Wrestling With Sin: 416

Brian Damage

This is the 416th 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.

Albright Was All Wrong

Gary Albright was a stand out amateur wrestler from the University of Nebraska who transitioned to professional wrestling. Albright was trained by legends such as Danny Hodge, Lou Thesz and Billy Robinson and was known as the “Master of the Suplex” during his career. He wrestled mostly for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling and for All Japan Pro Wrestling. He was also married to Wild Samoan Afa’s daughter.

While Albright was well liked and very much respected in and out of the ring…friends say he was a completely different person when he drank alcohol. His nickname was “Hyde” because he had a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality when he was sober and again when he consumed alcohol. He was a very angry and combative drunk. One incident had him challenge a U.S. Marine at a bar in Japan by getting on his knees and putting his hands behind his back screaming at the marine to hit him first.

Albright also had a lot of “heat” with Johnny Ace, who was the booker of All Japan at the time. Albright felt that Ace was an office stooge and hated his guts and anybody who was friends with him. An example of this was one night Albright went out drinking at the Hard Rock Cafe in Japan with Rob Van Dam and ‘Jungle’ Jim Steele. Jungle Jim was friends with Johnny Ace and after a few drinks, Albright started to badger Steele about his friendship with Ace. He accused Steele of being a spy and challenged him to a fight. RVD tried to calm things down, but Albright wouldn’t back down and allegedly open hand slapped Steele so hard….Van Dam said he felt the vibrations. Dazed, Jungle Jim Steele just took the slap and backed off, knowing that Albright was a legitimate tough guy.

Kiss Off

David Heath aka Gangrel recalled a situation involving his then wife Luna Vachon and Terri Runnels when all three were with the WWF. According to Gangrel, WWF creative wanted to have a kissing segment between him and Terri. Apparently, his wife Luna became extremely jealous over the kissing spot.

When Gangrel was backstage, Luna approached Terri and “stuck her tongue down Terri’s throat.” Luna then told Runnels…“I kissed you first you bitch before you could kiss him.” After that incident…Gangrel said he was let go by the company.

Steiner Behinder

Both Eric Bischoff and Kevin Nash recall how brutal Rick and Scott Steiner would haze other wrestlers and talent in WCW. One incident saw a referee believed to be Nick Patrick being stretched on the ground by the brothers. After which, the two stripped and duct taped the referee on a table in the locker room.

Bischoff says the Steiners would then grab a pencil and insert the implement into the referee’s ass. Nash claimed that when he saw this act being done, he told the brothers that was sodomy and could be arrested for it. The Steiners just laughed him off. Nash said the brothers had no fear of retribution and picked on everybody whether it was a referee or top star.

With Friends Like These…

In September of 1912, a heavyweight professional wrestler named Walter Hausafus and best friend Elmer Wallace went drinking at a local establishment in Des Moines, Iowa. The two friends began arguing and it resulted with the much larger and stronger Hausafus striking Wallace knocking him out. Wallace’s head hit the pavement and was motionless on the ground. Elmer Wallace suffered a fractured skull and ended up dying from his injury.

Hausafus walked to a nearby police station and confessed to “killing his friend.” He was subsequently arrested and charged in the death of Elmer Wallace. The case went to court, where the lawyer for the family of Elmer Wallace claimed that Hausafus murdered Wallace in a fit of jealousy. The lawyer claimed that Hausafus was in love with Wallace’s girlfriend Bette. The lawyer also claimed that Hausafus struck Wallace over the head with a pitcher killing Wallace. Hausafus and his lawyer denied all those claims saying it was purely accidental. The jury deliberated and eventually found Hausafus innocent of second degree murder.

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