Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring: Gino Hernandez

In any sport, there will always be a what-if story regarding certain athletes. The professional wrestling business has them too, and from the bunch, there is one common name always brought up in these discussions. That man's name is Gino Hernandez. Hernandez could have been one of the top names, as he had it all; charisma, promo skills, character, and in-ring ability. He could have easily been one of the faces of the business and would have worked with the WWE. Hernandez passed away on February 2nd, 1986 at the age of 28. Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring in Season 1 also did an episode on Hernandez and there is so much involved with his life and death.

10. Gino Hernandez Was A Second-Generation Wrestler

Gino Hernandez got started in pro wrestling in the 70's. Many have speculated how he got started, but he had close connections to the business. Turns out he was a second-generation wrestler as his stepfather was Luis Hernandez. He even trained Gino as a kid at the age of 17 which is a crazy fact.

This was not mentioned in the documentary but there were a lot of people who thought Paul Boesch was his biological father. Boesch was even a big wrestling promoter in Houston, Texas. That was not true and even confirmed to be false by Gino's mother

9. He Had A Few Dates With Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett was a popular actress during the 70’s and 80’s. She would star in multiple shows including Charlie’s Angels, The Burning Bed, and Small Sacrifices. Gino even cut a promo about the date, bragging about it. It turns out that date with Farrah happened. They had multiple dates, and it was confirmed by his mother Patrice. It wasn't a long relationship due to how busy both of their careers were, but the fact that it did happen, was unexpected.

8. Gino Was Extremely Paranoid In His Final Days.

The documentary dives into Gino Hernandez's last days and it was a crazy moment, especially with how Paranoid he got. The last time Gino's mom saw him was in 1986 on Superbowl Sunday. She said he was in a hurry and acting paranoid while carrying a small box. Gino left in a hurry like he usually would, but it was clear he was a nervous wreck.

Nobody knows what was in that box and it was never revealed in the documentary, which was a bit strange. Whether it was that he felt threatened by somebody or was high on drugs, something happened.

Even David Manning knew something was up with Gino. One day he stormed into his office and asked if he knew any contacts to buy a gun. Hernandez kept saying that somebody was stalking and following him. He needed it for his protection which is something he never would normally say.

7. The Discovery Of Gino Hernandez Body

This was just a crazy moment where the documentary talks about the discovery of Gino’s body. Two big bookings involving Gino Hernandez were made and he would miss them, which was unusual.

Jeannie Williams, aka Lady Blossom, was neighbors with Gino and she was worried. One day, she noticed Gino’s car was parked at a weird angle. It didn't move for a few days, which was odd, as Gino loved driving that car.

Jeannie wanted to check on Gino and she was knocking on his door. Nobody answered, but she noticed a pie that he had recently bought was still out in plain sight. Gino told Jeannie one night that she could come over and have a slice of pie that was going to be in the fridge. Gino left the pie on the table before Jeannie left. A day passed and the same pie was never moved or put in that fridge which was a red flag.

David Manning was the Booker/referee of the WCCW promotion. He received a call from two people saying that Gino never made his bookings, which again seemed off, as Gino never missed a booking. David sent an employee to Gino’s apartment to check on him and heard nothing when knocking on the door. The employee jumped over the wall to peek through the back door.

When he looked through the back door, he discovered Gino's body. The employee called the police and it was determined that he was lying dead for 4-5 days and had an unused gun near him.

6. His Autopsy Had Multiple Errors

With how Gino was discovered an autopsy was done. The documentary discusses Gino’s autopsy report and mentions that there were several notable errors made. Three of them stick out more than the others.

The first error was that Gino was listed as an overweight male. This is not the case, as he was a professional wrestler, and was in amazing shape. There is no chance at all that Gino was overweight at that time.

The second error was that they listed him as a Mexican/Hispanic. That was false and it's crazy that the examiner messed that up.

The third error was that Gino was listed as an uncircumcised male. According to Gino’s mother and ex-wife, they revealed that he was circumcised.

Some of the details in this autopsy report were fishy at best. Mistakes do happen, but not at the level of Gino's autopsy. Gino’s family started to question whether that body was him or not. It gets worse as….

5. Gino Had 5 Times The Amount Of Cocaine To Overdose.

This is the craziest part of the autopsy. In his toxicology reports, it was discovered that Gino had 5 times the amount of cocaine in his system that the human body can handle. This is just insanity, as it just seems impossible that he managed to consume that amount of cocaine. The elevated levels were strong enough to kill an elephant. Even the medical examiner was perplexed and told Bruce Pritchard (another promoter) that he didn’t know how that much could get into his system.

