Part 28 of an in depth look at the growth of women’s wrestling, from noted ring historian The Phantom of the Ring.

THE PHANTOM OF THE RING

Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms, Part 28

Legends of the Game, Part 2

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In this part we feature more of the women who helped shape the game. Some were superstars in their day, while others helped lay the groundwork for the superstars. Here are their stories.

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Cora Combs (Born Beulah Svonsteckik in Hazard, Kentucky, on March 17, 1923) is one of the superstars of the women’s game. In high school she starred on the women’s track team, specializing in the high jump. Coming from a family of coal miners, Cora knew that opportunities were limited, so upon graduation, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to try her hand at singing at the Grand Ole Opry. She was good enough at the vocals to be invited to join a country western group called the Trail Riders.

But it was her time away from singing that shaped Cora’s future. In her time off she attended the wrestling matches at the Nashville Hippodrome and became hooked with what she saw, especially when she got to see Mildred Burke wrestle. She was able to get backstage one night and there she met promoter Nick Gulas. She asked him how to get into the business. Gulas, for his part, introduced her to Billy Wolfe. Cora, realizing she was cut out for the mat, put her musical ambitions on permanent hold and traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for training.

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When Wolfe and Burke split in the early 50s, Cora cast her lot with Burke’s World Women’s Wrestling Association (WWWA).  Her first title shot was with Mae Young on October 15, 1951, the winner to receive the Florida Women’s Championship. Mae won that night, but it was just as well for Cora, for the belt was abandoned soon after, most likely a result of either promoter apathy or not enough competitors coming in to make it worthwhile. Cora’s next title was the NWA Women’s Southern Title, again within the domain of the Tampa, Florida, promotion of Clarence “Cowboy” Luttrell. Cora debuted on the September 28, 1954, Tampa card billed as the champion. She made one title defense against Belle Starr. The title seemed to disappear after that, not resurfacing until September, 1957 – without Cora. In 1967, she was billed as the United States Women’s Wrestling Champion after a ”reported” series of elimination matches but no further data in this area can be found.

Her most famous match may have been the one she wrestled against Princess Ti Ti  on March 3, 1972, in New York City. New York had a ban on women’s wrestling that extended back at least fifty years. The match was held not at a venue like Madison Square Garden, but at one of the Dominican wrestling clubs that proliferated in the city at the time. The match was set up by Lew Eskin of Wrestling Revue (according to historian Tom Burke) as a tweak at New York’s antiquated law. Princess Ti Ti, I am informed, was of Algerian birth and came to these shores in 1964, working for Tony Santos and Jack Pfeffer (which explains her name). Because of its groundbreaking nature and the publicity efforts of Eskin, the match was covered by major television and radio stations and also several print media outlets throughout the city. The stunt worked, because two months later, in May, the law prohibiting women’s wrestling was struck from the books. The beneficiary of all this was Moolah, who in June wrestled Debbie Johnson in Buffalo, and on July 1, 1972, wrestled in a tag team bout at Madison Square Garden.

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As for Cora, she continued to wrestle and signed with Eddie Einhorn’s IWA, booked by Pedro Martinez. Combs debuted a new look, working under the hood as Lady Satan. When daughter Debbie began her pro career, Lady Satan was a frequent opponent. Later, Cora and Debbie formed the first and only (to date) mother-daughter tag team duo in wrestling. (Technically, Moolah and her daughter Mary, who wrestled as Darlin’ Pat Sherry, were the first mother-daughter in wrestling. But they never acknowledged the bond, probably because of Moolah’s ego.) Cora finally hung up the boots in 1985, and today enjoys retired life in Nashville with her husband and family.

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A little note of trivia: Combs was noted for her wide variety of colorful jackets and robes, the vast majority of which were made by her sister.

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Debbie Combs (Born Debbie Szestecki in Fort Campbell, Kentucky on April 18, 1959) is one of the most beautiful and talented wrestlers ever to set foot in a ring. She is also the daughter of Cora Combs, proving the old adage that the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Trained by Mom, Debbie debuted at Louisville Gardens for Angelo Poffo’s ICW at the tender age of 16, taking part in a 7-girl battle royal (she was the first eliminated). She also dated Randy Savage for five years while they were both working for ICW and before Randy met Liz.

