Madusa Miceli

Madusa Miceli (her real name is Debrah Anne Miceli – maiden name: Debra Lewandowski), was born in 1964. The reasons we decided to include her in our Hall of Fame couldn't be more obvious: she was definitely one of the most prolific, best known, and most appreciated female professional wrestlers in the history of the sport. Her career is a never-ending litany of success stories: somehow, regardless of the ups and downs of the business, she always managed to land right on her feet, overcoming setbacks time and time again. She wrestled under several ring names, of which Madusa and Madusa Miceli were the most often used. Interestingly enough, according to some, her ring name comes from the abbreviation of "Made in the USA". I remember that when I watched her on TV during her early career, she was always introduced as being from Milan, Italy, and as a kid I always figured, that was nothing but a gimmick. Well, it turns out she is indeed from Milan, Italy. She was born there but she was raised in the USA, in the Minneapolis area. She has always been an athletic person: before taking up professional wrestling, she was a track athlete and a gymnast. She also worked as a nurse before jumping into the ring in 1984.

Eddie Sharkey was her trainer and in the beginning, she wrestled in the Minneapolis area for small change. Her true wrestling career took off in 1986 when she joined the AWA. In the American Wrestling Association, she did battle with the likes of Sherri Martel and Candi Devine. Her AWA career peaked in 1987, when she won the ladies title from Devine.
She lost the title in 1988 to Wendy Richter. 1988 was also the year when she became Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s rookie of the year.
In 1989, like most of the successful female wrestlers of the era, she undertook a Japanese tour, which ended up being a lot longer than initially planned. In Japan, she managed to defeat Chigusa Nagayo for the IWA title. Unfortunately, her title reign was a short-lived one: she lost the title the very next day, handing it back to its previous owner.

She was the first wrestler from outside of Japan who signed a three year contract with All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling.

She then joined the WCW, where she managed and even wrestled, although her time in the limelight was quite limited in that organization. In 1993, she joined the WWF, where her ring name was changed to Alundra Blayze. Immediately, she was elevated to champion status, after she defeated Heidi Lee Morgan on December 13. Her matches with Morgan were some of the most electrifying and exciting ones of that era, male or female.

Madusa Miceli's wrestling career arguably peaked in the WWF. After she won the title, the company brought in Bull Nakano from Japan, who indeed managed to defeat her and take her title in November 1994, in Japan. Later she won the title back in the USA. It was during her stint with the WWF that she got breast implants and had a nose job done. Still in possession of the title, she returned to the ring in 1995. She lost her belt to Bertha Faye in August. She later won it back, becoming WWF Women's Champion for the third time.

She returned to the WCW in 1995 where she continued her feud with Bull Nakano. Given the enormous amount of fan-interest she generated, the WCW decided to establish its women's division. The first WCW women's champion was Akira Hokuto though, who defeated Madusa a couple of times, keeping her away from the belt and successfully defending her title against her. Eventually Madusa decided to take a break from wrestling, and she didn't return to the ring until 1999.
Her new stint with the WCW consisted of several heavily gimmicked bouts against male wrestlers, lacking any proper substance. She became WCW Power Plant trainer before the company went under. Madusa Miceli retired from wrestling in 2001, just as ladies professional wrestling took a nose dive into the realm of evening gown matches, catfights and bras and panties.

Having just returned from Japan, Madusa also had a stint with the LPWA, where she dominated the roster. Interestingly enough, she never held the LPWA title but none of the ladies she faced there walked away from her bridging German suplex, without having had the 1-2-3 slapped on them.

Madusa getting the worst of it in an early career bout

Madusa in action against Heidi Lee Morgan