10 Forgotten Pro Wrestling Scandals - Part 3
Even more forgotten pro wrestling scandals
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Jan 5, 2025
10. Jimmy Del Ray
Following the December 29, 1994, WWE house show in Anaheim, California, a female fan was spotted partying in a hotel bar with various wrestlers, including Tatanka and Jimmy Del Ray.
The morning after, that same fan was spotted sitting crying between two police officers in the hotel’s lobby, with half of her head shaved and the walls of the hallway smeared with blood.
The woman claimed that she had been drugged and assaulted the night before and subsequently filed a lawsuit against WWE, naming Tatanka and Del Ray as the culprits. Tatanka was suspended by WWE in the summer of 1995, pending an investigation, while Del Ray was let go over the incident.
Kevin Nash would later say that Tatanka had nothing to do with it and had been unfairly punished, while he always suspected Del Ray was the guilty party due to his behaviour that night and unsavoury track record.
Tatanka would, ultimately, be brought back in January of 1996, while the outcome of the lawsuit is unknown. Del Ray left the business soon after and passed away of a heart attack in December of 2014, aged 52.
9. B. Brian Blair spends Father's Day in jail
B. Brian Blair had a Father’s Day to forget in 2009, as he spent it in a Hillsborough County jail.
The former Killer Bee was arrested after getting into a fight with his two sons in the early hours of June 21. Reports stated that Blair had been drinking when he pushed his 17-year-old son Brett in the chest, hit him in the face and then put him in some sort of chokehold.
Police said that Blair then let go of Brett and proceeded to go after his 12-year-old son Bradley, grabbing him by the throat and punching him on top of the head.
Neither son was seriously injured (though they did have marks on them) and Bradley decided to call the police on his dad.
Blair claimed the incident was a ‘misunderstanding’ and he would never hurt a child, much less his own, but reports hinted at a strained relationship between the former Hillsborough County Commissioner and his eldest son.
The charges were dropped on July 2 when it was determined that the boys had, in fact, attacked their father after Brian had reprimanded them for breaking their curfew.
8. Vader Flees Japan following Yakuza scuffle
After a bitterly disappointing run in WWE, Vader sought to rebuild his reputation in the country where he had initially made his name, returning to Japan for the All Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion.
He then jumped over to NOAH as part of the mass exodus of All Japan talent in 2000. While he may not have been the force he was during the late 80s and early 90s, the big man still received a decent push and, more importantly, the gig provided him with a regular income during an uncertain time in the business.
That came to an end in early 2003, when Vader suddenly flew back to the US in the middle of a NOAH tour, never to return to the promotion.
Though he publicly claimed a recurrence of a knee injury, the real reason for his sudden disappearance was a grisly encounter with a member of the Yakuza. According to Vader’s book, he punched a member of the Japanese mafia after the man had challenged him to a fight when Vader refused to dance with his group while out drinking in a club.
The man responded by stabbing and cutting the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion (who didn’t fight back) multiple times, and Vader jumped on the next flight home.
7. Kurt Angle stalked by former affair partner
Once the squeaky-clean all-American boy who won a gold medal for his country, Kurt Angle’s exceptional in-ring career was marred by scandal outside of it.
Angle has been incredibly open about his issues with substance abuse, but few are aware that the Olympic Hero had a serious situation with a stalker while he was on top in WWE.
In May of 2003, a woman named Deann Siden was arrested in Michigan after allegedly harassing Angle, having already been arrested in Pittsburgh once the previous November.
According to reports, Siden followed Kurt around the country, phoned his hotel rooms and house, cancelled airline reservations and even threatened his wife and children. Siden had also left messages on Angle’s answering machine, saying that she was having his baby and that he needed to take responsibility. She also ominously warned Kurt’s wife Karen that she wouldn’t make it through her own pregnancy.
While Angle claimed there was no relationship between them, he later admitted to carrying out an affair with Siden over several months.
Siden had already served jail time after stalking Ric Flair and harassing his family during the 1990s.
6. Psicosis gets arrested, loses his job with WWE
After Juventud Guerrera was fired and WWE decided to split up his remaining Mexicools tag team with Super Crazy, Psicosis found himself sitting at home without much to do and promptly got arrested.
On October 9, 2006, the former WCW Cruiserweight Champion was arrested after allegedly stealing a car belonging to a 23-year-old named Alexander Valencia Ramirez. Psicosis – real name Dominico Castellanos Torres – had apparently asked Ramirez to borrow the car, was refused and pulled a gun on Ramirez before stealing the vehicle.
A police chase ensued, with the luchador hitting four other cars (including one containing a pregnant 18-year-old).
After police had slapped on the cuffs, they realised the ‘gun’ Psicosis had used was actually a water pistol that had been covered in a towel. This bit of grand theft auto resulted in Psicosis receiving his WWE release three weeks later.
5. Nicole Bass
The WWE tenure of Nicole Bass was short and, to be blunt, not exactly sweet.
