Wrestling With Sin: 412

Brian Damage

This is the 412th 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.

Candyland

Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts recalled the drug culture in the WWF in the 1980’s. He said the wrestlers would always look forward to and circle the dates on their calendars when the company would make stops in Allentown and Hersey Park, Pennsylvania for shows. Roberts said there would be a doctor that waited in the locker room as the wrestlers arrived and the doctor would have at least six or seven suitcases with him. Roberts said the suitcases would be filled with all types of drugs like Valium, Halcion, Steroids and many other “treats” for the boys.

Roberts said all you had to do was walk up to the doctor and tell him what you needed and/or wanted and he gave you as many drugs as you asked for. Roberts said the most drugs he ever took from the doctor at once was about 300 pain pills. Many wrestlers loaded up on whatever they could carry and travel with.

With the excess of drugs flowing in the WWF during the ’80’s, many wrestlers played dangerous games with whatever they didn’t use themselves. The most popular was Halcion which helped people sleep. Roberts claimed that many would use it to spike female fans drinks and then rape them at the hotel. He also said some wrestlers would try and spike drinks of fellow wrestlers. He said some did it to try and get wrestlers who were higher up on the card in trouble. Without naming names, Roberts said several high profile wrestlers were sent to the hospital because they were drugged way too much. Jake admitted he was a target several times by lower card wrestlers. He also said he never played games like spiking drinks of females, because he was greedy and wanted the drugs all to himself.

Mongolian’s Beef

Early in his career, Archie Gouldie aka ‘The Mongolian Stomper’ worked for Dory Funk Jr in the Amarillo, Texas territory. While learning the ropes, Gouldie was ordered to do a bunch of menial tasks. While Gouldie never complained…one particular task he absolutely dreaded. Dory paired him up with the then Amarillo territory champion Sputnik Monroe.

He wasn’t used as Monroe’s tag team partner, but rather his chaperone when Sputnik went out on the town…which Gouldie said was every single night. Dory Funk Jr wanted Gouldie to protect Sputnik from himself and act like his bodyguard. Apparently, Sputnik would go get drunk every night at the bars and get wild and brave. Gouldie said Sputnik Monroe would walk up to the biggest patron he could find and throw a beer in the guy’s face. When the guy got up to fight Sputnik, Monroe would tell the angry patron to “Go talk to my bodyguard.” Gouldie stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 260 pounds of solid muscle. He would often get into fights on behalf of Sputnik. It got to be such a recurring theme, that Gouldie finally snapped and told Funk either he be separated from Monroe, or he would leave the territory. Dory obliged and removed Archie from Sputnik.

Dawn of an Old Era

Former ECW and WWE personality Dawn Marie admitted to using steroids during her wrestling career. She cited the pressures of trying to keep up with others in the business and felt she needed to take short cuts to get there. Dawn Marie did say that no promoter whether it was Paul Heyman, Vince McMahon or anybody else forced her to use steroids, it was solely her decision.

She said this about her steroid use…“I CHOSE TO TAKE THAT SHORTCUT,” DAWN MARIE SAID. “DID VINCE TELL ME TO TAKE THAT SHORTCUT? NO. DID WWE? NO. WHY DID I DO IT? BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT’S WHAT I NEEDED TO DO IN ORDER TO KEEP UP . . . THERE WAS NO TESTING POLICY.”

The Bad Boy’s Battle With The Bottle

Hideo Takayama aka ‘Hido’ started his career in 1993 wrestling for the W*ng and FMW promotions in Japan. He formed a partnership with both Jado and Gedo (Both of which found greater success in New Japan) Hido, on the other hand, became a death match wrestler. He feuded with the likes of Jushin Liger and Atsushi Onita. Hido battled alcoholism through a portion of his career. It got so bad, Hido was homeless for a while and suffered serious liver damage which forced him into semi retirement.

He eventually met and fell in love with another wrestler named Megumi Kudo and the two would marry. Hido cited his marriage to Megumi as the main reason he got sober. Unfortunately, Hido continued his battle with liver disease due to all the years of alcohol abuse. He sadly died in 2021 at the age of 51.

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