Christanello
and Toni Rose
in November 1971 for the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship
. They lost the title back to Christanello and Rose in February 1972. The title change is unrecognized.
In 1972, after New York legalized women's wrestling, Green participated in the second ever women's match at Madison Square Garden
. On August 12, 1972 at Superbowl of Wrestling, Sue Green and Lily Thomas defeated Tippy Wells and Peggy Patterson to win the women's tag team tournament. Also in the 1970s, Green toured with the World Wide Wrestling Federation
(later the World Wrestling Federation) and Leroy McGuirk
's Mid-West territories.
Promoter Fritz von Erich
had Green defeat The Fabulous Moolah for the NWA World Women's Championship
in 1975 during a tour of Texas, but Moolah regained it at the end. The title change was never official. The next year, Green once again defeated Moolah, this time at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 1976 to end Moolah's eight year reign as NWA World Women's Champion. Moolah, however, regained the title on Match 5 and eventually purchased the legal rights to the belt. When Moolah sold the title to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the company disregarded anytime Moolah had lost the belt, making her the first WWF Women's Champion
with a 28 year reign. Therefore, the WWF did not recognize Green as having ever defeated Moolah for the title. That same year, Green was voted Pro Wrestling Illustrated
s 1976 "Girl Wrestler of the Year".
In August 1979, Green broke her neck and back, putting her out of action until August 1982. On August 19, 1984 at Maple Leaf Gardens
, Green defeated Donna Christanello.
In 1992, the Professional Girl Wrestling Association
(PGWA) was formed after Randy Powell videotaped a match between Green and Judy Martin
. On February 23, 1992, at the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association
's Super Ladies Showdown, Green was defeated by Denise Storm in the first round of the LPWA Japanese Championship Tournament. She competed in the Women's Pro Wrestling organization in the early 1990s. Meanwhile back in the PGWA, Green was recognized as the first PGWA Champion and feuded with Martin over the belt. In 1999, Martin defeated Green for the title in a mixed tag team match when Martin's partner pinned Green's partner. Green, however, regained the belt later that year but lost it to Angel Orsini
in 2000. In July 1992, Green suffered from a crushed shoulder, so she did not wrestle again until 1996. She suffered another setback in February 2003, when she had knee surgery, putting her out of action again until February 2004 when she had a match with Charolette Webs. In November 2008, she was announced as PGWA's new commissioner.
. In high school, she participated in tennis and swimming.
In 1988, she moved to South Carolina to work in the state Department of Corrections. She gave herself the middle name Tex because another woman by the same legal name was bouncing checks, and Green wanted to differentiate herself from her so she would stop being called by the police. By 2004, Green was working as a planning and development services inspector. She also became a professional wrestling trainer in South Carolina. In her "Gym of Pain and Glory", she trains mostly men. Leilani Kai
counts Green as a mentor.
Green broke her ribs while working in the planning department in Columbia. The scar tissue from the injury began to spread, and it had to be removed. She had surgery to remove six inches of small intestine and two inches of colon. In early 2008, Green was hospitalized for at least two months with a staph infection that resulted from the previous surgery. She was hospitalized on February 5, 2008, and when doctors were looking at problems in her stomach and intestines, they discovered the infection. The infection caused her to be partially paralyzed on her left side, and in April, she was on a ventilator for four days. She was released from the hospital at the beginning of June, after re-learning how to walk. She then went to Texas to recuperate for a little over two months. By mid-June 2009, however, Green was well enough to participate in a wrestling match.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
. She began wrestling at the age of 15 and was trained by The Fabulous Moolah
The Fabulous Moolah
Mary Lillian Ellison , better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah, was an American female professional wrestler. She began her career working with promoter Billy Wolfe and his wife, wrestler and trainer Mildred Burke, as well as working alongside professional wrestler "Nature Boy" Buddy...
. She was the frequent tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
partner of Sandy Parker
Sandy Parker
Sandy Parker is a retired Black Canadian female professional wrestler. She debuted in 1969, wrestling in Canada, the United States, and Japan. In Japan, she worked for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, holding numerous titles...
, with whom she won the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
(NWA)'s NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship
NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship
The NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship was a women's professional wrestling tag team title sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance from the early 1950s through 1983...
. The title reign, however, is unrecognized. In 1975, Green defeated Moolah for the NWA World Women's Championship
NWA World Women's Championship
The NWA World Women's Championship is the National Wrestling Alliance's women's singles professional wrestling title. It is descended from the original Women's World Championship won by Mildred Burke in 1935 from Clara Mortensen. June Byers was then recognized as the succeeding champion after her...
