Sue Green - Professional Wrestling Career

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 five, 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, Texas 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.