Wrestling with Sin: 606

Brian Damage

This is the 606th 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.

Manila Mayhem

In October of 1986, the World Wrestling Federation held a show at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila in the Philippines. During a match the pitted Blackjack Mulligan verses Tito Santana, Mulligan used a foreign object to knockout Santana and score the pinfall victory. While “kayfabe” was still a strong practice in professional wrestling in the 80’s, the United States was more “in the know” that the WWF was more entertainment than legitimate sport.

The Philippines was a completely different story. When the fans witnessed Mulligan cheat to gain a victory over Santana who was a favorite amongst the Filippino fanbase, they legitimately believed Mulligan hurt Tito. The crowd went nuts and began throwing objects into the ring in anger. Blackjack Mulligan said that at first he loved the heat he had generated but noticed that the situation was rapidly getting worse and decided to high tail it to the dressing room.

After Mulligan and Santana safely reached the dressing room, the crowd became more and more agitated and overpowered the security team and local police to make their way backstage. The wrestlers locked the door and used chairs, tables and production equipment to barricade the door. Santana noted that the situation was one of the scariest situations he was ever involved in as a pro wrestler. Many of the irate fans were smashing the door with hammers and nearly broke through the makeshift barricade.

Luckily, the Philippine army arrived with armored vehicles and automatic weapons and were able to clear the area and rush the wrestlers out of the arena safely. The WWF crew were supposed to stay overnight, but it was determined that the situation was just too dangerous for them and immediately escorted them to the tarmac of the airport and flew them out that night. Many of the wrestlers had to leave their belongings at the arena and the hotel as they were whisked away by the army back to the U.S.

Sly Like A Fox

AEW wrestler AR Fox was accused by his ex-wife Ashley of refusing to leave their marital home in Atlanta, Georgia after they initially separated and filed for divorce. His ex claimed that while staying at the home, he did not keep up with the mortgage payments and that led to their home being foreclosed. Therefore, she lost out on income from the potential sale of the house.

In addition, Fox did not keep up with paying the rent on his wrestling school and it was subsequently shutdown. His ex believes this was all done by Fox to avoid having to pay her anything significant in a divorce settlement. It also damaged her credit score.  The couple officially divorced in April of 2026.

TNPAY Me!

Shelly Martinez recalled her time working for TNA back in 2007 as ‘Salinas.’ Despite being on TV every week and playing a prominent role in their storylines, Martinez says she was only paid $300 per appearance. Martinez said it was a far cry from what she was making in WWE and wished she used her notoriety from that company to squeeze more money out of TNA management. Unfortunately, the low pay caused Shelly to live on the brink of poverty.

She constantly faced eviction from her apartment and had her utilities like her electricity and hot water cut off for not being able to pay her bills on time. She often had to choose eating or paying rent for a place to live. When she approached TNA management (in particular Terry Taylor) about taking outside jobs as a model/actress to supplement her income, Taylor was quick to deny her request stating she was needed for TNA shows and appearances. 

Shelly said that those appearances never happened or wasn’t booked for them and lost out on other paying gigs because of it. The final straw came in 2008 when she was offered a role in a movie and knowing that she would be refused by TNA, Shelly asked for a $100 raise. She was turned down and faced with being homeless decided to quit TNA and take the movie role instead.

Kreepy Behavior

During an independent show in Indiana on August 12, 2023…a 34 year old autistic man and his caretaker were removed from the event do to the autistic man’s “loud and boisterous outbursts.” While in the parking lot, the autistic man was elbowed in the back of the head by a pro wrestler named ‘Kreepy the Clown.’ The wrestler was dressed in full costume at the time of the attack. Kreepy screamed out, “You wanna call someone a bitch, call me a bitch!”Kreepy repeatedly pummeled the autistic man in the face.

The man then retaliated by throwing a can of coke at the wrestler, but that only infuriated him even more. The man’s caretaker could not reach him due to other wrestlers holding him back and telling him let them finish this. The man suffered a broken nose and multiple lacerations to his face. Police were called to the scene, but Kreepy had already fled. Police identified the wrestler as Michael R. Keihn and went to his home to question him. At first, Keihn denied being at the show, but eventually confessed to the assault.

He was arrested and charged with a felony assault charge. A further investigation showed that Keihn was previously arrested in 2018 for assault and battery. Keihn was fired from the independent promotion Indiana Powerhouse Wrestling for the incident and faces between one to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. No word on the end result of this case.

You can read all previous ‘Wrestling with Sin’ pieces here.