10 Pro Wrestling Scandals You've Probably Never Heard Of

English wrestler turned Texan star ‘Gentleman’ Chris Adams, trainer of a young Steve Austin, wasn’t that much of a gentleman in real life.

The man had multiple substance abuse issues for many years, and over time those issues impacted his personal life to the degree that he’d lose his wife and family over the problem after he became violent towards her.

A massive talent in the ring - he invented the superkick - Adams was often a massive a-hole outside of it, regularly being involved in drug-fueled violence. His WCW faction with Steven Regal and Dave Taylor, the Blue Bloods, infamously fell apart in 1997 before it even got going because Regal couldn’t stand Adams - and Regal had his own well-documented drug addictions back in the day.

In 2000, Adams and his girlfriend at the time, Linda Kaphengst, were found at a friends house having overdosed on GHB and booze - Adams would recover, but Kaphengst died half a day later in hospital. A year later, Adams was formally charged with her manslaughter.

On 7 October 2001, while awaiting a trial date which would likely result in his incarceration, Adams - who’d cleaned up precisely none of his act - was involved in a nasty drunken argument with his long time best friend (and the best man at his recent wedding), a fellow wrestler by the name of Brent Parnell, who pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest at point blank range, killing him.

Parnell claimed that some p*ssed-up roughhousing got too personal, and that Adams had lost his temper and refused to let him go: the shooting, he said, was in self-defence. Astonishingly, the court agreed with him, and Parnell was acquitted of all charges. The Gentleman’s reputation clearly preceded him.