Wrestling With Sin: 378

Brian Damage

This is the 378th 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.

The Devlin Made Him Do It

Former NXT Cruiserweight champion Jordan Devlin had a couple of women come forward accusing the wrestler of both mental and physical abuse. The first accuser was his ex girlfriend named Hannah Francesca, who accused Devlin of physical abuse. She claimed in a couple of now deleted tweets….

“This is absolutely right. The boys club mentality makes it even harder for victims to speak out. I approached a promotion about being abused by someone on their card and was told ‘One of my boys wouldn’t do that’ I didn’t talk about what happened to me for a long time after, I absolutely understand your intent here. But I’m not going to be sued by a man with a lot of power and WWE money. It’s a lot more complicated than just naming and shaming”

She added, “I was also told to reach out to my abuser as the whole thing might just be a ‘misunderstanding’ Promoters…..educate yourself. Don’t gaslight your fans or talent.”

Francesca then posted a collage of photos showing multiple bruises she claims Devlin caused saying, “This is scary. I’m really scared. Jordan Devlin did this to me. And this is just the physical damage. Not including my arse and back bruises….because I don’t fancy posting that online.”

Devlin would categorically deny the abuse accusations saying….The recent allegation made against me is completely and utterly false and I deny it entirely. This is a case of a malicious personal agenda being executed against me on the back of a very brave telling of true experiences by other women. I completely denounce it.

That led another woman to come forward named Hope Brookes…..a wrestling fan who claimed to have had an affair with Devlin while he was involved with Francesca. Brookes said this….Yeah but they aren’t are they Jordan, like how you were seeing me for months, then got back with your ex, blanked me, then came back and cheated on her with me and 30+ girls, bullied me to all your friends and workers when you were the f*cking asshole.

Brookes then went into some graphic detail about their alleged affair stating….Yes it’s for real, I was seeing Devlin for months, everyone knew that, they just thought I was crazy because of how we ended but he literally just decided one day to go back to his ex, blocked me, then 2 weeks later slept with me then told everyone I was after him. He got on the same flight as me to the royal rumble in AZ, he came and sat in the spare seat next to me, he kissed me and fingered me on that plane, I have a photo of me and him on the plane. Then we had sex again, he made out like we were friends but he loved his gf but sex was for everyone. He never spoke to me after that, blocked me on insta and Twitter.

WWE issued a statement saying: We take any allegation of this nature very seriously and are looking into the matter.

Jordan Devlin was taken off television for a few months, but has since returned.

Take the High Road

Sam Houston recalled getting his start in pro wrestling as a teenager. He says he started out as a ‘ring boy’ setting up the ring for shows. At 15 years old, Sam started driving wrestlers from town to town as a designated driver. He remembers on one such road trip, driving for hours and felt exhausted. On this particular drive, he had the Junkyard Dog as a passenger.

JYD noticed that the youngster was starting to fade while driving, so he introduced Houston to a “cocaine cigarette.” Very simply, JYD took a Benson & Hedges cigarette and dipped it into cocaine. Houston said smoking the cigarette laced with coke kept him awake and introduced him to the world of narcotics.

Sika and Destroy

One evening, Michael Hayes was at a bar and was drinking heavily. It got to the point where Hayes was acting up by being extra loud and obnoxious towards the bartender and other patrons. While Hayes drinking at a bar isn’t newsworthy in itself, this particular evening he started flirting with the girlfriend of another barfly. The boyfriend of the woman confronted Hayes and the two began arguing.

As Hayes was about to get punched, Afa and Sika of the Wild Samoans stepped in. The Samoans trained Michael Hayes and were very protective of him. The Samoans ended up in a fight with the boyfriend and a couple of his friends. All while Hayes allegedly sat back, watched and continued drinking. The police were called and several people were arrested including Afa and Sika. Hayes supposedly snuck out of the bar and avoided the police.

Shadow of Doubt

Michael Jefferson King otherwise known as ‘Jefferson King’ is a former bodybuilder turned actor and pro wrestler. King became a star in the United Kingdom when he joined the cast of the competition show called ‘Gladiators.’ King became the character known as ‘Shadow’ on that program. The popularity of the show helped King land a small role in the Spice Girls movie…’Spice World.’ In 1995, King was fired from the show after he tested positive for steroids.

That eventually led King on a downward spiral where he became a drug addict using cocaine and heroin. He had a brief run as a professional wrestler on the British independent scene, but his drug use became too much and he was unreliable. King’s drug habits caused him to lose his home and ultimately his wife and two children left him. King was in and out of jail several times due to his drug addiction.

In 2009, King entered a drug rehab program and got himself clean and sober. He would then become a drug rehab counselor himself working with addicts. Unfortunately, King had a relapse with heroin and went back to his old ways. In 2020, King and three other individuals were arrested and charged with the kidnapping and torture of a man named Arun Ali in London. The four individuals kidnapped Ali and demanded over £1,000 from his family for his release. When Ali tried to escape, King allegedly ordered the others to use a hammer to break the man’s legs.

The entire ordeal lasted over eight hours. The four were eventually arrested and jailed. In August of 2021, Michael Jefferson King was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for his involvement in the kidnapping.

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