Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 511th 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.
ManiFisto
Independent wrestler LuFisto recalled what her personal experience was inside the AEW locker room. She said that she was invited in April of 2022 to tryout for a potential coaching position within the company. At first, she said she was greeted warmly by the men which included Dustin Rhodes, Christian Cage and Mark Henry. When she entered the women’s locker room, she said things changed drastically. The first to spot her was Bunny, who instead of saying hello to her, asked “What are you doing here?”
She then said she saw Ruby Soho, who allegedly gave her the cold shoulder and sat down next to Bunny and Toni Storm and believes they started talking about her. LuFisto claimed that she has had problems with Soho dating back to 2016 when Pat Patterson invited her to Wrestlemania. The two apparently got into some sort of a clash at that event and ever since then…Soho has allegedly had a vendetta against her. Ruby was spotted talking to Dustin Rhodes at one point and then LuFisto claimed that Rhodes attitude towards her changed dramatically.
Rhodes approached LuFisto and jokingly asked her…“So, all French Canadian people are fucking assholes eh?” After her match on AEW’s Dark Elevation show….Rhodes went up to her and told her that she was terrible. When asked to expand on his criticism, Rhodes told her that she needed to “sell more for the contracted talent.” Dustin responded to LuFisto’s accusations by posting and then later deleting this on social media…
Hey @LuFisto, read your story and sometimes as a coach I have to be very honest and won’t ever tell you a lie about how good or bad it was. Sometimes hard love comes out and wouldn’t have it any other way.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. #KeepSteppin
LuFisto stated that nobody other than Mercedes Martinez talked to her backstage and was otherwise ignored by the rest of the women. She said that even though she was invited to the show and was scheduled to meet with AEW owner Tony Khan, he never met with her at all. There were also issues with her getting paid for her appearance. LuFisto said that the women seemed very clique-ish and there seemed to be no real power structure behind the scenes. LuFisto’s criticisms were met with harsh responses by some AEW fans who called her things like a “nobody” and a “waste of air.”
The name calling and defense over the AEW product became too much that LuFisto temporarily deactivated her Twitter account. She returned only to be met with more shots to her and her career. LuFisto did not back down and tweeted…
Had a one hour phone call with a current AEW talent.
The women who actually addressed the problems I did today were the ones sent home by Tony Khan.
There was a meeting to shoot on Thunder Rosa that Khan attended. Before leaving, he reminded them that heir segments were the lowest.
When some girls arranged a meeting to talk about Baker’s crew, one of them ran to Britt to let her know. The girls that wanted to address the problem were the ones punished.
Things didn’t better. They got worst.
As for The legitimate wrestlers believe Tony doesn’t give a damn about women’s wrestling and feel like they are going back to the Divas era.
Ask me who the fuck am I. Tell me I’m irrelevant and that I’m doing this for attention. Call me a liar. Tell me to kill myself. You keep on closing your eyes and supporting human beings with shitty behaviour. With the messages of support and especially this phone call I received from AEW employees.
This nobody did the right thing.
Whether this was a case of a toxic environment that LuFisto experienced or simply sour grapes on her part for not getting hired by AEW is certainly up for debate. It is one side to a story that seems to have many layers.
If The Van’s Rockin’…Go Knockin’
In 1976, while working in the Mid Atlantic territory in the Carolinas, Tiger Conway Jr was hanging at at his home drinking beers with Ronnie Garvin. During this particular evening, the friends and tag partners heard a loud thumping noise coming from outside. Conway went to look out his window and noticed two men trying to steal his custom van. Upon hearing this, Ronnie Garvin ran outside to thwart the theft, while Conway called the police.
According to Conway, Garvin went berserk on the two would be thieves. Conway said that Garvin pummeled one of the robbers with multiple punches until the criminal was unconscious. The other thief tried to pull Garvin off his knocked out partner and he was subsequently beaten even worse by Garvin. Conway said that Garvin repeatedly smashed the thief’s head into the back wheel of the van. Tiger Conway said that he feared that Garvin was going to kill the man and had to subdue his friend.
When the police arrived, they arrested the fallen thieves, but Garvin was still livid and begged the cops to unhandcuff the two individuals so he could continue to beat on them. The police warned Garvin to cool off or he would be arrested as well. The cops discovered a handgun inside the van that apparently was owned by one of the criminals. Luckily it fell out during the melee with Garvin, otherwise Garvin could have easily been shot and killed. The two thieves had to be hospitalized from their injuries at the hands of Garvin.
Assault on Devon’s Island
Canadian independent wrestler/promoter/interviewer Devon ‘Hannibal’ Nicholson was arrested in September of 2022 for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. Nicolson was jailed and released under the supervision of his parents. Nicholson was ordered by the courts to either live with his parents or check in with them daily. He was also ordered to avoid any contact with his now ex girlfriend and must comply with a nightly curfew. Nicholson responded to his arrest by issuing the following statement…
“Unfortunately, a situation has come up that there is a lot of people that are trying to make me guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately, a bad situation happened with a girl that I was dating. One thing that nobody is reporting on is the girl actually also has five charges against her for assaulting me with a weapon, uttering threats to me, destroying my property, and causing me bodily harm. There are two sides to the story and she’s already had one court appearance. She has another one in October. I’m going to leave it up to the courts. It’s not a matter of public opinion. It’s a matter for the courts to decide. It’s an unfortunate situation. I’ve never been in a situation like this before where I’ve had to deal with a partner attacking me. It’s just unfortunate. I can’t say anything more than that. I wish her the best, but it’s now a matter for the courts.”
Nicholson then posted a photo of his back showing the wounds he received from his ex during the assault. In July of 2023, Nicholson revealed that he attempted suicide. Nicholson was eventually cleared of the assault charges. His ex, however, was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, uttering death threats and mischief for damaging property in relation to her assault on Mr. Nicholson.
Pug the Thug
In November of 1934, a heel wrestler named Ray ‘Pug’ Ryan was arrested in Salem, Oregon for assault and battery after a wrestling match. The incident happened after Pug Ryan lost his match. He then “went off script” and physically attacked the referee in charge named Pat Reagan. It just so happened, that the district attorney William Trindle was in attendance for the show as a fan. He personally witnessed the attack and ordered police working the show as security to arrest Ryan in the ring. Ryan was eventually released from custody after posting fifty dollars in bail. Trindle stated that he would prosecute Pug Ryan to the fullest extent of the law and a court date was set the following day. No other details were made available in his assault case.