Molly Holly

Nora Greenwald
Born	(1977-09-07) September 7, 1977 Forest Lake, Minnesota
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Lady Ophelia Ophelia Mighty Molly Miss Madness Molly Molly Holly Mona Starla Saxton Nora Greenwald
Billed height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Billed weight
Billed from	Mobile, Alabama
Trained by	Dave Finlay Tim Mahoney Dean Malenko Tracy Smothers WCW Power Plant Jeff Bradley
Debut	August 2 1997

Noreen "Nora" Kristina Greenwald (born September 7 1977), better known by her ring name, Molly Holly, is an inactive American professional wrestler. Greenwald is best known for her appearances with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Greenwald is a 2-time WWE Women's Champion and one of the few women to hold a male title in WWE, holding the WWE Hardcore Championship on one occasion. Moreover, while working in WCW, she trained many of the female wrestlers at the WCW Power Plant. Aside from professional wrestling, Greenwald is heavily involved in church activities and spends her time doing missions work in Guatemala.

Early life

Also as a child, Nora had several rebellious periods, including throwing a party with beer and smoking at the age of 12. She later became a Christian at the age of 14. Growing up, she had no plans to be a wrestler, but she did want to be on American Gladiators for awhile. She trained to be a powerlifter from age 14 to age 18, and at age 14, she broke the Minnesota state powerlifting record (75 pounds) for her age group by lifting 100 pounds. She also trained as a gymnast. Later, she began wrestling for fun, not because she "wanted to be on TV." As soon as she graduated high school, Nora left home with $200 and a '65 Oldsmobile, which she drove from Minnesota to Florida. Before training as a wrestler, Greenwald was employed at a Subway restaurant and as a telemarketer for Special Data Processing. While working at Subway, it was suggested to Nora that she try out for wrestling, and out of curiousity, she did.

Career

Early career

Greenwald began training as a wrestler under Dean Malenko in Tampa, Florida in 1997. She debuted on August 2 1997 in the World Professional Wrestling Federation (WPWF) under the ring name Starla Saxton. Greenwald wrestled on the independent circuit throughout 1997 and 1998, winning two championships. On August 21, 1998 she defeated Malia Hosaka to win the New Dimension Wrestling Women's Title, but lost it one day later back to Hosaka.

She appeared with both World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, unsuccessfully challenging Jacqueline for the WWF Women's Championship on an October 1998 episode of WWF Sunday Night HEAT. In late 1999, she briefly feuded with Brandi Alexander while wrestling in the Florida independent circuit.

World Championship Wrestling (1999-2000)

She debuted in WCW as Miss Madness, one of Randy Savage's valets along with Gorgeous George and Madusa. Savage asked her and Madusa to train his then-girlfriend Gorgeous George in real life, highlights of this were shown on WCW TV. This heel group, called Team Madness, would interfere in matches for the benefit of Savage. Behind the scenes, Nora and Madusa trained the other women of WCW at the WCW Power Plant. Eventually, Savage turned on her and she became Mona, a face, who wrestled barefoot in a blue dress. She embarked on mini-feuds with Madusa, Little Jeannie, and Asya. Independent female wrestlers such as Dee Dee Venturi and Brandi Alexander were also brought in to wrestle Mona. However, WCW released Greenwald in August 2000 in a cost-cutting move.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Upon signing a contract with the World Wrestling Federation, she was sent to their training ground in Memphis Championship Wrestling to work off ring-rust. She became the manager of William Regal and was known as Lady Ophelia. While there, she squared off against The Kat, Bobcat, and Victoria.

