Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 42nd installment of the ‘Wrestling with Sin‘ series. A group of stories that at times delves deep into the underbelly of professional wrestling. Some of these stories involve lust, greed, drug abuse, arrests and in some cases…even murder! As with every single story in the Sin series…I do not condone nor do I condemn the alleged participants.
Social Media Havok
Former TNA and current independent wrestler…Jessicka Havok has recently come under fire for a tweet she posted a few years ago in 2011. The tweet resurfaced when word got out that Havok was rumored to be getting a tryout with the WWE. The tweet was extremely racist in tone as it read….”At KFC right now….channeling my inner ni—r!”
The tweet was sent to various higher ups in both WWE and TNA including…Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and Dixie Carter by an unknown individual. Jessicka Havok responded with the following statement….
“I want to apologize wholeheartedly for the OLD tweets that are being brought up right now. Legit, It was years ago and i don’t even rem.tweeting over half of this stuff. The stuff i do remember was jokes that were in bad taste. I was young and very new to social media promo and i was very immature and just said things to make my friends laugh at the time. Inside jokes between us. I don’t really feel or believe any of the things i DID actually tweet. I am a loving, compassionate person and i LOVE everyone. No mater who! I would die for any wrestling fan and i care so much about wrestling and everything in it. I would not be here without any of you. I was young, stupid & immature. I am not too proud to admit some of it was me being bitter for all the wrong reasons, but I’ve learned and grown from this .. i hope this can be forgiven. I love you guys.”
Eddie Gilbert’s Mom is Hot Stuff
The mother of the late, great wrestler/booker ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert and wrestler Doug Gilbert was arrested in 2008 on charges of domestic assault. According to reports, Peggy Gilbert got into a verbal confrontation with her granddaughter and that led to Peggy Gilbert physically assaulting her. Peggy was arrested and put into her own cell separated from fellow inmates.
The reasoning behind that decision was because..Peggy was a former Alderman and police commissioner in the state of Tennessee and they feared the inmates might retaliate against her. Peggy later apologized for her actions in the matter.
Independent Wrestler Pays a Handsome Price
This is the story of Gary Dean Mabe who wrestled under the moniker of ‘Handsome’ Bill Armstrong. (He was NOT in anyway related to the Armstrong family.) He wrestled primarily in the independent promotions in the North Carolina area. In 1998, Mabe was accused of raping a 10 year old girl he knew over a 2 year period.
When word got out that there was a warrant out for his arrest…Mabe took off out of the state. He allegedly stole a van owned by one of the indie wrestling companies he was working for. He was found hiding out in a tent in Jacksonville, Florida. Mabe was arrested and charged with 2 counts of statutory rape… two counts of committing a statutory sex offense and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor.
NO Sawa….Not Again
Japanese wrestler Kazushige Nosawa is no stranger to controversy or scandals. In 2011, Nosawa was arrested after stealing a taxi and driving it without a driver’s license. Two days after his arrest, Nosawa took a leave of absence from pro wrestling.
In 2012, Nosawa and his then girlfriend (also a pro wrestler) Io Shirai were arrested at a Japanese airport after being caught with over $5,000 worth of Marijuana hidden in paintings (see picture above) that were made for them on their trip to Mexico. Both facing serious jail time and lifetime bans from the Japanese wrestling circuit…Shirai and Nosawa pleaded their innocence in the crime. They both claimed the drugs were planted in the paintings without their knowledge.
As it turned out…they were apparently telling the truth! According to a fellow Japanese wrestler named Takuya Sugi, he admitted to the press that he was the one who planted the drugs on Nosawa and Shirai while they were in Mexico. To make matters even more complicated, Takuya Sugi claimed he was asked to do it from a man named Masahiro Hayashi.
Masahiro Hayashi was/is a successful business man who makes lucha masks and ring outfits. According to Sugi…Hayashi wanted him to plant the drugs on Nosawa and Shirai because Hayashi had a longstanding “beef” with Nosawa. Takuya Sugi said in return for planting the drugs…Hayashi would get him a new contract to work in Triple AAA in Mexico. All charges were eventually dropped on both Nosawa and Shirai in the case.