Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 286th 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.
Pick A Hand
During the days of ECW in the 1990’s, wrestler Taz had a tough guy reputation in the locker room. Understandable considering how he was booked as a legitimate bad ass inside the ring. He was not only a wrestler, but also a hard nosed trainer to several up and coming ECW talents. Taz was also one of the promotion’s top guys…so he seemed virtually untouchable.
Taz had apparently criticized the wrestling style of Rob Van Dam…another of ECW’s top stars. Taz felt that he was reckless inside the ring and allegedly said that if RVD ever got in the ring with him….he’d shoot on him. Word got back to Van Dam what Taz had said and didn’t react to it. Instead, RVD walked up to Taz backstage and asked Taz to “Pick a hand.”
Confused by what RVD was asking him, Taz was about to ask Van Dam repeat himself. Before he could ask…RVD open hand slapped Taz across his face. RVD then repeated himself…”Pick a hand” and then slapped Taz a second time with his other hand. A few wrestlers then got between Taz and RVD before it got any worse and RVD casually walked away.
Peek A Bruise
In 1949, a California wrestling fan and grandmother sued one of pro wrestling’s biggest stars. The grandmother claimed that ‘Gorgeous George’ struck her in the face after she tried to get a peek under one of George’s sequined robes before a match. George denied the accusations stating that he would never use his fist on a lady.
The grandmother sued the very popular wrestler for 35,000 dollars in damages. No word how this lawsuit turned out.
Powerrr Wowerrr
Mayra Dias Gomes is a Brazilian journalist, turned model, turned wrestler who is better known as ‘May Valentine.’ She is currently working for the NWA promotion run by Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan.
Before her start in pro wrestling, Gomes posed nude for VIP and Playboy magazines.
Rico Case
Rico Valentino was a professional wrestler from the 1960’s to the 70’s. While wrestling in Northern California, FBI agents approached Valentino and questioned him about an unnamed individual who was a big cocaine dealer. The dealer’s biggest customers were pro wrestlers. Valentino agreed to cooperate with the Federal agents and helped take down a big drug ring in that area. That inspired Valentino to continue to work with the government as an informant.
Rico would eventually give up pro wrestling and make a career infiltrating gangs and drug rings. He would get paid from 10,000 dollars up to 90,000 dollars on each case…depending on the level of danger involved. Valentino’s biggest case was infiltrating an Aryan gang called ‘The Order.’ The group were anti-government and were responsible for several bombings and murders across the country.
Valentino was wired the entire time he became a member of the Order. According to Valentino, nobody in the gang dared to check him for anything because of his size. Valentino was able to get information that the gang were plotting to bomb a gay disco in Seattle, Washington. The plot was held at Valentino’s own home. The members of the gang were eventually arrested and sentenced to prison.
Valentino has since retired from being a Federal informant and still receives occasional death threats. Rico recalled in one such case a member of the Aryan Nation called him up and said the only reason Valentino is still alive is because he (the gang member) didn’t have a car…otherwise he would kill him. The former wrestler offered to pay the member his cab fare. According to Rico, “I lived a full life — if I get killed, so what? You are only going to die once, but you get to live every day.”