2000-2001

In 2000, she reappeared in the World Wrestling Federation under the Lady Ophelia gimmick, wrestling dark matches and valeting for William Regal. However, Greenwald would have her first major run in the company as Molly Holly, where she would join her "cousins" Bob Holly and Crash Holly. At the time, The Holly Cousins were involved in a feud with T & A (Test, Albert, and manager Trish Stratus). Molly's arrival on the November 6 2000 edition of RAW started a short feud with Stratus, leading to her first televised victory over Stratus in a Six-Person Intergender Tag Team Match at the Survivor Series 2000. In 2001, Molly formed a kayfabe relationship with Spike Dudley, in the midst of the feud between her "cousins" (The Hollys) and Spike's "brothers" (The Dudley Boyz). This relationship added more friction to the feud. In interviews in subsequent years, Greenwald recalled the "relationship" with Spike Dudley as the "best time of her career."

2002-2003

In September 2001, Molly dumped Spike to become Mighty Molly, the superhero sidekick of The Hurricane. Molly, however, eventually left The Hurricane to become a full-time solo wrestler, taking his Hardcore Championship after whacking him with a frying pan at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002 in Toronto. She promptly lost it to Christian an hour later after getting a door slammed in her face. On March 21, 2002, Brock Lesnar clotheslined her, thus puting her out of action for a few weeks.

After splitting up with The Hurricane, returned on the April 1, 2002 edition of RAW by attacking Trish Stratus after a match. Greenwald returned to her previous ring name, Molly Holly. She drastically changed her look by shortening her trademark blonde hair and darkening it to autumn brown. Greenwald's reasoning behind this was that her hair was "fried" from years of bleaching it blonde, and it fit her new character better. Greenwald adopted a self-righteous prude gimmick, similar to that of the Right to Censor faction, as she was kayfabe appalled by the other WWE Divas continually using their "assets" and degrading themselves. During this gimmick, she would often refer to herself as being "pure and wholesome." This led to a feud with the then-Women's Champion Trish Stratus, which culminated in her winning the championship at King of the Ring 2002 in June.

Behind the scenes, writing team member Stephanie McMahon asked Greenwald if it would be OK for Trish Stratus to tell a series of jokes regarding her buttocks. Greenwald found the script to be amusing and gave her approval for it. Stratus started to poke fun at Molly by saying that she had a large buttocks, including a line in which she compared it to an amphitheatre. Greenwald felt disheartened after reviewing a tape of her segments the next day because Jerry Lawler was constantly poking fun at the size of her buttocks and how fat she supposedly was during her match the previous night. During the feud, WWE show writers encouraged other wrestlers, fans and Lawler to poke fun at Greenwald's looks - more specifically, her sizable backside. Greenwald noted that it was hard for her to be outside the ring in her matches because fans would make rude comments regarding her phyisque. Greenwald later revealed that her character's depiction hurt her feelings. "As a girl, you don't want people to tell you you're ugly. I'd take those feelings back to the hotel with me and back to my home with me. It was difficult." Lawler, who would continue to poke fun at Greenwald's large hips and buttocks, told her that he received a lot hate mail due to his comments, which left him unsure about continuing the remarks. The gimmick would be taken a step further as opposing wrestlers would often de-pants Molly to expose her underwear and buttocks to the audience. Greenwald would purposely stumble around the ring in a state of shock and embarrassment while she feverishly attempted to pull her pants back up. Greenwald often adorned large, white-colored, cotton "granny panties" in matches in which she was going to be depantsed as this style of underwear completely covered up her buttocks. Greenwald later said that it was her idea to do the shtick and that she greatly enjoyed it. Greenwald also stated that it was the only facet of the prude gimmick in which she enjoyed doing. The pantsing routine would be a comedy staple at house shows for the rest of 2002 after which it was soon phased out.

Her feud with Stratus continued for several months, and Molly later brought in Victoria as an enforcer to help deal with Trish. She would finally drop the title back to Stratus at Unforgiven 2002 in September 2002. Greenwald earned her second WWE Women's Championship by defeating Gail Kim on RAW on July 28 2003. Kim would later turn heel and join Greenwald in her feud with Stratus. During an attack on Stratus, Lita made her return, helping Trish fend off her attackers. Greenwald and Kim then lost a tag team match to Lita and Trish at Unforgiven 2003, sparking a feud with Lita. This led to a match against Lita at Survivor Series 2003 for the Women's title, which Greenwald retained.

