Wrestling With Sin: 407

Brian Damage

This is the 407th 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.

Muraco and Roll

‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes always envisioned a part of himself as a wannabe rock n roll singer. While with the Florida territory in 1974, Dusty organized a concert with him as the headliner. The entire Florida roster (both faces and heels) were invited to Dusty’s concert. As the concert was under way, the wrestlers were backstage enjoying a few drinks. What started out as shots, quickly became drinking directly from the bottle.

At the time, Don Muraco was the territory’s hottest heel. He was in the middle of a high profile feud with Rhodes. Muraco was one of the boys who were drinking heavily the night of Dusty’s concert. Florida promoter Eddie Graham was also in attendance, but sitting by himself, just observing things. Dusty invited several babyfaces to the stage to join him as he sung ‘Johnny Be Good.’ By this point, Don Muraco was completely drunk on Tequila and stumbled onto the stage. At first, Muraco used the speakers as bongos and then put his arm around Dusty and sang with him. Muraco then embraced Dusty which was a very big deal at the time.

Kayfabe was still a thing in pro wrestling during that time and Eddie Graham was very strict about protecting the business. Here was his top babyface in Dusty Rhodes singing side by side with his arch enemy in Don Muraco. Despite a big, money feud was under way between Rhodes and Muraco and Muraco being the territories biggest heel…Graham fired him a week after the drunken incident.

Chain Wrestling

In August of 1975, Tarzan Tyler wrestled Johnny Rougeau in Sudbury, Ontario. During the match, Tyler took a small steel chain out of his boot to use against Rougeau. It was then where Tyler was accused of wildly swinging the chain while in the stands and hitting a female fan in the back of her head. The fan claimed she suffered cuts and bruises due to Tyler’s actions.

In September of that same year, a judge ordered Tarzan Tyler to pay a 500 dollar fine with 15 days or be sent to jail for 6 months. Tyler’s defense attorney said that Tyler went on a tour of Japan and wouldn’t not be able to pay said fine. The lawyer also argued that Tyler should not be convicted in the incident as it was an accident and Tyler did not maliciously seek to injure the female fan.

A Tragic Miz-hap

Joey Kovar was a reality show star, having been a cast member of ‘Real World: Hollywood’, and was looking to transition into the world of professional wrestling. While Kovar was following in the footsteps of fellow Real World cast member Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin who eventually became a WWE superstar…Kovar began his training in Chicago, Illinois with his eyes set on joining TNA wrestling.

Unfortunately, Kovar was battling several addictions which included alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamines and steroids. His drug and alcohol abuse curtailed his wrestling career from really taking off. On August 17, 2012…Kovar was discovered in his Chicago apartment unconscious and bleeding from his ears and nose. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy was conducted and his official cause of death was an opiate intoxication. Joey Kovar was only 29 years old at the time of his death.

Pop the Indies

Independent wrestler Victoria Pop accused death match wrestler G – Raver of sexual assault. Pop claims that the incident took place at a bar in Jersey City, New Jersey in 2020. According to Pop, G – Raver walked up to her and shoved his hand down her shirt and fondled her breasts. He allegedly only stopped when other women noticed what was going on and approached him.

Pop said the alleged assault didn’t end there, as she walked outside to have a cigarette and G – Raver was waiting for her. She claims that Raver began grabbing her and trying to kiss her to which she attempted to fight him off. The incident finally ended after a group of bar patrons intervened on her behalf. Victoria Pop called G-Raver a sexual predator and regrets not coming forward sooner (She told her story two years after the alleged incident took place.)

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