4, There Was No Cocaine At The Crime Scene

With how much cocaine that was in his body, it would be likely there were more drugs at the crime scene. It turns out that is not the case. According to police reports, no cocaine was found in his apartment. It just does not make any sense.

With how deep he was entrenched with the top cocaine drug runners, and given his drug habit, something doesn't add up. It was common knowledge that Gino would have sugar bowls throughout the kitchen that were just filled with cocaine. If that doesn't scream addict, then what does at this point?

A story came out about somebody who cleaned up cocaine at the crime scene. One theory was that somebody in the wrestling business was at the crime scene and dumped the drugs in the toilet to protect the business. Tampering with evidence wouldn't help in that cause either.

This is not the only time this type of story and action was done. This was not covered in the documentary, but when David Von Erich suddenly died, it was Bruiser Brody who discovered him. David was found dead in his hotel room and Brody found drugs all over the place. He decided to take every drug in that room and flush it down the toilet before the cops arrived. All to "protect the business" and the Von Erich name. This was common practice in the past and who knows how many times it was done previously.

3. At The Time, Many Believed Wrestler Chris Adams Killed Gino Hernandez

At this time, Kayfabe was real and important in professional wrestling. Kayfabe is when the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic. Wrestlers utilized this to basically protect the business and while it is uncommon today, it is still being used. One wrestler who easily uses Kayfabe today is Maxwell Jacob Friedman aka MJF. It's one of the main reasons why he is such an awesome pro wrestler.

Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez were in a nasty feud at the time. In that storyline, Gino sprayed a substance in Adams's eyes and wore an eye patch to sell this angle. When Gino died, many accused Adams of killing him due to the angle. It got to the point where the police came to speak to Adams about the death of Gino. That is how big and believable Kayfabe made wrestling.

2. Gino’s Family Feared For Their Lives

With Gino’s death, along with the questionable autopsy, it's no shock that Gino’s family feared for their lives. That fear grew more when a man named John Royal (one of the top cocaine dealers at the time) went up to Gino's mom and said, "Gino owed me a lot of money, but I am going to pay for this funeral”. What a thing to say to a mother whose son just passed away suspiciously.

The family was so terrified that they looked over their shoulder every time they entered/left their apartment. There is a reason why it took many decades for Gino’s family to speak about his death as they were in fear for their lives

1. Gino hung out with Top Drug Dealers

Here comes the best part of the documentary where the directors got to interview two top drug dealers Gino hung out with in John Royal and The Anonymous Man. This is the first time that both spoke about this, for obvious reasons.

Royal was serving a long jail sentence at the time of this interview and called them via phone. John Royal was actually with Gino in his final hours alive at a party, but Gino left before the party ended.

Royal admitted that there was no foul play in Gino's death from his knowledge. There even was a planned intervention as well due to the concern about how bad Gino’s drug habit was. When the known top drug dealer tries to set up an intervention for his client to get help, that's telling how bad the drug habit was. Royal admitted to paying for the funeral and giving an eulogy. When it comes to his conversation with his mother, he admitted that it did happen, but did not mean to threaten her.

The Anonymous Man then gets interviewed. He does not want his name or identity out for obvious reasons and his voice was altered along with his face not being seen. He only did this interview, because he did not want Gino’s family to worry anymore about drug dealers coming after them.

Gino ran as a drug runner with the Anonymous Man and they worked together making drug deals. He even admitted that the drugs got a hold of Gino due to his participation in the operation. The Man admitted that Gino was taking the drugs while drinking alcohol at the same time. The anonymous man believes and even says it was Gino’s own doing that eventually resulted in his untimely death. It wasn't because of others, Gino Hernandez was his worst enemy.

My Thoughts on the Documentary

Overall, this was a sad, but well-made documentary. Many still debate whether Gino Hernandez’s death was an accidental overdose or murder. Coming out of this documentary the lean is more towards accidental overdose.

It was clear Gino had a really bad drug problem and he was his worst enemy. The interviews from John Royal and The Anonymous Man were telling.

Gino’s mother Patrice was the star of this documentary, and it is sad knowing what she went through. No parent should ever have to bury their child and the fact that Patrice had to is heartbreaking.

Gino Hernandez left this world way too soon. He had plenty more left to give not only in wrestling but in the world as a whole. Gino Hernandez will go down as one of the biggest what-ifs in wrestling history. He could have honestly been one of the Four Horseman and fit right in with that group. He could have been one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. We will never know what he could have been due to his addiction to drugs. The main lesson in this documentary is don't do drugs or be associated with them ever.