The WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal (formerly The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal) is a professional wrestling Battle Royal held at WrestleMania by American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The first battle royal will be held at WrestleMania 34.
The match was originally named The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal in honor of The Fabulous Moolah – a WWE Hall of Famer billed as a pioneer of women's wrestling. However, her name was removed from the match after backlash from fans due to the controversy surrounding Moolah's past. This is the female counterpart to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was introduced at WrestleMania XXX.
History[]
On the March 12, 2018, episode of Raw, WWE announced they would be establishing The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal in honor of Moolah, and that the first match would take place at WrestleMania 34 on April 8, with the winner receiving The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Trophy (made in the likeness of Moolah). After a controversy over their decision to honor Moolah, WWE changed the name to the "WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal".
Winners[]
| Winner | Date | Location | WrestleMania | Last eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naomi | April 8, 2018 | New Orleans, Louisiana | 34 | Bayley |
Name controversy[]
The announcement of The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal drew fan backlash due to unhappiness over Moolah being honored. Tufayel Ahmed of Newsweek wrote that Moolah "isn't quite the bastion of female empowerment she is proclaimed to be", with "years of allegations" that she had "monopolized women’s wrestling in North America", taken a large percentage of other wrestlers' pay, and "sexually exploited women under her mentorship". Jason Powell, from Pro Wrestling Dot Net, criticized the tribute as it does not "exactly mesh with what WWE wants their women's division push to represent". David Bixenspan of Deadspin pointed out that given Moolah's alleged abuses, fans were particularly turned off by WWE personnel describing Moolah as a "trailblazer for women’s equality". WWE also promoted Moolah as having "challenged the gender norms of a once male-dominated sport", but Bixenspan described that Moolah, by wrestling and teaching her students an "in-ring style low on athleticism and heavy on hair-pulling", relegated women's wrestling to "much more of a sideshow" instead of a "legitimate headline attraction" in the previous era. Mad Maxine, a wrestler trained by Moolah, reacted to the announcement by stating that Moolah was the most "monstrous" person she had ever met, and that wrestling is "about generating heat. And you can't draw more heat than naming a match for The Fabulous Moolah."
On March 12, a Change.org petition appeared online demanding WWE change the name of its upcoming Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, nearing its 10,000 signature goal. Snickers, the primary sponsor of WrestleMania 34, released a statement in which they called the decision to honor Moolah "unacceptable" and that they were "engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment." On March 15, WWE announced that they were dropping Moolah's name from the battle royal and that they would proceed with the name "WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal".