Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Make no mistake about it, pro wrestling does have a dark side to it. There are hundreds upon hundreds of stories about the dark and sometimes sinister side as chronicled in my ‘Wrestling with Sin‘ series. This piece is a direct opposite of that. With every bad story I have shared…there are also positive stories. Stories of wrestlers making it above and beyond the ring. Positive stories to inspire. Pro wrestlers aren’t all drug addicts, scam artists and carny sideshows. They all don’t die at an early age, or are broke and need to wrestle till they die. They don’t necessarily have to get into acting like The Rock or Batista. They don’t have to necessarily switch over to MMA like Brock Lesnar or CM Punk. Some of these stories are just about hard work, dreaming big and doing whatever it takes to succeed. We’ve already covered some stories as chronicled in part 1, part 2 , part 3 part 4 part 5 , part 6 , part 7 , part 8 , part 9 and part 10. With that said, let’s look at some positives…
Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper used to volunteer much of his spare time at a local children’s hospital in Oregon. Not only would he make himself available for hospital fundraisers, he would also simply show up and spend time with the sick children just to help put smiles on their faces.
Randy Savage
Being the longtime spokesperson for Slim Jim snacks…’Macho Man’ Randy Savage used to travel the country promoting the product. As a part of his exclusive deal with Slim Jim, Savage insisted that he be allowed to visit children’s hospitals at every city he was at.
Shotzi
Shotzi shaved her own hair off in an angle on WWE television. The reason ran deeper than just a wrestling storyline, as she did it in support of her sister who is battling cancer.
Dolph Ziggler
During the Covid pandemic in 2020, essentially all independent shows were shut down. That left many independent wrestlers without work. Dolph Ziggler purchased thousands of dollars of indie wrestlers merchandise to help them make some money.
Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston helped fund and build a library and computer center in his homeland of Ghana in Africa. The center was then named after him in his honor.
Chris Jericho
After WWE wrestler Umaga’s untimely death, Chris Jericho wrote out a check for five thousand dollars to his wife and kids.
Fandango
Life away from the ring can be very difficult for many wrestlers. For Curtis Hussey, formerly known in WWE as ‘Fandango’ and currently known as ‘Dirty Dango’ in Impact Wrestling…he has created a small, but very lucrative business for himself. Hussey restores and flips houses in places like Maine and Florida. In the case of Curtis Hussey, his life after pro wrestling will be just fine.
Megan Morant
WWE backstage interviewer and host Megan Morant donated one of her kidneys to help save the life of her friend.
Bo Dallas and Braun Strowman
When Bray Wyatt tragically passed away, Bo Dallas (real life uncle) and Braun Strowman (Godfather) made a vow to spend at least once a week with Bray’s small children taking them to fun places like the movies, the park and just being there for his kids.
The Miz
A former WWE writer revealed that Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin bought the entire WWE backstage crew dinner and ate with them, once he discovered that the crew was not invited to the Wrestlemania 28 after party.
Will Ospreay
At an independent show where the event was not wheelchair accessible, a disabled fan was not able to attend. One of the headliners of the show, Will Ospreay went to the fan and spent over 30 minutes chatting with him about pro wrestling, signing autographs and taking pictures.
Kairi Sane
After the suicide of her friend and fellow wrestler Hana Kimura, Kairi Sane became a certified mental health trainer for athletes in Japan.
Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland
Adam Copeland signed and donated his ring gear from his final WWE match to Sami Zayn’s charity Sami for Syria. The charity helps fund mobile clinics in Syria.
Bray Wyatt
A fan of the late Bray Wyatt revealed that she used to keep correspondence with the wrestler after she reached out to him due to her suffering with severe bouts of depression. Wyatt continually gave her words of encouragement and to keep fighting. Wyatt, who suffered from his own mental health issues, was considered a very warm and welcoming presence to both colleagues and fans alike.