Author: At just five feet, three inches tall, Jacqueline Moore was one of the toughest to step inside a squared circle. A fourteen-time USWA Women’s Champion and first-ever African American WWF Women’s Champion, this WWE Hall of Famer’s talent (she has a black belt in Tae Kwan Do!) goes much beyond the ring.
“Jacqueline Moore would tell me, ‘Put me against a guy or put me against a girl, I don’t care. I’ll beat any one of them you put in front of me!’ And she meant it!”
– Jerry “The King” Lawler
Jacqueline Moore – Early Life
Born Jacqueline DeLois Moore on January 6th, 1966, Jacqueline grew up a wrestling fan out of Dallas, Texas. She was also regularly involved in kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, and martial arts.
As a teenager, she became a fan of The Von Erichs and grew enamored with their wrestling style.
Around this time, she spotted an advertisement in her local TV Guide. A phone number was attached to the ad, which contained information for a try-out at a local gym in downtown Dallas.
This gym is where she’d meet legendary heel manager General Skandor Akbar, who took a very green Jacqueline Moore under his wing and helped build her confidence and strength as a professional wrestler.
Early Wrestling Career – From Sweet Georgia to Miss Texas
As the only woman in Akbar’s wrestling school, Jacqueline Moore had no choice but to train with and against men.
In a phone interview, Jackie details her time training under Skandor Akbar.
“The men didn’t take it easy on me,” admits the WWE Hall of Famer. “They tossed me around like I was one of the guys!”
Years later, when inducting Jacqueline into the WWE Hall of Fame, Bubba Ray Dudley explained that being “one of the guys” is one of the highest compliments you can receive in the business. Jacqueline would forever be “one of the guys.”
Moore’s years of training under Akbar paid off considerably. She would debut in 1988 under the name “Sweet Georgia Brown” for World Class Championship Wrestling.
Sweet Georgia Brown wrestled in Japan over the following three years, competing for Women’s Pro Wrestling and Ladies Professional Wrestling Association.
Jacqueline would represent her home state, debuting under the name Miss Texas in 1991.
Miss Texas’s debut for the United States Wrestling Association consisted of her appearing as a heel valet for Team Texas, including Tom Prichard and Eric Envy. Miss Texas’ duties included body-slamming and tossing around any male that stepped in the way of Team Texas.
A memorable moment from her career as Miss Texas includes a historic hair vs. hair match, where Miss Texas would lose to “Dirty White Girl” Kim Anthony, resulting in Moore shaving her head in the middle of the ring.
A Fighting Champion
In 1992, four years after her professional wrestling debut, Jacqueline Moore would become the first USWA (Memphis version) Women’s Champion, still under the alias Miss Texas.
Beating the likes of Lauren Davenport, Tasha Simone, and Moondog Fifi, Moore would win the USWA Women’s Championship seven more times.
During her various championship runs, Jacqueline would also become the first woman to be included in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500, ranking at number 249.
Around this time, through the WWF’s partnership with the USWA, Jacqueline made a small appearance in the WWF under the name Wynonna in vignettes for Jeff Jarrett. She even appeared in the February 1994 edition of the then WWF Magazine. However, four years would pass before she had the opportunity to make her mark in the company.
Making a Name For Herself in WCW
With years of professional wrestling experience under her belt, Jacqueline Moore was contacted by WCW in 1997, where she debuted as the heel manager of Kevin Sullivan.
Jacqueline took her role as a manager seriously, often involving herself in Sullivan’s matches to attack his opponents.
One of Moore’s most notable career moments was her involvement in Kevin Sullivan’s match against Chris Benoit at Bash at the Beach ’97.
Sullivan faced Benoit in a “Loser Must Retire Match.” Moore would interrupt the match to smash a wooden chair over her client’s head instead of Benoit’s.
After departing ways with Sullivan, Jacqueline became the manager of Harlem Heat for a short while before moving onto the WWF.
Jacqueline Moore in WWE
Jacqueline Moore made her return to the then WWF in 1998, appearing on a June 1st episode of Monday Night Raw as Marvelous Marc Mero’s on-screen girlfriend.
The pair often wore matching gear and taunted their relationship to Sable, Mero’s estranged wife, and the fans. This ignited a feud between Sable and Jacqueline.
After many weeks of back and forth between the two, Jacqueline Moore challenged Sable, in true Attitude Era fashion, to a bikini match at 1998’s Fully Loaded: In Your House pay-per-view.
A confident Jacqueline appeared with Marvelous Marc Mero at her side. She looked poised and prepared for a flawless victory. However, with the crowd on her side, Sable went on to win the match.
