Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 208th 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.
Biting Off More than He Can Chew
In 1968, wrestling promoter Fred Ward offered any fan in attendance $1,000 dollars if they could beat ‘Mr. Wrestling’ in a wrestling match. Believe it or not, this wasn’t done in kayfabe, Ward and Mr. Wrestling himself Tim Woods, made this event a shoot. Tim Woods had a legitimate amateur wrestling background and was confident he could beat anybody thrown at him. Enter a man by the name of Arnold Spurling.
Spurling accepted Mr. Wrestling’s challenge and was scheduled to face him a few days later The promoter even interviewed Spurling on TV and that is when Columbus, Georgia police recognized who Spurling was. He wasn’t just an ordinary wrestling fan, he was a local hoodlum who the police were very aware of. The police tried to warn Fred Ward and Tim Woods of Spurling’s criminal background, but they were confident enough that they could beat Spurling inside the ring.
When the actual match took place, Spurling sucker punched Mr. Wrestling and ripped off his mask and threw it into the crowd. Fans threw the mask back in the ring for Woods to put back on his head. Mr. Wrestling then started using a series of amateur wrestling moves to tire out Spurling. Realizing that he was losing the match, Spurling grabbed one of Mr. Wrestling’s fingers and bit off a piece of it. That is when things got completely out of control, as some of Spurling’s friends ran to ringside and were greeted by both face and heel wrestlers who ran from the dressing room.
A mini-riot broke out with both Mr Wrestling and Arnold Spurling being rushed to a local hospital. While the two men were being treated for their injuries, some more friends of Spurling went to the hospital to “collect” the thousand dollars they felt Spurling was owed. Police were there, however, and the men were arrested. Arnold Spurling would not stay out of the headlines, unfortunately. A few years later he was involved in a confrontation with police and was shot three times. He survived his injuries.
The Brad Seed
The son of wrestler Gene Anderson and a former wrestler himself for WCW and other organizations, Brad Anderson was arrested in 2006. He was charged with prescription drug fraud. Anderson, who was a stylist who owned a hair salon, allegedly gathered personal information from his clients like birthdays etc. He then allegedly used that personal information to fraudulently get prescription drugs from different pharmacies in the North Carolina area.
The drug that Anderson was allegedly getting was the painkiller known as Hydrocodone. Police said they actually caught Anderson in the act at a local pharmacy. In total, Anderson allegedly went to 15 different pharmacies to forge prescriptions. This apparently wasn’t the only time Brad has found himself on the wrong side of the law. In 2014, he was arrested for allegedly breaking and entering and in possession of stolen goods.
LU-gie Underground
At the Wrestlecon event in Dallas, Texas in 2016, there was an incident and confrontation between Jeff Jarrett’s wife Karen Jarrett and Lucha Underground ring announcer Melissa Santos. Melissa Santos allegedly complained during the course of the day that she didn’t have a chair to sit on during the convention. Karen Jarrett was reportedly intoxicated and became annoyed at Santos complaint.
That is when Karen allegedly approached Santos and spat either on her or in her direction. The two women became face to face and an argument ensued that allegedly almost became physical. It should be noted, this wasn’t Karen Jarrett’s first spitting incident during the convention. Karen reportedly spat at some fans who were heckling her during a wrestling match.
Blow Out the Birthday Candle
King Kong Bundy remembers his time with World Class Championship Wrestling and recalls how rampant drugs were in the locker room. Bundy says he had no interest in doing drugs, just getting paid. He does recall an instance where the youngest son of the Von Erich clan, Chris Von Erich was backstage during a show. Chris had just turned 13 years old and his older brothers “celebrated” Chris becoming a teenager by allegedly getting him drunk.
Bundy claims it didn’t end there, the Von Erich brothers then allegedly got a “ring rat” and asked the female to give young Chris oral sex. Which she allegedly did while his older brothers looked on.