Wrestling With Sin: 559

Brian Damage

This is the 559th 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.

Sin-cinnati

In June of 1995, Brian Pillman was involved in a nasty custody battle with his ex girlfriend over their 4 year old daughter. The ex no showed a meeting with their custody representative and failed to pick up their daughter at an agreed upon time. Pillman took it upon himself to look for his ex girlfriend, by driving around some sketchy parts of Cincinnati where she was known to frequent at times. Pillman would make a few stops, showing her picture to a number of the residents in the area.

The police noticed him making a few of these stops and decided to pull him over and question him. Pillman was apparently uncooperative, so the police decided to search his vehicle and discovered one pain pill in an unlabeled pill bottle. The police then requested he take a breathalyzer test and he refused…so he was arrested for driving under the influence. At the police station, Pillman volunteered to take a drug test to clear his name and the test came back clean.

Despite that, because Pillman refused to take a breathalyzer test requested by the officers at the scene, he was still charged with a DUI. According to the law, a refusal is an automatic DUI charge. Pillman pleaded with the police to put an All Points Bulletin out on his missing ex girlfriend and the police obliged. His ex was found a couple of days later down in Florida, after she was stopped for a traffic violation.

Going, going, Juan!

Juan Herrera was EMLL’s head booker in Mexico from around 1989 until 1992. Herrera had a tumultuous stay in EMLL, as he often clashed with other bookers and even the owner of the promotion in a power struggle. Herrera had a vision of how the company should present their wrestlers that often clashed with others. Despite that, Herrera was considered a very successful booker and creative mind.

That all ended in 1992, when he was fired by the company. It was later revealed that Herrera was taking bribes from various luchadors to secure top spots within EMLL and stronger pushes. After he was let go from the promotion, Herrera attempted to start his own promotion, but it never truly got off the ground.

Pull Apartheid

Early in Andre Rene Roussimoff’s (Andre the Giant’s) career, he toured Europe and South Africa to gain much needed experience. Andre said he absolutely hated his time wrestling in South Africa and vowed never to return there. Andre said there were no rooms or beds big enough for him to stay in. That was the least of his issues. Andre said he witnessed unspeakable crimes committed on the streets while travelling through the region.

While Andre was disgusted by the lack of accommodations for a man his size and the horrible crimes he personally witnessed while staying there, he also came in contact with a local wrestler that he grew to despise. Jan Wilkens was a South African wrestler nicknamed ‘The Johannesburg Giant’ that stood 6 ft 7 and weighed 280 pounds. Wilkens saw the young Andre as a threat to him and his career due to his large size and they did not get along at all. Their hatred for one another eventually boiled over and the two wrestlers had a physical confrontation. Wilkens was said to throw a couple of punches at Andre and Andre responded with a punch of his own. Andre’s once punch reportedly knocked Wilkens completely unconscious. He was hospitalized and reportedly remained unconscious for three days after the initial punch.

Fighting More than Just Family

Saraya formerly known as Paige in WWE, recalled her downward spiral both mentally and physically during the making of the film ‘Fighting With My Family‘ based on her life becoming a professional wrestler. She admitted that during the production of the movie, she was “a fucking cokehead” and acted like a “complete psychopath.” The producers of the film actually stopped making the movie, because they feared that Saraya would be dead before the movie debuted.

Her cocaine and alcohol abuse was completely off the charts and mentally she wanted to die. Her father reached out to her to get help. WWE management saw how she was bottoming out and offered her rehabilitation which she accepted to get clean and sober. She has stated that she has been completely off drugs for seven years now.

You can read all previous ‘Wrestling with Sin’ pieces here.