This decision was quickly reversed after Mr. McMahon disqualified Sable for not wearing a “traditional” two-piece suit. And with that, Jacqueline was instead declared the winner.
From evening gown matches to arm-wrestling matches, their feud marched on. The women exchanged insults on Sunday Night Heat and Raw episodes that led up to SummerSlam ’98.
There, Marvelous Marc Mero and Jacqueline faced off against Sable and Edge in a mixed tag team match. Although a confident Jacqueline taunted Sable throughout the match with heel tactics, she and Marc Mero lost the match.
Becoming the First African American WWE Women’s Champion
The following month, with the recently revived WWF Women’s Championship on the line, Jacqueline Moore defeated Sable for the vacated WWF Women’s Championship, becoming the first African American WWF Women’s Champion.
After holding the title for two months, she would lose it to Sable at that year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Although her reign was brief, the impact of her championship win was huge. Jacqueline is looked at as a key woman who changed the face of what a women’s champion looked like.
Pairing with Terri Runnels
After her loss to Sable at SummerSlam 1998, Jacqueline Moore joined forces with Terri Runnels.
Known as Pretty Mean Sisters (or “PMS”), the heel duo would ally with Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown. Staying true to her past of wrestling against men, Jacqueline became involved in a feud against D’Lo Brown with Terri as her tag partner.
Ivory, acting as Brown’s manager, ignited a new feud between the women.
Jacqueline was later involved in a fatal four-way match against Ivory, Sable, and Tori for the Women’s Championship, which ended in a no contest.
Flourishing Career in WWE
In February of 2000, Jacqueline Moore would win the WWF Women’s Championship for the second time.
During her time as an active member of the women’s division, Moore participated in various matches. From a hardcore match against Lita to a WWF Championship match against Dean Malenko (yes, Dean Malenko) for the WWF Lightweight Championship, Jacqueline proved that she was tough enough to face competitors from both locker rooms.
Her perseverance led to a Cruiserweight Title match in 2004 against Chavo Guerrero Jr., in which she was victorious.
After losing the title to Chavo Guerrero Jr., Moore was released from the company that same year.
Time in TNA
In November 2004, Jacqueline made her babyface debut at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Participating as a competitor in the women’s division and frequenting as a referee for some of the men’s matches, Jacqueline was an active part of TNA for many years.
Some of her most notable moments include participating in TNA’s first women’s steel cage match against Gail Kim and getting her two front teeth knocked out during a taping of TNA Impact.
Jacqueline was a part of a street fight match against Gail Kim, which resulted in Moore being shoved into a metal garbage can while Kim began to beat her with a broomstick, accidentally making contact with her mouth.
Speaking to Alex Marvez of Rocky Mountain News in 2007, Jacqueline explained her reaction at the moment.
“Instead of freaking out, I looked down and saw my teeth on the mat. I just continued to wrestle instead of rolling out of the ring and saying I can’t continue.”
The damage caused by this incident led to Moore receiving a root canal and dental implants.
As a competitor for TNA, Moore participated in matches against the notable likes of Awesome Kong, Velvet Sky, and Angelina Love.
Before being moved backstage to work as an agent for TNA, Moore had one last shot at managing, as she managed a team made up of James Storm and Robert Roode.
Jacqueline would leave the company in 2009.
In an interview from 2015, Jackie explained how she felt TNA did not use her to her full potential but continued to return due to her love of wrestling.
Jacquline Moore’s Road to the WWE Hall of Fame
On March 14th, 2016, WWE announced that Jacqueline Moore would be a part of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
Standing as the only woman in her class, other inductees included Sting, The Godfather, Big Boss Man, The Fabulous Freebirds, Stan Hansen, and Snoop Dogg.
Inducted by longtime friends The Dudley Boyz, a video package summarized Jacqueline’s career’s influence on today’s women:
According to Alicia Fox, Jacqueline “recreated what a champion looks like. [She] opened up doors for women of all backgrounds, sizes, colors and shapes.”
As Lita spoke about the growth of the women’s division in WWE, she stated, “We started to see women, competitors, again, and Jacqueline was in the forefront of that.”
More recently, when asked what superstars inspired her, former Smackdown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair explained how she always gravitated towards Jacqueline.
“I thought she was amazing in the ring. She was beautiful, she was strong. She was powerful and it was really empowering to watch.”
Jacqueline Moore’s role as a trailblazer opened up doors for the women to embrace physical strength.
Her toughness, beauty, and ability to compete in and out of the ring all led her to deserve her rightful spot in the WWE Hall of Fame.
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