, which is unrecognized by the NWA. The following year, Green officially won the NWA title briefly and also was recognized by Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
as the Girl Wrestler of the Year. In 1992, she joined the Professional Girl Wrestling Association
Professional Girl Wrestling Association
The Professional Girl Wrestling Association was founded in 1992. The aim of the PGWA is to preserve and promote "Old School" women's pro wrestling. Based in North Carolina, the organization frequently sponsors matches and whole cards in the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-South states, as well as in Mexico...
, holding the promotion's championship and later acting as commissioner.
Professional wrestling career
Green originally got into wrestling when her father took her to wrestling shows by promoter Joe Blanchard. Starting at the age of six, Sue and her dad had the same seats for ten years. After asking Blanchard for years to train her to wrestle, he finally did. At the age of 14, Green's parents met with Texas Governor John B. Connally signed a release to allow Green to wrestle on the weekends because it did not interfere with school. She had her first match on her 15th birthday in Victoria, TexasVictoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...
against Maria DeLeon. While still in high school, Green wrestled in approximately 40 professional matches.
After graduating from high school, Green went to South Carolina to meet with The Fabulous Moolah
The Fabulous Moolah
Mary Lillian Ellison , better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah, was an American female professional wrestler. She began her career working with promoter Billy Wolfe and his wife, wrestler and trainer Mildred Burke, as well as working alongside professional wrestler "Nature Boy" Buddy...
, a promoter for female wrestling, who began booking her for matches. By the age of 20, she had toured in both Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. She later formed a partnership with Sandy Parker
Sandy Parker
Sandy Parker is a retired Black Canadian female professional wrestler. She debuted in 1969, wrestling in Canada, the United States, and Japan. In Japan, she worked for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, holding numerous titles...
, with whom she defeated Donna Christanello
Donna Christanello
Mary Alfonsi , better known by her ring name Donna Christanello , was a professional wrestler trained by The Fabulous Moolah...
and Toni Rose
Toni Rose
-Professional wrestling career:Rose grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. She decided to become a professional wrestler at the age of seven, but first attended high school and college. She trained under The Fabulous Moolah in 1965...
in November 1971 for the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship
NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship
The NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship was a women's professional wrestling tag team title sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance from the early 1950s through 1983...
. They lost the title back to Christanello and Rose in February 1972. The title change is unrecognized.
In 1972, after New York legalized women's wrestling, Green participated in the second ever women's match at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. On August 12, 1972 at Superbowl of Wrestling, Sue Green and Lily Thomas defeated Tippy Wells and Peggy Patterson to win the women's tag team tournament. Also in the 1970s, Green toured with the World Wide Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(later the World Wrestling Federation) and Leroy McGuirk
Leroy McGuirk
Leroy Michael McGuirk was an American wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He was involved in professional wrestling for more than fifty years. As one of the longest surviving members of the National Wrestling Alliance , he was affiliated with the promotion from 1949 to 1982.-Early...
's Mid-West territories.
Promoter Fritz von Erich
Fritz Von Erich
Jack Barton Adkisson was an American professional wrestler under the ring name Fritz Von Erich, better known today as a wrestling promoter and the patriarch of the Von Erich family...
had Green defeat The Fabulous Moolah for the NWA World Women's Championship
NWA World Women's Championship
The NWA World Women's Championship is the National Wrestling Alliance's women's singles professional wrestling title. It is descended from the original Women's World Championship won by Mildred Burke in 1935 from Clara Mortensen. June Byers was then recognized as the succeeding champion after her...
in 1975 during a tour of Texas, but Moolah regained it at the end. The title change was never official. The next year, Green once again defeated Moolah, this time at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 1976 to end Moolah's eight year reign as NWA World Women's Champion. Moolah, however, regained the title on Match 5 and eventually purchased the legal rights to the belt. When Moolah sold the title to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the company disregarded anytime Moolah had lost the belt, making her the first WWF Women's Champion
WWE Women's Championship
The WWE Women's Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion. Created in 1956, it was the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 as a result from a unification...
with a 28 year reign. Therefore, the WWF did not recognize Green as having ever defeated Moolah for the title. That same year, Green was voted Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
s 1976 "Girl Wrestler of the Year".
In August 1979, Green broke her neck and back, putting her out of action until August 1982. On August 19, 1984 at Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
, Green defeated Donna Christanello.
