Billy Wolfe

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For the Scottish National Party politician see William Wolfe.

Billy Wolfe was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Wolfe was the husband and manager of Mildred Burke, and ran a travelling troupe of women wrestlers alongside her.

Negative stories about Wolfe by the women who wrestled for him are legion. In her autobiography Lillian Ellison (aka The Fabulous Moolah) recalls his extreme chauvinism (he turned to managing women wrestlers only after failing as a wrestler and as a manager of male wrestlers), his financial misdealings and routine sexual harassment of his "girls" before, during and after his marriage to Mildred Burke. Due to his managerial contract with her he was able to leave Burke penniless when she divorced him, taking all of their marital assets and leaving her with nothing to show for decades of hundreds of wrestling matches per year.

The horror stories of Wolfe led to the success of the far more ethical manager Jack Pfeffer and of Moolah herself. In her autobiography Moolah ultimately felt great sorrow for Wolfe because of the number of personal tragedies he suffered later in life (especially the death of his daughter Janet, also a professional wrestler).