The rich playboy, his young lover and the JEALOUSY that drove her to pull the …

Friends say Bush dumped her after she became too possessive. “She met Andy when she worked at one of his shops,” says one. “He fell in love with her and took her out of work. She started travelling the world with him and they were together for about two years. In the eyes of Andy’s family she turned out to be someone you could describe as ambitious if you were trying to be diplomatic and a gold-digger if you weren’t. 

“She became jealous and controlling, partly perhaps because Andy was a bit of a womaniser and partly because she may have feared losing the man who was helping her turn her dreams of the high life into reality. “There was a row last September when she hid his passport just before he was due to go on a business trip. The following day police were called to a robbery at his property in Chepstow. Mayka was found handcuffed and hooded and claimed three masked man had burst in to rob them. There were suspicions from day one she was involved and Andy came to suspect her as well. He ended it last autumn but she took it very badly and started stalking him.” 

It’s emerged that Kukucova had recently recorded a video about her love for Bush in which she begs him to rekindle their doomed romance. 

In the video, entitled “for my man”, she describes him as the “love of my life”. One photo is accompanied by the caption, “You are the light in my life and the only star in my personal heaven. Let’s be together for ever”. Another photograph shows the couple kissing passionately. 

She also shares intimate text messages from Bush, sent before the split, in which he describes her as “my princess”. Her video, posted online for the world to see, concludes with the words, “You are for me”. 

Speaking before Kukucova’s arrest her father said: “My daughter wasn’t capable of hurting a fly. I know Andrew, we went to England to see him and he was here with my daughter. We cannot explain what could have happened. They had a very nice and easy-going relationship.” 

The millionaire’s death has left his family shattered. 

Last Saturday morning his former wife was called by her hysterical daughter Ellie who works at one of her father’s shops. Ellie screamed down the phone: “Daddy’s dead, he’s been shot.” 

They flew out to Spain together and Mason says: “My daughter is only 19 and a real daddy’s girl. Now she has been left without a father. This whole thing is almost like a horror story. We will never get over this as a family.” 

Another family friend adds: “Andy was flashy and had a roving eye but behind the loud front he was a really nice guy who doted on his daughter.” 

Bush was aware that his business, which included dealing diamonds, and his ostentatious lifestyle made him an easy target for violent crooks. 

His home in Chepstow has been described as a “fortress”. Security at the five-bedroom property includes metal shutters on the windows and heavy reinforced gates. According to other shopkeepers there was always a security guard on duty at his jewellery business. 

However he appears to have fatally underestimated the wrath of a scorned woman, who snapped when she realised that she had been traded in for an even younger model.

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Analyzing the Potential of Shawne Merriman as a Wrestler in WWE

In the most newsworthy week in pro wrestling in many years, a lot of things fell to the wayside.  For example, Jim Ross was in the front row of the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony after whatever led to his departure last year.  Another was the presence of former NFL player Shawn Merriman as an analyst on the WrestleMania and Monday Night Raw pre-game shows on WWE Network.  it was odd that he was being used in that spot instead of the usual older wrestler, but he’s friendly with WWE so at WrestleMania, it didn’t seem like a big deal.  He was more conspicuous when he came back the next night, though.

Now, as initially reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (link behind paywall, h/t WrestlingInc.com) and supported by TMZ, it looks like the three time All-Pro has signed or is on the verge of signing with WWE.  Not only is he going to continue as an announcer, but he’ll be training for pro wrestling at the WWE Performance Center.

One of the ideas behind the Performance Center was its importance as a recruiting tool.  Instead of trying to direct blue chip athletes to whatever wrestling school had the developmental consulting contract at the time, they built their own state of the art facility.   Not only would this help WWE get college athletes, especially amateur wrestlers without aspirations of mixed martial arts careers, but also football players still in their athletic primes when their careers ended.  Merriman fits the latter category perfectly.

Merriman would be the most accomplished pro football player under contract.  He was a teammate of current NXT star Mojo Rawley (real name Dean Muhtadi) at the University of Maryland  before his pro career, and would be the most accomplished pro football player in WWE.  WWE has two other former pros on the roster, and one of them may surprise you.

The less surprising one is Roman Reigns.  While he comes from a wrestling family, he spent time on the rosters of the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as the practice squad of the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.  While he wasn’t especially impressive in developmental, using him as the muscle in The Shield was a great way to help him along by hiding him in trios matches until he could hold up his end.  Meanwhile, he’d constantly be in matches with several great workers between his partners and opponents.

The one you wouldn’t be able to guess is Summer Rae.  Under her real name of Daniele Moinet, she was the cornerback of the Lingerie Football League’s Chicago Bliss from 2008 to 2011.  Say what you will about the LFL, but they were still real athletes playing real football, not just a bunch of models flailing around.  Of the current WWE Divas without prior pro wrestling experience (meaning no AJ Lee, Paige, Natalya, and so on), she really shines as an all-around performer, coming along much faster than her contemporaries.

While there are conflicting stories about how Merriman’s initial trip to the Performance Center went last year, adjusting to pro wrestling training is difficult and someone’s first class isn’t necessarily representative of their potential.  Being a NFL caliber athlete doesn’t always translate to pro wrestling, either.  When it comes to pro football players from the past, for every hall of fame level wrestler like Wahoo McDaniel, Ernie Ladd, Curtis Iaukea, and Bronko Nagurski, you have a number of popular mid-level stars like Brian Pillman, Russ Francis, and Don Manoukian, as well as total washouts like Jim Wilson or Otis Sistrunk, and whatever you want to call Steve McMichael.  While Lawrence Taylor and especially Kevin Green put in strong performances in their guest shots as wrestlers, Reggie White was terrible.

There’s also the question of how long Merriman will last.  It’s not uncommon for football players, prize fighters, and other contact sport athletes who have tried pro wrestling to say it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

If Shawne Merriman sticks with it, and doesn’t see himself as “above” wrestling (a problem that affected the development of some “real athletes,” including Jim Wilson), he should do reasonably well.  Just how well will be determined by everything else, like who he gets to work with and learn from.

David Bixenspan is the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly. Some of his work can be seen in Fighting Spirit Magazine.

Follow @davidbix

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