Charlie Haas Compares Divorce From Jackie Gayda To Losing His Brother

Charlie Haas made his wrestling debut in 1996, teaming on the independent circuit with his brother, Russ. The former WWE superstar shared a great bond with his little brother. Unfortunately, Russ Haas passed away unexpectedly at 27 following a heart attack in his sleep in 2001.

Haas married fellow WWE star Jackie Gayda back in 2005. The couple ultimately divorced in 2020. In a recent chat with Chris Van Vliet, Charlie talked about the two heartbreaking events. He said he was destroyed by both.

“It destroyed me.  It was like the divorce from Jackie, they are your best friends.  You grew up with them. He’s your little brother, then you find him dead and it’s like, man, is this really happening? 

It was tough, it really was.  But then you have to call your mom and dad and tell them that you found your brother dead.  That’s not good.  I didn’t think I was going to be able to get out of that.  I didn’t know how to survive that, and I didn’t know what WWE would do. 

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They signed the Haas brothers, not Charlie Haas.  But thank God that Jim Ross saw that we could still do this with Charlie and Shelton (Benjamin).  Arn Anderson said, ‘Let me take Charlie and Shelton and let me see what I can do with them.’  We basically just traveled with Arn.  He put us in the ring prior to the house show matches and in the dark matches, and he taught us everything he knew.  His heart was into it as much as ours was, and that was when I knew that someone really cared.  He really put everything into us.  Shelton was a guy who I found as a partner just like my brother, he is my brother, and it worked.  Shelton had the same goal as I did, and I’m just very lucky.”

Charlie Haas was a three-time champion in WWE. He held the tag team titles twice with Shelton Benjamin and once with Rico. Later, he would go on to win the Ring of Honor tag championships Shelton. He has wrestled sporadically since announcing his retirement in 2013. You can watch his entire interview below.

What do you think of Charlie Haas’ story? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription!