Women of the World Wrestling Federation: Miss Elizabeth, Sensational Sherri and Sapphire
In the early 1990s, the World Wrestling Federation had mainly three women who all acted as valets. One was sweet and meek, one brash and violent, the other bold and sassy. This article focuses on these three women.
Miss Elizabeth: The Princess of the World Wrestling Federation
Miss Elizabeth joined the World Wrestling Federation as the valet of “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
In reality the two were a married couple; in the WWF they were on unequal footing.
Elizabeth often sat on the middle ring rope to make it easier for Savage to enter the ring, and had to deal with Savage’s jealousy.
Elizabeth and Randy had their problems, and the two separated for some time in the early 1990s.
They reunited after Elizabeth rescued Randy from an attack by Queen Sherri at WrestleMania 7.
Soon after Savage proposed to Elizabeth and she accepted. The two had a fairytale wedding at Summerslam on August 26, 1991.
She was soon the target of vitriol by Jake “The Snake” Roberts and The Undertaker.
Whatever hurdles were thrown her way, however, Miss Elizabeth never lost her ladylike manners and classiness.
She left the World Wrestling Federation in 1992.
Sensational Sherri: The Villainess
Sensation Sherri joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1987 as a wrestler and defeated The Fabulous Moolah for the Women’s Championship.
But by 1989 she had become a manager for “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
He called himself the Macho King, and she was Queen Sherri.
She rejected him when he lost to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 7 and attacked him, before later managing The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Shawn Michaels.
Each time she tailored her image to look more like them, though she retained her femininity.
Sherri’s purpose in the WWF was to act as a villainess.
Her wild black hair and fierce face paint (not many females in wrestling wore face paint) emphasized that she was different from the other women in the WWF.
She was something of a menace to her fellow females Miss Elizabeth and Sapphire. She attacked both on numerous occasions, as well as male wrestlers that were the foes of her clients.
She would often attack them when her guys were in trouble, and had a nasty temper.
Sweet Sapphire: Dusty Rhodes’ Valet
Juanita Wright joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1989 and beforehand briefly wrestled as Princess Dark Cloud.
Sapphire hit the WWF scene when she was picked from the audience (ostensibly) by Dusty Rhodes to be his valet and ended up dressing like him, wearing black clothing with giant yellow polka dot patterns and was fond of dancing.
Athough she did not wrestle regularly she once pinned Sensational Sherri (with help from Miss Elizabeth) on April 1, 1990 at WrestleMania 6.
Another notable moment for Sapphire was when The Million Dollar Man “bought” her services away from Dusty Rhodes at Summerslam on August 27, 1990.
However, she primarily existed as a cheerleader for Dusty Rhodes and was a fan favorite.
The Change to Divas: Sunny, Marlena and Sable
In the mid 1990s things began to change in the women’s scene in the WWF.
It all seemed to start with Sunny, who at first was merely another valet, who managed The Bodydonnas Skip and Zip. She was fairly innocent at first, but she gradually became more and more sexualized and the other females that joined the WWF followed in the same footsteps, including Marlena (later known as Terri Runnels) and Sable.
The innocent years of ‘WWF Women’ were over.
Looking at Miss Elizabeth, Sensational Sherri and Sapphire vs. Sunny, Marlena and Sable we can see a vast difference in their appearances, demeanors and intents. Elizabeth and Sapphire seemed like genuinely nice women, while Sherri was ambitious and tough. None of them showed off much skin. The women in the mid/late 90s WWF were all about seductiveness, deceptiveness, and flaunting themselves. Even when they were babyfaces, as Sable was for some of the time, viewers did not really get a sense of loyalty and kindness from these women.
The saddest fact of all is that all three of the early 1990s Federation ladies—Sapphire, Elizabeth and Sherri—have died.
Sapphire died in 1996, Elizabeth in 2003, and Sherri in 2007.
So there is no trace left of the early WWF women, and although WWE is now PG, WWE’s women will no doubt never have that image again.
IceQueen