2004-2005

Greenwald lost her championship to Victoria in a Fatal 4-Way Match 0n February 23 2004. She would feud vehemently with Victoria for the next few months, believing she had been robbed of her title. The feud led to a Hair vs Title match at WrestleMania XX in March 2004, which Greenwald lost when she tried to execute Victoria's Widow's Peak. The move was reversed, resulting in Greenwald having her head shaved. Greenwald maintains that it was her idea to have her head shaved, suggesting the idea to Vince McMahon months before the match occurred. Over the next few months, she would desperately try to disguise her bald head using loose-fitting wigs, a gimmick that Kurt Angle had also used two years prior. Later in 2004, she feuded with Stacy Keibler, with Keibler pinning Holly on three consecutive occasions, the last one occurring in a number one contender's match.

Greenwald's final WWE pay-per-view appearance occurred at Taboo Tuesday 2004 as she appeared in the Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal along with many other WWE Divas. The fans voted online for the Divas to wear schoolgirl uniforms, as opposed to French maid or Nurse outfits. In contrast to the other girls who wore sexy schoolgirl uniforms with thongs on underneath their skirts, Greenwald decided to go retro with her wardrobe by wearing a demure 1980s-style schoolgirl uniform with large pink panties underneath. Greenwald failed to win the match when Stratus eliminated her by tossing her over the top rope for the win. Greenwald's efforts in subsequent attempts to regain the title failed. Due to several wrestlers from the company's women's division being released in late 2004 and the introduction of the RAW Diva Search program, Greenwald was mostly left off television, only occasionally appearing on Sunday Night Heat and RAW in losing efforts to the likes of Lita, Trish Stratus, and Christy Hemme.

She left WWE and a full-time wrestling career in April 2005. Reportedly, she was beginning to become disenchanted with WWE, who began to focus on looks rather than wrestling ability. She also hated that her character had turned heel, but that is not the direct cause of her leaving the company. The real reason why she left was when Greenwald went in for a check-up, a lump was found in her breast. She was afraid it was something serious, but it was not cancerous. She had it removed and decided to take a break from WWE and spend some time with her family and enjoy life. Vince McMahon is leaving the doors open for her to return if she wants to in the future.

Independent circuit

Since leaving WWE and the release of her DVD, Greenwald has made several appearances at various independent shows across the country.

2005-2006

On November 20, 2005, Greenwald made her first public appearance since her WWE departure at Northern IMPACT Wrestling's first ever card at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in her hometown of Forest Lake, Minnesota. She signed autographs and sold copies of her DVD and was even challenged by the promotion's Undisputed Champion "The Answer" Al B.C. and his manager the "C.E.O.". She obviously turned down the challenge.

On January 8 2006 in Amery, Wisconsin, Greenwald made her first in-ring appearance in nine months, appearing with Northern IMPACT Wrestling, a local Minnesota/Wisconsin wrestling promotion. In addition to refereeing a match between Rain and Ann-Thraxx, Greenwald counted the pin for the main event match between Team Revolution and Team Invasion. She went on to referee an Impact Zone Wrestling match on February 14 2006 in Tempe, Arizona and a XJAM Wrestling match on February 16 2006 in Minot, North Dakota, where she challenged Ann-Thraxx to wrestle her, with Ann-Thraxx refusing.

On April 1 2006, Greenwald attended the 2006 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Chicago, Illinois with her friend, SmackDown! referee Charles Robinson. On April 8 2006, Greenwald appeared at the German Stampede Wrestling event International Impact III in Olsberg, Germany, commentating on a match along with former Pro Wrestling Illustrated senior editor Bill Apter and refereeing a women's match. In subsequent months, she made appearances at several independent wrestling events.

