Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 405th 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.
No Holds Barr
After promoter Don Owen retired from professional wrestling, he relinquished his Pacific Northwest territory. Former wrestler Sandy Barr took over the Portland, Oregon area with the blessing of Owen. Barr would almost instantly run into trouble with the Oregon State Athletic Commission and in particular commissioner Bruce Anderson who consistently fined and forced Barr to make changes to the way he ran shows. Word came back to Barr that a wrestler on his roster was a stooge to Anderson and feeding him information about the way Barr ran the territory.
The person named as the stooge was a wrestler named ‘John Rambo.’ He got that ring name because the promoters felt he resembled Sylvester Stallone. Sandy Barr was furious that one of his own would report back to his enemy in Bruce Anderson…so Sandy made a call to his son Art Barr who was wrestling down in Mexico. On December 4, 1993…on a show promoted by Sandy….John Rambo was told he would be facing Art Barr minutes before he was scheduled to wrestle.
According to Rambo, once the bell rang, Art Barr gave a stiff forearm to Rambo’s mouth…busting his lip open. The two started to lock up, when Art got free and performed a flying clothesline on Rambo hitting him square in the face. Art would retreat to the locker room and Sandy came to the ring and grabbed the house microphone naming John Rambo as a rat and mole who reported back to the state athletic commission. A bloodied John Rambo went to the back to look for Art and was nearly attacked from behind by Art who was swinging a dumbbell at Rambo. Luckily, a few wrestlers came between the two wrestlers and separated them before anything else happened.
The end result was Rambo suffered a broken nose and his face was shattered in eight different places. He needed reconstructive surgery to repair his face…while Art returned to Mexico. As it turned out…Rambo was not the mole in the promotion. It was actually a friend of a wrestler named Billy Two Eagles who worked in the Portland territory office. Billy Two Eagles lied to Sandy Barr by blaming Rambo, to clear his friend’s name in the scandal.
Son of a Breach
Evan ‘The Strangler’ Lewis was one of the most feared wrestlers of the 19th century. A true heel, who liked to physically punish his opponents even when it wasn’t unnecessary. In one particular bout, his stranglehold maneuver was banned in the match, infuriated, Lewis intentionally broke his opponent’s ankle. Despite all of his dirty tactics, Evan Lewis was a box office draw…so promoters continued to use him.
In July of 1888, Evan Lewis was arrested for what was called “A breach of promise.” A school teacher named Miss Annie Smith claimed that she was impregnated by Lewis and that he promised to marry her. Instead, Lewis quickly got out of town…leaving Smith behind. Lewis was arrested and jailed…only to be bailed out on $300. Annie Smith ended up suing Lewis for $25,000 for allegedly ruining her life. No word if she won or lost that case or if they settled out of court.
Fractured Faction
In 2004, it was announced that the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate was releasing all five members of the heel faction known as Aagan lisou. The members included Shuji Kondo, Toru Owashi, Shogo Takagi, Brother YASSHI and Takuya Sugawara. The reason for their releases was categorized as “bad behavioral problems.” The news was a bit shocking, considering the Aagan lisou group was the top faction in Dragon Gate.
While the promotion nor the wrestlers ever commented on their firings…it was said that the cause was due to the group getting drunk and acting wild at a corporate party that involved all of the sponsors for Dragon Gate.
The Isle of Smiles
Former WWE Tough enough winner and wrestler/valet Nidia Guernard was released from the company in 2004. After her release, Nidia traveled to Puerto Rico looking for work. She attended an IwA show and met wrestler Devon Nicholson. According to Nicholson, the two hit it off instantly and went out partying. Nicholson claimed that the two had sex several times during her stay on the island.
This, despite the two being involved in serious relationships with other people at the time. Nicholson said they both agreed to go their separate ways once Nidia returned to the states.