10 wrestlers who got desperate enough to ask fans for money
“Hard times are when a man has worked at a job for thirty years...THIRTY YEARS, and they give him a watch, kick him in the butt and say ‘Hey! A computer took your place, daddy.’ THAT’S hard times.” The late, legendary American Dream Dusty Rhodes could not have said it any better.
Hard times do indeed happen to the best of us. If you have not experienced hard times, just keep on living, your day will come.”
Sometimes, when we get caught up in the various story lines that wrestling offers, we get so emotionally invested into what’s going on, that we forget these men and women are also normal people, just like you and I.
Despite the fact that they portray larger than life personas on television, they still face their own reality once the lights and cameras are off. Simply put, these guys are certainly not exempt from everyday trials and tribulations.
One of the main issues that typically plague professional wrestlers after their in-ring career has come to an end are financial problems, usually resulting from addiction. For some, they are able to fight through the demons they are facing and eventually get their lives back on track. However, for others, it’s not quite as simple.
When it comes to those who seem to get overwhelmed with whatever they’re facing, some just cannot get over the hump, so they start looking for a way out of their circumstance. Interestingly enough, a lot of these people, more than you probably think, seek out assistance from their fans.
With the popularity of social media being as it is, just a few lines on a Facebook post can trigger the sympathy from nostalgic fans, and before you know it, that person suddenly has thousands of dollars being sent to their PayPal account.
Another popular means of generating funds on a broad scale is through crowd-funding sites, such as GoFundMe.
As I have already noted, you would probably be shocked at the number of former wrestlers who have asked their fans for money. With that said, some have a legitimate crisis on their hands, which could be perceived as an acceptable reason for asking fans to donate money.
However, there are some who just want to make a quick buck. They know that wrestling fans are some of the most loyal fans on the planet and sometimes try to capitalise on the same.
Whatever the situation may be that they have faced, quite a few wrestlers have reached out to their fans for financial help in recent years. Let’s take a look at 10 of those who have done just that.
#10 Ian Rotten
Some die-hard WWE fans may not know just who Ian Rotten is, but Ian is the founder of IWA Mid-South, a promotion which started out as a primarily hardcore promotion, based out of Louisville, Kentucky. The company actually had pretty good success, as well as having some good independent talent booked on their shows.
Back in 2004, Ian’s promotion held a show in Indiana. Following the show, the people who ran the building where the show was held contacted Ian, telling him that the floor of the venue had been ruined during their event.
According to Ian, the damages were minimal, but nothing major. For next two years, Ian went back-and-forth to court, pleading his case, that he was not responsible for repairing the floor. However, in the end, an Indiana judge not only ruled that Ian and his company were at fault, but that they would be responsible for replacing the entire floor.
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To add to insult, the judge gave Ian 30 days to come up with the money.
When it comes to Ian reaching out to his fans, his method was much different than the others you will read about. Considering that at this time, crowdfunding wasn't as prominent as it is today, Ian had a major merchandise sale. Ian took all of the IWA merchandise and marked the items down to extremely low prices.
He also would go online to any and everyone who had a wrestling related website, social media page, or anything where wrestling fans may visit, pleading with them to share his website where the merchandise was being sold.