Magazine Archives: Jim Neidhart’s Casino Adventure

 By Dann “Jarris” Pigozzo from FightfulMag.com issue 2! Physical copies still available 

Just sit right back and hear a tale. A tale of triumph and tragedy. Of ruin and redemption. Of a man faced with insurmountable odds. Okay, maybe I am laying it on a little thick, but it’s still a pretty cool story.

It was the summer of 2001, and I was working with a promising promotion called the XWC, the Xtreme Wrestling Coalition in Canada, promoted by Fightful’s own, Jimmy Van. We had an event booked at the Welland Arena in Welland, Ontario, located a dice throw away from Niagara Falls. The main event saw the future WWE Hall of Famer, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, taking on a very promising, up-and-comer named “Showtime” Eric Young. I don’t remember too many details of the match itself, other than Neidhart hit all of his patented spots, including his famous scoop slam. It’s in that very instance of hitting that move that this story really begins.

While delivering that move, Neidhart inadvertently bit his tongue. In fact, he bit it so hard that he (as he would go on to describe it) felt like it was split almost right in half. In the locker room after the match, Jim could be seen pacing back and forth, spitting mouthfuls of blood into a cup. His tongue was obviously giving him more trouble than he cared to admit. I recall someone asking him if he wanted to get it checked out at the hospital, but Jim declined. He had another treatment in mind.

One of the show’s sponsors was a guy whose name escapes me. All I remember about him is that he owned a small bar in Niagara Falls. Being the philanthropist that he was, he invited Jim and the rest of the locker room back to his establishment for an after-party. This offer worked perfectly for Jim as he had opted for the time-tested treatment for numbing the pain; whiskey. Paging Dr. Jack Daniels, MD!

At the after-party, Jim took shot after shot of the malty medicine. It clearly worked as before long, Jim’s spirits lifted, and he was in no pain. Eventually, last call came around and to paraphrase the old saying, we didn’t have to go home, but we couldn’t stay there. By this point, most of our fellow revellers had hit the highway or headed back to their respective hotels. There were just a few of us left, including our bar owner benefactor and his partner, Jim, myself and maybe a couple of others. As we were standing on the sidewalk outside of the bar, Jim, who was still ready to have fun, asked, “Hey, don’t you guys have a casino around here?” To me, it only made sense that a man who was hailed as being from Reno, Nevada, would gravitate towards a casino.

The group of us made the few-minute walk to Casino Niagara. Now, I’m not suggesting that Jim’s imbibing earlier in the evening left him in a state of inebriation. In fact, you would have been hard-pressed to tell that he was even close if you were to look at him. In due time, however, the tongue bite and the bite of the JD would come back to bite him in the ass.

Once we were in the casino, I went to try my hand on the slots while Jim and the others went to take their chances at the tables. I’ve never been much of a gambler. I have always subscribed to the belief that if you can’t afford to lose it, then you can’t afford to gamble it. After dropping $40 or so into the slots, I called it quits and went to meet up with Jim and the others.

I found them at a nearby roulette wheel. Jim had a look of concern on his face as he eyeballed the spinning wheel and the little white ball bouncing around inside it. It didn’t take much to know that Jim was down and that a lot was riding on this spin. After what seemed like an eternity, the wheel slowly came to a stop. Immediately, I saw Jim’s shoulders drop as the air went out of him. The expression on his face told it all. He was down for the three count. As it turned out, Jim had lost everything he walked into the casino with. He lost his payday from the show, as well as all the money he made selling Polaroids to fans (this was before the advent of cell phone cameras).

Jim was crestfallen. The loss of the money was weighing heavy on him, and he needed to somehow get it back. He asked the dealer if he could open a line of credit so he could continue playing. The dealer called the assistant manager over, who immediately recognized Jim. He was a big fan, and he began gushing over “The Anvil.” He advised Jim that the casino could extend him credit, but the request could not be granted until 24 hours later. At this point, it was around three in the morning, and Jim had a flight home at 1:30 p.m. Waiting 24 hours wasn’t going to work. To his credit, Jim maintained his composure and immediately began formulating a plan. You could almost see the wheels turning in his head as we all left the casino.

Standing on the sidewalk outside the casino, Jim asked if anyone knew of any pawn shops in the area. Our bar-owner buddy knew of one, but it wasn’t going to open until 10:00 a.m. Jim’s idea was simple. He had with him a Rolex watch that he claimed he had received for his appearance at Wrestlemania II. Apparently, he and Bret Hart both received one since it was their Wrestlemania debut. He figured that he could get at least $1,000 for it. Jim would then head back to the casino and use that money to play and win back what he had just lost. Afterwards, he would race back to the pawn shop, collect his watch, then race to Toronto to catch his flight. Simple. Needless to say, I had my concerns.

