Mary Lillian Ellison Tribute

Mary Lillian Ellison, whose flying drop kicks, flying head scissors and hair-pulling "flying mare" body slams brought her renown in professional wrestling as "the Fabulous Moolah," died Friday in Lexington, S.C., near her home in Columbia. She was 84.

She died at a hospital after shoulder replacement surgery and might have had a heart attack or a blood clot, said her daughter, Maryetta Austin.

For more than half a century, as a wrestler, promoter and trainer, the Fabulous Moolah was a leading figure on the women's circuit. She held versions of the women's wrestling championship for all but short intervals from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s. World Wrestling Entertainment brought her back at age 76. Clad in a sequined jacket over a green leotard, she pinned her opponent, Ivory, in a match in Cleveland and was again proclaimed the champion.

The Fabulous Moolah enjoyed the mayhem, but she especially coveted the money.