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
(WCW) and
World Wrestling
Entertainment (WWE).
Greenwald began her professional wrestling career in WCW, where she
also worked as a trainer. In WWE, Greenwald debuted as one of
The Holly Cousins, an alliance of
storyline cousins. She was later aligned with
The Hurricane. In a
Hair
versus Title match at
WrestleMania
XX in March 2004, Greenwald had her head shaved as a result of
losing a match against
Victoria.
Greenwald is also a
two
time Women's Champion
and one of the few women to hold a male title in WWE, holding the
Hardcore Championship
once.
Aside from
professional wrestling, Greenwald is heavily involved in church
activities, spends her time doing missions work in Guatemala
, and volunteers with a variety of
charities.
Early life
Growing up, Greenwald had no plans to be a wrestler, but she claims
to have wanted to be on
American
Gladiators for a while. 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 Forest Lake Area High School in 1996, 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
curiosity, she did.
Professional wrestling 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
Starla Saxton, unsuccessfully challenging
Jacqueline for the
WWF Women's Championship on an
October 1998 episode of
Sunday Night
Heat and on an episode of the U.K. version of "Shotgun."
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 Greenwald and Madusa to
train his then-girlfriend Gorgeous George in real life, highlights
of which were shown on WCW television. As part of the storyline,
this
villainous
alliance, 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 betrayed
Miss Madness by firing her from Team Madness along with Madusa
after a championship loss. She then became Mona, a
fan favorite, who wrestled in
a blue cocktail dress and barefoot. 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. WCW released
Greenwald, however, in August 2000 in a cost-cutting move.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
Lady Ophelia (2000)
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. In 2000, she
reappeared in the World Wrestling Federation under the Lady Ophelia
gimmick,
wrestling
dark
matches and valeting for William Regal.
The Holly Cousins (2000–2001)
Greenwald, however, had her first major run in the company as Molly
Holly, where she joined her on-screen 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). Greenwald admits that Stratus
was one of her favorite people with whom to work. 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. In a
match between Crash Holly and
Dean
Malenko, Molly distracted the referee by standing on the ring
apron, interfering on Crash's behalf. Malenko then forcefully
kissed Molly, annoying her, who later helped out Crash by debuting
her
Molly-Go-Round finisher on Malenko and enabling Crash
to win. In 2001, Molly formed an on-screen relationship with
Spike Dudley, in the midst of their
storyline rivalry between her cousins and Spike's brothers
(
The Dudley Boyz). In interviews in
subsequent years, Greenwald recalled the "relationship" with Spike
Dudley as the "best time of her career." A subsequent fallout
between her and Crash even led to an intergender singles match,
with Molly pinning Crash.
Alliance with The Hurricane and Women's Champion
(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.
After splitting up with The Hurricane in April 2002, she returned
to her previous ring name, Molly Holly. Upon her return to the
newly renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), she drastically
changed her look by shortening her trademark
blonde hair and darkening it to
autumn
brown. Greenwald's reasoning behind
this was that it fit her new character better. Greenwald adopted a
self-righteous prude character, who was 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 in June 2002. During
the feud,
Jerry Lawler also began to
poke fun at Greenwald, which Greenwald later revealed genuinely
hurt her feelings. Greenwald, however, initially did not mind the
storyline when
Stephanie McMahon
approached her with the idea. The 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 in September.
Greenwald earned her second
Women's Championship by defeating
Gail Kim on
Raw on July 28, 2003.
Kim later became a villain and joined 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, sparking a feud with Lita.
This feud led to a match against Lita at
Survivor Series for the Women's
title, which Greenwald retained.
Sporadic appearances and departure (2004–2005)
Greenwald lost her championship to Victoria in a Four-Way
Elimination match on February 23, 2004. The feud led to a
Hair
versus Title match at
WrestleMania
XX in March 2004, which Greenwald lost, 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 because she wanted to do something
shocking for WrestleMania. Over the next few months, in storyline,
she desperately tried to disguise her bald head using loose-fitting
wigs. 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 in 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, Greenwald wore 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, Victoria, 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 become a villain, but that is not the
direct cause of her leaving the company. Greenwald, however, stated
that all of the aforementioned reasons are incorrect, but she would
like to keep the real reason she left WWE private. She 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.
Occasional appearances
Since leaving WWE in April 2005, Greenwald has made occasional
appearances with the company. On December 2007, at the
Raw 15th Anniversary, she appeared in a backstage
segment with
William Regal,
Mickie James and
Hornswoggle.
She was in attendance at the 2008 WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony in Orlando,
Florida
and was backstage at WrestleMania XXIV at the Citrus Bowl
the next night. On the March 31 edition of
Raw she returned with many other past wrestlers to appauld
Ric Flair and his career. On April 5, 2009, at
WrestleMania XXV, Molly made a one night return to WWE, competing
in the 25 Diva
Battle Royal to crown
Miss Wrestlemania, in her "Holly cousin" attire. She outlasted most
of the other divas before being eliminated by
Beth Phoenix when she and Victoria were the
last two past divas standing.
Independent circuit
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.
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 (Ann Brookstone),
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 an 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 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 (non-wrestling) appearances at several independent
wrestling events.
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.
Nora returned to several events as guest referee or for autograph
signings.
She first refereed an intergender match
between Kassy Summers and Seito Hayashi for BAW Championship
Wrestling on July 13, 2007 in McMinnville, Oregon
, then was guest referee in a match between
Ann-Thraxx and TNA's Christy Hemme for
Heavy on Wrestling in Superior,
Wisconsin
on July 21. She appeared with Billy Kidman at an autograph signing during
Family Fun Day in her hometown of Linwood
Township
on September 8, one day after celebrating her 30th
birthday. She made a brief appearance on the
Raw 15th
Anniversary Show on December 10, 2007 in a backstage segment.
Greenwald is one of the stars of the wrestling documentary,
Bloodstained
Memoirs.
Personal life
Greenwald was born to parents Rick and Bonnie Greenwald. She has
two brothers, Luke who lives in Utah and Chancey who is a
dental hygienist.
In 2002, Greenwald competed on a special WWF superstars edition of
Fear Factor, where she was
eliminated in the second round. She won $10,000 for
Prison Fellowship
Ministries. 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 the education fund of the daughter of
Mike Lockwood, her onetime on-screen cousin,
after his death.
After leaving the wrestling business, Greenwald has made sporadic
wrestling appearances, acts as a
landlady
with regards to her property holdings, invests in real estate, and
performs
charity work.
On
December 16, 2006, Nora went to Guatemala for several months to learn Spanish and do missions
work. In addition, she took public speaking classes and
earned a license in massage therapy. Greenwald now works for
Minnesota Teen Challenge, a one-year residential drug and alcohol
rehabilitation program. She joined the program because at least ten
of her friends have died because of drug overdoses. Greenwald, a
born again Christian, ministers
to the women in the program. In January 2009, Greenwald
participated in
The Polar Bear
Plunge, where she voluntarily submerged herself in freezing
water to raise money for the
Special
Olympics Minnesota. She has also been a bus aide for special
needs children and worked with recovering addicts at
Teen Challenge.
In wrestling
Championships and accomplishments
- *NDW Women's Championship (1 time)
- World Professional Wrestling Federation
- *WPWF Women's Championship (1 time)
- *WWF Hardcore
Championship (1
time)
- *WWE Women's
Championship (2
times)
Luchas de Apuestas
Footnotes
External links
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