Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 374th 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.
BUST-ed
While on the road traveling to an ECW show, about eight wrestlers and personnel which included the likes of The Sandman, Steve Corino, Joel Gertner, referee Jim Molineaux, Francine etc…decided to split a large taxi van to take them to the hotel. The driver of the van was of Indian descent. The Sandman allegedly started making racist jokes at the expense of the driver. The driver took offense to the alleged racist comments and drove the van back to the airport. The Sandman and the driver began having a verbal altercation.
The driver then called the police, which prompted Sandman to approach manager Francine and ask her to hide some drugs he was carrying with him. Francine agreed and hid the drugs in her bra and panties. When the police arrived, they brought a K-9 with them. Francine saw the dog and understandably panicked. The Sandman explained to the cops that they were all wrestlers trying to get to a show. The cops decided to end the situation by having the wrestlers call for another cab. They put the dog back into the police vehicle and when the new cab arrived, Francine quickly ran to the other cab with Sandman’s drugs still on her. Francine recalled the incident saying she nearly crapped on herself, fearing she would be arrested for the drugs.
Race Against Time…Vader Time
In 2012, while attending a wrestling convention in New Jersey….there was a physical altercation between Harley Race and his former protégé….Vader. It all started when Vader (Who was seemingly in a bad mood the entire day) began treating fans looking for his autograph poorly. Race took exception to that and started to scold Vader to treat the fans better. Vader allegedly gave a smart remark to Race and that set off the former NWA worlds champion. Race, who at 69 years old had limited mobility punched Vader in the face.
Vader not wanting to retaliate against his former aging manager….struck one of the promoters of the event. Vader then grabbed his gear and walked out of the room. The promoter who was hit, received medical attention, but was not seriously hurt.
U.S. Express Derailed
The U.S. Express which consisted of Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham was a tag team that competed for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid 1980’s. The U.S. Express won the WWF world tag team titles on two occasions. After losing the titles on their the second reign to the Dream Team of Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake…things began to unravel for the team.
According to Greg Valentine, Windham was furious that their team lost the belts. He allegedly went off the rails and snapped, feeling that the U.S. Express should have retained the titles longer than they did. According to Rotundo, years later…he attributed himself and Windham of being “too young and stupid.” Valentine alleged that one day, while the Dream Team were pulling into the parking lot of an arena…Windham allegedly rammed his car into the Dream’s Team’s back bumper in anger. Not long after, Windham quit the team and the WWF, leaving Rotundo behind. The big program that was planned between the Express and the Dream Team was replaced by the British Bulldogs.
A French Twist
Paul Pons was a French born professional wrestler, who had his most successful years between the 1890’s and the early 1900’s. Pons wrestled all over the world winning multiple world titles. While living in the French region of Marseilles….Pons met and fell in love with a local woman. The woman turned out to be a grifter or con artist. She stole all of Pons life savings and disappeared, never to be seen again. That forced Pons to stay at cheap motels and eat at cheap eateries for a long time after.