Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 409th 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.
New Year’s Eve of Destruction
It was New Year’s Eve in 1990 and the Dynamite Kid Tom Billington went to a bar with his younger brother Mark. Dynamite Kid refused to pay the $5 cover charge and basically bullied his way into the bar without paying. Inside, he was very loud and boisterous while wearing sunglasses. The Dynamite Kid wore the sunglasses to avoid suffering seizures from strobe lights attributed to his heavy drug use. Some of the other bar patrons saw Billington wearing his sunglasses, being loud and became annoyed at him.
An argument ensued that led to a few patrons assaulting Billington, stomping on his face. Tom Billington would drive home and enter the house where his 5 month pregnant wife was watching a movie with their six year old daughter. Billington was bloodied with a deep gash on the side of his face. His wife Michelle would say the gash was so deep that she could see the bone. While his daughter was scared seeing her father all bloody, Billington demanded that his wife get dressed and they go out to a hotel to ring in the new year. His wife initially told him no, but knew of his violent streak and feared for her and her children’s lives.
The Dynamite Kid, by his own admittance, was physically abusive to his wife. We chronicled some of his actions here. Billington taped up the gash on his face, dropped the kids off at a babysitter’s and took his wife out to ring in 1991. The entire evening was Billington arguing with his wife about his drug use and violent behavior.
Texas Shoot – Out
During a tour of Texas, the then reigning NWA world heavyweight champion Harley Race made a stop in Abilene, Texas. The promoter of that small territory was a wrestler named ‘The Lawman’ Don Slatton. Slatton was a legitimate sheriff turned bondsman turned bounty hunter turned pro wrestler and promoter who was the star of his territory which included small Texas towns like Abilene, San Angelo and a few others. With Race in the territory, Slatton booked himself to wrestle Harley in the main event in a chain match for the NWA world title. Don Slatton was the self proclaimed ‘King of the Chain Match’, so it made sense that was the gimmick match chosen. Harley Race didn’t have to be pinned or submitted to lose his title…all Slatton had to do was touch all four corners of the ring.
Before their match, NWA president Bob Giegel called Harley and told him not to go through with the match, because word got to him that Slatton was planning a double-cross. Race assured Geigel that a double cross would never happen and if it was tried, Race would handle it. Geigel still warned Race that the screw job was a distinct possibility and to be careful.
The match took place on May 10th, 1978 in Abilene, Texas. The finish saw Slatton (the babyface) touch three of the four turnbuckles, with only one more to go for him to win the NWA title. Before he reached the fourth corner, Terry Funk and other wrestlers ran into the ring and attacked both wrestlers. It was at that time, Race was supposed to make his comeback and touch the four corners and retain his title. Instead, during the melee, Slatton quickly slapped the fourth turnbuckle to the roar of his hometown fans. Seemingly, that meant that Slatton was the new NWA world champion. He quickly left the ring and headed back to his dressing room.
Realizing that he had been had, a bloody Race with the chain still attached to him ran through the crowd and to the back looking for Slatton. Harley found him allegedly hiding in one of the showers, to which Harley struck him a number of times and dragged Slatton back to the ring. Harley quickly went around the ring touching all four corners and then making the ring announcer announce him as still the NWA world champion much to the confusion of the fans. Once he was declared the winner, Race went right back to the dressing room looking for Slatton, but he was nowhere to be found. Race trashed the backstage area before grabbing his title and leaving the arena.
Don Slatton would later claim that he had lost count of what number turnbuckle it was when he touched the fourth and final one. The NWA would put pressure on Slatton that eventually dried up his territory and went out of business. According to Terry Funk, (Who was suspected to be involved in planning the double cross) the reason Slatton did what he did was never to become the NWA champion, but give him more ring credibility across the country by ALMOST defeating Harley Race. The belief was that Funk wanted the screw job to bring more business to the territory which he helped supply talent for.
Way Black When
Viro Small was born into slavery in 1854. After the Civil War ended, Small moved from South Carolina to New York. He began his career as a professional wrestler at the young age of 16 years old. Small is considered by many to be the first black wrestler in pro wrestling history. He usually wrestled under the moniker of ‘Black Sam’ and was very successful. Viro Small competed against a wrestler named Billy McCallum in New York City in 1882 that went to a ‘No Contest.’ So upset was McCallum about the match outcome, that the two argued with pushing and shoving.
McCallum wouldn’t let the dispute end in the ring. Later that night, he broke into the apartment where Small was staying at and pulled out a pistol shooting Small in the neck while he was sleeping. Thankfully, Small survived the attempt on his life and continue wrestling up until 1885. No word if Billy McCallum was ever arrested or served time in the attempted murder of Viro Small.
South of the Border
Lady Maravilla is a luchadora who started her career in 2009. She has competed for both major promotions in Mexico which include AAA and CMLL. She also wrestles for various indie groups in Mexico. As her star is rising in Lucha Libre, a video was uncovered of her filming herself masturbating.
While her identity has never been revealed to the public, the 27 year old wrestler was identified in the video due to her piercings and distinctive tattoos on her body. Some have speculated that in the very conservative Mexico, this video could be potentially damaging to her career.