Former Wrestler Duke Droese Indicted For Attempted Sexual Exploitation Of A Minor (WWE News)
Ex-WWE star was investigated by the FBI for attempting to purchase explicit content of children.
Former WWE star and independent pro wrestler Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese has been indicted on one count of attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. District Attorney General Chris Stanford of the 31st Judicial District of Tennessee sent out a press release on Monday detailing the charges put against Droese, and they make for seriously grim reading.
There were allegations back in April that Droese had attempted to use a Coinbase account to purchase child pornography from the dark web. That attempt was flagged and blocked before going through, but details of the transaction bid were sent to the FBI for investigation.
The district attorney then requested that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Crimes Against Children Task Force hold their own investigation into things, but Droese turned himself into police at the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and was later released after making a $10,000 bond payment. Now, an arraignment is set for 28 May.
Stanford's press release noted that Duke had been working as a DUI Coordinator for the district’s Adult Recovery Court Program (ARC). The program instantly terminated that position once news spread of his indictment.
Droese Was Still Semi-Active On The Independent Wrestling Scene
Droese is best known for his run in the then-WWF between 1994-1996 as outlandish garbage man turned wrestler 'The Dumpster'. During that time, he feuded with everyone from Jerry Lawler to Triple H, and was semi-popular amongst fans of the time as a lower card babyface.
Before joining the company, Droese had made some waves independently and snuck onto Pro Wrestling Illustrated's top 500 wrestlers for 1993. He also displayed one of the first instances of hardcore wrestling on WWE programming after being smacked in the head with his own garbage can.
What fans might not know is that Duke remained semi-active on the independent wrestling circuit long after his WWF/WWE dreams died. In fact, his most recent match came as a surprise entrant in a 40-man battle royal for MLW on the 25 April 2023 edition of Underground Wrestling (subtitled Battle Riot V).
Before that, he'd wrestled sporadically between 2019-2021 after leaving the industry for a lengthy stretch between 2001-2019. Another shocker? Droese worked a handful of matches for both WWE and WCW after his core run ended in 1996 - he won a dark match before WCW Monday Nitro in February 1998, wrestled two more dark bouts before WWF Raw in March 1998, then showed up as part of the cherished "Gimmick Battle Royal" at WrestleMania X-Seven.
His behaviour away from the ring since then has obviously been horrendous. Stay tuned for more news on his depressing legal charges when they break.