By Jason Powell and Wade Keller
At a Holiday Inn bar in Philadelphia after the Apr. 22 ECW Arena event ("Cyberslam") last month, Chris O'Connell, age 23, a friend of Mikey Whipwreck's younger brother Buck died from heart failure. The heart failure could have been linked to combining alcohol and drugs hours earlier. A source close to the situation said an autopsy this week came back inconclusive. No police report or criminal charges have been filed regarding the situation.
According to multiple sources at the hotel that night, the drugs (supposedly a liquid GHB-substitute) that O'Connell took hours before he died came from a bottle that then-ECW manager Jeff Jones brought into the bar. The TORCH reached Jones for comment on Tuesday, May 9. He said he wanted to talk to his lawyer before going on record regarding the situation. He did not call back later nor did he respond to subsequent attempts by the TORCH to reach him.
Charlie LaGrande, who wrestles as "Guillotine LaGrande" on the indy scene, told the TORCH on May 3 his version of what happened that night: "I wasn't present for the actual passing of anything. At some point throughout the evening, I'm guessing it was before 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., because I think the bar closed around then - but we were all at the bar together. I was doing my own thing. At some point, I was with Jeff (Jones), Buck, and Buck's friends. Then they disappeared or for whatever reason, I didn't see them. Then, Jeff Jones came and found me in the bar. He seemed to be looking to speak with me because he knows I'm friends with Mikey and have that connection with Mikey's brother, Buck (William "Buck" Watson, age 25). Jones said, 'Charlie, I just want you to know that I had a bottle of...' I think he referred to it as 'scoop' which I was unfamiliar with, to be honest with you. He said, 'I had a bottle of scoop in my room and Buck drank about half the bottle and his friend was drinking some. And I just want you to know, we got Buck to throw up, but his friend wouldn't throw up. I just want you to know.'"
LaGrande says he doesn't know that Jones actually gave the bottle to O'Connell. "He didn't necessarily say that he gave it to him, but Jones was standing like arm's distance from Buck when Buck showed me the bottle in his pocket. So, I don't think he (Jones) was surprised that Buck had it."
On May 3, a wrestler present for the events that the evening who asked not to be identified, backed up LaGrande's story.
"Buck had no idea what the stuff was," he said." Between Buck and his friend Chris, they drank three quarters of the bottle. You're only supposed to take a cap full or two cap fulls or something. Buck took the empty bottle back to Jones. Chris Chetti was sitting there and went into a panic and asked Buck what he did. Buck told him, 'Oh, we drank whatever it was.' Chetti told Buck, 'You're going to throw up or I'm going to make you throw up.' So, Buck threw up. Chetti told Buck, 'Find your friend (Chris) and make him throw up or he is going to die.' Being f---ed up as he was, Buck went to find him. He went by two rooms and by the time he got to a third room looking for him, he forgot. He was so f---ed up. About an hour later, the kid (Chris) was down in the bar and passed out. Security in the bar removed him from the bar and threw him in the lobby. Buck found the kid, dragged him up to his room, made him throw up, and threw him in bed face down.
"I'm not sure if Buck went to bed with him at the time or if he left and came back later. At about 5 a.m., Buck was lying in bed with the kid. The phone rang. Buck reached over the kid to answer the phone and talked for a couple of minutes. He hung up, turned over, and noticed the kid wasn't breathing and was f---in' cold. Buck flipped him over, gave him C.P.R., mouth-to-mouth, and called 911, but he was dead.'"
The TORCH contacted several ECW wrestlers and all were aware of the situation, and none expressed sympathy toward Jones.
"I've been fortunate enough to be a guest in the ECW locker room and have been subject to nothing but extreme, no pun intended, professionalism on all accounts." LaGrande said. "An incident like this puts a damper on not only ECW, but a damper on the whole business. It's reckless, it's careless. If people choose to involve themselves in this kind of thing, at least have the damn sense to keep it out of the hands of people who have no need or use for this kind of crap."
LaGrande added that ECW should not be blamed for the incident. "This was an independent act by a man who obviously isn't capable of acting independently. It was completely unrelated to ECW other than the fact that it was Jeff Jones. I don't know what the motive was for whatever the hell he was walking around with to get in the hands of these two guys who had no business or use for it, and obviously weren't aware of what might happen should they abuse it."
Added an anonymous ECW wrestler: "Of course, Paul (Heyman) let him (Jones) go when he found out. Then he (Jones) went to XPW in California and bitched, 'I got fired by fax.' That's how you get fired in the wrestling business, Jeff. They don't fly you into town and say, 'Oh, by the way, you're fired.' Then he told people that he got fired because he asked for a raise. I know Paul E. pretty well, and I know for a fact that he doesn't fire people for asking for a raise. It's almost impossible to get fired."
