Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 355th 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.
A Soda Pop
In 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions were a part of a super card with Lia Maivia’s Polynesian Pacific Wrestling at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. Magnum TA recalled the long flight from North Carolina to Hawaii was a disaster. Most of the wrestlers got drunk and became unruly. According to Magnum, Ric Flair was constantly groping the female flight attendants and exposing himself to them. When the Crockett crew arrived in Hawaii, they were extremely late for a meeting to go over the show. Magnum said that led to a huge argument between the two crews that nearly became physical.
Another incident took place between Jim Crockett Jr and the Polynesian Pacific Wrestling head booker Lars Anderson. Nobody knows for sure what caused the verbal argument, but Lars allegedly threw a Coca Cola can at Crockett and then proceeded to grab him and throw Crockett against a wall. All while Bruiser Brody allegedly tried egging Anderson on to punch out Crockett. Jim Crockett’s crew left immediately after the show ended.
Buzz Off
Tommy ‘Wildfire’ Rich and ‘Mad Dog’ Buzz Sawyer had a very violent and bloody feud in the Georgia territory in the 1980’s. They were very believable as hated foes who wanted to kill each other in their matches against one another. In real life, however, Rich and Sawyer were friends. One particular day, the wrestlers made the mistake of going to a liquor store to buy beer together. In the days of kayfabe, it was a big no no to have a heel and babyface seen out in public together.
Even though the wrestlers were in Wheeling, West Virginia…a wrestling fan familiar with their history spotted Rich and Sawyer together. The fan allegedly ran up to Buzz Sawyer and asked why the two wrestlers were hanging out. Whether it was to protect kayfabe or just plain crazy….Sawyer allegedly grabbed the fan and suplexed him on the pavement in the liquor store parking lot. The fan was knocked unconscious and the two wrestlers drove away before police or an ambulance were called.
Siki and Destroy
Sweet Daddy Siki was an extremely flamboyant and popular wrestler from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. Siki would reportedly hold the distinction of being a part of the very first integrated match for the NWA world title in the early 1960’s against then champion Buddy Rogers. The title match was booked to take place in North Carolina. While rivals in the squared circle, Siki and Rogers were very good friends out side of it.
Their historic title match was met by loud and large protests organized by the Ku Klux Klan. Sweet Daddy Siki was the target of death threats by the KKK for not only daring to step in the ring with a white man, but also the “audacity” to be married to a white woman. Buddy Rogers also received death threats for allowing himself to be touched a black wrestler. It appeared as if the KKK were going to deliver on those threats, as they supposedly bought seats ringside for the event. Thankfully, the match took place with both Siki and Rogers unscathed as there was a heavy police presence at the show.
Is She Lion?
Erika Hammond was a former WWE developmental wrestler/interviewer who worked down in NXT. Her NXT ring name was ‘Veronica Lane.’ She eventually left developmental to pursue other endeavors. Hammond was dating the NFL’s Detroit Lion’s tight end Joseph Fauria. in 2014, Fauria would take to social media to accuse Hammond of cheating on him with fellow NFL star Russell Wilson.
The tweet was then taken down and Fauria apologized for reacting the way that he did. Fauria wrote “I apologize for what I said last night. I make mistakes. I didn’t have all the facts & emotions got the best of me. Where’s Herm Edwards when ya need em? #neverpresssend.”
No word of how or why Fauria came to the conclusion that his girlfriend Erika Hammond was allegedly cheating on him with Wilson.