Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 516th 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.
Hardcore Pawn
Tod Gordon owned and operated Eastern Championship Wrestling from 1992 until 1995. Gordon claimed that ECW was hemorrhaging money and decided to relinquish control of the company to his booker Paul Heyman. An ECW original wrestler named Johnny Hotbody claims that it went a bit deeper than that. According to Hotbody, Tod Gordon had developed a drug habit and was more concerned with partying with the boys than running a successful wrestling company.
Hotbody said that the main source of Gordon’s money came from the Gordon’s family business…a jewelry and pawn shop called Carver Reed. Tod’s father was in control of that store and fed his son money to run ECW. When Gordon’s drug habits began spiraling out of control, Hotbody claimed that Tod’s father cut him off financially. With no other options other than to shut down ECW permanently, Gordon decided to sell his promotion to Heyman in May of 1995. Tod Gordon has been very open about his previous use of drugs, but did not back up Hotbody’s claim.
Speaking of Johnny Hotbody, he went further and said that he hated Paul Heyman as booker of ECW. Hotbody said he was frustrated with the way he was being used by Heyman and confronted Paul backstage one night. The confrontation nearly became physical with Ron Simmons and Cactus Jack having to pull Hotbody away from Heyman. Hotbody said he quit ECW that very night and claimed he soon became blacklisted from wrestling almost everywhere else.
Stabbing the Hand that Feeds You
In October of 2013, luchador Dr. Wagner Jr was walking to his home, when a lone assailant violently attacked Wagner Jr with a knife. The veteran luchador was able to fight the attacker off, but the unidentified attacker was able to escape. Dr. Wagner Jr was stabbed in his wrist and hand and required surgery to repair the damage.
Wagner Jr’s. good friend El Hijo del Santo went public and insinuated that the AAA promotion was perhaps in some ways responsible for the attack on his friend. Dr. Wagner Jr had a bitter falling out with the promotion over ownership of naming rights to the Dr. Wagner Jr name. El Hijo del Santo himself was on bad terms with AAA for various reasons. AAA denied any involvement in the attack and the assailant was never identified or brought to justice.
Step Away
A photographer and ring announcer on the Midwest independent scene named Sarah Rose or better known in wrestling circles as ‘Step Stool Sarah’ has been banned from appearing at several indie promotions. Sarah was accused of grooming an underage high school boy who wished to remain anonymous. The boy’s brother is a pro wrestler who regularly competes in an organization that employed Step Stool Sarah.
According to the unidentified wrestler, Sarah allegedly made several inappropriate remarks to the underage boy in person and though text messages. The boy then revealed to his brother of the comments made by Sarah to the local promoter. The promoter contacted the boy who seemed “terrified” by Sarah’s actions. The promoter then banned Sarah from all future appearances in the promotion. A few other indie promotions followed suit.
This isn’t the first time Sarah has been in banned by indie promotions in the area. A few years back, Sarah allegedly made several racist comments about rappers that got her banned from attending wrestling shows. After a while, however, Sarah was allowed to return and continue to work. With this latest incident, Step Stool Sarah has since deleted all of her social media accounts.
The Way to Jey
WWE star Jey Uso’s private home address was revealed on social media in May of 2023. The person who posted the address was a female stalker who goes by the name of billiethebully on TikTok. She has allegedly been stalking the wrestler for a number of months. Even going as far as saying she doesn’t care if Jey is married or not.
She posted another video of herself waking up next to a Jey Uso action figure and kissing it. She also posted a video where she told her followers that she was getting a Jey Uso tattoo above her eyebrow which would read ‘We the Ones.’ She videoed herself in tears when she discovered that Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland joined AEW. Some of Jey’s fans contacted authorities and WWE to alert them of the disturbing videos. Jey Uso never addressed the issues publicly.