Wrestling with Sin: 601

Brian Damage

This is the 601st installment of the ‘Wrestling with Sin‘ series. A group of stories that delves into the darker, underbelly of pro wrestling. Many of the stories involve such subjects as sex, drugs, greed and in some cases even murder! As with every single story in the Sin series, I do not condone or condemn the alleged participants. We simply retell their stories by researching interviews, newspapers, magazines and various other sources of media.

Luna Eclipses Sunny

JBL and Gangrel recalled an incident involving Luna Vachon and Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch back when both were in the WWF. According to JBL, Luna and Sytch got into an argument backstage at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas when all of a sudden, Luna grabbed Sytch by her hair and threw her in a large TV equipment case. Luna then proceeded to throw numerous punches at Sytch while she was in the case.

Road Warrior Animal tried to break up the fight and pulled Luna off of Sytch and was slapped hard across his face by Luna for it. Once the situation was under control, Gangrel said that Luna called him up and was worried about getting fired for beating up Sunny. Luna said when she was punching Sunny, she made sure not to hit her in her face. That way, there would be no obvious marks to show Vince McMahon. 

Lion’s Share of Punishment

Hiroyoshi Tenzan is one of the true greats in New Japan Pro Wrestling history. It’s not just for all of his accomplishments inside the ring which were extensive, it is also for what he endured as a ‘Young Lion’ in his training at the New Japan Dojo in the early 1990’s. Tenzan actually quit the dojo just two days into his training due to the extreme rigors of workouts and practices. Tenzan snuck out of the dojo in the middle of the night and returned home. His father and friends convinced him to return and stick it out. Eventually, Tenzan agreed and was accepted back into the dojo. This time, however, Tenzan had the label of a quitter on him and was subject to some extreme hazing.

Most of it came from his mentor Shinya Hashimoto who did things that Tenzan would later say would not be tolerated in this day and age. For example, Hashimoto purchased an air rifle and would tell Tenzan that he had 10 seconds to run or he would be shot. Tenzan started to run away and be shot in the back regardless. Aside from Tenzan being target practice for Hashimoto, Hashimoto would shoot and kill birds like sparrows and crows. He then had Tenzan gather the dead birds, and Hashimoto cooked and forced Tenzan to eat them. Tenzan did what was ordered of him but became violently sick. He said that in just three days after eating the birds, he lost about 20 pounds from being so sick. 

Hashimoto wasn’t Tenzan’s only tormentor. Jushin Liger also played several mean-spirited pranks on him. The worst case happened after Liger took Tenzan out to a bar and got him so drunk he passed out. Liger then took a cream very much like Icy Hot for sore muscles and spread it all over Tenzan’s genitals. The pain was so excruciating that Tenzan was crying in pain trying to remove it as Liger laughed hysterically.

A Pizza the Action

Greg Bobchick was a standout amateur wrestler in both high school and out of Michigan State University. After graduating college, Bobchick was trained to be a professional wrestler by the legendary ‘Russian Bear’ Ivan Koloff. Bobchick wrestled for several independent promotions under the moniker of ‘All American’ Greg Bobchick. Before his pro career could really take off, he was arrested and charged with distributing anabolic steroids and cocaine. Bobchick pled guilty and was sentenced to 4 years in jail in 1994. After serving 14 months of his sentence, Bobchick was paroled on good behavior. 

After his release from prison, Bobchick became an entrepreneur and owned a number of pizzerias in his home state of Michigan. It appeared that Bobchick had a wonderful story of redemption. That is until it was revealed that he had been withholding some money from the IRS. Bobchick was charged with evading taxes and owed up to 1.2 million dollars. Prosecutors were looking to send him back to jail for a year, but the judge instead gave him six months of house arrest, two years of probation, and ordered full restitution to the IRS.

KO Santo

During a match between Rey Misterio Sr and El Hijo del Santo, Santo hit Misterio with a chair shot. Apparently, Misterio felt that the chair shot was a little too stiff for his liking and when both luchadors returned to the dressing room, they got into a very heated argument. Santo supposedly told Misterio to “toughen up” and that led Misterio to knockout Santo with one punch.

Blue Demon Jr attempted to step in and break up the situation, but was being held back by Psicosis who was mentored by Misterio Sr. While Psicosis held Blue Demon Jr back, Misterio Sr continued to kick Santo while he was unconscious on the ground. Several other luchadors ran in and stopped Misterio from doing any further damage to El Hijo del Santo.

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