Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 497th 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.
Go Away Conaway
Sean Conaway was an intern with the WWE that eventually worked his way up to becoming a creative writer with the company in 2004. Conaway became then head of WWE creative… Stephanie McMahon’s right hand man on her creative team. It was heavily rumored that the way he got himself in such a position of power, was by becoming a stooge for both her and Triple H behind the scenes.
Conaway would allegedly befriend many of the wrestlers and staff and collect intel from them to report back to Stephanie and Triple H. Conaway was rumored to be the driving force that got Paul Heyman removed from the writing team and sent down to take over WWE’s developmental territory OVW in 2005. Conaway supposedly got in Stephanie’s ear that Heyman was complaining a lot and was being disloyal to her.
Many of the wrestlers decided to get even with Conaway and invited him and a few others on the WWE backstage staff to a bar one evening on the road. Orlando Jordan kept buying Conaway shots up to the point that Conaway became so inebriated he passed out. Jordan then helped Conaway up to his hotel room and ordered him room service and porn movies that he charged to WWE’s corporate account. The next day, Conaway missed his early morning flight to the next town to attend Monday Night Raw and was very late arriving. Conaway supposedly lied about why he was late by saying he was detained by airport security.
JBL and Orlando Jordan then began bragging in front of Vince McMahon and a few of his upper management staff how Conaway was such a party animal and got so drunk they helped him up to his hotel room. The story got back to Stephanie who then found out about all the expenses on the corporate account and how Conaway lied to her. Sean Conaway was quietly let go by WWE after that.
Dead Man Working
While on an excursion in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1990…a young Kensuke Sasaki wrestled a man named Mike Lozansky. Lozansky was very much beloved by almost everyone in the locker room. In this particular match, Sasaki decided to work stiff on Lozansky, catching him off guard and brutalizing him with stiff chops, kicks and punches. It got to the point that Lozansky was knocked unconscious after getting stomped on his head.
After the match, when Sasaki returned to the dressing room…he was greeted by Bad News Allen who was very close to Lozansky. Bad News Allen charged Sasaki and repeatedly slapped him across the face and challenged the young Japanese wrestler to a fight. Tokyo Joe (the trainer of several Hart Dungeon wrestlers including Bret Hart) got in between Allen and Sasaki and had a stare down with Allen himself. Tokyo Joe eventually backed away before another situation escalated.
The next day Tokyo Joe apologized on behalf of himself and Kensuke Sasaki citing that Sasaki was having family issues back in Japan and that Sasaki was trained a certain way and worked a stiffer style.
Mexploitation
Copetes Salazar was a referee and front office employee for AAA in Mexico for nearly 30 years. in 2016, Salazar was accused of sexual harassment by several luchadoras who complained that Salazar used his power within the company to solicit sex in order to get numerous female wrestlers booked on shows. When the wrestlers complained to ownership, their complaints were met with indifference and “swept under the rug.”
Many reached out to Konnan to help them in their complaints of Salazar’s behavior. Konnan himself went to management and was told their would be a full scale investigation, only to find out that nothing was really done. It took Konnan to go public with the accusations and the media picking up on the story that finally actions were taken. Copetes Salazar quit or was quietly terminated from his position with AAA following the story becoming a bigger issue.
A Diva In The Dark
Kelly Tabor had a passion for pro wrestling. So much so, she followed her dream of becoming a wrestler/valet herself in 2001. She competed under the name of ‘The Diva’ and worked hard at her craft by training three times a week, holding a full time job working at a bank and on weekends appearing as The Diva on various independent shows across the Mid West.
For the short time she was involved in the wrestling business, she was loved immensely for her vibrant personality, her welcoming nature and her willingness to learn. Some who knew her well, said that she lacked a bit of self confidence feeling that she wasn’t pretty enough to make it to the big leagues like WWE. Despite that, Tabor loved wrestling and everyone in it.
Sadly, on December 22, 2002, Tabor was found dead in her home. She took her own life by shooting herself in the chest. The reasoning for her suicide was kept confidential. Kelly ‘The Diva’ Tabor was just 28 years old at the time of her death.