Women's Wrestling Star Candi Divine Passes Away

By Marc Middleton

Former AWA World Women's Champion Candi Divine (Candace Rummel) has passed away at the age of 63.

Divine passed away earlier today while in hospice care, according to Greg Oliver of Slam Wrestling. It was noted that Divine suffered a seizure and collapsed lung in April 2021, but recovered. She suffered a fall months later and fractured her back, which led to her being hospitalized. Divine collapsed in a store this past November, and was hospitalized again. Divine was back in the hospital earlier this month with liver damage, and some brain damage from seizures.

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Divine first got into pro wrestling by running a fan club for Lanny Poffo, and working as a ring girl for the Poffo family's ICW promotion in Kentucky. She made her pro debut in 1976, and would go on to hold the AWA World Women's Title on five occasions. She had significant feuds with WWE Hall of Famers Sherri Martel and Madusa (Alundra Blayze), among others.

Divine also held women's gold for Herb Abrams' UWF promotion, USAWA and WWC in Puerto Rico, among others. She continued to wrestle for various promotions, including WWE, through the 1990s until retiring in 1998. She later worked for SlamminLadies.com and LadySports.com, and worked a showcase match against Bambi in October 2005.

After retiring, Divine moved back to Nashville where she was from and worked as a personal trainer. She once sued her longterm boyfriend, wrestler Tom Burton, on the March 31, 2009 episode of Divorce Court. She sued Burton for $630 and accused him of running over her cat and killing it. The judge ruled in Divine's favor in the amount of $280. Divine and Burton later reconciled before his passing in March 2010.

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You can see a few videos from Divine's career below:

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