The prevalence of anti-social behaviour within WCW and multiple other professional wrestling locker rooms is an ongoing issue that has garnered attention over the years.
The toxic combination of drug culture and political circumstances has contributed to creating mentally challenging environments for many wrestlers, amplifying the pressure of working for major organizations and leading to numerous distressing accounts and, in some cases, tragic outcomes.
This was notably evident within WCW, a company already grappling with financial and creative troubles, when Vampiro, renowned for his success in Mexico, made his debut in 1998, gaining wider global recognition through platforms like Nitro.
Despite his professional achievements, Vampiro candidly revealed in 2020 that the WCW locker room environment had taken a toll on his mental well-being during his time with the company.
“It was bad because that’s when I was starting with my situation. My main injury came during WCW, but I was already injured before that,” Vamprio revealed. “I’m educated different. I grew up in wrestling different, but I’m also very religious. I’m very sensitive. I have nothing to do with my image, the way I look physically. I’m easily affected by people who are bullies and people who suffer. So WCW was a locker room of desperate men on the verge of suicide. There was like, I don’t know, 50 or 60 of them that did commit suicide or drug overdoses.”
Despite being featured in a prominent role with future WWE Hall Of Famer Sting, Vampiro spoke of the harsh realities of WCW’s locker room.
“The political situation behind the scenes, the manipulation the lying (and) the cheating and you have a group of guys who are overly insecure, full of prescription drugs. I don’t mean one or two pain pills. I mean 70-80 pain pills an hour every hour every day, major, major, major major doses of anabolic steroids plus all the injuries and the mental health stuff. Then, “Who’s doing this? Who’s getting paid that? This guy said this?” It was almost as if somebody did it on purpose so that we would all kill ourselves, you know as an experiment. It was horrid. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
JBL Compares Former WCW Star Vampiro To Hulk Hogan
Former WWE Champion JBL compared the Mexican star to some of the biggest names in the wrestling business, including Hulk Hogan. This was whilst he was recalling a story when he first met Vampiro. At the time, it appeared that Vampiro had heat with JBL, which surprised the WWE Hall Of Famer and he explained why.
H/t to WrestlingInc.com