Wrestling with Sin: 137

Brian Damage

This is the 137th 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.

Beat Me in St. Louie

It wa during the mid 1960’s in promoter Sam Muchnick’s St. Louis territory where Johnny Valentine was wrestling Gene Kiniski. A gang of bikers were in attendance and started a riot in the building. Kiniski. who was working as a heel, was being escorted out of the ring by police.

Despite the police presence, Kiniski was forced to defend himself against the bikers by punching his way to the dressing room. The crazy crowds were blocking the entrance to the back and it seemed Kiniski and the police were trapped. That was until the babyface Johnny Valentine jumped into the crowd and started fighting off the bikers himself. Both the heel and babyface were working together to beat up the biker gang and wound up back in the dressing room safe and sound.

More Than A Woman

Back in early 1996 in WCW, there was a backstage altercation between two of the company’s female talents. During a match between Kevin Sullivan and Brian Pillman in which the two wrestlers fought (kayfabe) backstage a real argument broke out between ‘Sensational’ Sherri Martel and Nancy ‘Woman’ Sullivan. While it remained unclear what the two were arguing over, the end result saw Sherri spit in the face of Nancy.

The problem was, Nancy was married to Kevin Sullivan who just so happened to be the booker in WCW at the time. It was reported at first that Sullivan fired Sherri for spitting on his wife. As it eventually turned out, Sullivan forced Sherri into a drug rehab as apparently she was deep into battling a drug addiction.

Speaking of which, Sherri would battle her addiction for years to come. On June 15, 2007, Sherri was found dead in her mother’s home in Alabama. A few months later, toxicology reports came back and determined that Sherri Martel died from an overdose of Oxycontin (a very powerful painkiller). Sherri Martel was just 49 years old at the time of her death.

Take a Walk-er

‘Conan’ Chris Walker was a huge muscle bound pro wrestler whose biggest claim to fame was wrestling for the Dallas, Texas based Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) In 1992, it was no shock when Vince McMahon and the WWF brought Walker in. He started working dark matches and wrestling on house shows. If longtime WWF fans don’t remember Conan Chris Walker, you wouldn’t be alone.

Other than his dark matches and working on house shows, Walker was never brought on WWF TV. The reason being, he was caught seriously abusing steroids. Not really a big deal considering steroids were very much prevalent at the time but McMahon was just starting to feel the pressure of steroid allegations from a federal indictment. So to try and cut any ties or links to McMahon and the drug…Conan Chris Walker was fired.

Gone and Forgotten

Jose Alfredo Diaz Mendoza was a Mexican wrestler who was a part of the famed family of luchadors known as the Villanos. Jose was better known as Villano II and was often referred to as “the forgotten Villano” because he was the least successful of his five brothers.

Jose had battled a lifetime of depression and in 1989, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his home in Mexico. Villano II was just 39 years old at the time of his death.

Time to PAY the Game

Standing over 7 foot tall, Andre the Giant was a unique attraction in pro wrestling for years. So much so, that he was one of the best paid, highly sought after wrestlers in the entire world during his heyday. Andre was extremely popular with fans both in and out of the ring. Despite the love and admiration Andre would receive from fans worldwide, he apparently liked to keep to himself and felt out of place in most environments.

Because of this, Andre allegedly looked to prostitutes for companionship. According to some, Andre related to their lonely existences and would often selected prostitutes that were perhaps in his eyes just as different as he felt. Andre allegedly would spend up to $700 on hookers a night, taking various women of the evening home with him at a time.

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