Longtime wrestling promoter Herb Simmons has revealed new details surrounding an alleged financial dispute between wrestling legend Abdullah the Butcher and the author of his recent biography, Scott Rushing. Speaking on the Road Trip After Hours podcast, Simmons claimed that Abdullah has not been properly compensated for the sales of his book, “Abdullah the Butcher: The Man, The Myth, The Legend.”
Simmons, a close friend of Abdullah’s, said he was originally helping promote the book at his St. Louis Fan Fest event. However, red flags began to appear when the books never arrived in time for the convention.
“I got drug into it because Abby is a friend of mine,” Simmons explained. “The books were supposed to be there, and they weren’t. That was the first sign of trouble.”
According to Simmons, Abdullah and the author had a formal agreement, but Abdullah has allegedly received very little from the book’s success.
“There was 300 and some dollars… that’s what [Rushing] claimed was royalties that they had been fronted,” Simmons said. “I’ve heard him talk about that on a couple of other podcasts. Three hundred some dollars in royalties is not a lot if you’ve been selling books. And he claims he’s already got a second printing out.”
In an attempt to help resolve the situation, Simmons offered to personally cover the royalty amount—but with one condition:
“I offered Mr. Rushing that I would pay for a handwriting analysis because he claims that there was some forgery going on,” Simmons revealed. “And I said, ‘The only thing is, I’d want all of you… all three of them, to take a polygraph test.’ Well, I got crickets after I did that.”
Simmons also called out additional inconsistencies, noting that Rushing claimed to be close with several other wrestling figures, including Leilani Kai and Barbara Goodish (widow of “Bruiser” Brody), both of whom told Simmons they only knew the author through Facebook.
As of now, the dispute between Abdullah and Rushing remains unresolved. The book, released earlier this year, is still available through several outlets, but Abdullah’s share of its success appears to be under serious scrutiny.
