Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Cora Svonsteckik, professionally known as Cora Combs, one of the top female professional wrestlers from the Mid-South region in the 1950s and 1960s passed away over Sunday 6/21 in Nashville following a battle with pneumonia.
Combs, 92, was likely the last surviving member of women's professional wrestling from that era who worked for the Billy Wolfe troupe of female competitors. Combs was born in 1923 in Hazard, Kentucky and came from a family of coal miners. Early in life, she was a standout High School athlete, particularly in track for the high jump. While she made her name as a professional wrestler, Combs initially wanted to become a country music star and fronted a band titled "The Trailblazers" in Nashville.
It was in Nashville that she, in her mid-20s, attended a wrestling card featuring top female attraction and champion Mildred Burke and Combs immediately became interested in the business. She was introduced to Wolfe, the top female wrestling promoter of the era and the rest was history. Combs debuted in 1945 and wrestled through the mid 1980s.
Combs, known for her bright wrestling outfits and for always being well dressed, worked as a regular for Wolfe until he and his ex-wife Mildred Burke split. Combs followed Burke, who opened her own troupe of female talents, World Women's Wrestling Association. The move led to Combs becoming a greater featured attraction and she toured all over the world during that era, sometimes billed as the United States Women's Wrestling champion, working opposite the stars of that time frame like Burke, June Byers, Mae Young, Ida Mae Martinez, Lorraine Johnson and Gladys "Kill 'em" Gillem.
Combs toured the globe, including Africa, Cuba, Japan and Mexico during a time period where the international travel was not as easy as it is today. Combs was often booked as the veteran of the females and would work backstage in a role that today would be considered a producer or road agent on those tours.
In 1972, Combs became the answer to a trivia question as she wrestled Princess Ti Ti in the first female wrestling match officially commissioned in New York State.
Combs' daughter Debbie broke into the business in the 1970s with Cora often working against her under a mask as Lady Satan. The two would later tag in what was likely the first mother/daughter tag team combination. Later in life, they would open a wrestling school together.
Combs had been retired and living in Nashville in recent years.
In 2007, she was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Amsterdam, NY and was a regular at the Cauliflower Alley Club and other reunions.
On behalf of everyone associated with PWInsider.com, we'd like to express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Cora Combs.
Thanks to Dave Whitaker.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
