A former WWE wrestler’s ex-wife has been charged with murdering him just three days after their divorce was finalized, with her new man allegedly pulling the trigger.
Kevin Nikel, 41, who wrestled professionally under the name Knuckles Madsen, was found on the side of an Arkansas highway in July with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, 5News reported.
He was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
Ex-WWE NXT wrestler Kevin Nikel was fatally shot in the gut on a highway in Arkansas. Facebook / Ozark Mountain Wrestling
His ex-wife, Amanda Penny, 40, has been arrested and charged with his murder, which was just three days after their divorce was finalized on July 8, according to court documents seen by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
They had been married nearly 13 years.
The ex-wife’s new boyfriend, Michael Hogue, 51, was also busted over the murder, accused of pulling the trigger, according to the documents.
“We still don’t know exactly what happened when he got shot,” Nikel’s mother, Susan Kinderman, told News5.
“The detectives have been pretty close-lipped on that, which is good, but we’d still like to know exactly what happened and who did what,” she said.
“I was told by the detectives that there was some kind of altercation. Shots were fired, and Kevin was killed, and that’s all we really know.”
The wrestler’s ex-wife, Amanda Penny, has been charged in connection with his murder. U.S. Marshals Service
Penny’s new boyfriend, Michael Hogue, is believed by authorities to have pulled the trigger. U.S. Marshals Service
Penny and Nikel were high school sweethearts who met in 2000 and had been married since August 2012 until “things just progressively got worse,” the mom said.
“She was his first friend that he met in high school,” the dead wrestler’s mom said of her former daughter-in-law. “They were happy for a long time, and then I guess they started to grow apart,” she said, saying that “neither one of them were happy.”
“I think they enticed Kevin to meet up with them,” the mom alleged.
Nikel wrestled in WWE NXT between 2012 and 2013. He later wrestled in Ozark Mountain Wrestling under the name Ivan Warsaw.
Hogue was arrested in Fort Smith, Ark., while Penny was arrested in Rogers as an accomplice.
Both have been charged with first-degree murder and face additional firearm possession charges. They are being held in the Benton County Jail ahead of a scheduled bond hearing on Wednesday.
