Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 421st 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.
Ooooh What A…..Shame!
In 2005, Jon Heidenreich was given a golden opportunity being made an official member of the Legion of Doom with Road Warrior Animal. It was a move that angered others in the locker room who felt that Heidenreich didn’t deserve it. One in particular was Bob Holly, who believed the spot should have gone to him. Despite the animosity, Animal defended the move and felt that Heidenreich would be a good fit in the tag team.
A year later, in 2006, Heidenreich was released from WWE. He would put the blame on his release on Animal who he referred to as an “office stooge.” Heidenreich said he once loaned $5,000 dollars to Animal and was never paid back. Heidenreich then took his anger out by blasting Animal’s wife and son in shoot interviews. Animal admitted borrowing money, but insisted he paid the money back on the next paycheck. Animal then went after Heidenreich in an interview for talking about his family who weren’t able to defend themselves. Animal said he was no stooge and the reason Heidenreich was released, was his own doing. Animal claimed that Heidenreich was often late to the airports and shows and acted completely unprofessional.
Years later, Heidenreich admitted that the blame for his release should fall on himself. He said it all began on Christmas Eve in 2005 when he returned home only to catch his wife in bed with another man. Heidenreich said he went into a tailspin after that by sleeping with various women, drinking and doing drugs. He admits his attitude and behavior changed where he didn’t care about wrestling and began showing up late to events and not giving it his best. He personally apologized to Animal for his past discretions and thanked Animal and Triple H for trying to get his life back on track. He was just too stubborn and hurt at the time.
Thunderous Accusations
AEW’s Thunder Rosa was accused on social media of no selling and “sandbagging” opponents during her matches. For those not familiar with the sandbag term…it basically means a wrestler doesn’t cooperate in a match making the opponent work harder and usually makes them look weak or clumsy. This is done to help make the wrestler in this case (Thunder Rosa) look stronger and a better wrestler. When the accusation was made in relation to Thunder Rosa versus Marina Shafir, current AEW star Britt Baker and former AEW wrestler Ivelisse both liked the tweet.
Ivelisse has had past issues with Thunder Rosa claiming that Thunder Rosa was one of the reasons she got released from AEW. She called Thunder Rosa “unprofessional” and all about making herself look better than her opponents. Ivelisse said that her issues with Thunder Rosa go back to when they were both wrestling for Lucha Underground.
Thunder Rosa had a different take on her supposed heat with Ivelisse saying…“I never had any issues with her. I worked with her in Lucha Underground and other promotions, I thought the match was going well and then you saw what you saw. We made it work, we finished, and nobody got hurt. To me, that’s the most important part. You gotta make it work and that’s what I attempted to do. Even until the finish, I made sure my opponent was safe at all times, no matter what happened in-between. My promise with anybody that I step in the ring (with), regardless of my relationship inside or outside, is to keep my opponent. I’m not trying to kill you, this is not MMA. They’re not paying me a bunch of money to try and kill you. This is a dance and I try to have the best dance possible.”
As for her “heat” with Marina Shafir….Thunder Rosa posted a pic of her and Shafir breaking a loaf of bread with the comment…
Today day we take responsibility and work on being better. Because at the end of the day we break bread. Two mothers navigating a world in where we both never ending learners. @MarinaShafir
The Big “L”
Kim Crocade aka Kim Klokeid was a professional wrestler from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was trained by Stu Hart in the infamous Hart Dungeon in the early 1970’s. Crocade was a legitimate black belt in Karate and used that as a part of his gimmick while wrestling. He was nicknamed ‘The Karate Kid’ years before the movie of the same name was made.
Crocade once unsuccessfully challenged Antonio Inoki for the WWWF Martial Arts title in Japan. Kim Crocade wrestled in the Puerto Rico territory as a heel. In his first match on the tour, Crocade caused a riot with all of his heelish antics. With his extensive martial arts background, Crocade didn’t fear anyone. As fans were throwing debris at him, Crocade made the decision to climb onto the ring apron and dive into the crowd. It would turn out to be a very costly mistake, as a fan took a knife and carved a deep L shaped gash in Crocade’s gut.
Luckily, police were able to get Crocade out of the stands and rush him to a nearby hospital. Crocade nearly died at the hospital that evening. Once released from the medical facility, Crocade returned to Canada where he decided to quit pro wrestling and became a police officer instead. Kim Crocade never returned to a wrestling ring again.
The 3 Count…of Indictments
Joe Lupien was a referee for various independent wrestling promotions in the New England area. In July of 2017, Lupien and a female accomplice, were allegedly involved in a car insurance scam that had deadly consequences. It was reported that Lupien and a woman named Beatrice Marrero, convinced a 22 year old man named Jonathan Aguilar to drive Lupien’s car head on into a store’s loading dock with the purpose of collecting the insurance money. Sadly, the collision severely injured Aguilar. Lupien and Marrero drove the injured Aguilar to a local hospital and allegedly told the medical staff they had no idea what happened. Jonathan Aguilar died just two days later.
Both Lupien and Marrero were each indicted on three charges which included involuntary manslaughter, larceny over $250 and interfering with a police investigation. The two individuals denied any wrongdoing in the case. A year later while awaiting trial for the insurance fraud case…Lupien was arrested again. This time, he drove his car the wrong way and crashed into a convenience store. Witnesses said that Lupien got out of his car and allegedly assaulted the female passenger…who was Beatrice Marrero. When police arrived on the scene, they discovered four bags of PCP, plus a quantity of marijuana mixed with PCP in Lupien’s possession. Police also cited that Lupien appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
Joe Lupien pleaded not guilty to negligent operation of a motor vehicle, possession of a class B substance, possession of a class B substance with intent to distribute, and assault and battery. Lupien was released with no cash bail on the drug charges, but his bail was revoked in the manslaughter case, thus sending him to jail for 90 days. No other details were made public in both cases.