Wrestling with Sin: 587

Brian Damage

This is the 587th 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.

Fray-ed Reputation

Fray Tormenta is widely known as the priest who doubled as a luchador to help finance his orphanage for kids in Mexico. A movie called Nacho Libre was made with Tormenta as the inspiration for that film. As popular as Tormenta was, he was accused of abusing small boys and even selling them on the black market.

It was an accusation that Tormenta vehemently denied. Police investigated the accusation and discovered that the priest/luchador was sick in the hospital when he was accused of abuse. As it turned out, the person who made the false accusation was a rival luchador who made up the story to try and damage Fray Tormenta’s popular reputation. No word if the rival luchador was charged in the case.

In the Doghouse

During a house show for WCW, The Junkyard Dog teamed with Lex Luger. In the course of the match, JYD blew up and was exhausted. He went to tag in Luger and legitimately tripped and fell face first on the mat. When that happened, Luger started to laugh at JYD as did some of the fans ringside.

This angered Dog and after the match ended. He confronted Lex backstage. The two wrestlers got into a heated argument, and it ultimately led to JYD punching out Luger. Reportedly, JYD got the best of Luger in the fight.

Turtle Power

In 1990, Chris Champion was working in Memphis for the USWA. He wrestled in a turtle costume mimicking the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of that time. His gimmick name was Kowabunga. Champion allegedly met a female fan at a show and was warned by Dutch Mantell that the female looked very young. Champion was allegedly convinced that the girl was 19 years old.

As it turned out, the girl was just 11 years old and accused Champion of molesting her. Champion was arrested before a show by Memphis police and spent the night in jail. He was later released on $7,000 bail. Champion stated that Jerry Lawler hired a lawyer for him. The case was seemingly thrown out, as the girl’s testimony kept changing. Champion would be arrested a second time, when a 14 year old girl claimed that a wrestler in a turtle costume inappropriately touched her. 

Champion dropped the turtle gimmick, but was still employed by the USWA while he was dealing with his legal troubles. Eventually Champion was cleared of serious charges and headed to Japan to wrestle for a spell.

Express Out of Town

During an NWA house show in Altoona, Pennsylvania…the Midnight Express were making their way to the ring to face off against the Steiner Brothers. A fan jumped the guardrail and allegedly grabbed Bobby Eaton into a headlock. The Midnight’s manager Jim Cornette saw this and used the handle of his tennis racket to smash the fan in the face. The bloodied fan was surprisingly not ejected and was returned to his seat.

The fan continued to verbally harass Cornette and was ultimately removed from the building. As the fan was leaving the arena, he supposedly collapsed and sent to a nearby hospital. The police were called and a few eyewitnesses claimed that Cornette was the aggressor in the incident. The next day the police went to the hotel that the wrestlers were staying at and questioned several wrestlers. Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express had apparently bolted before the police got to them.

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