Debbie held the NWA Women’s Title out of the Kansas City office, defeating Penny Mitchell on April 10, 1987. (There is some question about her being awarded the title after winning a tournament supposedly held in Honolulu. The tournament seems like a mirage.) When Kansas City promoter Bob Geigel  withdrew from the NWA in 1987, the NWA stripped Combs of the title and award a replacement NWA U.S. Championship to Misty Blue Simmes. Debbie was awarded the new WWA Women’s title by Geigel as a replacement.

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Debbie also spent time in both the AWA and the WWF. In the AWA she started as a babyface, but later turned heel and teamed with Madusa Miceli in her feud with Heidi Lee Morgan and Brandi Mae.

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Debbie worked two tours in the WWF. In 1986-87 she challenged Sherri Martel for he WWF Woman’s Championship, and in 1994 she appeared as a challenger to Alundra Blayze. She was to have wrestled Blayze at WrestleMania X, but was replaced by Leilani Kai.

She also held the Memphis promotion’s USWA Women’s belt twice: first, on April 9, 1994, when she was awarded the title after the departure of Lauren Davenport, and on January 10, 1996, when she put on the hood as Lady Satan to defeat Miss Texas (Jacqueline Moore).

Debbie also had a cup of coffee in WCW during 1997, losing on the March 31st Nitro to WCW Women’s Champion Akira Hokuto.

Combs has also held several independent promotional titles, including Music City Wrestling (Nashville), NAASW, AAWF,  SSWF, UCW and WWWA (not to be confused with the Japanese promotion.). She also served as President and booker for the Women’s Professional Wrestling (WPW).

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Another of the true beauties of women’s wrestling was Ann Casey (Born Lucille Casey on September 29, 1938 in Saraland, Alabama). Nicknamed the Panther girl because of her spotted tights, Ann was one of the true legends of the game.

Ann was born at home one of nine children of John and Viola Casey. Her father was Irish and her mother a full-blooded member of the Creek tribe. Ann grew up in southern Mississippi, where her father grew cotton on his farm. She worked on the farm as a girl and attended the Agricola Indian school. In high school she excelled at basketball.

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She held a variety of jobs after graduation, finally settling in the promotional office of Lee Fields in Mobile, Alabama. She worked as a secretary by day and manned the ticket booth for the wrestling shows. One night in 1961 she went into the Ladies’ dressing room to pay the women who worked the card that night, when the Fabulous Moolah offered her a spot at her training school. Ann accepted and later made her professional debut that fall in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with Judy Grable against Rita Cortez and Brenda Scott.

While in Hawaii, Ann severed her working relationship with Moolah (reportedly over the size of Moolah’s booking fee) and began to book herself on cards. However, she and Moolah made peace in the mid 70s and Ann won the U.S. Belt from Moolah in 1974.

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She remarried in 1979 and gave birth to daughter Casey. She cut back on her wrestling schedule and worked as a dispatcher for the Mississippi Forestry Commission. In 1985 she earned her paralegal’s certificate and later a Bachelors degree in criminal justice. Shortly after graduation she opened a bail bonds business. She also drove an .18-wheeler for a short time before health concerns made her give up the job. Her last match was against Judy Grable in 1990.

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Leilani Kai (Born Patricia Karisma-Schroeder (on January 23, 1960, in Tampa, Florida) is the step daughter of Les Thatcher and the wife of wrestler Hans Schroeder. She was trained by the Fabulous Moolah and made her debut in 1976.  Billed as from Hawaii, wrestling magazines spread the ballyhoo that Leilani was the niece of Professor Tanaka.

A capable worker, she hit the jackpot on February 18, 1985, when it was decided to spice up the women’s game in the WWF and build towards a big match at WrestleMania. Kai defeated World Wrestling Federation superstar Wendi Richter in New York on that date for the WWF Women’s Championship. Richter would regain the title a little over a month later, on March 31 at the first WrestleMania.

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Kai, along with her partner, Judy Martin (another Moolah trainee), was awarded the WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship. Supposedly, they won the belts from in August 1985 in Egypt, of all places. In reality, however, Kai and Martin were given the titles after McIntyre and Petersen split up.

