Wrestling With Sin: 551

Brian Damage

Wrestling with Sin is 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 series, we do not condone or condemn the alleged participants. We simply retell their stories by researching interviews, newspapers, magazines, and various other sources of media.

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

When ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose joined the WWF in late 1984, he was put with manager Bobby ‘the Brain’ Heenan. According to Rose, he was scheduled for a major push in the company including a match with Hillbilly Jim at the inaugural Wrestlemania until Hillbilly Jim suffered a broken leg. Rose wrestled and lost to Tito Santana at the event under a mask as ‘The Executioner’ to protect his identity and future push.

During a television taping in Hamburg, Pennsylvania in 1985, Rose was freebasing cocaine in the locker room. He then passed out and missed his scheduled match. When Heenan found Rose out cold with drug paraphernalia next to him, Heenan allegedly became incensed. While Bobby was no stranger to doing cocaine himself, freebasing was a different story. Rose claimed that Heenan went directly to Vince McMahon and told him about the incident.

Rose was ultimately fired by the WWF and Heenan was labeled an office stooge by some of the wrestlers including Rose’s friend Roddy Piper. It took Rose to call Piper and tell him to let the situation go and forget about it, as he readily admitted he screwed up. Piper and Heenan would make amends and Buddy would maintain his friendship with Bobby in the aftermath.

Bruise Cruise

It was reported that during a cruise which AEW star Chris Jericho organized in 2020, MVP and Jericho had an argument that led to physicality. MVP allegedly punched Jericho who was reportedly “knocked out.” MVP alluded to the incident by posting on social media…“Heard any good rumors lately?“ with a smirking emoji. Jim Cornette also mentioned the incident in question by saying on his podcast…“Man, there is a story I would love to tell, but i didn’t get permission, but him getting knocked out on his own cruise ship by someone he mouthed off to. “It’s the most incredible f**king story, but I can’t talk about that today.”

This was not the only altercation Jericho and MVP had. At a Houston, Texas hotel lobby in 2022, the two wrestlers met up with each other again and a verbal confrontation occurred with people having to step in between them. Jericho would eventually walk away and tell MVP…’I don’t fight jobbers’ and got into an awaiting elevator with MVP screaming and cursing at him. When MVP joined AEW in 2024, the very first thing MVP reportedly did was go to Jericho’s dressing room and hash out all their past differences. Since that time, Jericho and MVP have been spotted interacting with one another backstage.

Starr and Gripes

‘Rotten’ Ron Starr did something that was unthinkable back in 1980. Starr legitimately sued promoter Leroy McGuirk for lying and not paying him the fee they verbally agreed upon. Starr claimed that he and McGuirk agreed that he would be paid $350 per show. McGuirk allegedly only paid him $250 per show. Starr said that when he went to McGuirk to complain about the shortage in his pay, McGuirk ordered that he drop the NWA Junior Heavyweight title that he was holding as champion.

Feeling he was being unjustly punished for demanding money that he felt he was rightfully owed, Starr decided to sue McGuirk. The case was eventually dropped without Starr getting any money, but did make noise around various NWA territories. The end result was Starr being blacklisted from wrestling anywhere in the United States. Starr was forced to find work up in Canada and Puerto Rico. Starr was able to return to wrestling in the Georgia territory in 1985 due to booker Ole Anderson losing a great deal of talent. Once the territory shut down, Starr was once again forced to wrestle outside of the continental United States for the remainder of his career.

Whitewash

Nadia White is an independent wrestler who was trained by Davey Richards and has wrestled since 2022. She recently became outspoken about her treatment in the professional wrestling industry and basically being booked then un-booked or not booked at all for shows due to her “day job.” For those who are not aware of Nadai’s other occapation, she works as an adult film actress. Some of her films include Mom Swap, MILFS Like It Big and Dixieland Fetish. While pro wrestling and adult entertainment are no strangers to each other throughout the years as talked about here, Nadia claims that she has been essentially banned from a lot of different promotions due to her work.

Nadia took to social media to say…It’s no secret what my shoot job is, I use the same name for a reason. I am not ashamed of anything. But it would be nice if promotions would stop booking me only to be told later what I do, and kick me off shows. The same goes for venues.

what’s even worse are promotions and customs companies that claim to support women. Well apparently it’s only women that you feel are “moral” or whatever bs excuse you want to use. SUPPORT ALL WOMEN or STFU. I am professional, polite, and less vulgar than most of the locker room. Most wrestlers have OF, and how many of your favorite Divas were in playboy? Wrestling is carny af – this shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve kept quiet for too long about this….I put in the same work, trained my ass off, got said ass kicked, set up the ring, cleaned up garbage…just like everyone else.

After posting her frustrations, Nadia states she was overwhelmed by the support from fans, wrestlers and other adult stars. She stated that the reason for the post was not to get any special treatment, but to be treated as an equal in wrestling.

You can read all previous ‘Wrestling with Sin’ pieces here.