Wrestling stars busted in Hanging Rock

[Nature Boy]

Wrestling stars busted in Hanging Rock

By Kirsten Stanley/The Ironton Tribune
Monday, July 3, 2006 10:10 AM CDT

HANGING ROCK — Two wrestling superstars from Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment may be tough in the ring, but they didn’t have enough muscle to escape drug charges after being stopped Sunday night by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Robert Alex Szatowski, aka WWE and ECW champion Rob Van Dam, and Terry Michael Brunk, aka Sabu, also a former ECW champion, were pulled over on U.S. 52, near Patrick Street in Hanging Rock at about 10:15 p.m. The two were apparently driving from their performances at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena earlier in the evening.

According to the OSHP, Szatowski was initially stopped for speeding. When troopers approached his vehicle, they smelled marijuana and performed a search. Troopers found the wrestler in possession of 18 grams of marijuana and five Vicodin, prescription pain pills. Brunk was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and also had nine pills that were not immediately identifiable, but were known to be controlled substances, according to the OSHP. Both were cited and posted bond at the scene.

Szatowski, of Battle Creek, Mich., has had a long, successful career with both the WWE and ECW. In addition to being the current champion of both, he has been intercontinental champion six times, hardcore champion four times and has been a part of several championship tag team duos.

He is scheduled to wrestle tonight on WWE Raw and is also wrestling Tuesday night to retain his WWE and ECW titles during the “Extreme Rules Match” on the Sci-Fi channel.

Brunk, who lists his hometown as Bombay, India, on the WWE Web site, has also had a successful career with the ECW, earning world heavyweight championship titles two times and tag team championship honors three times.

Both Brunk and Szatowski are scheduled to appear at 10 a.m. Thursday in Ironton Municipal Court. Both wrestlers won their matches last night in Huntington, W.Va. Van Dam defeated the Big Show and Sabu defeated Justin Credible.

[Forthesevenlakes]

wait, so athletes in a rigged sport may be enhancing their non-performance? if stars in a fake event can't be trusted to stay off things to help them relax, who can the populace trust?

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by forthesevenlakes

wait, so athletes in a rigged sport may be enhancing their non-performance? if stars in a fake event can't be trusted to stay off things to help them relax, who can the populace trust?

Who said anything about enhancement? Marijuana and painkillers are in no way performance enhancing. Not like it really matters in a pre-determined pseudo-sport anyway.

[Forthesevenlakes]

Originally Posted by Nature Boy

Who said anything about enhancement? Marijuana and painkillers are in no way performance enhancing. Not like it really matters in a pre-determined pseudo-sport anyway.

swim was being sarcastic, and recalling that uproar a few years ago over some member of the canadian olympic snowboarding team having smoked pot...in swim's opinion athletes should be allowed to use drugs if they arent performance enhancing...they need to unwind like everyone else.

[The Doors]

As a wrestling fan and have been one for a few years now, I knew that RVD is a pot user and pretty much everyone who stays in touch in the wrestling world was aware of that fact. He has publicly admitted it too. As far as pain killers, well those guys can just try doing what wrestlers do on a daily basis, they'll need the pain killers too.

[Nature Boy]

Sorry.

I suppose the attitude is that if they know they're on some kind of drug, performance-enhancing or not, that it's a bad thing because they're under the public eye and are setting a bad example. It's understandable to a degree with competitive sports but pro wrestling isn't exactly the most accessible "sport" to get into and not everyone can do it. You can't exactly learn how to become a pro wrestler in school and most people who work in the business toil in small underground promotions and get paid very little. That's why I don't think pro wrestlers should have this "role model" status hanging over their shoulders like competitive athletes should. Wrestlers are a lot more like rockstars than they are athletes in a way. The business has always had a shady, drug-using background. Had this happened in a smaller wrestling company other than WWE, I'm sure not much would come of it, but seeing as these two guys are contracted to the more family-orientated, well-known, entertainment powerhouse that is WWE, their jobs may be at risk. I guess it's a lot like the music industry in a way. If you play guitar with a thrash metal band and get busted with coke, it will only boost your iconic status. If you're a back-up dancer for Christina Aguilera and get caught shooting heroin, you're screwed.

