Mitzi Mueller‘s presence, or lack of it, once caused a stadium in Turkey to riot during a wrestling show. If that doesn’t show the popularity of women’s wrestling, then I don’t know what is.
Debuting against Nancy Barton in 1963 as a 14-year-old, the “Kinky Blonde”, Mueller spent 14 years in the ring in a battle not just against her opponent, but against the idea that women couldn’t wrestle. People wanted to see the girls fighting, but it was banned in London in 1938 and by ITV in 1985!
Despite this, she helped make women’s wrestling a draw for the opposition promoters, mixing her wrestling with regular appearances on TV shows like Emmerdale and The Bill. She even had a play based on her, called Trafford Tanzi. Tonya Wilcox played the starring role, while Mueller trained her and the other actors in the art of wrestling before opening night.
While the British elites didn’t see women’s wrestling as something not to be encouraged, other countries welcomed it with open arms. Orig Williams, a huge proponent of women’s wrestling throughout his career, ran an all-woman tournament in Nigeria in 1980 to promote the sport as well as make a star out of Llandudno’s Bella Ogunlana.
The Welshman also tried to bring women’s wrestling to Turkey, but it didn’t quite go to plan.
Orig Williams Brought Mitzi Mueller On A Wrestling Tour Of Turkey
The extraordinary event was recalled by Welsh promoter Orig Williams in his book “El Bandito”. He explained how a Turkish promoter called Sadi Pekerol met him during a tour of the Isle of Man. Sadi convinced him to bring his top wrestlers to Turkey for a sold-out stadium show that would make both men a killing.
This was too good to pass up, and the Welshman gathered his team to a series of events across the country. These began with a match in a 12,000 football stadium where the main event pitted Williams against Turkish wrestling champion Ordulu Mustafa.
Mustafa was said to be the undefeated heavyweight champion so this clash would put Wales vs Turkish finest in front of a huge crowd.
Orig Williams drove the ring to Turkey while the rest of his troupe landed at the airport in Istanbul and they were mobbed by the press. They were blinded by flash bulbs, but it wasn’t any of the male wrestlers they were after. The photographers, journalists and screaming crowd were all there to see Mitzi Muller.
Fans Rioted Because Mitzi Mueller’s Match Was Cancelled At The Last Minute
The Blonde Englishwoman was supposed to face a wrestler called Layla that night. However, Layla hadn’t shown up at Heathrow on time for her flight, so Mueller was the only woman wrestler available for the show. However, the plan was for Layla to come the following day for the second night in the stadium.
The decision of when the tell the fans was a pressing one. 15,000 fans had come out for the event and were excited to see what may have been their first taste of women’s wrestling. Orig Williams begged Sadi to tell the fans that they wouldn’t see the lady wrestlers today, with the promoter planning to sell out tomorrow with the promise that they would wrestle that night instead.
As the show went on, the announcement remained unmade. Sadi waited until the match between Williams and Mustafa to tell the crowd about the change of plan and suffice it to say they were not thrilled.
“Ordulu stopped in his tracks and looked over my shoulder. I, too, turned. The stadium was on fire! There were small six separate fires. Chairs were being thrown and thousands were heading in a panic towards the exits. It was a timber-built stadium and it was alight! It was sheer pandemonium.”
Given horrific events like the Bradford Stadium fire in 1985, it is a miracle that the riot did not end as badly as it could have.
Orig Williams added that Sadi had waited until the middle of his fight to tell the crowd, pulling the rug out from under them in an attempt to sell more tickets for the following evening. Distraught at missing out on seeing Mitzi Mueller wrestling after she received such an introduction to the country turned them into a frenzy.
The wrestlers ran for their lives. They made it to the bus just in time for the punters to try and topple it over. They made it out alive but were front page news in the Turkish paper, with the images of firemen trying to quell the damage becoming the key image to knock these British wrestlers.
£50,000 was confiscated from the takings and Williams was ordered to leave the city, as the fans missed out on a second night of wrestling. They never got to see Mitzi Mueller in action, so the violence and destruction seemed rather self-defeating in the end.
However abhorrent their actions, the overall blame must be placed on Sadi Pekerol. The Turk blatantly mislead the fans and pulled the underhanded trick to get them to buy tickets to the following show.
That clearly blew up in his face.
Mitzi Mueller also spoke with John Lister about the expedition to Turkey and the riot that ensued. She explained that the greed of the Turkish promoter enraged the fans, and explained that the fans got to their bus and tried to tip it over.
“The Turkish promoter got really greedy because he thought ‘Well, we’ve filled the stadium. Let’s not put the women on tonight and we’ll do it tomorrow or the day after.’ There were riots and as we all ran onto the bus, most of the people got through the police barrier and started tipping the bus over.”
Mitzi Mueller carried on travelling all around Europe until the end of her career in 1987, when she overturned a ban on women’s wrestling that lasted 49 years to achieve her dream of wrestling at the Royal Albert Hall.
