5 things you might not know about Mae Young

#4 She (probably) wrestled over a span of 9 decades

What a career!

While the exact start date of Mae Young’s professional wrestling career is disputed, one thing Young can probably boast with quite a considerable amount of certainty is being the holder of wrestling’s longest in-ring career.

Young always claimed that her first professional match was in 1939, which means she quite possibly wrestled in 9 different decades. Wrestling historians have thrown doubts on this, however, and date the start of her career to either 1940 or 1941.

Whether it's 8 or 9 decades, you have to admit that this goes far beyond impressive. This year at Wrestlemania, we said goodbye to the career of Mark Calloway, A.K.A The Undertaker. And while the Deadman did have a consistently impressive career spanning four decades, Young almost doubled it.

Of course, one could argue that the amount of wrestling performed by Young in the latter part of her career was pretty minimal. Dave Meltzer, for example, questions how much you can call Mae Young’s bout in 2010 against Lay-Cool a serious wrestling match.

But while we have to acknowledge the large periods of inactivity, one must also appreciate the many noteworthy appearances she made for the WWF during its Attitude Era programming. Being driven through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley at the age of 70 is one such example of her incredible dedication to the wrestling industry.

While experts will continue to argue over just how long a career Mae Young enjoyed, the fact remains that the Young name continued to remain relevant for as long as anyone today can claim to remember.