Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 424th 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.
Home is Where the Hart is
The Hart House located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada was bought by Stu and Helen Hart in 1951 for approximately $25,000. The Hart family lived in the 3 story, 22 room mansion for 52 years. It’s basement, known as the Hart Dungeon was the site where many future stars in professional wrestling learned the trade. When the family patriarch Stu passed away on October 16, 2003, the decision was made by the majority of the family to sell the home.
One member of the family who was dead set against selling the house was Stu and Helen’s eldest child Smith Hart. Smith refused to leave the premises feeling it was his home just as much as it was all the other Hart children. Smith would often getting into heated arguments with other family members and nearly came to blows with his brother Keith about leaving.
Items from the home would mysteriously disappear with all believing Smith stole them for either his own personal collection or to pawn them. To prevent, Smith from entering the home again, the locks on the doors were all changed and the windows boarded up. Smith still found his way inside by climbing the side of the home and sneaking through the balcony. Smith lived in the barricaded house, and turned the home into a hostel where Smith would charge vagrants to sleep and eat. When the rest of the family discovered that Smith was still living inside, the police were called and had Smith arrested and escorted out of the house once and for all.
Intoxicating Encounter
In April of 2014, Jeff Jarrett and wife Karen were touring various independent promotions across the country scouting potential talent to join their upstart wrestling promotion called Global Force Wrestling. On of those stops occurred at IWA Mid South run by wrestler/promoter Ian Rotten. Jarrett wrestled on the show, with the agreement that half his fee be paid upfront and then the other half paid the day of the show.
Unfortunately, Rotten didn’t have the funds to pay Jarrett his other half of the agreed upon fee. This allegedly caused Jarrett to scold various wrestlers working behind the scenes for Ian Rotten, including Rotten’s 17 year old son John Calvin. Various reports said that as the night progressed, both Jeff and Karen were visibly impaired and believed to be drunk. Jarrett allegedly cornered the teenage son of Ian Rotten and demanded the rest of his money.
When Rotten’s son tried to explain to Jeff that he didn’t have his money or anything to do with obtaining it, Karen Jarrett allegedly started to “egg on” her husband to do something about it. Jeff reportedly slapped or grabbed the eye glasses off John Calvin’s face, breaking them in the process. Other wrestlers tried to calm Jarrett down by promising to retrieve the rest of his pay.
Karen Jarrett reportedly walked to the ring and grabbed the house microphone and told all the fans in attendance that Ian Rotten was a con artist and a horrible promoter and was refusing to pay Jeff the money he owed them. Ian Rotten went on social media calling Jeff Jarrett …“Some paranoid coked out raging idiot. Not saying he WAS coked out, but I will say he was drunk.” Rotten also stated he would be in contact with the local sheriff to file charges against Jeff for assaulting his son who was a minor at the time. A witness who remained anonymous defended the Jarretts, stating the entire situation was overblown and the couple were nothing but professional. Rotten and others said the witness was trying to secure a job with Jarrett’s promotion and was a liar.
Hop Scotch
Kevin Nash recalled being drinking buddies with Hall of Fame interviewer ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund. Nash said that Okerlund could easily outdrink him. He recalled traveling to Florida by plane and Okerlund would start drinking double Scotches on the rocks. By the time their plane landed, Nash was already feeling buzzed, but Okerlund sought out a bar in the airport to continue drinking.
Nash started to worry about Mean Gene’s health, realizing Okerlund had just recently undergone a second kidney transplant. Despite that, Okerlund seemed fearless and continued knocking back a number of double scotches while waiting for his connecting flight. Kevin Nash said he loved Mean Gene and thought he was always the life of the party, but felt that the famed interviewer clearly had no regard or his own health.
Skid Marx
‘Pocket Rocket’ Eric Marx was an independent wrestler that competed mainly in the Mid West. In 2004, he was used as preliminary talent in TNA to make ‘The Alpha Male’ Monty Brown look good. Sadly, on June 26, 2011, Marx took his own life. No other details about his suicide were made public. Eric Marx was just 30 years old at the time of his death.