"[9] I learned to wrestle amateur in Sand Springs so I never heard of women professional wrestlers but one day I heard in tulsa paper there was going to be a women's world championship match come to town of Oklahoma so I immediately got at home with my brother and I shout hey let's you and I go over cause I am going to challenge that champion named Mildred Burke, so I went and there was a promoter (Billy Wolfe) at that time and I told him I want to challenge the world's champion Mildred Burke, he said you can't do that cause you never wrestle a wrestling match, I said yeah but I beat her, I can beat her so the only one who was Burke's adversary at the time, he broke over that there was only two other girl wrestlers in the whole world that was Gladys Gillem and a girl with the name of Elvira Snodgrass so I asked the wrestling coach in Sand Springs and I said I want to try out to be a professional wrestler so it brought Kill'em Guillem over and he put me in one corner Gladys in another so he snailed the bell and I run over her taking her down like a bull and beat her in just seconds, then Billy put me against Elvira Snodgrass and I also beat her in seconds, so then Billy says to me well he says I think I may make a girl wrestler of you.

While she always claimed to have started in 1939, at 16, historians researching have been unable to find any records of her wrestling prior to 1941, when she turned 18 and went on tour with Billy Wolfe's troupe.

[5] She was wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 7, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, which led to the United States entering World War II.

[5] During the war, Young helped women take advantage of the fact that the men were fighting overseas by expanding their role in the sport.

Five years later in September 1956, she participated in the battle royal to determine the new NWA World Women's Champion after June Byers was stripped of the title, but the championship was won by Young's friend The Fabulous Moolah.

On June 21, 1996, she teamed with Fabulous Moolah at LIWA Golden Girls Extravaganza event in Las Vegas where they wrestled Liz Chase and Lori Lynn to a no contest.

Before her official recognition by WWE fans, she made a cameo appearance being shown by the camera along with The Fabulous Moolah, Freddie Blassie, Lou Albano, and Nikolai Volkoff in the crowd of the WrestleMania X event on March 20, 1994.

[15] Young made her official debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on the September 9, 1999, episode of SmackDown!, where she was introduced with The Fabulous Moolah and later was attacked by Jeff Jarrett being put into the figure-four leglock.

[19] At the end of 1999 and through 2000, Mae developed a storyline along with "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry where she started dating him,[4] which included a kayfabe pregnancy and attacks by The Dudley Boyz, specifically Bubba Ray Dudley who performed powerbombs on Young through tables twice in consecutive episodes of Raw – the first being in the ring and the second, in which Young was originally reliant on a wheelchair, being off the entryway stage as what has been described as the most notorious powerbomb in WWE history.

[26] In 2004, Mae Young was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum as part of their Lady wrestler category class of that year.

[28] On March 23, 2005, Moolah and Mae Young appeared on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show to promote their 2005 documentary in which they starred about their 1950s heyday along with several other lady wrestlers of their era.

[31] At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007, Mae Young appeared during a backstage segment along with several other WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers.

[38] At WrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009, Mae Young appeared as the special guest time keeper for the 25-Diva battle royal, which was won by Santina Marella.

[41] During the May 2 episode of Raw, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler mockingly presented Mae as a "birthday gift" to The Rock, who responded by kissing Young.

[45] On the December 31 episode of Raw, Mae Young was warming up for her match with then-Divas Champion Eve Torres and began experiencing stomach cramps as it was later determined that she was once again pregnant and gave birth to "Baby New Year", played by Hornswoggle.

[46] In her last on-screen appearance on the March 4, 2013, episode of Old School Raw, Mae Young's 90th birthday celebration was interrupted by CM Punk.

[21][49] Among her finishing and signature moves included the elbow drop[1][3] and the bronco buster, in which she used to perform the famous D-Generation X crotch chop taunt.

[26][28] Young is also remembered for taking bumps, one of her most famous spots was being powerbombed through a table off the wrestling arena stage by Bubba Ray Dudley at the age of 77.

[50] Another famous bump of hers was when she was attacked along with The Fabulous Moolah by 3-Minute Warning, where she was scoop slammed and diving splashed by Rosey and Jamal at the age of 79.

[52][non-primary source needed][53] In 2007, Mae Young appeared on Jakks Pacific WWE Classic Superstars Series 18.

[54] In November 2020, a Mae Young action figure was included in the Mattel WWE Elite 81 series as a rare exclusive collector's one.

[59][60][61] Young was entombed at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Columbia, South Carolina, the same cemetery where her longtime friend The Fabulous Moolah also rests.

[66][67][68] On December 7, 1941, Mae was wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States entered World War II.

Her longevity in sports entertainment may never be matched, and I will forever be grateful for all of her contributions to the industry.”[70] WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah stated: “Mae Young, she's tough.

Johnnie Mae Young is universally considered to be the baddest of the bad when it comes to women's wrestling.”[70] Pro wrestling legend “Classy” Freddie Blassie said that: “Mae could kick the hell out of 67% of the men.”[74] In the book Sisterhood of The Squared Circle by Pat Laprade and Dan Murphy, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer stated, "There is little doubt she was among the toughest of any of the women wrestlers who were in the so-called golden age in the ’40s and early ’50s.

WWE praised for her contributions to the wrestling business by Stephanie McMahon, the late Fabulous Moolah, Ivory, Beth Phoenix and Pat Patterson.

[83] On April 1, 2017, WWE announced that a women's tournament would be taking place in the summer of 2017 at a press conference during the WrestleMania 33 weekend and that there were going to be a total of 32 wrestlers competing.