In 1992, the Professional Girl Wrestling Association
Professional Girl Wrestling Association
The Professional Girl Wrestling Association was founded in 1992. The aim of the PGWA is to preserve and promote "Old School" women's pro wrestling. Based in North Carolina, the organization frequently sponsors matches and whole cards in the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-South states, as well as in Mexico...
(PGWA) was formed after Randy Powell videotaped a match between Green and Judy Martin
Judy Martin (wrestler)
Judy Hardee is a former female professional wrestler 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...
. On February 23, 1992, at the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association
Ladies Professional Wrestling Association
The Ladies Professional Wrestling Association was an all-female wrestling promotion which operated in the early 1990s . It was considered a successor to such women's promotions as Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling , but it differed in that, while GLOW slanted more toward WWF-style sports entertainment...
's Super Ladies Showdown, Green was defeated by Denise Storm in the first round of the LPWA Japanese Championship Tournament. She competed in the Women's Pro Wrestling organization in the early 1990s. Meanwhile back in the PGWA, Green was recognized as the first PGWA Champion and feuded with Martin over the belt. In 1999, Martin defeated Green for the title in a mixed tag team match when Martin's partner pinned Green's partner. Green, however, regained the belt later that year but lost it to Angel Orsini
Angel Orsini
Angel Orsini is an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder and former mixed martial arts fighter, best known by her ring name Riptide...
in 2000. In July 1992, Green suffered from a crushed shoulder, so she did not wrestle again until 1996. She suffered another setback in February 2003, when she had knee surgery, putting her out of action again until February 2004 when she had a match with Charolette Webs. In November 2008, she was announced as PGWA's new commissioner.
Personal life
Green grew up in Corpus Christi, TexasCorpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
. In high school, she participated in tennis and swimming.
In 1988, she moved to South Carolina to work in the state Department of Corrections. She gave herself the middle name Tex because another woman by the same legal name was bouncing checks, and Green wanted to differentiate herself from her so she would stop being called by the police. By 2004, Green was working as a planning and development services inspector. She also became a professional wrestling trainer in South Carolina. In her "Gym of Pain and Glory", she trains mostly men. Leilani Kai
Leilani Kai
Patricia Schroeder , better known by her stage name Leilani Kai, is a semi-retired professional wrestler. She began training with The Fabulous Moolah right after finishing high school...
counts Green as a mentor.
Green broke her ribs while working in the planning department in Columbia. The scar tissue from the injury began to spread, and it had to be removed. She had surgery to remove six inches of small intestine and two inches of colon. In early 2008, Green was hospitalized for at least two months with a staph infection that resulted from the previous surgery. She was hospitalized on February 5, 2008, and when doctors were looking at problems in her stomach and intestines, they discovered the infection. The infection caused her to be partially paralyzed on her left side, and in April, she was on a ventilator for four days. She was released from the hospital at the beginning of June, after re-learning how to walk. She then went to Texas to recuperate for a little over two months. By mid-June 2009, however, Green was well enough to participate in a wrestling match.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Bulldog
- Signature moves
- Boston crabBoston crabThe Boston crab is a professional wrestling hold that typically starts with the opponent lying supine on the mat, with the wrestler standing and facing them. It is a type of spinal lock where the wrestler hooks each of the opponent’s legs in one of his arms, and then turns the opponent face-down,...
- Leg dropLeg dropA leg drop or legdrop refers to an attack used in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler will jump and land his leg across a fallen opponent's chest, throat, face or head or in some cases, the groin/lower-abdominal area...
- Boston crab
- NicknameNicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s- The Texas Queen
Championships and accomplishments
- Cauliflower Alley ClubCauliflower Alley ClubThe Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America....
- Other honoree (1994)
- National Wrestling AllianceNational Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
- NWA World Women's ChampionshipNWA World Women's ChampionshipThe NWA World Women's Championship is the National Wrestling Alliance's women's singles professional wrestling title. It is descended from the original Women's World Championship won by Mildred Burke in 1935 from Clara Mortensen. June Byers was then recognized as the succeeding champion after her...
(1 time) - NWA Hall of FameNWA Hall of FameThe National Wrestling Alliance 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...
(Class of 2011)
- NWA World Women's Championship
- Professional Girl Wrestling AssociationProfessional Girl Wrestling AssociationThe Professional Girl Wrestling Association was founded in 1992. The aim of the PGWA is to preserve and promote "Old School" women's pro wrestling. Based in North Carolina, the organization frequently sponsors matches and whole cards in the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-South states, as well as in Mexico...
- PGWA Championship (2 times)
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI Girl Wrestler of the Year (1976)
External links
- Profile at Online World of Wrestling
- Sue in LPWA at All Women Wrestling