It's a shame really.

[Nagognog2]

Oh darn!! Now my widdle children need to find other role models to emmulate! I don/t want my kids smoking the Devil's Weed while doing clean and wholesome American things - like breaking chairs over each other's heads and beating the other kid's with their belt-buckles!

They will be so disillusioned!

Reputation Comments on this post:

lol..;)

[Nature Boy]

Szatowski, aka Rob Van Dam, lost his WWE Title tonight. Just as I expected he's not only being punished by the law but also his boss.

[Alicia]

It would be more watch-able if it were real, and they had those wrestle bitch minxes do something more apart from be a sex symbol for those muscle bound ego freaks that need lame music on there introductions.

[Nature Boy]

No it wouldn't. The whole reason why it's successful is because it's rigged. If it wasn't it would just be another mixed martial arts promotion like UFC which isn't as popular. Pro wrestling is all about showmanship, not realism. However not all pro wrestling is the same. Japanese Puroresu, although also pre-determined, has a lot more realism in its in-ring style. The presentation is way less flashy and the action is a lot more hard-hitting. US wrestling looks blatantly fake to the casual viewer. Puroresu can be quite brutal. However this style does not appeal to western audiences generally, therefore there are few companies that promote such ultra-realistic, overly physical styles. Instead US viewers looking for more violent wrestling tend to look for "hardcore" wrestling which can involve using ridiculous weapons in every match from flaming tables to barbwire to thumbtacks featuring in "bloodbath" matches. It may come as a surprise to many casual viewers that the blood seen in wrestling is actually real, exposed by use of a small razor cut along the wrinkles of the forehead, and not theatrical make-up.

[The Doors]

Originally Posted by Nature Boy

No it wouldn't. The whole reason why it's successful is because it's rigged. If it wasn't it would just be another mixed martial arts promotion like UFC which isn't as popular. Pro wrestling is all about showmanship, not realism. However not all pro wrestling is the same. Japanese Puroresu, although also pre-determined, has a lot more realism in its in-ring style. The presentation is way less flashy and the action is a lot more hard-hitting. US wrestling looks blatantly fake to the casual viewer. Puroresu can be quite brutal. However this style does not appeal to western audiences generally, therefore there are few companies that promote such ultra-realistic, overly physical styles. Instead US viewers looking for more violent wrestling tend to look for "hardcore" wrestling which can involve using ridiculous weapons in every match from flaming tables to barbwire to thumbtacks featuring in "bloodbath" matches. It may come as a surprise to many casual viewers that the blood seen in wrestling is actually real, exposed by use of a small razor cut along the wrinkles of the forehead, and not theatrical make-up.

Well technically they're only small cuts that mix a lot with the sweat so it gives the impression that the wrestler is bleeding a lot. Though there are some pretty brutal razor cuts, to name one Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar at No Mercy 2002.

Japan wrestling is a lot more exciting to watch. In American it's more the "entertainment" aspect that they try to exploit instead of the athletheism. Though we've got some great wrestlers who have the ability to put up great matches based on their wrestling skills. Vince McMahon tends to have a thing for big guys who put up boring matches.

Some classic matches between Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero have occured in Japan, truly is some fantastic wrestling. Best north american match I've seen.. I think it would be Bret Hart vs Austin at WM13.

SWIM was live at Wrestlemania X8 (the WM where Rock and Hogan faced off) the match itself wasn't quite that good, but the electricity in the air made for an amazing experience.

[Nature Boy]

You have a good taste in wrasslin' my friend.

The worst bleeding that I've seen in wrestling (apart from some of those ridiculous CZW-style matches that are more like violence fetish exhibitions than entertainment) was the late Eddie Guerrero's blade job defending his WWE Title against JBL a couple of years back. Apparently he bladed too deep and may have sliced an artery. Nasty stuff! Needless to say he required a blood transfusion afterwards.

