Wrestling With Sin: 300!!!

Brian Damage

This is the 300th 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.

Riddle Me This

WWE star Matt Riddle was accused of sexual assault by an independent wrestler named Candy Cartwright. She says the incident took place before Riddle signed with WWE and happened while traveling on the road in May of 2018. Cartwright claims that Riddle asked her for sex and when she said no….he allegedly grabbed her by the throat and made her perform oral sex on him. She said she only gave him oral as a way to prevent having intercourse with him.

Here is the full tweet from Cartwright:

“I’m posting this because I have been so sad for so long. I didn’t realize that what he did to me was not ok. I realize now, reading these other brave women’s stories, that I can’t be afraid anymore and I have to #speakout.

“Back in May of 2018 I was riding with Matt Riddle and a few other wrestlers. During the van ride, when the 3 other wrestlers had fallen asleep, Matt asked me to ‘hop on his d–k’. When I refused (although we had previously been together I was incredibly uncomfortable in that setting ) When I said no, he grabbed me by my throat, choked me and said ‘what if I just made you?’

“I ended up giving him oral sex (praying someone wouldn’t wake up) to get out of having intercourse with him. It was incredibly humiliating. It is never ok to put your hands on a woman, it’s also not ok to not listen when she says no.”

Riddle’s wife Lisa fired back and said that Candy was a cyber stalker and they nearly filed a restraining order against her. Their attorney also got involved and issued this press release…

Candy didn’t back off on her claim and provided screenshots of texts from both Matt and his wife Lisa claiming that she was having an affair with him to debunk his claims of stalking and that Lisa Riddle already knew about her affair with Riddle in the past.

As of this writing, the WWE has taken no actions against Matt Riddle nor have the Riddle family responded to Candy Cartwright’s screenshots.

The F Word

While working for TNA wrestling in its early days, Shane Douglas was at a pub called the Ale House with fellow wrestlers in Nashville, Tennessee. It was an after party after a show and the wrestlers seemingly took over the entire pub. Shane was allegedly high on pills and being loud, A patron, who was not a wrestler, became agitated by him and started saying out loud that he thought all pro wrestlers were “faggots.”

The wrestlers continued to drink and party…but the patron didn’t let up in his name calling. Shane finally got up and allegedly choked out the patron and then throw him through a plate glass window. He then allegedly put his foot on top of the man’s head and stomped on him. Police were called to the scene, but Shane had been whisked away by fellow wrestlers. No word if he was ever arrested or sued in the case.

Dungeon Curmudgeon

Bryan ‘Popeye’ Peters was a student at the the famed Stu Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta. Canada. He stood six feet four inches tall and weighed about 245 pounds. Stu Hart claimed that Peters was one of his prized wrestling students. While Hart praised Bryan Peters of being respectful and mild mannered…there was apparently another side to the wrestler in training. Peters was a part of a motorcycle gang and allegedly an enforcer for a local drug dealer.

Bryan Peters was supposedly sent to collect drug debts and if the person didn’t pay…Peters was there to rough them up. One particular person who owed money to the dealer was named Shawn Pekley. Pekley was a male stripper who had a cocaine habit and owed approximately $3,000 to the dealer. Peters was sent to collect and brutally beat Pekley on two separate occasions when he couldn’t pay up.

On May 21, 1987, Peters spotted Pekley and went after him for the money once again. Pekley hopped into his car and sped off with Peters chasing him in his. Peters was able to ram his vehicle on the side of Pekley’s car and forced him to the side of the road. As Peters got out of his car to confront Pekley…the male stripper pulled a sawed off shotgun from underneath the driver’s seat and fired. Bryan Peters was shot in the chest and as he laid on the ground….Pekley got out of his car and shot Peters again…this time in the face.

Shawn Pekley would surrender himself to police and eventually went to trial. The jury acquitted Pekley of murder, believing he killed Peters in self defense. After being set free, Shawn Pekley went into hiding fearing retribution from fellow members of Peters gang. Stu Hart read the eulogy at Peters funeral and told the press that Peters was set to make his pro wrestling debut just four days after his death. Bryan Peters was 25 years old at the time of his death.

A Stinky Situation

A former independent wrestler from the Boston, Massachusetts area named Christopher “The Skunk” Antal, was arrested in 2010 for allegedly punching a 59 year old woman. The Skunk was accused of getting into a fight with another individual, when the woman tried to intervene, she was allegedly punched in the face by Antal. She was sent to a local hospital to treat her injuries. The Skunk made local headlines in 2003 when he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of the town of Marlborough, Massachusetts.

This wasn’t the first time The Skunk had a brush with the law. In 1987…The Skunk was arrested and plead guilty to indecent assault and battery. Antal insists his innocence in that case as well. He said he only plead guilty to avoid jail time. Getting back to the case in 2010, the charges were ultimately dismissed when witnesses failed to show up in court.