Wendi Richter's contribution to wrestling cannot really be stated enough. She was THE women's babyface during the Rock 'N' Wrestling boom, and her partnership with Cyndi Lauper was one of the aspects of the first WrestleMania's success. As much as we love him, and remember him as the cuddly uncle of wrestling, there was a time when Captain Lou Albano was the meanest manager around. After his appearance as the grumpy father in Cyndi Lauper's video for Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Lauper was brought in to feud with Albano. Captain Lou chose The Fabulous Moolah as his representative in the ring, and Lauper chose to be in the corner of Wendi Richter. The two women fought at The Brawl To End It All, and Richter defeated Moolah, putting an end to her billed (but not true) twenty-eight year streak as Women's Champion. Richter would later lose the title to Moolah's protege Leilani Kai, but won it back at WrestleMania. Richter would unceremoniously leave WWF a year later when she was the victim of a screwjob similar to Montreal. After she refused to sign a new contract, Vince McMahon booked Fabulous Moolah to defeat Richter for the title by any means necessary. When the masked Moolah pinned Richter, she did so for real, and even though the champion kicked out. The referee counted to three, and Richter left the company and never spoke to Moolah again. In 2005, WWE inducted Richter into their Hall of Fame, and has appeared sporadically at WWE related events since, but her influence on the entire wrestling landscape can never truly be understated.
