Wrestling with Sin: 597

Brian Damage

This is the 597th 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.

David and Girliath

In July of 1981, David Sammartino was wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling under the moniker of Bruno Sammartino Jr. He and a friend went to a nightclub called ‘Dee Ford’s’ in Columbus, Georgia. While there, a woman named JoAnn Stewart claimed that Sammartino repeatedly flirted with her. Stewart said she rejected all of David’s advances and that caused him to get agitated. Miss Stewart said her boyfriend tried to step in and was punched by the wrestler in response.

Miss Stewart then claimed that Sammartino turned her attention back to her and slapped, kicked and body slammed her to the floor. Stewart said that she can barely stand for long periods of time and in constant pain. She said she incurred $4,000 worth of medical bills since the incident took place. Sammartino denied her account of the incident saying she was making advances towards him and when her boyfriend saw that, challenged David to a fight. As he and her boyfriend were arguing, she was the aggressor who jumped on his back and started hitting him in the face.

Sammartino admitted to grabbing her hair and throwing Miss Stewart off his back and onto the floor. He said that is when her boyfriend said he was getting his gun to shoot him and that is when Sammartino left the club. Originally, David Sammartino was charged with aggravated assault, but the charge was reduced to simple battery. If found guilty, he faced up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. 

The judge eventually found David not guilty in the non jury case stating she believed that JoAnn Stewart and her boyfriend were the aggressors after several eye witnesses testified on the wrestler’s behalf. 

Slapped With A Divorce

For WWE and AEW wrestler Jake Hager formerly known as Jack Swagger opened up about his divorce from Catalina White in 2023. Hager blamed himself for being a terrible husband and ignoring all the warning signs that his 12 plus year marriage was falling apart. Once the divorce proceedings began, that is when Hager was faced with the biggest challenge of his life. He said at the time, he wasn’t use to losing and found it very difficult to see his family structure being ripped away from him.

He was forced to sell his million dollar home and see his two children no longer living with him on a daily basis. Hager said he went into a deep depression and turned to alcohol to deal with his pain. He admitted to drinking very heavily and blaming himself for all of the problems of losing his family. It took a lot to dig himself out from the depression he was in, but now feels like a much smarter, stronger person because of the pain he went through.

The current Power Slap combatant says he worked hard on his sobriety and is definitely in a much better place both physically and mentally. Hager said, “Now I’m at a point where it’s like, ‘Oh, you don’t like this? Then f*cking do something about it and change it.’ It’s so refreshing to go through that journey because the last three years have been fucking rough on me.”

For Crist Sake

In 2022, Jake Crist surprised many within the independent wrestling community when he took the IWA Midsouth Heavyweight and Jr Heavyweight titles owned by IWA promoter and former ECW wrestler Ian Rotten and burned them live on camera.

Crist made this statement as to why he burned up those belts…This is as real as it gets. I’ve given lan and IWA Midsouth WEEKS to make right. Only to get excuses or down right ghosted. For the past few years, I’ve done everything in my power to help, just to be another causality on the list of people lan has screwed over. From paying people out of my own pocket to make sure other younger talent gets paid. To legit giving lan money out of my payday to make good with others. How many times will we all fall for these BS excuses. How many times will the hard work of others only be benefiting to lan. Just close your doors, and get a job. Enough is enough.

Ian Rotten would respond by saying that he was kept in the dark about IWA Midsouth running out of money by his girlfriend who was handling payroll. Rotten claimed that at the time he was suicidal and his girlfriend didn’t pay the wrestlers and did not tell Ian out of fear for his mental health. Rotten said that Crist never approached him about not being paid. Instead he found out on social media what Crist did to his title belts. All in all, Rotten was forced to shutdown IWA Midsouth and says he owed fans and wrestlers over 17,000 dollars, but claimed that 13,000 of that debt was paid back.

He said he could have easily filed for bankruptcy and nobody would get anything from him….but was a man and didn’t do that. Rotten said that his money troubles forced him to be evicted from his townhouse and was left homeless, but is a survivor and found a way to get back on his feet.

JR’s Behind Bars

When Jim Ross was working for World Championship Wrestling in the late 1980’s, he was arrested for a DUI. According to Ross, he was heavily drinking and he admittedly was foolish enough to drive himself home from the bar. While on his way back to his home, there was a police checkpoint that he got caught in. When police stopped him, the entire vehicle “reeked of booze.” 

Ross was arrested and bailed out by a close friend. He had his driver’s license suspended for six months. Ross said that Turner executives were made aware, but did nothing about the situation. There was no discussion with management nor was there any repercussions for the arrest from Turner execs.

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