Multiple-time AWA women’s champion Candi Divine (Candace Rummell) has died at the age of 63.
SLAM Wrestling’s Greg Oliver relayed the news, which was first posted by fellow wrestler Bonnie Marie on Facebook.
Divine suffered a seizure and collapsed lung last April and months later, broke her back after a fall. Earlier this month, she returned to the hospital with issues concerning her liver and brain.
She entered the professional wrestling industry in 1980 and later adopted the ring name that she was most closely linked with.
She won the AWA women’s championship for the first time in November 1984 in a battle royal after the title was resurrected.
Divine and Sherri Martel traded the title multiple times over the next two years. Divine would hold the title for the last time by winning it in December 1989 at a house show in Toronto and was the final AWA women’s champion.
Divine would win championships from an assortment of promotions including WWC in Puerto Rico, USWA, and the UWF.
Divine worked for Herb Abrams’ UWF group and won the women’s title at their Blackjack Brawl event in September 1994 defeating Tina Moretti a.k.a. Ivory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the vacant title. The event was a disaster drawing 228 paid in an arena that could hold 17,000.
Divine dated wrestler Tom Burton for a long period. The couple once appeared on an episode of Divorce Court where Divine accused the late wrestler of running over her cat, which he denied. The judge ruled in Divine’s favor and the two later reconciled. Burton died in 2010.
In 1994, Divine was honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club.
We send our condolences to her friends and family.
