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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 Romero in 1956 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Isabela Romero Rangel September 11, 1936 Serdan, Puebla, Mexico |
| Died | April 19, 1985 (aged 48) |
| Spouse | Destino Negro (husband) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Chabela Romero |
| Billed height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 73 kg (161 lb) |
| Trained by |
|
| Debut | March 27, 1955 |
Isabela "Chabela" Romero Rangel (September 11, 1936 – April 19, 1985) was a Mexican professional wrestler. She was one of the first Mexican women to become a professional wrestler when women became a regular fixture in the early 1950s. During her career, she won the Mexican National Women's Championship three times, and both the UWA World Women's Championship and the Japanese All Pacific Championship once.
| Part of a series on |
| Professional wrestling |
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Women's wrestling in Mexico prior to the 1950s was almost non-existent, with no known matches taking place from 1945 on and very few prior to that.[1] In the early 1950s, Jack O'Brien began training female wrestlers, including Isabela Romero, in his gym in León, Guanajuato. She would work under the ring name Chabela Romero alongside other O'Brien trainees such as Irma González, La Enfermera, La Dama Enmascarada, and Rosita Williams.[1] She made her in-ring debut on March 27, 1955, participating in an all-female tournament in Mexico City.[2]
Romero won her first Mexican National Women's Championship at some point in the late 1950s, 1958 at the latest.[3][4] Due to minimal written documentation from the time period, it is uncertain as to who Romero won the championship from, nor who she lost it to.[3] Records indicate that she started her second reign on December 6, 1965.[3][4] From 1965 to 1966, Romero was involved in a storyline feud with Jarocita Rivero, which saw the two women trade the championship, first on May 12, 1966, and then back to Romero on August 11 of the same year.[3][4] During the feud, Rivero defeated Romero in a Lucha de Apuestas ("bet match"), which forced Romero to have all her hair shaved off as a result of the match stipulation. Records are uncertain as to when Romero's third and final reign as the Mexican National Women's Championship ended, as records are missing from late 1966 through 1980.[3][4]
Over the years, Chabela Romero had a long running storyline feud with Irma González, which included several Lucha de Apuestas matches between the two. Romero lost to González on June 20, 1971, and again on January 17, 1974, both times leaving the ring without hair.[5] On November 1, 1975, Romero ended up winning the mask of Princesa Azul.[6] At some point in the 1970s, Romero gained a measure of revenge as she defeated González in a Lucha de Apuestas in Panama.[5] The two ladies also took their feud to Japan, working for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling for several tours throughout the mid-to-late-1970s. On May 20, 1978, Romero defeated Maki Ueda in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant All Pacific Championship.[7] She held the title for 81 days, before losing it to Ueda in Tokyo.[7] On February 25, 1979, González defeated Romero in their fourth and last Lucha de Apuestas at a Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) show.[5] Romero then became involved in a feud with Vicki Williams, in which Romero defeated Williams to win the UWA World Women's Championship.[8] The championship change led to a Lucha de Apuestas between the two as well, with Williams pinning Romero, forcing her to be shaved bald afterward. Romero ended up vacating the UWA World Women's Championship on April 19, 1981, for undocumented reasons.[8]
Romero died on April 19, 1985, at the age of 48.[2]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chabela Romero (hair) | Irma González (hair) | Panama | show | N/A | [5] |
| Jarocita Rivero (hair) | Chabela Romero (hair) | N/A | show | 1965 or 1966 | [6] |
| Irma González (hair) | Chabela Romero (hair) | Torreón, Coahulia | show | June 20, 1971 | [5] |
| Irma González (hair) | Chabela Romero (hair) | Paducha, Mexico | show | January 17, 1974 | [5] |
| Chabela Romero (hair) | Princesa Azul (mask) | Monterrey, Baja California | show | November 1, 1975 | [6] |
| Irma González (hair) | Chabela Romero (hair) | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | UWA show | February 25, 1979 | [5] |
| Vicki Williams (hair) | Chabela Romero (hair) | N/A | UWA show | November 25, 1979 | [6] |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Isabela "Chabela" Romero Rangel (September 11, 1936 – April 19, 1985) was a Mexican professional wrestler. She was one of the first Mexican women to become a professional wrestler when women became a regular fixture in the early 1950s. During her career, she won the Mexican National Women's Championship three times, and both the UWA World Women's Championship and the Japanese All Pacific Championship once.
Irma Morales Muñoz (born August 20, 1936), best known by her ring name Irma González, is a Mexican retired professional wrestler. During her over forty-year career, from the 1950s to the 1990s, she also competed at various times under the masked characters Flor Negra ("Black Flower"), Rosa Blanca ("White Rose"), La Tirana ("The Tyrant"), La Dama del Enfermero ("The Nurse Lady"), La Enfermera ("The Nurse") and La Novia del Santo ("The Bride of El Santo"). She is one of the pioneers of women's professional wrestling in Mexico, part of the first wave of Mexican women who made their debuts in the early 1950s, at a time when virtually no women's matches were promoted in the country. She is a five-time holder of the Mexican National Women's Championship, a two-time winner of the UWA World Women's Championship, and won both a US-based and an Indonesian-based world championship. She and her daughter Irma Aguilar were the first team to win the Mexican National Women's Tag Team Championship when it was introduced in 1990. In 2020, she was selected as The Greatest Female Wrestler in Lucha Libre History by LuchaWorld; lucha libre is the name given to the style of professional wrestling that originated in Mexico.
The Death Riders are a professional wrestling stable performing in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Ring of Honor (ROH). The stable consists of leader Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir, Daniel Garcia and Gabe Kidd. Moxley is the current AEW Continental Champion in his first reign, while Kidd is the current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion in his record-tying second reign. The group was formed in March 2022 as the Blackpool Combat Club and was originally a tag team consisting of Moxley and Danielson with William Regal, who began his career in Blackpool, as their manager. Regal left AEW in November 2022 and the stable betrayed Danielson in September 2024, being taken over by Moxley and changing its name to the Death Riders, before Moxley defeated Danielson to win his fourth AEW World Championship. Several members of the group have won multiple championships across several promotions, including world titles like the AEW World Championship, IWGP Heavyweight Championship, CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, and ROH World Championship.
Rodney Agatupu Anoaʻi (October 2, 1966 – October 23, 2000) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled under the ring name Yokozuna. He was also known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Great Kokina. Anoa'i's character was portrayed as a champion sumo wrestler, with his ring name being a reference to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan. While Anoaʻi wrestled as a representative of Japan, he was a Samoan American and was billed as hailing from Polynesia. However, he was managed by the Japanese character Mr. Fuji (in reality a Japanese American) who would follow Anoaʻi to the ring with a wooden bucket of salt while waving a Japanese flag. In the WWF, Anoaʻi was a two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion and two-time WWF Tag Team Champion (with Owen Hart), as well as the winner of the 1993 Royal Rumble. He was the first wrestler of Samoan descent to hold the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the first Royal Rumble winner who (as a result of a direct stipulation) received a WWF world championship title shot at WrestleMania. He defeated WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan at consecutive pay-per-views in the main events of WrestleMania IX and the 1993 King of the Ring, to win his two WWF Championships, also headlining WrestleMania X against Hart. He was the third-fastest newcomer (after Brock Lesnar and Sheamus) to win the WWF Championship after his debut. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
