Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 518th 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.
Tears of a Clown
Matt Borne made his Doink the Clown character one of the most beloved gimmicks in the WWF in the early 1990’s. Behind the scenes, Borne was struggling with drug addiction. His personal demons got so bad that Borne threatened to kill Scott ‘Razor Ramon’ Hall after a disagreement. After that confrontation, Borne was summoned to a meeting with Vince McMahon. Borne was warned that his excessive drug abuse and negative attitude would not be tolerated for much longer.
According to Borne, the final straw came when Bam Bam Bigelow caught Borne smoking weed with Luna Vachon and ring announcer Mike McGuirk in a Boston hotel lobby, Bigelow went back and told Vince and Borne was subsequently fired from the WWF. Borne said that is when things completely unraveled in his personal life. After a few weeks being unemployed, his wife took their young daughter and left him. Not only that, Borne claims his wife stole over $20,000 from him that he was saving for his daughter’s education.
Borne said he took whatever money he had in other accounts (which amounted to a little over $50,000) and locked himself up in a hotel for a few weeks. Borne said he did noting but binge on drugs and have sex with prostitutes as he battled his depression over being fired and losing his family. Once his money ran out, a friend got him a regular 9 to 5 job…which he lost due to his incessant partying. Borne would briefly get himself clean and sober…but his demons always seemed to return and ultimately died from them in 2013.
Rest in Pieces
Back in 1991, Vampiro was just getting his start in CMLL in Mexico. Vampiro admitted that he had a very hard time adjusting to the culture and lifestyle south of the border. He struggled with sleep, so Vampiro recalled a luchador giving him a couple of pills to help him relax. Vampiro said he woke up 12 hours later and felt fantastic. It turned out that the pills that he took were the drug Halcion and was told that while on the drug he assaulted a priest at a bus stop with absolutely no recollection.
After that incident, Vampiro remembers falling in love with the drug, found a supplier in Mexico and bought a case of 2,000 pills. Vampiro said that he never found out the condition of the priest after assaulting him.
Tapp Out
Daniel Rodimer, a former WWE developmental wrestler and rumored personal favorite of Stephanie McMahon was wanted for murder in March of 2024. Rodimer was also a former United States congressional candidate in 2020 out of the state of Nevada. He is accused of murdering a former friend named Chris Tapp in October of 2023. According to witnesses, Rodimer and Tapp got into a heated argument at a hotel on the Las Vegas strip. The argument allegedly stemmed from Tapp trying to sell cocaine to Rodimer’s step daughter. Witnesses overheard Rodimer screaming…“If you ever talk to my daughter again, I’ll fucking kill you!” Then heard two loud banging noises.
Investigators obtained text messages between Rodimer and his wife Sarah which read….“I watched you nearly murder somebody and I had to take your fucking hands off from his neck as he laid there and you ran away and I spent the next two hours trying to take care of him. Nobody should have to watch their husband murder somebody.” Daniel Rodimer voluntarily turned himself in to Las Vegas police after the arrest warrant was issued.
Rodimer’s lawyers issued a written statement which read…“Daniel Rodimer was voluntarily surrendering to authorities and will post a court ordered bail. He intends on vigorously contesting the allegations and asks that the presumption of innocence guaranteed all Americans be respected.” Chris Tapp suffered a head injury and died at the hospital. He was 47 years old.
Foster Child
In 2019, the booker for West Virginia Championship Wrestling…Eric Foster was arrested and charged with third-degree sexual assault, distribution and exhibiting child pornography, distribution and display to minors of obscene matter, use of minors in filming sexually explicit conduct, and soliciting a minor via computer. Foster who was 38 years old, had sex with an underage teen girl at his home. According to police, Foster used a computer to communicate with the teen, lure her to his home and engaged in sexual relations with her….without the parents knowledge or consent.
The minor admitted to having sex with Foster and that he took pictures of the encounter. Foster would eventually plead guilty to having sex with an underage girl. His attorney asked for leniency and asked the judge to sentence Foster to house arrest. Eric Foster’s attorney said…“Mr. Foster comes to you today knowing he has made a mistake he will have to live with the rest of his life.” The attorney also added that Foster had no prior criminal record and is the father to two children. Foster then addressed the court stating, “First and foremost, I want to apologize to the victim and the victim’s family, And I want to apologize to my family for the embarrassment I’ve brought on them and I, too, ask for mercy.”
The judge denied the request for mercy and stated…“You’re 38 years old and almost 39, I just don’t find that you’re a candidate for probation. This is very serious. You’re way old enough to know better. The victim and the family has suffered greatly because of your actions. It’s unacceptable to society and unacceptable to the court. And you are to never, ever have contact with the victim in this case. Do you understand that?” Eric Foster was then sentenced to 1 to 5 years in prison, followed by 20 years of parole. Foster will also be required to register with the West Virginia State Police as a sex offender. Eric Foster worked in the wrestling business for over 23 years including promoting and refereeing.