Pro-Wrestling Wrestling's Dark Secret Page Pro-Wrestling Wrestling's Dark Secret Page
Last updated 4 July 2004
c. June 1999
A deadly secret lurks behind the recent stunt-gone-bad death of pro wrestler Owen Hart - - at least 20 other pro wrestlers have also died tragically in the past five years!
Pushing themselves with drugs, steroids and stunts to stay on top, wrestlers end up dead from drug abuse, heart attacks and suicide, an ENQUIRER investigation reveals.
Incredibly, it's 87 times more likely that a pro wrestler will die tragically than a police officer will be killed in the line of duty!
"Big-time wrestlers pay an extremely high price for their huge paychecks," New York psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Pietropinto told The ENQUIRER.
"These performers get a lot of physical injuries. And the pressure to be macho and live in the fast lane can be just as lethal as the physical pressures.
"Many wrestlers are very bulked up, which can add to the risks of heart disease. And the pressure to stay big and strong are so intense that some have to resort to steroids to stay pumped up, making their risks of heart disease skyrocket."
Said Owen Hart's brother, wrestler Bret "The Hit Man" Hart: "You look for ways to endure the physical pain of a broken body."
Owen fell 90 feet to his death from a rafter in a packed Kansas City arena on May 23. He was about to be lowered into the ring on a cable but police said a quick-release device attached to a harness Owen wore may have opened prematurely.
Other wrestlers' deaths weren't so public:
"Flyin' Brian" Pillman, 35, was found dead in a Bloomington, Minn., motel room a few hours before a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) pay- per-view event on Oct. 5, 1997.
The cause of death was listed as an enlarged heart. But his widow Melanie blames untested human growth hormones Brian was taking to compete with younger wrestlers. "That's what it was. I know it," she declared.
Neil "The Power Superior" Caricofe -- the National Wrestling League champion -- was found running naked on the seventh floor of a hotel in Ocean City, Md., in August 1996.
When police tried to handcuff Caricofe, 33, he broke free and climbed down seven flights of stairs to the parking lot. There he collapsed and died as eight officers tried to restrain him with batons.
His mother suspects his deadly behavior was the result of a seizure that could have come from a wrestling injury.
An autopsy later revealed that a combination of body-building and performance-enhancing drugs, alcohol and a bad heart caused his death.
Richard "Renegade" Wilson, brought into World Championship Wrestling (WCW) by superstar Hulk Hogan, enjoyed initial success and even a TV title reign. But when his popularity and his physical health began to wane, Wilson was bounced down to preliminary status.
A week before his death at age 33, he was released by WCW and found himself a wrestling has-been. On February 22, Wilson put a .38-caliber pistol to his head and killed himself in his suburban Marietta, Ga., home.
Eddie Gilbert -- whose ring moniker was "Hot Stuff" -- died in his sleep of a heart attack in February 1995. He was just 33 years old.
"Jeep the Mercenary" Swenson died of heart failure on Aug. 18, 1997. The bulked-up grappler had a feature role in "Batman & Robin," playing Bane, the masked sidekick of Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy character. He was just 40 when he died.
Louie Spicolli, whose real name was Louis Mucciolo Jr., was only 27 when he was found dead in his San Pedro home on Feb. 15, 1998. He had taken 26 Somas, a prescription muscle relaxer, washing them down with a large quantity of wine.
Art Barr used to wrestle in a costume that made him look like the Michael Keaton character in the movie "Beetlejuice." The 28-year-old wrestler died in his sleep after ingesting a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol on Nov. 23, 1994. His young son was napping next to him at the time.
Rick Rood, who wrestled under the name "Ravishing Rick Rude," was one of the first stars for Ted Turner's WCW. He died in his Georgia home this past April 20, empty prescription bottles at his side.
FAST FACTS: Each week an estimated 35 million viewers tune in pro wrestling's 15 hours of televised bouts.
Other wrestlers who died prematurely in the last five years include Richard "Man Mountain Mike" Martello; Steve King; Dan Curtis; Jeremy "Big E Sleeze" Sumpter; Dick Murdoch; "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell; Russell "Tiny Anderson" Knorr; Jean "Black Venus" Kirkland; Dean "Brady Boone" Peters; John Ayres; Jerry "Jerry Oski" Arotski, and Ray "Kareem Muhammad" Canty.
Insiders say much of the blame for these tragedies goes to the wrestling organizations' governing bodies -- in their push for big bucks, they no longer allow state regulators to monitor the physical and mental health of pro wrestlers.
WWF spokesman Jim Byrne admitted to The ENQUIRER that the organization checks wrestlers for drug use only when there is "reasonable cause" for a test.
Even wrestling legend champ Bruno Sammartino -- who was champ when wrestling was still being regulated -- is disgusted by the state of the "sport" today.
He declared: "It's an X-rated, obscene sleaze show!"
The sex, the sleaze, the greed -- outraged lady wrestler tells all
Outraged over the tragic death of Owen Hart, a female grappler has stepped forward to blow the lid off the dangerous, sometimes fatal secrets of professional wrestling.
In this ENQUIRER exclusive, the former female wrestler disclosed the seamy, behind-the- scenes details:
Young wrestlers are forced to sacrifice their bodies in the ring -- and frequently to sell their bodies outside the ring for a shot at stardom, she charges.
"Pro wrestling got so vile and corrupt that I had to throw in the towel," 33-year-old Amy Nicholetti, who wrestled under the name "Ramblin' Rose," revealed to The ENQUIRER.
"I refused to be a prostitute for the crooked people who run it! It's a life-threatening, money- driven business. Every time a wrestler steps in the ring they're lucky if they walk away alive!"
After five years in the International Wrestling Federation (IWF), Amy returned to her Connecticut home where she lives with her spouse. The IWF is a minor league training ground for televised pro wrestling, where everything -- including the sleaze and danger -- is magnified, Amy claimed.
It all starts when managers trick young hopefuls into risking life and limb by promising to make them superstars.
"What they don't tell wanna-be wrestlers is that they'll get only minimal training before being put into the ring with opponents who will tear your head off!
"I broke my arm within 15 minutes on my very first day of training, because I had to do stunts far too advanced for an amateur," she revealed.
"My good friend Brittany had her neck broken because she was put into the ring without being trained properly."
"After-hours wrestling" is a version of the Hollywood casting couch, said Amy.
"That's when a promoter approaches struggling wrestlers and offers them anywhere from $400 to $700 to have sex and sometimes make porno movies."
Amy hopes Owen Hart's death will wake the public up. "Maybe now something will be done to clean up this sport."