Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling Review

Review: “Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling”

By Ashley Matthew

                “Lipstick & Dynamite” is a 2004 wrestling documentary that features many of the first lady wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling, dating back to the 1930’s.  These lady wrestlers including Penny Banner, Joyce Grable, Ella Waldek, Diamond Lil, The Fabulous Moolah and The Great Mae Young truly paved the way for the female wrestlers you see today in Shimmer, Ring of Honor, WWE and TNA. Throughout the documentary, we see a behind the scenes peek into the lives of these impressive and legendary athletes and background information on what these women went through before getting into the sport.

From this sports documentary, we see these inspirational women discuss their careers, how they survived in a male-dominated sport and how women’s wrestling has changed since their times. To go more into detail they discuss shady male wrestling promoters, the poor treatment, fixed matches and low pay. Despite all of that, the fans still came out to see these talented and entertaining females.

                One of the many things that was enjoyable from this documentary was seeing the ladies reunite with each other after such a long time. I particularly couldn’t help but smile when late WWE Hall of Famer, The Fabulous Moolah discussed how people can take their money with them in their caskets when they pass on. Considering, her gimmick had to do with a love for money; I enjoyed how that line stuck true to her wrestling character.  Another interesting aspect seen in the documentary was footage from the 1951 American crime film, “Racket Girls”, which tells the story of a gangster who uses women’s wrestling as a cover-up for his illegal activities. We also witness a spotlight on Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah’s appearances with the WWE that involved Eric Bischoff and 3 Minute Warning.

                This documentary strongly focuses on the ups and downs of the business even discussing betrayals, abuse and deaths occurring in professional wrestling. It also goes into detail about what many of these strong women are doing now in their lives. Another factor that really stood out in this documentary was the amazing music featured including a cover of Nick Lowe’s “Ragin’ Eyes”.

Watching this documentary, I think anyone can see why the female wrestlers of the past should definitely be respected for the hard work they contributed to the sport, how they changed the world of professional wrestling and became pioneers for every woman in the sport today.