Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 475th 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.
Masking The Pain
Rey Mysterio opened up about his past addiction to pain medication and how it nearly destroyed his marriage. Mysterio became addicted to pain pills in the late 2000’s while with WWE. He said it was all due to the numerous injuries he had suffered in his career and the multiple surgeries he had to repair the damages. Mysterio said…“After several operations, five on my left knee and three on my right arm, the medication caught up to me. I realized it, my wife realized it, and I knew it was time to make a change for myself, my family, and for the business I’m in.”
The boiling point for Mysterio and his wife occurred while they were vacationing in Mexico. Mysterio, by his own admission, was completely out of it on a drug high. His wife Angie gave him an ultimatum right then and there. She told him that he could either continue to take the drugs or he can choose his family…but he could not have both. Mysterio went to meet Vince McMahon and told him that he needed time off to check into rehab and get himself clean. Vince apparently told Rey “of course” and told Rey that he admired him for making that decision.
Rey would be in drug rehab for 30 days and got clean, but would blow out his knee in a match and face the same demons he swore off. Rey said he was in unbearable pain, but refused to take any pain medication to help cope…fearing it would once again lead to issues. Seeing her husband struggle with pain, Angie decided to manage his dosages of the pills and helped him get through his injury.
Snake Charmer
Back around 1983, Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts was working for the Mid Atlantic territory in the Carolinas. While hanging out in Myrtle Beach, Roberts said he met a woman and the two became instantly attracted to one another. The two would hook up and become more of an item for the next three months. The couple would often party with booze and drugs.
While Jake and his new girlfriend were hanging out at a bar, in walks fellow wrestler Dick Slater. Slater wasted no time and immediately walked up to Jake at the bar. Jake said hi to Slater and Slater responded by asking…”What the Fuck are you doing with my wife?” Jake said he was in total shock, as his girlfriend never mentioned being married to another wrestler…let alone one of the meanest and toughest in Dick Slater.
Jake swore up and down that he had no idea and apologized profusely. As it turned out, Slater was at the very least separated from his wife or in the process of getting a divorce. Slater allegedly spotted the two together and followed them into the bar. Jake claimed that he and Slater had serious heat after that. When the two wrestled a program together in Mid South a few years later, Jake said that Slater acted professional inside the ring and never took any cheap shots or at least that he can remember.
The Tokyo Take
In January of 1956, a professional wrestler named John Montgomery Macfarland aka ‘The Mad Bull’ from Omaha, Nebraska was staying at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. He invited a jeweler up to his room to look at a variety of jewelry which included watches and diamond rings. Once the jeweler entered the hotel room, he was allegedly attacked by the wrestler and a Korean father and son duo, who bound and gagged the unsuspecting jeweler.
The team of thieves, stole a total of $14,000 worth of merchandise. Three days later, the men were arrested for the theft of jewelry. Macfarland would quickly obtain an attorney from the United States to defend him. The lawyer discovered that Macfarland had a history of mental illness, which included a stay at a mental hospital. The lawyer fought to get Macfarland returned to the United States to be charged with his crime, but the Japanese government refused that request.
The police were able to retrieve most of the jewelry which included a 2 1/2 carat diamond ring…but four items were still missing. No word if the items were ever found or what the outcome of the charges against the three men were.
Mug Shot
Wrestler Jack Victory recalled his time working for Mid South Wrestling and all the fights he was involved in during that time. Victory said that being a heel made him an easy target while hanging out at bars…especially when wrestling in New Orleans, Louisiana. One particular bad brawl occurred, according to Victory, when a drunk wrestling fan approached Victory and smashed a glass beer mug across Victory’s head.
Jack Victory claimed that he wasn’t bothering anybody at the time and the attack was unprovoked. The beer mug caused a huge gash across Victory’s face and began bleeding profusely. Victory said that despite all the blood loss, he nearly beat the attacker to death. The only thing that saved the attacker’s life was the people he was with which included the Freebirds and John Tatum.
He claimed that if not for them pulling him off a severely beaten individual, the attacker could have easily been killed that night. After leaving the bar, Victory showed up to the office of Mid South promoter Bill Watts completely covered in blood. Watts looked over Victory and made sure that whatever happened, no matter who was in the wrong, that Jack Victory won the fight. Victory said that Watts had no problems with fighting fans, just ensure that they won the fights or be fired on the spot.