In the fall of 2006, Greenwald and fellow former WWE Diva Lisa Moretti went on a road trip in celebration of Trish Stratus' retirement and wedding called the Wedding Tour Wrestling Road Trip, wrestling at independent shows on the drive from Minneapolis to Toronto.

On October 7 2006, Greenwald returned to in-ring action for the first time since April 2005 by defeating Jonny Fairplay after a quick low blow and pinfall in a WCWA event. The match lasted approximately less than 30 seconds. On November 4 2006, Greenwald made a brief surprise appearance at the World Series of Wrestling in West St. Paul, Minnesota, when at the conclusion of the 8-man elimination main event after both referees were knocked out, she ran in and counted the pinfall for Arik Cannon over John Johnson. Afterwards, she gave the "C.E.O." of Northstar Premier Wrestling a Stone Cold Stunner after he shoved her.

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• Molly-Go-Round
• Twin City Twister (Deathlock surfboard pin) - in WCW
• Double wristlock northern lights suplex
• Grounded spinning arm wringer
• Handspring back elbow smash
• Frankensteiner
• Missile dropkick
• Snap suplex
• Rolling neck snap
• Front flip neckbreaker
• Fujiwara armbar
• Modified camel clutch
• Indian deathlock
• Bow and arrow hold
• Swinging neckbreaker

• Double team signature moves

• Double DDT - with Gail Kim

• Wrestlers trained by Nora Greenwald

Gorgeous George Stacy Keibler Trish Stratus Sharmell Sullivan

Victoria Torrie Wilson Tygress Spice

Leia Meow Midajah Midnight Daffney

• Wrestlers managed by Nora Greenwald

Spike Dudley Hardcore Holly Gail Kim

The Hurricane Crash Holly William Regal

Championships and accomplishments

• New Dimension Wrestling

• NDW Women's Championship (1 time)

• World Professional Wrestling Federation

• WPWF Women's Championship (1 time)

• World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

• WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
• WWE Women's Championship (2 times)

Personal life

Due to her Christian beliefs, Greenwald is a virgin and plans to remain one until marriage.

In 2002, Greenwald competed on a special WWF superstars edition of Fear Factor, where she was eliminated in the second round. She managed to win $10,000 for Prison Fellowship Ministries.

After leaving the wrestling business, Greenwald began to help her friend out with construction projects. In addition to her sporadic wrestling appearances, Greenwald also acts as a landlady with regards to her property holdings, invests in real estate, and performs charity work. In addition, she took public speaking classes and earned a licence in message therapy.

In August 2005, she released an autobiographical DVD entitled "Nora Greenwald: Shootin' the Shi Crap" that detailed the reasons behind her departure. A portion of the profits from the sale of the DVD went to Mike Lockwood's (Crash Holly) daughter's education fund, after his death.

Missions work

On December 16, 2006, Nora returned to Antigua, Guatemala for a four month stay to learn Spanish and do missions work. She went there the year before with a group of friends from a church in Florida to help build a house for refugees. While in Guatemala, she stopped by a RAW houseshow to meet with friends. She returned home on April 11 2007.

Afterwards, she stated that she had no plans to return to wrestling anytime soon, but said "never say never in this business."

References

• Nora Greenwald (2005). Shootin' the Shi Crap (DVD).
• Mike Roe (August 14, 2005). "DVD review: Shootin' the Shi Crap with Nora Greenwald". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• James Walsh and Brendon Brooks (February 9, 2006). ""Mighty Molly Holly" Nora Greenwald". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Jimmy Van (February 13, 2006). "Nora 'Molly Holly' Greenwald Interview". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Girls With Guns (March 2006). "From Hair to Eternity...The Molly Holly Interview". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Andrea Bailey of Cambridge Times (September 26, 2006). "Holly survives industry's beatings". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Boles Creek Wrestling website (March 9, 2007). "BCW stars take unnecessary jabs at "Molly Holly"". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Nora-World.org - Official Site
• Greenwald's Garage™ (secondary website, name trademarked by Greenwald)
• WWE alumni profile
• Template:Myspace