Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 502nd 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.
In the Name of the Father
In 1995, Lucha stars Fuerza Guerrera and Blue Panther left AAA in Mexico to start their own rival promotion. Guerrera was counting on his son and rising young star Juventud Guerrera to join him and become a pillar for the new, upstart group. The problem was that Juventud wasn’t sure the gamble to defect from the established AAA was a sound business move for him and his career. Plus, Juventud was comfortable in AAA working with his best friends which included Psicosis and Rey Mysterio Jr.
When Juventud made the decision not to join his father’s new promotion, it caused a serious rift between father and son. Fuerza reportedly kicked Juventud out of his home where Juvy was living and for a brief time disowned his own son out of anger. Juventud was forced to move in with his friend Psicosis as a result. Thankfully, the two were eventually able to patch up their differences.
Ain’t that a Kick in the Head
During an NWA television taping in 1988…a tag team match was booked between Jimmy Garvin and Chris Champion versus Kevin Sullivan and Rick Steiner. During the match, Chris Champion used a “crane kick” ala ‘The Karate Kid’ and hit Steiner flush on his jaw.
The stiff kick angered Steiner, to the point that he delivered an almost immediate receipt to Champion. Steiner whipped Champion off the ropes and hit Champion with a very stiff clothesline.
After the match ended, the two wrestlers had a physical exchange in the locker room and had to be separated by several wrestlers. Once the two were pulled apart, Champion allegedly “sucker” kicked Steiner while he was being held. That supposedly led to Chris Champion having heat with the majority of the locker room for a period of time.
Burlington Brawler
In December of 1960 in Burlington, North Carolina…police were dispatched to respond to a station wagon driven by a black man involved in a hit and run crash. Police spotted the station wagon with three black men inside and were subsequently pulled over. The driver of the vehicle was named Jacob Riley and was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
The officer then began questioning the other two men in the vehicle, one of which was professional wrestler Luther Lindsay. Lindsay was reportedly very belligerent and refused to answer any questions asked by the officer. The situation quickly escalated with the wrestler and officer and involved yelling and cursing. The officer decided to place Lindsay under arrest and was met with the wrestler becoming physical and allegedly shoving the officer. As Lindsay was resisting arrest, the officer called for back up.
Three more officers arrived at the scene and placed Lindsay in a chokehold and hit him a few times in the legs with their night sticks. Lindsay decided to surrender and get into the back of the police car, but demanded that no other officer sit in the back seat with him. When his demand wasn’t met, Lindsay once again began resisting arrest. This time, the officers hit Luther three times in the face with punches. Lindsay finally relented and got into the police car. He reportedly apologized profusely for his behavior. Luther Lindsay was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. Lindsay posted a bond of $250 and was released from custody.
Wasted Youth
AJ Watson was a female pro wrestler that was based out of Florida. She was initially trained by the Malenko family and made her pro debut in 1990. Watson wrestled for Dusty Rhodes’ Professional Wrestling Federation and also made an excursion to Japan, where she wrestled for Atsushi Onita’s FMW promotion.
Sadly, her career was extremely short-lived, because in June of 1993, Watson’s body was discovered in her Florida apartment. It was reported that she died of a drug overdose. AJ Watson was just 23 years old at the time of her death.