Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 488th 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.
Rosa Colored Glasses
AEW wrestler Thunder Rosa opened up about her mental health while sitting on the sidelines nursing a serious back injury. She stated that not knowing if she would ever wrestle again after ten years in the ring frightened her and to make matters worse, there were those behind the scenes and on social media who questioned the legitimacy of her injuries. That upset her the most, as her reputation seemingly was being tarnished and she felt that she couldn’t do or say anything to fight back.
Thunder Rosa said she spent countless nights in tears and it got to the point, where suicide seemed like the only option to escape the pain she was feeling. She credits her family, especially her son with helping her cope with the depression and feel better about herself. She still doesn’t know (As of this writing) when or if she will ever wrestle again and that still weighs very heavily on her…but now realized she was a support system at home that she can rely on to get her thorough her dark days.
**UPDATE** She is back wrestling for AEW full time
Running Wild
Hulk Hogan opened up about his past addiction to pain medication and alcohol abuse during his 40 year wrestling career. Hogan attributed his heavy drinking to his life as a wrestler on the road, where it was not uncommon for wrestlers to drink a few beers after a show. It got to a point where Hogan hung out at his bar and restaurant and would drink beer and do shots all night. He said he finally quit drinking after a New Year’s Eve party in 2022, when he saw that drinking was just an escape and no longer wanted or needed to do it anymore.
Hogan talked about his addiction to pain pills after a number of surgeries including 10 operations on his back, facial reconstruction, knee and hip replacements, and abdominal and shoulder surgeries. The pain was so intense, that the pills were his only comfort and as he put it….”hit the pain pills hard.” After rehabbing his injuries and with the pain manageable, doctors would still fill him out prescriptions for more pain medication just because of who he was. It got to a point, where he realized that he didn’t need the pills anymore and seeing how destructive they were for friends of his in the past…cut them off completely.
Truth or Daro
In the 1930’s, Los Angeles wrestling promoter Lou Daro confessed to spending between 25 to 30 thousand dollars a year to various sports reporters in the LA area. The sole purpose was for the reporters to print positive stories and spread good publicity for his wrestling organization in their respective newspapers.
In 1935, Daro was arrested after being involved in a bar fight with a rival promoter named Edward Lynch in San Francisco. Lynch testified that the two were having a verbal argument, when Daro sucker punched Lynch in the face. Daro’s bail was set at $10. Daro then paid an undisclosed amount of money to Lynch and the two shook hands and made amends after.
Don’t Mess With The Bull
‘The Raging Bull’ Manny Fernandez was arrested on assault and battery charges in Hickory, North Carolina in November of 1988. According to the victim…a wrestling fan named Donald Wendt…Fernandez assaulted him in the middle of a match. Wendt admitted to repeatedly calling Fernandez a bunch of names while The Raging Bull was wrestling, but said that is often the case with fans against wrestlers they didn’t like.
In this case, Fernandez stopped and pointed out Wendt and challenged him to enter the ring. When Wendt refused, Fernandez decided to stop the match and leave the ring to get face to face with him. That’s when Wendt claims that the 300 pound wrestler assaulted him and threw a flurry of punches with some landing and others missing their mark. Wendt who said he only weighs 137 pounds fell to the ground and alleged that Fernandez kicked him in his head three times. Fernandez was arrested and released on bond. No further details were made available in this case.