Cora Livingston World Champion Female Wrestler

Cora Livingston was exceptional as a female wrestler. She stood 5'2" in her stocking feet and never weighed more than 135 pounds. When she captured the title as world champion female wrestler, in 1914, wrestling for women was very much an outlaw sport. Cora was trained in the scientific methods of her sport but she was never allowed to demonstrate these skills outside of carnivals, vaudeville shows, and burlesque features. Perhaps the most well known venue that promoted female wrestling was William Hammerstein's Roof Garden in New York City. Cora was booked her for a time and wrestled all comers each time she took the mat. Her manager offered as much as $25 to any woman who could remain in the ring with Livingston for up to 10 minutes. Later Cora wrestled men in exceptional locales that permitted mixed sex wrestling events.