10 Wrestlers Who Ruined Their Own Legacy
8. Abdullah The Butcher
Larry Shreve - better known as Abdullah the Butcher - made a name for himself being one of the most sadistic men in the pro wrestling industry. His extreme, no holds barred and obscenely bloody matches split opinion: some were curious and some were disgusted and this divide made Abdullah the stuff of legend.
Abdullah had no issues blading himself into a bloody pulp and, more often than not, did the same to his opponents. Sometimes whether they wanted it or not…
Always a controversial figure amongst both fans and peers, it was in 2012 though that Shreve was brought before a court and sued for damages to one of his former opponents ‘Hannibal’ Devon Nicholson.
Nicholson claimed that in 2007 he had participated in a match with Abdullah where he had been repeatedly cut open without his consent with a blade hidden on the Butcher’s finger. Most importantly he claimed that the sharing of blood had caused him to contract hepatitis C. The knock-on effect of this diagnosis had caused the WWE contract that he had worked so hard for, and finally earned in 2009, to be rescinded and Hannibal was forced to retire from wrestling because of it.
The court found Shreve guilty of the negligence, assault and battery and he was sued for $2.3m.