Former WWE Star Says He Was High During WrestleMania X-Seven

This ex-WWE star nearly ruined his WrestleMania moment.

by Andrew Pollard
Duke Droese
WWE.com

During an interview with Fightful, former WWE star Duke 'the Dumpster' Droese revealed how he was high on drugs during his appearance at WrestleMania X-Seven.

Back at that 2001 edition of WWE's Showcase of the Immortals, Droese was a part of the fun Gimmick Battle Royal bout that featured numerous names of yesteryear.

As Duke told Fightful, though, his WrestleMania moment was affected by his drug use.

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"I was working for the company down in Florida that I wrestled for before I went to the WWF the first time, Sunshine Wrestling Federation, who had then just become Florida Championship Wrestling, which was before it was a developmental place for Vince. One of the guys that worked through them came up to me one day and said, 'Dude, they're doing a Gimmick Battle Royal. You need to call somebody and get in on that'. Even working for these guys down in Florida, I was on a lot of drugs. It was bad. It should have been a great, awesome moment - my WrestleMania moment - but, in all reality, I was on drugs so bad. I was going to the methadone clinic in Miami, so I had to get extra methadone to take to WrestleMania with me so I wouldn't get sick and withdrawals during the weekend. I barely made it. I had to drink alcohol at the end of it.
I made it back home, but it wasn't a great WrestleMania moment because I was in no condition to wrestle. But thankfully, all I had to do was walk around the ring and act stupid with a bunch of older guys. Nikolai Volkoff screaming at Sheik, Brother Love beating up Jim Cornette, all of us just goofing off. Eventually Doink the Clown clotheslined me out of the ring on the wrong side and twisted my shoulders out of place, but, you know, it was WrestleMania, and I will say walking out in front of 65,000 people was amazing in the Astrodome."

The real-life Michael Droese was with the then-World Wrestling Federation for just over two years between 1994 and 1996.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.