Moolah is basically Andre mixed with Thesz in terms of this tournament - WWF kayfabe states she had an undefeated 28 year title reign... unfortunately for Moolah, the kayfabe is bull and she not only had a number of defeats but she also had title defeats.
She also had long periods of inactivity where she did basically nothing. Her consistency through those later years were utterly terrible. And even before that things were terrible. Moolah didn't like Billy Wolfe and refused to work for him. And instead she worked for Jack Pfefer - who was known for exposing and nearly destroying the industry years earlier. And for launching Buddy Rogers... who was instrumental in the events leading to the creation of the WWE. Wolfe's death in the early 60's was a real blow to the industry. And the untimely death of his son 4 years later is what IMO killed the women's industry in the US.
So pretty much the first 10 years of Moolah's 28 year title reign is all that really mattered. What followed were several failed attempts to restart the industry in the US and a failed attempt to generate a boom period in Japan. By the 1970's the Japanese were the only people in the world making money off women's wrestling, while Moolah and the NWA title were afterthoughts.
For those first 10 years though, Moolah was a great champion. She defended the belt often as sanctioned by the NWA committee. And she was very charismatic. People liked her. She made Pfefer some serious money. He just did not have the pull in the NWA that the Wolfe's had. And I know that the reputation of women's wrestling suffered in the eyes of the NWA committee after the Burke/Wolfe fallout. So perhaps they thought "ah, fuck it" during Moolah's final years as champion.
I can see arguments for Victoria. Successful in not one big company but two. She wrestled during WWE's women's divisions "golden era" and TNA's extended boom period for their division. One thing is for certain... Victoria has fought and defeated a wider range of better talent than Moolah did during those first 10 years. With victories over Trish/Lita/Mickie James/Gail Kim/ODB/And Awesome Kong... the biggest names Moolah defeated were June Byers and Penny Banner. And both were past their primes. Otherwise Moolah didn't have competition on her level. And every time the NWA tried to build someone in the 60's it failed.
Longevity wise, Moolah was better and her legacy was undoubtedly better. And the first decade of her title reign was important. As was the first few years of her "WWE" career. Her feud with Richter is what recreated the boom in North America. Granted it fizzled out after a few years, but it was admirable that they managed to do what they did with women's wrestling not being a staple in the industry for over a decade prior. She was a better draw than Victoria during those early times too. So despite seeing the arguments for Victoria I don't think she's
quite good enough to knock Moolah out. Though I don't see her getting past the semi's. Those that are left are all heavy hitters.
I'm voting Moolah, albeit it should still be close.
