Miceli pioneered in two sports

Debrah “Madusa” Miceli’s journeys into the male-dominated worlds of professional
wrestling and monster truck driving have blazed a trail for more to follow, as she has
stood out in both sports.
Miceli grew up in Minnesota, which was a hotbed for breeding pro wrestling favorites of
the 1980s and 1990s. She wrote in her 2023 biography, “The Woman who Would Be
King: The Madusa Story” that she would often spend time with her grandmother, who
helped spark her interests in motorcycles and machines overall.
After trying her hand at modeling, she was studying to become a nurse when she
dropped out to begin training as a pro wrestler in 1980. By 1987, she was the women’s
champion of Verne Gagne’s Minneapolis-based AWA.
Miceli broke her initial glass ceiling by being the first woman ever to be named Rookie
of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Her wrestling career took her to what is now
known as World Wrestling Entertainment, the former National Wrestling Alliance that
became the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling and various promotions in
Japan.
Though active with those companies and performing in a similar style to today’s
women’s wrestling, promoters and fans did not show the female performers the same
level of respect as today.
“It's so good to see that now that we have women that can carry a match and have a
storyline, that now when you have a card, it's not five men's matches and only one
woman's match,” Miceli told the Express during a recent, exclusive interview in
Waterloo.” I'm very excited we have women's wrestlers now that are finally have million-
dollar contracts.”
Micelli was in Waterloo to accept the Tragos-Thesz Hall of Fame’s Lou Thesz Award,
presented to individuals in the professional wrestling industry who have used their skills
in the realm of public service.
Female performers like Miceli and her contemporaries would often put in a great deal of
work for less money. Miceli herself admits that most fans considered the women’s
match on the card to be the ideal time for a bathroom break.
Miceli continues to work with WWE on a “Legends Contract,” a way to keep past stars
involved with the company as ambassadors and other non-wrestling performance roles.
She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 – many years after she threw the
company’s women’s title in the trash on WCW television.
When the camera was off, she immediately pulled it out of the trash can and tried to
return it to McMahon, whom she considered the rightful owner.
“Vince didn't want anything to do with me right after that,” Miceli said. “I was blackballed
probably for, what, 15,20, years, whatever. So when I got the call (for the Hall of Fame) I
was actually racing, and I was in a I was in a drivers’ meeting, and I thought it was a
prank.”
She kept hanging up until she received a text telling her to answer. The call was
legitimate and it was McMahon’s request for her to be included in the Hall of Fame.
“My first thing was, ‘Does Vince know you're asking?’ And he's like, ‘Vince said, yes, ask
her. It's the past,’” she explained. “It was fun walking back into that. I was very scared,
honestly, because I didn't know, because I was thinking old style wrestling like, how are
they going to treat me? Oh, they're going to think I'm disrespectful because I threw the
title in the trash.”
She offered the title back to McMahon at the Hall of Fame.
“I said, ‘Sir, this is yours.’ He goes, You know what? You know what Alundra (her
character name in WWE), you keep the belt.’ I'm like, ‘Okay, it's history.’ He goes, ‘I may
regret it, but you keep it.’”
The two had a good rapport from that point forward.
Miceli had worked for WCW prior to her WWE stint, and went back when McMahon was
facing scandals with the Internal Revenue Service and steroids. He was trying to save
money and cut the women’s division in the mid-1990s to try to save money as he fought
the federal government.
She had been known as Madusa in WCW and other wrestling territories/promotions for
years before being redubbed “Alundra Blaze” in WWE. However, she had made the
smart move of filing a trademark for the name Madusa early on. As a wrestling teacher
herself, she has encouraged students to do the same to protect their brand.
Her stint in the monster truck world began when she was trained by Grave Digger’s
Dennis Anderson. She spent around 20 years with Monster Jam and was its champion.
Miceli was also the first woman to drive the first, legendary monster truck, Bigfoot.
“I was there right alongside of him, beat him at the World Finals,” Miceli said. “My
teacher and I beat him.”
Miceli’s success as a driver, a wrestler and now an author have brought her such a level
of fame, her work has been able to elevate other women in activities with which they
have not traditionally been associated.
“It was just crazy that I worked for two iconic men-dominated sports and overcame all
this adversity and set a precedent and paved the way for the women, because we didn't
have any women drivers,” she said. “It was zero when I got into Monster Jam, and look
at it now. So to me, that's rewarding. If anything, I don't need a Hall of Fame, whatever.
To me, if I made a difference, that's, that's what's important.”