Long-retired GLOW wrestler Dee Booher passed on January 7 at the age of 73, WWE confirmed. Booher was best known in GLOW as Matilda the Hun and Queen Kong and was one of the more distinctive wrestlers in the promotion as a loud, rowdy monster heel.
Wrestling Veteran Dee Booher Passes Away at 73
Born Deanna Booher in August 6, 1948, she made her debut in her native Los Angeles in 1985. Prior to that, she wrestled on the high school team, won a state championship, and began promoting mud wrestling matches against men and women as Queen Kong.
It was because of her self-promoted mud wrestling matches that the California athletic board barred her from facing men. Which is weird since she wrestled on her high school’s team. Ever the performer, Dee Booher would have her first official match against a 700-pound bear. What an entry into the business!
At the time, Booher made an imposing figure at 6’3 and 300+ pounds. The following year, David Mclane would recruit her for his upstart Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Since the promotion was geared towards a heavy television product, Dee Booher was a perfect fit and even contributed the theme song for the show.
Film, Television, and Retirement
Wrestling as Matilda the Hun, she gained quick success as a distinctive heel for GLOW and its offshoot Powerful Women of Wrestling or POWW. This led to roles in a number of 80s and early 90s films ranging from comedies, exploitation, and action. Her most significant role was as Bearded Lady in Spaceballs in 1987.
Booher also made appearances in multiple popular sitcoms and comedy shows during this period such as Married…with Children, In Living Color, Mama’s Family, and Amen to name a few. We can’t forget she made an appearance in Aerosmith’s “Love in an Elevator” music video.
Dee Booher retired from wrestling in 1996, wrestling her last matches in the spring of 1995 against Awesome Annie for the Canadian WCCW promotion. Prior to her death she had been suffering from spinal issues but was able to sit down and reconnect with her fellow GLOW mates for the GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling documentary in 2012.
David Mclane, who discovered Booher for GLOW paid his respects to the 73-year-old on his Twitter:
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