Mitzi Mueller was a crucial part of women’s wrestling being unbanned in London.
The female side of the sport, like other sports in the UK, suffered heavily during the 20th century. Women’s football was banned after World War I, setting the game back centuries.
The same happened to women’s wrestling. London was the biggest market for anything in the UK (and still is). This included wrestling, with multiple shows being run every night in the English capital.
Women’s wrestling was banned in London in 1938. Well, actually it was all wrestling. The overly aggressive and ultra-violent All-In wrestling style put the sport on hold, with the local authority refusing to let it continue in the capital.
This was eventually lifted in 1951, thanks to Mountevans Rules being created. However, this did not extend to women’s wrestling, with many viewing the sport as something only men should do, not women.
While shows were able to be put on in smaller venues, likely without a license, the large arenas couldn’t. The iconic Royal Albert Hall famously never showed any lady wrestling, cutting out half of the population from appearing at the legendary venue.
Klondyke Kate, another legendary female wrestler, claimed in Simon Garfield’s “The Wrestler” it was banned because it was “degrading to women”. While this is utter nonsense, it was a prevailing view at the time to many.
This was a huge issue for many, including Mitzi Mueller. She was arguably the biggest female wrestling star in the 20th century in the UK. She was famed for her looks and her wrestling style and was popular all across Europe.
Fans in Turkey even rioted once when they couldn’t see her wrestle, while her home country wouldn’t let her wrestle in the nation’s capital. Something had to be done, and it had to be musically.
Mitzi Mueller Released A Song To Help End The Women’s Wrestling Ban
As one of the most popular lady wrestlers (as they were referred as) of the day, Mitzi Mueller was at the forefront of getting the women’s wrestling ban overturned.
She campaigned up and down the country to get the ban overturned, with the help of her promoter and husband, Brian Dixon.
Mitzi Mueller even released a single in 1985 in order to drum up support. With the backing of Suzi Quatro’s banned, she released the song “Let The Girls In (To London Town)“. It was written by Robert Rigby, and sung by Mueller herself.
The song was mainly her singing the praises of herself. Every verse ended with the line “Mitzi Mueller, Queen of the Ring!”. The chorus was a clear call for change, as they challenged the titular London Town council to lift the ban on women’s wrestling.
The lyrics for the chorus of Mitzi Mueller’s “Let the girls in (to London Town)” go as follows;
“Let the girls into London town! (let the girls into London Town)”
We want to fight, but we’re losing his round (We want to fight, but we’re losing his round)
They’re counting us out, but there is no doubt. When they let us in, we’re gonna be a knock out!”
It did its job. Just two years later, the ban on women’s wrestling in London was lifted. With the help of her husband Brian Dixon, they put on a show that featured women in the Royal Albert Hall.
The event took place on April 24th, 1987, and was Mitzi Mueller’s last match in her career. Mitzi partnered Rusty Lee against Klondyke Kate and Nicky Munroe, in a historic match that should never be forgotten.
Without Mitzi Mueller’s campaigning and her largely awful, but effective, song, we wouldn’t have women like Toni Storm and Mariah May competing at Wembley Stadium for AEW.
However, despite her heroics, equality was still not felt. No women’s wrestling matches ever appeared on World of Sport. No woman ever wrestled on ITV until the cancellation of the show in 1988.
It wouldn’t be until Orig Williams brought them to S4C for Reslo before the women wrestlers finally got to appear on TV. Sadly, Mitzi Mueller was already retired by this point.
