Brian Lawler

Brian Lawler

By Mike Mooneyham

June 2, 2001

The WWF has terminated its contract with Brian Lawler (“Grandmaster Sexay” Brian Christopher of Too Cool) as a result of his arrest on charges of possessing illegal drugs when he crossed the Canadian border for last week’s WWF swing.

According to Jerry Lawler, his son told him he was busted for having “muscle enhancing” drugs that are legal in the United States but not in Canada. Although a judge dismissed charges against Lawler, WWF officials said he will not be brought back to the company. Lawler was immediately suspended on Monday and then fired on Tuesday.

“I think our actions speak loud and clear about how the WWF feels about drugs,” said WWF spokesman Gary Davis.

Jerry Lawler said Wednesday that the drugs were similar “to the Mark McGuire stuff that supposedly was legal in the U.S. but not legal in Canada.” Lawler said his son told him that he forgot the drugs were still in his bag.

[ad#MikeMooneyham-336×280]Lawler was arrested Monday afternoon as he arrived in Calgary at Calgary International Airport where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reportedly found one tenth of a gram of methamphetamine, one tenth of a gram of marijuana and a half a gram of cocaine in his possession.

According to a report in the Calgary Herald, Lawler was arrested and charged for possession of the cocaine and methamphetamine. He pleaded guilty in provincial court to the charge of cocaine possession, while the other one was dropped. Lawler’s attorney argued for a conditional discharge, which would allow Lawler to travel back into Canada and work. The judge agreed and ordered Lawler to pay $50 to a victims fund and make a $500 donation to a teens’ drug and alcohol program.

“He caught a big break on that,” said Jerry Lawler, who added that his son will not have a record from the arrest. “He could have done jail time or been deported and never been able to come back to Canada.”

According to Lawler, the judge told his son, “Well, I’m probably not doing the right thing as far as the public is concerned because they like to see us make examples out of people like you, but I’m going to cut you a break.” “The judge dismissed all the charges, so it’s like it didn’t even happen,” said Lawler. “He can come back (to Canada) any time he wants.”[ad#MikeMooneyham-468×15]

Lawler said he didn’t think the decision to fire Brian was related to his status with the company. “The truth of the matter is that ever since I’ve been there, that is like the one rule. If somebody had been caught with drugs in the United States, it wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal. But getting caught at the border in Canada causes a major problem with the WWF. Every time anything connected with the WWF goes through the border, they will literally stop their big 18- wheeler rigs with all their equipment in it and make them unload the whole thing where they check everything in there. It causes the WWF a tremendous amount of headaches. That’s always been the one, longstanding rule – if you ever get caught or cause any problems at the Canadian border, you’re going to get fired.”