Wrestling with Sin: 590

Brian Damage

This is the 590th 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.

Take My Wife…Please!

John Bonello was a former wrestler turned WWF referee in the 1980’s. Bonello usually worked for the company when they made their way to Toronto and the surrounding area. Bonello helped train future referee Jimmy Korderas. When he wasn’t officiating for the WWF, Bonello held a full time job at a firm and also worked part time as a bouncer at a club in Toronto. 

Bonello hired a hit man to kill his wife Diane. John Bonello paid the hit man $1,500 up front and would pay the remaining balance of $3,500 after the hit was done. The plan was for the hit man to enter the couple’s home and shoot Diane in the head while she was asleep. It was to look like a burglary gone wrong. The reasoning was to apparently collect insurance money and to resume an affair that John was having with a dancer at a club Bonello was working at at the time.

As it turned out… the hired hit man was really an undercover cop and Bonello was arrested and convicted. Bonello was bailed out of jail by his father who was living with his son and wife at the time. Bonello faced up to life in prison for the crime he committed.

During the trial, the case took a few bizarre twists and turns, as a psychiatrist testified that Bonello was taking a dangerous mixture of steroids, cocaine, marijuana and a variety of pills that affected his brain and judgement. His wife and family ultimately sided with him during the trial and requested instead of prison time, Bonello seek out drug and mental rehabilitation.

The judge sentenced Bonello to 18 months of prison time. Later, the judge added years to his sentence feeling that his light sentence would send a bad message. Eventually, the judge upped his jail time to three years plus 360 hours of community service and mandatory rehabilitation. He and his wife Diane later reconciled.

Half Nelson

During an AWA TV taping at the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada…AWA announcer Larry Nelson interviewed the general manager of the hotel Judy Moore. Larry admittedly was drinking a bit before the taping and when it was time to do the interview, he was relentlessly flirting with the executive. 

After the interview ended, Moore went backstage and complained to Greg Gagne who was running the taping. Nelson stated that Gagne was extremely angry and fired Nelson on the spot. After cooling off a bit, Greg realized he had nobody else capable of announcing and rehired Nelson. 

To Be Young…

In 1977, Gary Young was a rookie wrestler who was starting out in the Funk’s Amarillo, Texas territory. His first match in, he was booked against the veteran known as Abdullah the Butcher. Abby told Young how the match would play out and said that he would have to add color aka bleed during the contest. Abdullah said that he would cut the rookie to show him how to do it properly. Some other wrestlers warned Young that he should do the cutting on himself, but Young was afraid to insult Abdullah.

Abby cut Garry Young’s forehead and opened him up ear to ear. Young bled buckets and had to be sent to the emergency room to get stitched up. Abby apparently did that on purpose to test the resilience of the rookie.

Trip the Light Fandango

While wrestling for WWE in 2018, Fandango suffered a labrum tear and was sidelined for months. When he was scheduled to return to the company, Fandango said he “freaked out” fearing that he would fail in his return. He decided  to go out and party for three to four days non stop. 

He said that he nearly died in his hotel room after all those days partying. Thankfully, Fandango had mustered enough courage to call WWE management and ask for help. He was sent to rehab for 60 days and got clean and sober. Fandango said aside from marrying his wife, going to rehab was the best thing to happen in his life. 

To read other articles in the Wrestling with Sin series…Please Click Here.