The title was downplayed and Kai and Martin toured Japan and worked the independent circuit. They reappeared in the WWF in 1987, repackaged as The Glamour Girls with both sporting platinum blond hairdos. The Glamour Girls appeared at the first Survivor Series in 1987 as part of Sherri Martel’s team (Martel, Dawn Marie (Johnston, not Psaltis), Donna Christanello and the Glamour Girls versus Fabulous Moolah’s team of Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin and the Jumping Bomb Angels. The match ignited a feud between the Glamour Girls and the Jumping Bomb Angels that stretched into 1988. On June 6, 1988, Kai and Martin took the WWF titles from the Jumping bomb Angels in Ohmiya, Japan on a count out. Kai and Martin defended the titles until 1989, when the belts were once again abandoned.

Next stop for Kai and Martin was in the newly formed Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA), where they were first managed by Adnan El Kassey and later by the Christopher the “Queen of Wrestling” Love. They worked as both a tag team and as singles contenders to LPWA Champion Susan Sexton. Kai and Martin took the LPWA Tag Titles from Team America (Misty Blue Simmes and Heidi Lee Morgan) on February 28, 1991, in Laughlin, Nevada. They defended the titles on quite a few occasions before the LPWA folded in 1993.

Kai then returned to the WWF in 1994, unsuccessfully challenging Alundra Blayze at WrestleMania X. She was to be Blayze’s constant opponent over much of 1994, losing to Blayze at house shows and on the European tour.

Kai wrestled in WCW in the late 90s as both Leilani Kai and “Patty Stonegrinder,” usually losing to Madusa. Her last appearance in WCW was on November 29, 1999, where she was “scheduled” to wrestle Rhonda Singh in a mud-wrestling match. In a backstage vignette, security broke up a food fight between Nitro Girls Fyre (Terri Byrne) and Storm (Sharmell Huffman). Kai was shown choking from laughing with food in her mouth and had to be “saved” by Juventud Guerrera using the Heimlich maneuver. Kai was replaced in the match with Miss Elizabeth.

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In July, 2002, Kai surfaced in the Professional Girl Wrestling Association’s (PGWA), winning the singles title from Lexie Fyfe (Mary Beth Grant). She defended the belt before losing it in November, 2002, to English wrestler Pippa L’Vinn.

On March 12, 2003, Kai defeated Madison to win the NWA World Women’s Championship in a dark match on a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling PPV. The title was later vacated due to a dispute between Kai and NWA President Bill Behrens. The reason given was Kai skipping NWA shows. Kai, for her part, said she no-showed as a protest over how the NWA was treating women’s wrestling in their promotion. Kai then worked several independent shows, but has not wrestled since 2004.

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Judy Martin (born Judith Hardee) is another Moolah trainee best known for her tag association with Leilani Kai.  She held the WWF Women’s Tag Championship twice (both times with Leilani Kai) and wrestled Rockin’ Robin for the WWF Women’s Championship at the 1989 Royal Rumble. She remained as Robin’s number one contender until the Women’s Division was eliminated in 1989.

Martin then surfaced in the AWA, where she feuded with AWA Women’s Champion Wendi Richter, and, after Richter’s departure, wrestled Candi Devine for the AWA Women’s Title in a losing effort.

She and Kai took The Glamour Girls act to the LPWA (see above). Martin also moonlighted in WCW, feuding with Madusa before the Women’s division was phased out in 1992.
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In the April, 1999, Martin appeared in the PGWA, where she took the belt from champion Susan Green in a mixed tag match with Green’s title on the line. Martin won the belt when her male tag partner, Thunderfoot, pinned Green’s partner, George South. Less than a month later, Martin and Green met in a singles rematch with Green recapturing the belt. Martin retired to South Carolina and, depending on whose account you believe, is either working as a prison guard or as a supervisor at Palmetto Health.
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Last, but not least, is a wrestler who ascended to the highest mountain, only to be kicked off in a classic double-cross. Wendi Richter (born on September 6, 1961, in Dallas, Texas) was another graduate of The Fabulous Moolah’s school and made her pro debut in 1980 as a heel. Wendi joined with Joyce Grable (Betty Wade-Murphy) as the Texas Cowgirls. They were two-time holders of the NWA Women’s Tag Titles before dropping the belt for good on May 13, 1983, in Calgary, Canada, to the duo of  Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria. Grable and Richter also toured Japan as heels, facing some of AJW’s biggest names, among them the Crush Gals.

