In what is one of the most horrifying news stories ever featuring a professional wrestler, 62 year old Eugene Otto Zumhofe, better known as former AWA wrestler Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhofe, has been charged with 12 felony counts of criminal sexual conduct for having sex with his then underage daughter.
Demonstrating the gravity of his alleged crimes, he is currently being held in jail on a $500,000 unconditional bond and another $100,000 conditional bond as a deterrent from contacting the victim and drinking alcohol.
However, even though he's just been charged for the sexual intercourse and other sexual acts that occurred when his daughter was still a minor, the abuse is believed to have been spread over a 12 year period from June 1999 - June 2011, starting when the victim was just 15 years old. In total, Zumhofe is believed to have committed approximately 1,800 separate acts of sexual abuse, raping her two to three times a day in the beginning stages, leaving her with serious injuries that were never allowed to heal.
Zumhofe was still involved with the wrestling business to this present day, running an independent promotion called Rock & Roll Wrestling in the Midwest. According to Dave Meltzer in this week's subscriber only Wrestling Observer Newsletter, his incestuous relationship with his daughter was common knowledge behind the scenes, which infuriated county attorney Jennifer Fischer:
"Fischer was appalled at the story, noting that one of the worst aspects of it was that so many people in the wrestling community were aware of it and did nothing for more than a decade....
During the period, he regularly brought his daughter on the road with him and she was part of the shows. Fischer noted that she was astounded that so many people within wrestling could see what was happening and nobody ever came forward to say anything. His daughter said she was afraid to say anything for fear of reprisals from those in wrestling."
It's absolutely disgusting that so many people turned a blind eye to his illegal behaviour and did nothing whatsoever to put a stop to it.
Indeed, Zumhofe had a well known history of criminal sexual misconduct, but kept managing to find work in the industry. In "Playboy" Gary Hart's autobiography "My Life In Wrestling... ...With A Little Help From My Friends" he detailed how such an incident led to his departure from World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW):
"Ken [Mantell] brought in some other questionable talent to Texas as well, such as Buck Zumhoff. Ken was very lax on a lot of things, as I detailed a few paragraphs earlier when discussing drugs in the locker room. I don't know if he didn't know any better about Buck or if he just didn't check people out before he brought them in, but Buck had a predilection for underage girls. After Ken brought Buck in from the AWA, Buck was found with a young girl living in an abandoned farmhouse, which had no electricity, close to Ken's place in Decatur, and he was eventually sent to jail."
This led to Zumhofe being forced to vacate the AWA Light Heavyweight Title in July 1986 when he was jailed for sexual misconduct charges involving a minor, but returned to wrestle for the AWA as soon as he had served his time.
He was also convicted of fourth degree sexual conduct with another underage girl on Jan. 23rd, 1989 and had another short stay in prison as a consequence. This didn't stop the WWF from using him as enhancement talent about 15 times in the years of 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1996, being the first jobber The Undertaker ever put in a body bag and Triple H squashed on WWE programming.