I thought his plan was fraught with risk, and that time was not on our side. The ride to the airport was approximately one and a half hours, which left us with a small window to accomplish Jim’s plan. Not being a gambling man myself, the idea of risking the loss of the Rolex left me feeling uneasy for Jim. I felt I had to tell Jim that the plan might not be the best idea, so I let him know. He stopped for a second as if to mull it over, then looked me straight in the eye and uttered these three words: strong and sober. I wasn’t sure what he meant, so he elaborated. He admitted that the multiple shots of Jack earlier in the evening definitely impaired his judgment, and he had played foolishly and impulsively. He would not make the same mistake. He wouldn’t touch another drop of alcohol and would not give into foolish bets. Strong and sober had become his new mantra. With the plan in place, Jim and I headed back to the hotel to get a few hours of sleep and recharge our batteries. Jim needed to be as clear-headed as possible if there was going to be a chance that his plan could be successful.

All in all, we got about four hours of sleep when we arrived at the pawn shop just before it opened at 10:00 a.m. The bar owner had called the pawn shop owner ahead of time to tell him we were coming, so he was ready for us. Jim was able to get $1,000 for the Rolex, and we immediately raced to the casino. As we drove, Jim repeated his mantra “strong and sober” over and over. He was laser-focused.

As we arrived at the casino, the clock was ticking. I had estimated that we needed to get on the road to the airport by 11:15 a.m. to make it with time to spare. I was allowing for extra time just in case something unforeseen happened. At this point, it was approaching 10:30 a.m. Tick tock. Jim quickly got his chips. Before he headed for the roulette wheel, I let him know that I was rooting for him. Not wanting to distract him, I decided it was best to browse the casino floor and give him space. I figured it was best to be his Jiminy Cricket from a distance.

In between losing another $20 or so on the slots, I would make eye contact with Jim to assess how it was going. Jim would look back at me and mouth the words strong and sober. After about thirty minutes, I made my way over to see him. We were slightly off schedule, and I was starting to get concerned that we weren’t going to make the flight. Walking up next to Jim at the table, I could see stacks of multi-coloured chips in front of him. Again, my lack of gambling experience prevented me from knowing how he was doing, but I assumed that things were going well.

I asked him how he was doing, and he just gave me a wink and a grin. He was doing very well, but now I was afraid that the rush of being ahead was taking over. I let him know that we had to get going if we wanted to make his flight. Jim agreed and gathered up the chips in front of him and hurried to cash them out. When it was all said and done, Jim left the casino with the money he had walked in with plus the cash he had lost hours earlier. Not only that, but he was up approximately another $1,000 to boot! He had done way better than expected.

We didn’t have time to celebrate, as we still needed to get his Rolex back from the pawn shop and make it to his flight on time. Time waits for no man. Not even “The Anvil.” We sprinted to the car, ran two red lights, and made it to the pawnshop. I waited in the car as Jim quickly got his Rolex back and jumped back in. We were off to Toronto. The clock on the dashboard read 11:35 a.m.

To make up some time, we decided to take the backroads. To this day, I still don’t know what possessed me to do this, and this was even before GPS. Suffice it to say, my navigational skills weren’t envied by anyone. All our efforts could all be for naught because of one wrong turn. Well, about half a dozen wrong turns. I figured we wasted around thirty minutes becoming acquainted with the backroads before pulling up to the departures drop off at Pearson International Airport at 1:00 p.m. There was barely any time for a proper goodbye as I quickly pulled Jim’s luggage from the trunk. Jim gave me a quick hug and tossed me $100 for my help. I appreciated the money, but I welcomed the hug even more. As I watched Jim scurry out of sight through the doors, I couldn’t help but feel like the two of us had bonded during this adventure.

Jim and I stayed in touch via phone for a short while after this. I saw him once more when we were both booked on a show near Ottawa. Sadly, however, we lost touch with one another. Despite that, I still felt an affinity for “The Anvil” and always hoped he would show back up in WWE someday. He did from time to time, usually appearing with his daughter, Nattie. Each time he did, I was happy for the guy. Sadly, on August 13, 2018, the world lost Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. If I had a chance to talk to him one more time, I would have wanted him to know that I never stopped rooting for him.

Dann “Jarris” Pigozzo is the owner of Northland wrestling in Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in the pro wrestling business for years, booking some of the best up-and-coming wrestlers in the area.