To celebrate Women’s History Month Diva Dirt will be highlighting some of wrestling’s greatest unsung heroes. These individuals for some reason or another don’t get the recognition, respect, and status they deserve. These retrospectives will occur throughout the month of March.
The 1980s is a decade where a lot of the astonishing women’s wrestlers tend to be overlooked. To kick off Women’s History Month, we have already highlighted Wendi Richter and now we discuss Judy Martin.
Martin transcended the idea of tag team wrestling for the women’s division. She is one half of a two-time (and last) WWF Women’s Tag Team Champion which is commonly never mentioned. She was involved in the Fabulous Moolah stable which included her tag team partner Leilani Kai, Spider Lady, and Mad Maxine.
It has been slightly over a year since WWE ushered in the Women’s Tag Team Titles. During the reemergence of the titles, WWE frequently mentioned them as the “first.” They may be the first under the WWE banner, but from 1983 to 1989 the tag titles were Martin’s main priority with her partner Kai. They were known as the Glamour Girls.
The Glamour Girls are the only two-time tag team champions and their first reign lasted 906-days. They won the title from the team of Desiree Petersen and Velvet McIntyre. McIntyre held the belt twice as well but with two different partners.
One of their biggest competitions at the time were The Jumping Bomb Angels. The two teams battled against each other numerous times and it was The Jumping Bomb Angels who would dethrone The Glamour Girls’ 906-day reign. That match was a 2 out of 3 falls bout that is historical as it took place at the very first Royal Rumble in 1988.
The Glamour Girls would regain the titles in June of that year and go on to hold them for 251-days until the championship was abandoned and deactivated. Martin would then finish out her time in WWF in 1989 in singles competition.
Martin would religiously attempt on numerous occasions to capture the WWF Women’s Championship during the reign of Rockin’ Robin. She was never able to win the title and that title was also deactivated in 1990 when the company decided to phase out its women’s division.
Her time with WWF would wrap up but she would go on to work a few other promotions. Most notably was WCW where she entered a feud with Madusa. She would then quietly exit the company as they would too be phasing out their women’s wrestlers and transitioning into valets.
There is no recollection of Martin reappearing in WWF again after her departure in 1989 in any capacity. She did join the class action lawsuit against WWE in 2016 where several wrestlers stated that the company concealed the risks of injuries and many alleged to traumatic brain injuries.
There was a mention on WWE programming of Martin with a Glamour Girls reference by Beth Phoenix on commentary. This happened during the Elimination Chamber match in 2019 for the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Martin was an integral part of women’s wrestling and more specifically to WWF in the 1980s. It seems as though her time had come to an end due to a lack of focus
What are your thoughts on Judy Martin’s career and do you think she ever truly got the right recognition for her services to wrestling? Let us know below and stay tuned to Diva Dirt for more unsung heroes as we celebrate Women’s History Month.
