Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 468th 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.
Patera-nity Test
Jim Brunzell recalled training at Verne Gagne’s wrestling camp with both Ken Patera and Verne’s son Greg in 1972. Brunzell said that the training was rigorous and often led the trainees to become frustrated and angry with one another. Brunzell claimed that Ken Patera, who was already an established weightlifter, had serious issues with Greg Gagne. Patera allegedly felt that Gagne wasn’t training as hard as others because his father was running the camp.
This led Patera to continually chide the young Gagne and the two eventually had a physical altercation. Greg had heard enough from Patera and charged the strong man kicking him in the face. Patera came back with a series of punches and the two had a full blown fist fight in the middle of Verne’s property. Brunzell said that Greg actually held his own in the fight with Patera and gained the respect of the other trainees at the camp.
Ire-Land
David ‘Fit’ Finlay recalled his early days as a pro wrestler being from Northern Ireland and wrestling in England. He said the fans truly hated him, not so much for being a heel or being a good grappler, but because where he was from. Finlay said the fans wanted to legitimately kill him. He remembered one such show, where he had to go through a crowd to get to the ring and nearly didn’t make it.
Finlay said he was spat on repeatedly, was stabbed with a knitting needle and had a fan put a lit cigar out on his neck. He said it took everything in him not to react to the pain and retaliate…knowing that if he did, the situation could have gotten much worse. After getting to the ring and wrestling a match bleeding from being stabbed and a painful burn on his neck…Finlay won the match and that caused “three or four” fans rush into the ring where he was forced to fight them off. Luckily for Finlay, other wrestlers helped him return to the back safely.
Porn to Be Fired
Chanyota is a Japanese female wrestler who began her career in 2021. She wrestled for a few independent promotions, but made her debut with Stardom in 2022. Chanyota competed as both a singles wrestler and as part of a tag team with Mai Sakurai.
Her wrestling career was just beginning to blossom, when in November of 2022 a major sponsor of Stardom demanded that Chanyota no longer be used on their shows. The reasoning was due to the sponsor’s discovery that Chanyota is an adult video actress as well as a pro wrestler. With no other choice, Stardom removed her from the Stardom roster.
**Update** Stardom severed ties with the sponsor that caused the issues with Chanyota and she will wrestle for Stardom again.
Wrestling With A Plot
John Cianca was a local professional wrestler in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area known as ‘The Roman Gladiator.’ He competed mainly in the 1960’s. In September of 1965, while Cianca was at a bar, he met with a woman named Delores Waldo. She began a conversation with the wrestler who she knew for approximately four years. Ms. Waldo started talking about how she was having an affair with a married man named Clarence Ecroyd and she was seriously considering getting his wife killed. Ms. Waldo asked Cianca if he was interested in carrying out the hit.
At first, Cianca thought the woman was joking, but the longer they talked, the more serious he realized she was. Cianca decided to go to the police and report the issue. The police used Cianca to stay in contact with Ms. Waldo and get as much information as possible. The police eventually arrested both Ms. Waldo and Mr. Ecroyd on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and adultery.