Wrestling With Sin: 422

Brian Damage

This is the 422nd 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.

Getting the Boot

Brooke Adams was a model who competed in WWE’s Diva Search competition in 2006. Adams didn’t win the competition, but was noticed enough to be offered a WWE developmental contract and assigned to OVW and later Deep South Wrestling for training. It was reported that WWE executive John Laurinaitis was a big supporter of Adams and tried to find her a position on the different brands on the main roster. Laurinaitis allegedly went as far as to pay for her dance lessons to secure a spot.

It eventually paid off, as Brooke was added to the dance group ‘Extreme Expose’ with Layla El and Kelly Kelly for WWE’s ECW brand. In the beginning of November in 2007, Adams was released from her contract. Reports came out that some of the other WWE Divas did not like her backstage. Some said that she acted like a “know it all” about professional wrestling. Another report said that she had a verbal confrontation with Melina Perez backstage at a show that nearly got physical.

The argument was supposedly over the style of boots Brooke Adams was wearing during a segment on the show. Melina felt that Adams was trying to “show her up” by wearing boots that Melina always wore. That led to the argument where gimmick infringement came up and almost had the two women in a physical fight. Adams allegedly went to Vince McMahon himself to complain about Melina’s behavior, but McMahon sided with Melina feeling she was more valuable to the company and released Adams. John Laurinaitis allegedly went to bat to save Adams’ job, but could not convince McMahon to reverse his decision.

A few years later, Brooke commented on her time in WWE and about her confrontation with Melina. She said the argument over the boots was just a rumor, but added… “She was such a rude, fake, b***h to everyone. She then tried to turn my girls Layla & Kelly Kelly against me by telling them a lie that I said which in reality was a rumor that SHE started. It was never anything I said. I can’t stand her and neither can most of the rest.”

Bear Hugs and Kisses

Legendary wrestler Wladek Zbyszko was involved in a highly publicized divorce in 1932. His wife was a former Ziegfield Follies Showgirl named Anna Stark. She filed for divorce from Zbyszko citing he was physically abusive and he committed adultery. Stark claimed that her wrestler husband once grabbed her and put her in a bear hug. The Judge in the divorce case wasn’t convinced that Zbyszko was physically abusive towards his 22 year old wife, but did believe he was an adulterer. The judge based that on witness testimony from two other showgirls who said they would often see Zbyszko enter a NYC hotel with different women.

Initially, Zbyszko denied the adultery allegations…but eventually conceded that the life of a pro wrestler was very challenging for a happy and healthy marriage. Anna Stark was ultimately granted a divorce from Zbyszko a year later in 1933. Wladek Zbyszko and Ms. Anna Stark quickly remarried other spouses after their high profile divorce.

Mannen and Women

All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling was founded in 1968 and was intended to try to bring a sort of legitimacy to women’s wrestling in Japan. The inaugural president of AJW was a man named Toichi Mannen. Toichi Mannen had quite the reputation before entering the professional wrestling business. In the post World War II Japan….Mannen worked as a “fixer” who was hired by businesses to discourage and break up unionization of said businesses. Mannen headed a group of men who used intimidation and in some cases violence to make sure workers didn’t unionize. Some of that violence and intimidation included assaults, arson and kidnapping. Mannen also worked with businesses to make other rival businesses “go away.”

When Toichi was named AJW president…his bad reputation followed him. Many venues refused to book AJW shows and the promotion received a lot of bad press from newspapers and magazines. All Japan Women usually had to have shows in seedier venues and locations because Mannen was attached to them. Details of what Toichi Mannen did behind the scenes for AJW was kept secret, but he eventually stepped down from the company in 1975.

Sangre In/Sangre Out

Andres Duran Reyes aka ‘Sangre Chicana’ was a luchador who started his career in 1973 and finally retired in 2019. Sangre Chicana wrestled for all the major Mexican promotions of his era including EMLL, AAA and UWA. He is also a former WWF Light Heavyweight champion, when the title was defended primarily in Mexico.

Sangre Chicana was a very popular luchador during the prime of his career. Women from all over Mexico admired him. So much so, Sangre Chicana had 20 children with 16 of them daughters. Some of which became wrestlers themselves. Sangre reportedly had no choice but wrestle long after his career should have ended. Between custody and child support payments…Sangre Chicano had to wrestle to make that money. Once his youngest child became an adult, Sangre finally retired.

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