Honky tonk legend Webb Pierce left a 1953 professional wrestling event in Nashville in handcuffs after trying to barge into the women's locker room.
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Pierce was looking for Cora Combs, a popular grappler among wrestling fans and a country music talent in her own right.
Per the Associated Press, patrolman Ramon Marler said that Pierce "tried to fight his way in and we had to restrain him" after being told that he was not allowed backstage.
Pierce was charged with drunkenness and resisting arrest.
"It is all my fault," Combs said while visiting the jail to ask for Pierce's release. "I feel responsible."
Pierce left arm-in-arm with Combs after he was freed.
Keep in mind that back then, few (if any) outsiders got behind-the-scenes peeks at wrestling events. In the days before the mainstream glitz of WrestleMania, the biggest star in Hollywood probably would've been turned away from visiting Combs backstage. Of course, presumed ignorance about this doesn't pardon Pierce's erratic behavior.
Cora Combs: A Country Artist Turned Wrestling Hall of Famer
Beulah Mae Combs (or Cora Svonsteckik, depending on the source) was born on March 17, 1927 in Hazard, Kentucky.
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Combs performed in a country music group called the Trail Riders.
"I've always loved music," she told Slam Wrestling. "I did music before I wrestled. I played the bass fiddle."
Over the years, Combs claimed to have ghost-written songs for Pierce, and as late as the '90s, she was popping up in country stars' music videos (with her best role being the bartender from Travis Tritt's "Ten Feet Fall and Bulletproof").
Read More: Teenage Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Laid the Smackdown on Country Covers in Downtown Nashville
Combs discovered pro wrestling in Nashville while attending a show headlined by foundational women's wrestler Mildred Burke. Local promoter Nick Gulas later introduced Combs to Burke and her husband, influential women's wrestling promoter and trainer Billy Wolfe.
Before her June 21, 2015 passing at age 88, Combs was the last surviving member of Wolfe and Burke's traveling crew of woman wrestlers.
Across her 40-year career (1945-1985), Combs wrestled fellow legends like June Byers and the Fabulous Moolah, won numerous championships in NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) territories and became an in-ring adversary (as the masked Lady Satan) and tag team partner of her daughter, Debbie Combs.
The elder Combs became a 2007 inductee of the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame and a member of the WWE Hall of Fame's class of 2018.
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