Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 22:21:42 GMT
This is part two of a series documenting the life and career of Jazmyn Rain. Still getting started on her run with Queen City Pro Wrestling, Jazmyn opens up about prior drug issues, when she thought she had lost her career forever, what it took to get back, and finally getting back. This is starting to become quite candid...
Q: What happened in 2013 that led to you falling out of the wrestling business for two years?
A: In all honesty, the problems started a year earlier than that. My first singles title reign had just ended that April, but a month later, I was challenging for a world championship for the very first time. I had that match in my hands, but interference said otherwise. Even though there was interference that screwed me over, I was still beating myself up for it. I was going through a lot personally on top of it and one day, I was at a party. A simple shot of alcohol changed things for me for the worst. What I didn't know was that someone slipped a drug into that shot, but I was so depressed I didn't care. I wanted more of it and from there, that's when the drug issues started.
Q: How did this affect your career?
A: Everything from around August 2012 to May 2013 was a complete nightmare for me. My brain went absolutely haywire. I wasn't thinking straight. The drugs brought out the worst in me and I kept blaming other people for my own problems. I'd have a few more world title matches, but I wouldn't win any of them and it just made my problems worse. Almost nobody in the locker room wanted anything to do with me. I felt alone and afraid and the worst part is, it really did seem like the world was against me.
Q: How were you not suspended for drugs for that amount of time?
A: I paid off someone to cheat the test for me. I know... it sounds horrible. I would NEVER endorse such a thing. That's how I'd get by. Unfortunately, I was only going to get by for so long. It helped that I managed to know when the drug tests were coming, but when I got hit with a random, surprise one in April 2013, that's when I got caught. I was set to be suspended for 60 days until they found security footage of me paying off someone to cheat the test. They were going to fire me, but the company I was working for shut down that month. But... it'd get worse than that...
Q: What was rock bottom for you?
A: Mother's day weekend, 2013. I had no career, I was alone, I knew nobody wanted anything to do with me, and on the way home from the club, I got pulled over and the cops found a stash of drugs in the glove compartment. I was arrested on the night of the 11th (of May), released the next day. I got into this huge argument with my birth mother over the phone, talking about how she was ashamed she ever gave birth to me among other things and I lost it. I dialed 911 and I told the operator that I was ready to die and that I was going to kill myself. I went total Britney (yes, this did include shaving my head bald) and went on this huge drug binge hoping to die. I collapsed in the bathroom, probably minutes away from death before the police and medics showed up.
Q: And this is why no company wanted to touch you for a long time after that?
A: Exactly. I was fortunate enough to have good lawyers and be able to agree to a plea bargain. I pleaded guilty to possession of narcotics, but with the condition that the charge would be dropped if I completed a rehab program. I spent six months in a halfway house recovering, my dad did everything he could to help get me clean and I spent all of 2014 training for the impossible: a return to the ring. My dad didn't want me to go back to wrestling because he felt that wrestling was the reason why I fell on drugs to begin with, which it wasn't. It was a culmination of years of dealing with a lot of traumas that made me feel inadequate.
Q: How many companies rejected you before you finally made it back?
A: At least seven... I don't remember the exact number.
Q: Normally, people in your situation would get a second chance almost right away. How come it took you so long to get back?
A: Because the market for a 30-year-old wrestler with only two years of experience who crashed and burned before is a very thin market. I still persevered. All I had were training tapes and old tapes from my earlier career before I crashed. But... Global Championship Wrestling finally took a chance on me... and this was after I was initially rejected for the same reason other companies were rejecting me. I was extremely happy to be back, but I also knew that I had to start all over again... which is obviously what I am sort of doing right now in Queen City.
Stay tuned for Part 3... where Jazmyn discusses the GCW years, how she finally won the big one, and how she'd eventually evolve into one of the bigger stars in wrestling today...
Q: What happened in 2013 that led to you falling out of the wrestling business for two years?
A: In all honesty, the problems started a year earlier than that. My first singles title reign had just ended that April, but a month later, I was challenging for a world championship for the very first time. I had that match in my hands, but interference said otherwise. Even though there was interference that screwed me over, I was still beating myself up for it. I was going through a lot personally on top of it and one day, I was at a party. A simple shot of alcohol changed things for me for the worst. What I didn't know was that someone slipped a drug into that shot, but I was so depressed I didn't care. I wanted more of it and from there, that's when the drug issues started.
Q: How did this affect your career?
A: Everything from around August 2012 to May 2013 was a complete nightmare for me. My brain went absolutely haywire. I wasn't thinking straight. The drugs brought out the worst in me and I kept blaming other people for my own problems. I'd have a few more world title matches, but I wouldn't win any of them and it just made my problems worse. Almost nobody in the locker room wanted anything to do with me. I felt alone and afraid and the worst part is, it really did seem like the world was against me.
Q: How were you not suspended for drugs for that amount of time?
A: I paid off someone to cheat the test for me. I know... it sounds horrible. I would NEVER endorse such a thing. That's how I'd get by. Unfortunately, I was only going to get by for so long. It helped that I managed to know when the drug tests were coming, but when I got hit with a random, surprise one in April 2013, that's when I got caught. I was set to be suspended for 60 days until they found security footage of me paying off someone to cheat the test. They were going to fire me, but the company I was working for shut down that month. But... it'd get worse than that...
Q: What was rock bottom for you?
A: Mother's day weekend, 2013. I had no career, I was alone, I knew nobody wanted anything to do with me, and on the way home from the club, I got pulled over and the cops found a stash of drugs in the glove compartment. I was arrested on the night of the 11th (of May), released the next day. I got into this huge argument with my birth mother over the phone, talking about how she was ashamed she ever gave birth to me among other things and I lost it. I dialed 911 and I told the operator that I was ready to die and that I was going to kill myself. I went total Britney (yes, this did include shaving my head bald) and went on this huge drug binge hoping to die. I collapsed in the bathroom, probably minutes away from death before the police and medics showed up.
Q: And this is why no company wanted to touch you for a long time after that?
A: Exactly. I was fortunate enough to have good lawyers and be able to agree to a plea bargain. I pleaded guilty to possession of narcotics, but with the condition that the charge would be dropped if I completed a rehab program. I spent six months in a halfway house recovering, my dad did everything he could to help get me clean and I spent all of 2014 training for the impossible: a return to the ring. My dad didn't want me to go back to wrestling because he felt that wrestling was the reason why I fell on drugs to begin with, which it wasn't. It was a culmination of years of dealing with a lot of traumas that made me feel inadequate.
Q: How many companies rejected you before you finally made it back?
A: At least seven... I don't remember the exact number.
Q: Normally, people in your situation would get a second chance almost right away. How come it took you so long to get back?
A: Because the market for a 30-year-old wrestler with only two years of experience who crashed and burned before is a very thin market. I still persevered. All I had were training tapes and old tapes from my earlier career before I crashed. But... Global Championship Wrestling finally took a chance on me... and this was after I was initially rejected for the same reason other companies were rejecting me. I was extremely happy to be back, but I also knew that I had to start all over again... which is obviously what I am sort of doing right now in Queen City.
Stay tuned for Part 3... where Jazmyn discusses the GCW years, how she finally won the big one, and how she'd eventually evolve into one of the bigger stars in wrestling today...