15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Tony Atlas
14. How His Shoe Fetish Started
There's been a lot of talk over the years on message boards and social media about Tony Atlas's foot fetish. On 'Dark Side', he addressed this once and for all, and explained how it all started. It turns out that Tony's love of shoes might've been the result of undiagnosed brain trauma stemming from one incident in particular when he was a young man.
Atlas said he was walking a girl home one day when somebody pushed him from behind and he fell. Poor Tony split his head wide open, and he still thinks he has an unofficial brain injury from that incident. Somewhat bizarrely, this fall also birthed his fetish for shoes, because he remembers liking the pair that girl had on and complimenting them before his injury.
VICE’s producer said he didn’t understand what Tony meant, so Atlas cleared it up: “I buy shoes for the girls to step on me”. He freely admits to being “submissive” to women in shoes he likes, and that's something that's still prevalent in his life. Tony understands why many recoil at this, but says it's no different to any other fetish out there.
In fact, as he went on to claim, it is a little different to some fetishes people have. Talking heads like Tommy Rich and WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky Steamboat chimed in here to say they always thought it was a bit out there, but that Tony's fascination with shoes was ultimately harmless. He'd often pay women to step on him in wrestling locker rooms even at the peak of his popularity.
But wait! There's more.