[Nature Boy]

Just to update on this:

HANGING ROCK — Two professional wrestlers busted for drugs in Hanging Rock pleaded guilty Thursday in Ironton Municipal Court and will pay fines and court costs for their misdemeanor crimes.

Robert Alex Szatowski, also known as Rob Van Dam, and Terry Michael Brunk, also known as Sabu, from Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment, showed up at the Ironton City Center shortly after 9 a.m. for their appearances before Judge Clark Collins.

For more than an hour, they sat alongside crowds of others also waiting for court to begin.

The wrestlers were greeted by several fans, but refused to talk to the media. When Brunk, Szatowski and his wife, Sonya, filed into the courtroom, the two wrestlers directed obscene hand gestures to the media.

Brunk, 42, was the first to be brought before Judge Collins Thursday. He pleaded guilty to third-degree possession of drugs. Another charge against him, possession of drugs paraphernalia, was dropped as part of a plea bargain.

Brunk was sentenced to 10 days in jail, but that time was suspended by Collins. The wrestler will have to pay a $500 fine and court costs.

Szatowski, 35, pleaded guilty to driving 73 mph in a 55 mph zone and third-degree possession of marijuana.

A charge of possession of Vicodin was dropped because the wrestler had a valid prescription for the painkiller. Szatowski will have to pay $140 in fines and court costs.

The charges stem from a traffic stop July 2 by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on U.S. 52, near Patrick Street. The two were apparently driving from their winning matches at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, W.Va., earlier in the evening.

According to the OSHP, Szatowski — who is also referred to as Szatkowski — was initially stopped for speeding. When troopers approached his vehicle, they smelled marijuana and performed a search.

Troopers found the wrestler in possession of 18 grams of marijuana and five Vicodin. Brunk was with reportedly in possession of drug paraphernalia and also had nine pills that were not immediately identifiable, but were known to be controlled substances, according to the OSHP. Both were cited and posted bond at the scene.

Szatowski has had a long, successful career with both the WWE and ECW. In the week after his arrest, the wrestler lost both championship titles and was suspended for a month without pay.

Brunk, who is a long-time training partner of Szatowski, has also had a successful career with the ECW, earning world heavyweight championship titles two times and tag team championship honors three times. He was fined $1,000 by the WWE as a result of his arrest.

So you get a heavier fine for having drug paraphernalia than having 18g of weed? Strange judicial system.

[D.U.M.B]

SWIM remembers reading the high time issue with RVD a few years back. Sabu was in it too

[doppey]

Is it just me or did anyone else think the actually hung "The Rock"???

Reputation Comments on this post:

ROFLMAO

[stoneinfocus]

What if they took steroids -I coulnd´t let my children watch them this sport if they weren´t sober, so I got lucky that I´m gay.

I wouldn´t underestimate the brutality of the game as a whole, it´s not that easy, like bulking up in the gym and having a fun-time with same-minded athletes (lathough that might occure, accidently, when you´re "in").

Tere´s no such frek, that gets that good in a sport and then works for nothuing but the fun or let the others do so, when there´s anything he might do about it!

And, fake or not, every pro-sport is like circus, a little art and paralleles to society a lot artistic and athletic things and for sure a whole live dedicated to the moment of performance.

So after a life of manipulating your body by training what´s the next thing?
Who wouldn´t do it and why shouldn´t we let them and who cares anyway, beside those earning mony for testings and punishment? It´s logic, it´s evolution, it´s human and it´s what makes us to humans.

The human body is in nearly any case not suited to cope with enviromental issues, as it´s underlying in succeeding in a hunt against mostly any animal, until he uses his brain (the ultimate weapon nature gave us and she´ll let us die, if we do not use it) to built weapons, clothing and medicine and we all use the other cool things mother nature offers us to use.