Is Jacqueline A Threat To Fabulous Moolah?

Boston Globe – October 8, 1969

Right up to two days ago, all of us thought of Fabulous Moolah as the world champion lady wrestler. Miss Moolah, an unassuming North Carolina girl with brown eyes and a hug that would paralyze a brown bear, won the title a few years ago. She took over when Boston’s own Alma Mills retired to open a Clarendon st. barber shop.

There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that Miss Moolah was the best until that brief Sunday afternoon bout on West 57th st. in New York when Jacqueline Onassis may have emerged as a devastating challenger.

Mel Finkelstein, a 168-pound news photographer, still insists that Mrs. Onassis threw him to the pavement with a stylish flick of the wrist. Finkelstein believes he was felled by judo. But he concedes that it might have been the celebrated Grecian Grasp, passed down through the ages from Milo of Crotona the Olympic champ of 500 B.C. to the Onassis household.

A witness says Finkelstein tripped over himself, but that seems like an attempt to underrate Mrs. Onassis.

The facts are not clear, other than that Finkelstein was flattened on the sidewalk outside a theatre from which Mrs. Onassis departed.

One thing is clear, however: Fabulous Moolah feels her reputation threatened by Mrs. Onassis and all the publicity devoted to the alleged flattening of Mr. Finkelstein.

“Fab – as she’s called by her admirers, hereby offers Jackie Onassis a chance at the world title,” states Abe Ford, the local wrestling promoter. “I’m bringing Fab into the Garden Nov. 1 for a tag-team match, but we can change that to a world title bout between Moolah and Onassis.” They are very flexible in the world of wrestling.

Ford says he’ll put up a $50,000 winner-take-all purse and that he’d donate a percentage of the gate receipts to a charity of Mrs. Onassis’s choice. He also thinks he can get Mel Finkelstein to referee the bout.

Although Miss Moolah, who is 5-2 and weighs 115, would be giving away six inches and 10 pounds, she is confident she could withstand the tactics of Mrs. Onassis even her renowned cold shoulder.

“They say Jackie flattened a 168-pound photographer. Well,” says Miss Moolah, “I could flatten the entire Boston photographic corps, including Charles (Killer) Carey. But I wouldn’t do it I like photographers.”

Tony Santos, who used to run wrestling shows on the Cape, testifies, “If Jackie did throw that guy, I’ll say she. learned from the best. She and JFK came to several of my shows in West Yarmouth when he was a senator. They really enjoyed themselves. Maybe Jackie picked up her holds from watching Alma Mills, the champ then.”

But Alma is gone, and Fabulous Moolah is another cup of muscles. She would not like to lose the championship to Mrs. Onassis, but she refuses to duck her. “Being champion has put me in a $9000 Cadillac,” says Miss Moolah. “I like Cadillacs.”

So does Mrs. Onassis, and if she ever runs out, perhaps she will consider taking a shot at Fab’s title.