Debrah Ann Miceli is better known to pro wrestling fans as Madusa, or Alundra Blayze. In the ’90s, she was a trailblazer for women in pro wrestling, serving as the centerpiece for Vince McMahon’s WWF, before pivoting to Ted Turner’s WCW. Infamously, at the height of the Monday Night War, she dropped the WWF Women’s Championship in a trash can on Nitro, eliciting laughter from Eric Bischoff and effectively severing her relationship with McMahon.
In 2015, fences were mended, and she was honored with an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, where she made light of the trash can incident, and finally put that chapter of her life behind her. Of course, there are many other chapters to her career than just that incident, which is probably why she just wrote a book.
In an exclusive Inside The Ropes interview, Madusa candidly spoke with me about the struggles she endured as a woman in pro wrestling during the ’90s. She was adamant that she stuck to her principles and never degraded herself to get ahead, something she couldn’t say the same for others. There was also the issue of how men at the time treated women in general, something she took exception to on more than one occasion.
“I remember one day, we were getting ready to go to the bus, and I walked out of my hotel room, and here’s a bunch of naked women that are nude, just with cowboy boots on, upside down, with their heads shaved, eyebrows shaved because they were all drugged the night before, and who knows what happened?” she recalled. “I was so scared. I was so upset, and I just remember going to the hotel, and I’m like, ‘You got some chicks in the in the frickin, you know, in the hallway, and this is ridiculous, and this needs to be cleaned up,’ or whatever.
“And I remember getting on the bus and I was fuming. I just looked around on the bus, and you just (sighs with frustration) you just didn’t say anything. You know? I didn’t see who did it. There were times I walked down a hallway in the middle of the night. And you just saw a lot of training going on. (Laughs in disgust) It’s sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.”
Following her recollection, the WWE Hall of Famer brought up how allegations “from 30 years ago” have begun to surface about notable pro wrestling figures. She lamented that she always tried to speak up when she saw wrongdoing at the time but was often “pinged,” and punished in some fashion when she did.
“Every single one of them knows who they are,” she stated. “And there are worse situations than that, that I’ve heard from other people, which, you know, I wasn’t there, that I heard. I was just like, you know, it’s just ridiculous, and shame on them. But I get it, they didn’t have the legs to stand on. And if they were to say something, they lose their job, they don’t get paid. They don’t get used and you don’t have a job. Isn’t that crazy?”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription and credit Inside The Ropes
You can find the full audio from my conversation with Madusa courtesy of the audio player below