Mae Young died on January 14, 2014, at age 90, closing out one of the longest and most groundbreaking careers in professional wrestling history.
Mae Young died on January 14, 2014, at the age of 90, in Columbia, South Carolina, where she had long resided. Her death marked the end of a career that had spanned parts of nine decades, from the late 1930s through cameo appearances with WWE in the 2000s and beyond, making her one of the oldest performers ever to appear in a wrestling ring.
Tributes poured in from across the wrestling world, including from WWE, which had featured Young prominently in a recurring, envelope-pushing comedic role alongside her real-life friend and rival The Fabulous Moolah during the Attitude Era and 2000s. WWE officials and performers praised her toughness, her willingness to take physical risks well into old age, and her historic role in keeping women's wrestling alive during decades when it was marginalized.
Her death was widely covered by wrestling media and mainstream outlets alike, reflecting her unusual crossover fame as a nonagenarian performer known for taking bumps that many wrestlers a fraction of her age would avoid. In recognition of her legacy, WWE later named the Mae Young Classic, a tournament showcasing women's wrestling talent, in her honor beginning in 2017, cementing her status as a foundational figure in the sport's history.