Wendi signed with the WWF in late 1983, becoming the recipient of a new direction in wrestling. Vince McMahon took notice of the publicity Andy Kaufman received in Memphis and wanted to duplicate that in the WWF. Taking note of the fact that rock singer Cyndi Lauper was not only a wrestling fan, but featured Lou Albano in some of her videos, McMahon cooked up an angle whereby Lauper and Albano got into a feud over who was responsible for Cyndi’s success. They “decided to settle their differences through proxies in the ring. Albano chose Women’s Champion Fabulous Moolah, while Lauper chose Wendi Richter.

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The pre-match publicity was astounding and the ratings for the match (Shown on MTV as The Brawl to Settle it All) drew respectable numbers. It was definitely not a match for the ages. On the contrary, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted it as the worst match of the year (and I should know, having voted for it).  But when it was over, Richter became the youngest women’s champion at the age of 23, and broke Moolah’s supposed 28-year undefeated streak. (Hooey).

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Richter’s popularity was second only to that of Hulk Hogan, and she occasionally worked the main event at WWF house shows, the first woman wrestler to do so. Besides facing Moolah in rematches, Richter also wrestled Judy Martin, Penny Mitchell, and Leilani Kai, who defeated Richer for the title in February 1985, only to lose it back at the inaugural WrestleMania. Richter also received the ultimate WWF honor when she became an animated character on the CBS Saturday morning cartoon, Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling.

After losing and then regaining the title from Leilani Kai at WrestleMania, Richter’s next angle was to face the mysterious Spider Lady. The angle built to a match on November 25, 1985, at Madison Square Garden. The trick behind the Spider Lady was that several different wrestlers, including Penny Mitchell and Judy Martin, were under the hood. I believe the way the angle was supposed to play out was for Wendi to go to a controversial draw and discover Moolah under the mask. Well, the match was controversial. Both wrestlers had their shoulders to the mat, as planned, but at the last second, the Spider Lady raised hers and Wendi was given a fast three count, even though she clearly kicked out before the count finished. After unmasking the Spider Lady as Moolah, Richter claims she left the Garden without even changing into street clothes and never spoke to either Moolah or McMahon again.

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The issue seems to have revolved around money, or, rather, the lack of it for Richter. She claimed that she was grossly underpaid next to the other main event performers and that her payoff for WrestleMania was only about $5,000. She also wanted royalties for the various tie-ins to her character. In doing so, she became a headache McMahon decided he could do without.

Richter wrestled in Japan, Puerto Rico, and U.S. independent promotions after leaving the WWF. In 1988 she was appearing for the AWA, capturing the Women’s Title from Madusa Miceli on November 28, 1988. Again, the old bugaboo of payoffs resurfaced and Wendi left the AWA, vacating the title.

Her next port of call was the now-defunct Ladies Professional Wrestling Association in 1992, but she left after only a few months before the company’s PPV Superladies Showdown and folding. She left wrestling to pursue a degree in physical therapy and to marry WWE Spanish broadcaster Hugo Savinovich. The marriage, however, failed after a few years.

On January 29, 2005, Richter made a comeback of sorts, appearing at Wrestle Reunion in an 8-woman tag team match (teaming with Bambi, Malia Hosaka, and Jenny Taylor wrestling against Sherri Martel, Peggy Lee Leather, Krissy Vaine, and Amber O’Neal.) She also appeared at the follow-up, Wrestle Reunion II in a 6-person tag team match, (teaming with The Patriot and George South Jr. against Amy Love, DC Drake, and “Gorgeous” Gary Royal.

Photos from Wrestle Reunion II by Karen Belcher

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– The Phantom of the Ring

You can write to the Phantom care of Karen Belcher

kabelchr@verizon.net

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