Brought in because of her unique look, Bass unfortunately just wasn’t very good at pro wrestling and was let go after just a few months.
That was likely the last anyone in WWE thought they would hear of the bodybuilder, but in September of 2002, Bass took the company to court after filing a $120 million lawsuit against them. Among her claims were that road agent Steve Lombardi, AKA The Brooklyn Brawler, grabbed her during a flight to London, that male wrestlers accosted female talent in the women’s locker room, and that she was hit with a real (not gimmicked) guitar by Jeff Jarrett during an angle.
WWE went on the attack during the trial, which included testimony from Vince and Linda McMahon, Jim Ross, Triple H and others, while Reno Mero (AKA Sable) and Alicia Webb (AKA Ryan Shamrock) acted as witnesses for Bass.
It didn’t take the jury long to come to the conclusion that Bass had not suffered any harassment during her brief stay in WWE, but the two-week trial nonetheless resulted in a lot of unwanted press for the publicly traded company.
4. Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty allegedly spike college students with GHB
There have been several WWE plane rides from hell, the most notorious being the notorious trip back from the UK following a tour in the Spring of 2002, which resulted in several firings and a lawsuit being filed against the company.
One sordid flight that doesn’t get as much attention – but has been mentioned in various shoot interviews – was a trip from San Francisco to Dallas in 1990.
As Marty Jannetty tells it, a group of college kids (three guys and a girl) were acting loud and obnoxiously on the red-eye flight when the WWE crew decided to teach them a lesson.
‘Teaching them a lesson’ involved The Rockers giving them an extra-strong dose of GHB, rendering them unconscious, before cutting the top off the female in their group (exposing her breasts) and taking scissors to her long hair.
According to Marty, another victim received a Road Warrior Hawk haircut courtesy of The Ultimate Warrior while he was passed out on the toilet.
Once the flight touched down, Dallas Police had to use wheelchairs to get the kids – who were covered in their own vomit due to the GHB and alcohol they had consumed – off the plane because they couldn’t walk, with the WWE stars playing innocent.
3. Lisa from Tough Enough
WWE Tough Enough season three contestant Lisa left the competition three episodes in after deciding that a career in sports entertainment wasn't for her. That’s what WWE told viewers of the television show, anyway. The truth was way more salacious.
Lisa actually had what was termed a ‘psychotic breakdown’ on an evening when the rest of the cast-mates went out to dinner. She began to throw herself against a wall, broke into the producer’s control room and eventually made her way onto the roof of the house.
Lisa was talked down and committed to a medical facility for psychiatric treatment. She subsequently attacked her own parents and escaped custody inside LAX, shutting down a wing of the airport while police attempted to locate her.
Amazingly, she was able to check herself out of the hospital and managed to infiltrate WWE feeder farm Ohio Valley Wrestling.
Even more amazingly, Lisa was able to then talk her way backstage at a series of WWE shows in California, including a TV taping where she was, somehow, allowed to assist with the pyrotechnics for the show.
One source even claimed she managed to have a conversation with Vince McMahon himself, before security caught wind of the situation and barred her from any WWE backstage area.
2. Chyna & Sean Waltman
Neither Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman nor Joanie ‘Chyna’ Laurer were doing well when they began a relationship in 2002. Both had been let go by WWE and were spiralling due to substance abuse issues, the release of an adult video doing nothing to help matters.
In August of 2003, Laurer filed a restraining order against Waltman, claiming he had beaten her (alleging he had choked her and pulled out her hair) and that she feared for her life. Waltman adamantly denied the claims and said he only ever attempted to restrain her while she was hitting him. Waltman also insisted that he still loved her, despite their problems. The restraining order ended up being dropped when Laurer failed to turn up to court.
Many years later, Laurer would again accuse Waltman of assaulting her during their toxic relationship, while also claiming that Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque had hit her when they were together.
Waltman maintained that both accusations were meritless, noting that she had, in fact, assaulted him twice. The first time she broke his nose, while the second time (in January of 2005), Laurer was arrested for domestic assault after repeatedly punching him.
1. Jeff Gaylord
Jeff Gaylord was a former American football player who began a pro-wrestling career in the mid-1980s, which saw him have spells in the UWF, World-Class and USWA territories.
He was pegged early on as being a future star, but never quite made it, with his WWE claim to fame being that he was ‘The Black Knight’ at the 1993 Survivor Series.
After his wrestling days were done, Gaylord – who had a reputation as a locker-room thief – opted to become a bank robber.
In October of 2001, he managed to successfully steal $5,000 from a bank in Aurora, Colorado. In February, he went to rob the bank again, only this time his license plate number was jotted down and he was caught following a high-speed chase.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.
Undeterred, Gaylord was up to his old tricks soon after being released from custody. In January of 2009, he was arrested for the robbery of a US Bank branch in Monument, Colorado, as well as the attempted robbery of a US Bank branch in Castle Rock, Colorado.
Gaylord had used a disguise, but his license plates were once again clocked and he ended up serving another six years in prison.
