Back to the Future: Local Wrestling Legend Falls Off the Wagon and Into the Ring

By Thomas Francis Thu., Aug. 27 2009 at 6:51 PM

The last time we talked to Bobby Rogers, the troubled founder of the Fort Lauderdale-based Future of Wrestling told us he was finished with the self-destructive sport and encouraged his fellow wrestlers to kick it, too. "Wrestling is a sickness, because we're addicted to the attention, addicted to the adrenaline rush," he told us in a brief interview for New Times' Tailpipe section in December 2004.

A Hollywood resident, Rogers -- who's real name is Michael Rapuano -- was on house arrest then, basking in the clarity that tends to precede the start of a prison sentence. He got out in January 2008. And just this past month, Rogers made his return to the ring for a match in Davie. That's the video above. It had been almost six years. Rogers is 35 now and judging by the video above, roughly 100 pounds heavier than the 220 that had been his wrestling weight. To see him pouring out a garbage can full of household bludgeons, you can't help but wince.

For the truly sadistic (who after all are Rogers' fan base), the match's bloody conclusion, after the jump.