Wrestling With Sin: 158

Brian Damage

This is the 158th 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.

Nasty Confrontation

In January of 1992, WWF stars the Nasty Boys and Irwin R. Shyster were traveling together when another car sped up behind them beeping their horn and riding up their back bumper. The other car then went on the side of the wrestlers’ car and started giving them the finger and throwing objects at their vehicle. When the cars pulled up to a red light, the wrestlers got out of the car to fight.

About three or four men got out of the other vehicle and one of the men took out a knife and stabbed Brian Knobbs multiple times in the arm and once in the stomach. Knobbs’ partner Jerry Saggs was hit over the head with jumper cables and suffered a concussion. IRS was believed to have escaped with only minor injuries. The Nasty Boys wound up hospitalized and missed the TV tapings that week. The men who were involved in the confrontation with the wrestlers were all arrested and found guilty.

That’s So Corny

Former manager and promoter Jim Cornette has been known for his explosive temper. It, at times, has gotten Cornette in a great deal of trouble with the law. Take for example an incident that took place one night in Knoxville, Tennessee between Cornette and a rival promoter named Terry Landell.

During his days of running Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Jim Cornette had issues with Landell (no relation to Buddy Landel) for booking wrestling shows for free, just to take fans away from Smoky Mountain. According to Cornette, Landell felt like he owned the Knoxville, Tennessee territory and tried to sabotage anyone who ran shows in “his” area. Years after Smoky Mountain went out of business, Cornette returned to Knoxville to do a show for his friend Ron Fuller. Not so coincidentally, Landell was still hosting shows against other Knoxville promoters.

Jim Cornette who has had a very tumultuous history with Terry Landell, decided to confront Landell at his own wrestling show. When he arrived at Landell’s show, he and his girlfriend Stacy were met with a face full of mace. Cornette grabbed his baseball bat and began swinging at whoever he could hit. Half blinded, Cornette jumped back into his car and attempted to run over Landell but accidentally hit a member of his ring crew. Cornette took off after the incident and left Knoxville for a long time.

Jim Cornette was eventually told that there was a warrant for his arrest and turned himself in. Cornette wound up being charged with reckless driving and posted a fine and went on his way.

Women of Dis-Honor

In 2016, independent ring announcer/valet/wrestler Scarlett Bordeaux wrestled a squash match against WWE’s Nia Jax on Monday Night Raw. It didn’t take long for her colleagues in Women of Honor (Ring of Honor’s Women’s Division) to put her down for jobbing on WWE TV. Wrestlers Kelly Klein and Mandy Leon both tweeted their disapproval…

It wasn’t long before a bevy of responses came from fans and fellow independent wrestlers denouncing Klein and Leon’s tweets. Some went as far to post pictures of both Klein and Leon’s appearances in the WWE as a part of Adam Rose’s ‘Rosebuds.’

Mandy Leon was quick to defend herself for that decision, but as more people started citing her and Kelly Klein’s hypocrisy, all of their tweets were deleted. As a matter of fact, it got so bad, Kelly Klein deleted her entire account. It seems Women of Honor capitalized on this incident and built a program between both Scarlett Bordeaux and Kelly Klein.

A Shot in the Dark

A New Jersey area independent wrestler nicknamed ‘DynaMike’ Davis was coming home from his day job in November of 2016. When he pulled up to his home and got out of his vehicle, two men approached him. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot DynaMike in the face and then took off on foot. DynaMike stumbled into his front yard where he collapsed and ultimately died.

The police believe that this wasn’t a random act of violence and that Mike Davis was targeted. The reasons behind his murder are still relatively unknown, but the store he worked out was also robbed and believed to be connected with this crime. DynaMike Davis was only 25 years old.

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

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