Women's wrestling in 1995 was an ugly place to be. Sure, Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano had worked some extraordinary matches on WWE programming to help reestablish the Women's Title just one year earlier but Blayze was stuck on a treadmill, neither advancing nor regressing. She was simply "there" and in the wrestling business, there is no worse place to be. With no fresh opposition to speak of, WWE reached into the Orient to find the next challenger to the title. Ronda Sing became Bertha Faye, the overweight love interest for manager Harvey Whippleman (more on him in a bit) who fancied herself a "looker." With a terrible outfit and horrendous music, the Faye character completely undermined the fact that she was trained by the great Mildred Burke and was a fairly respected female star in Japan. At SummerSlam 1995, Faye used her weight and strength advantage to dethrone Blayze and win the Women's Championship. Rather than following up on the win and building momentum for the champion, she disappeared from television, returning only to drop the title back to her foe in October. It had been only 57 days since she won the title. The loss effectively ended Faye's run with the company. Sure, she would pop up again on the 1995 Survivor Series pay-per-view but that was about it. Sadly, Sing would pass away in 2001 following a heart attack.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
