Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 529th 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.
Don’t Bet On It
John McMahon was a pioneer in professional wrestling, starting a successful career after serving in the army during the American Civil War. McMahon could wrestle various styles including Greco-Roman, Collar and Elbow and Catch wrestling. His biggest success was competing all over the east coast on the country. In many ways, John McMahon can be compared to the Ric Flair of pro wrestling during the pioneer era, while JH McLaughlin was that era’s Hulk Hogan. They were two of the biggest stars in the professional wrestling game during that period of time in the mid to late 1800’s.
McMahon (Who was in no way related to WWE’s McMahon family) was undefeated as a wrestler for over 17 years of his 30 year career. Back in this era, it was common for fans to bet on matches, as it was widely considered a legitimate sport. In August of 1875, McMahon traveled to San Francisco to wrestle an opponent named William Farrell. The match was heavily advertised in the newspapers and ended up being a draw. Fans who attended the event, accused both McMahon and Farrell of intentionally “fixing” the match. The result caused a small riot with at least 4 fans charging the ring.
Both McMahon and Farrell were able to fight off three of the men, but a fourth took out a pistol and fired two shots with both bullets hitting McMahon. One bullet struck his hip, while the other bullet hit John McMahon in his chest. The fan was ultimately subdued and arrested. McMahon was sent to a local hospital where he remained in critical condition. John McMahon would survive the attack on his life and just a few months later, continued his wrestling career for several more years…eventually retiring from the sport in 1891.
X-Pacs A Punch
Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman recalled an incident involving him and Japanese star Masahiro Chono backstage at an event in Japan. According to Waltman, he was accompanying his girlfriend Joanie ‘Chyna’ Laurer during her tour of New Japan back in 2002. Waltman said he became enraged after seeing Laurer get physically pummeled during her match with Masahiro Chono. This, despite Laurer herself requesting that Chono not take it easy with her in the ring.
Waltman said that even though Laurer requested that Chono treat her like “one of the boys” inside the ring…Waltman knew that Chono was very unhappy about having to wrestle a woman. After the match concluded and both wrestlers returned backstage, Waltman said he angerly confronted Chono. Waltman said the two began shoving one another and then Waltman punched Chono on the side of his head.
The punch caused Chono’s ear to start bleeding and he had to be restrained by several wrestlers. Waltman later admitted he overreacted at the time due to being high on cocaine. Waltman said that after the incident with Chono, he became extremely paranoid that the Japanese mob (Yakuza) was going to kill him in retaliation for striking Chono.
Kiss My Ash
Mr. Fuji remembered his former tag team partner Professor Toru Tanaka as a quiet, easy going and generous individual. For all of his good qualities, Fuji claimed that Tanaka loved to chase after women while on the road. Fuji said that Tanaka had a loyal wife that he was married to for close to 50 years. Fuji said that didn’t stop Tanaka from allegedly being a womanizer while away from home.
Fuji claimed that Tanaka had a long time mistress who lived in Tennessee (Tanaka resided in California). Fuji said that when Tanaka passed away in 2000, his wife refused to claim the body after discovering his secret life outside of their marriage. Eventually, he was claimed and cremated with his ashes poured out into the Pacific Ocean.
Cop A Plea
In the early 1970’s, pro wrestlers Bob Bruggers and Wahoo McDaniel were leaving a bar in Denver, Colorado in the early morning hours. Both men were heavily intoxicated when McDaniel began hitting a parked car. The car was owned by an off duty police officer, who was inside the vehicle when McDaniel was hitting it. The cop and McDaniel had a verbal argument which escalated into pushing and shoving on the part of Wahoo.
As the cop was struggling to restrain Wahoo, Bruggers allegedly got involved and tried grab the officer. It took bystanders nearby to help the cop restrain Wahoo and hold back Bruggers. Wahoo was arrested at the scene and was bailed out by Bruggers who was not arrested.