Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 465th 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.
Davey’s Domestic Dilemma
Former Ring of Honor, TNA and MLW wrestler Davey Richards retired from professional wrestling in March of 2023. The reasoning was due to allegations that Richards was allegedly abusing his wife Melissa. A picture had surfaced of his now ex wife with a black eye.
Several promotions including Major League Wrestling have severed ties with Richards amid the allegations. While Richards has not been officially charged with a crime, he decided to retire from the business. Richards added a statement which read…
“Hello everyone –
Wow, what a couple of days.
There are allegations of Domestic Violence against me.
The allegations I adamantly deny and if you look on casenet in MO under my name Wesley David Richards you’ll see there are no charges filed against me.
However, I do understand the industry’s stance on this matter.
Everyone should feel safe at shows and I do not want to be the person whom damages that.
The pic being posted of my wife’s eye is from training and we regulatory train in martial arts as many of the students have have got black eyes and such.
Again, no charges were filed and I deny these allegations but I must do what is right and not what I want.
So I am canceling myself.
This great sport is far too wonderful for anyone, including myself to tarnish it.
I will wrap up my shows this weekend and I will be retiring from professional wrestling.
Please continue to support Team Ambition and this sport.
Davey”
No word if his ex wife will file any charges against Davey Richards as of this writing.
Tor Apart
Japanese-American wrestler Tor Yamato was a top heel for Nick Gulas’ Tennessee territory in the 1950’s until 1960. Yamato had just wrestled at a show in early December of 1960 and returned home when he got into a domestic dispute with his wife Hanoki. Hanoki Yamato also appeared at wrestling shows often acting as her husband’s valet. The argument between the couple ended when Tor Yamato was shot once in the abdomen by Hanoki.
Tor Yamato was rushed to a nearby hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and was originally reported to be in ‘Fair’ Condition. Police were able to interview Tor at the hospital where he originally claimed that he accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun. After further investigation by police…Yamato changed his story to say that his wife Hanoki accidentally fired the gun and shot him.
A week after his surgery, Tor’s condition worsened and eventually died. His wife was never charged in his death. Hanoki went to the hospital to identify his body and sign the death certificate, when she was informed by investigators that she was no longer married to the deceased wrestler. Apparently, in October of that year, Tor filed and was granted a divorce from Hanoki much to her shock and surprise. Mrs. Yamato claimed that she had no idea the reasons for Tor to petition a divorce before his death. Mrs.Yamato attempted to claim the body to proceed with an ancient Japanese cremation, but was denied due to the divorce and was no longer considered next of kin to Tor Yamato. He was just 43 years old at the time of his death.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
When the Rock N Wrestling Connection era began, pop singer Cyndi Lauper was right in the middle of it. During that time, Lauper would be a guest of Vince McMahon during the WWF TV tapings at the Mid Hudson Civic Center in New York. Lauper attended the taping with her boyfriend David Wolfe, who also was involved on screen with Lauper and various WWF talents.
Cyndi would supposedly wander the building and continually walk into the dressing room for the wrestlers seeing them in various forms of undress. While some of the wrestlers didn’t mind Lauper sneaking a peek of them naked, what they did mind was her walking into a dressing room that was filled with both babyfaces and heels hanging out together.
At that period of time, Kayfabe was still very much a thing and most of the wrestlers were not pleased that an outsider like Cyndi Lauper was witnessing the boys interacting with one another behind the scenes. One wrestler in particular that was not happy was SD Jones. He felt that Lauper peeking in constantly was an intrusion of privacy and a detriment to business.
SD Jones decided to do something about it. After a few more matches, Jones got word from another wrestler that Lauper was headed to the dressing room area again. Jones greeted Lauper just in a towel and when she showed up, dropped the towel to reveal his penis to Lauper in front of everyone. Lauper allegedly screamed and ran off and never returned to that area again.
Jumped at the Pump
Juanita Coffman was a pro wrestler who competed all over the United States in the 1940’s and 50’s. She was discovered by infamous promoter Billy Wolfe while she was working at a department store. She was an aspiring opera singer, but Wolfe convinced her that fame and fortune would be found in professional wrestling. After training for several weeks, Juanita began her wrestling career. She was said to have been a natural in wrestling, that only had to be taught things once.
During one match she faced off against wrestler Ada Ash in Texas. The two women did not like each other personally and ended up having a really stiff, hard hitting match. Juanita ended up winning the contest…but their match didn’t end inside the squared circle. A few hours later, the two accidentally ended up at the same gas station and almost immediately an argument ensued. The two wrestlers had a fist fight in the middle of the gas station. It took several onlookers to separate the two and let the women go their different ways. Years later, Juanita Coffman joked that that was the first and only fight she ever did and not get paid for it.