Posted on by bdamage1
Griffin Kaye
It is no secret that promoters in the wrestling industry have a reputation of being unscrupulous, be it Vince McMahon’s hush money payments or Paul Heyman’s bouncing checks. However, few can claim to have taken a life, something one notable wrestling promoter has done, even if inadvertent.
Who Is He?
The promoter in question is Verne Gagne, who is best known for co-founding and promoting the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association.
During his in-ring career, he would be one of the biggest faces on AWA programming, capturing the promotion’s world title belt on 10 occasions. Gagne’s four-decade in-ring career saw him feud with names such as Gene Kiniski, The Crusher, and – most notably – Nick Bockwinkel. Despite debuting in the 1940s, he wrestled up until 1986.
He is also credited with training a swathe of performers, amongst them world champions Sgt Slaughter, Ricky Steamboat, Bob Backlund, Curt Hennig, and Ric Flair.
Gagne has also undercome criticism over the years. Not only did he himself book himself absurdly strongly (holding the belt for a combined 12 years and even reigning well into his 50s) but he was accused of nepotism due to the booking of his son, Greg.
He also made one of the biggest missteps in wresting history by not pushing Hulk Hogan. Although he became a megastar, so much so that he was the first professional wrestler to star on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, Gagne was reticent to put the world title on Hogan, leading him to defect to the WWF. Gagen then allegedly paid The Iron Sheik $100,000 to break “The Hulkster”’s leg during the match that would have coronated Hogan as WWF champion.
Nonetheless, in a tribute to the Gagne, WWE referred to him as an “instrumental figure in the expansion of sports entertainment.”
The Death of Helmut Gutmann
In 2009, an 82-year-old Verne Gagne was living in the memory loss ward at the Friendship Village in Bloomington, Minnesota.
On January 26th, the former 1948 wrestling Olympian and two-time NCAA champion Gagne got into an altercation with 97-year-old Helmut Gutmann.
Gutmann had been a cancer researcher at a veterans’ hospital for 40 years. Being Jewish, he fled Nazi Germany in 1936, where he would become a US citizen and serve in the army. He would lecture at the University of Minnesota, the same university Gagne had attended.
It was reportedly not the first confrontation between the two men, with Gagne locking the nonagenarian in a sleeper hold on a previous occasion.
Reports are unclear and inconsistent as to if Gagne shoved or slammed the man 15 years his senior (one police report asserts Gutmann was “grabbed, shaken and thrown to the ground” but Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts instead called it more of “a push and a shove.”) Either way, the move broke Gutmann’s right hip.
On February 14th, Helmut unfortunately passed away, having contracted pneumonia after being treated for the injury.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported: “He was receiving physical therapy, but then, perhaps because of the pain he was in from the injury that he didn’t understand, since he had no memory of what happened to him, refused to eat or drink. His condition rapidly worsened, and he was sent to hospice care, and passed away on 2/14.”
The story was able to make mainstream news, being reported on outlets such as Fox News and CNBC.
It was also not the only incident surrounding the family that year, with Greg Gagne’s daughter arrested – and later convicted – of having sex with an underage student of hers.
A Sad State of Affairs
Despite his actions being responsible for Gutmann’s death, Verne was not charged. This is as Gagne had been suffering from Alzheimer’s, unable to remember the incident and too mentally impaired to stand trial.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman stated that it was “very clear from the medical personnel at Friendship Village and all of the people who observed the incident that Mr. Gagne, because of his dementia, simply lacks the capacity to intend the consequences of his actions.”
The daughter of Gutmann agreed, saying it would be “not humane” to press charges against Gagne, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. She added: “My father would be alive today if Verne Gagne had not lifted him off the floor and thrown him down. It doesn’t mean that I blame Verne Gagne. He had Alzheimer’s, so I don’t think you can actually hold him responsible for what he did.”
Gagne would die in 2015, aged 89.