WWE Drops "Fabulous Moolah Memorial" Name From WrestleMania Match After Fan Protest
https://deadspin.com/wwe-drops-fabulous-moolah-memorial-name-from-wrestleman-1823810192
In a strange twist on what was otherwise a nakedly cynical bit of brand fluffing, WWE’s decision to name a new, annual women’s battle royal at WrestleMania after The Fabulous Moolah quickly became the biggest news story in wrestling. It’s a strange twist, but not a terribly unpredictable one—given the slew of past allegations of sexual and financial exploitation against Moolah from numerous wrestling trainees, it’s hard to imagine how WWE expected this to go over. The answer, we now know, is not very well.
The wide and boisterous negative response to the naming made the front page of Reddit via the article from wrestling/MMA news site Fightful, and seemed to be picking up more steam by the day. In response, WWE announced on Thursday that it would be dropping the “Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal” name.
It all comes down Snickers, the “Presented by” sponsor for this year’s WrestleMania. On Wednesday, a thread urging fans to reach out to the candy company about the Moolah issue was one of several Moolah topics on the front page of /r/SquaredCircle, which is by far the biggest pro wrestling group on Reddit. With it becoming clear that fans were indeed writing to them, Deadspin reached out to Mars Wrigley Confectionery US, the parent company of the Snickers brand, which issued the following statement:
We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment.
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