Dark Side of the Ring

[Epic Springs]

Good episode. Abrams having mountains of coke and hookers in his office was a hilarious image. I loved B. Brian Blair's account of that scene.

Abrams not paying his TV crew despite having millions in the bank is the carniest shit ever.

 

[Brocklock]

Herb Abrams episode was great. Another lighter one as while Herb was insane, the people that were close to him really liked him and he did more destruction to himself than others for the most part. I sort of felt bad for Steve Ray and that Lenny guy. They both were hit hard by his death. The reenactments with the pixelations were hilarious. They went all out with those.

Foley and B. Brian Blair had some amazing lines throughout.

 

[strummer]

Interviewer: "What would Herb be doing today if he were alive?"

Foley: "Time"

Killed me

 

[Youth N Asia]

Having not known much about Abrams this was a fun episode. Never seemed like it got too serious... even though the man died. Seemed like his people really cared for him though. Wonder why he piggybacked off the UWF name rather than something original though.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

There were some great lines throughout but the kicker for me was his dogs name being Cokey.

 

[strummer]

I can't remember his name but the Southern heel manager recalling the story being in the hotel room with .Herb and the cocaine/hookers had me howling

 

[Brocklock]

I think he was called The Colonel. Can't remember his name though despite him having a lot of talking head time.

 

[King Kamala]

Oh man. When B. Brian Blair drolly said "Herb Abrams died doing what he loved...cocaine and hookers." then shook his head. Dead.

 

[OG]

Oh man. When B. Brian Blair drolly said "Herb Abrams died doing what he loved...cocaine and hookers." then shook his head. Dead.

Highlight of the episode.

 

[King Kamala]

Catching up on some Season 2 episodes I missed. New Jack was maybe the best episode. Just so many great moments. Perfect usage of Jim Cornette, at this point, as moral voice of pro wrestling industry. D Lo Young was great as the deadpan straightman. THAT AFRICAN AMERICAN MASSHOLE MIDGET! And New Jack will give you great unintentional comedy anytime he shows up without effort.

New Jack has done so much horrible shit in the ring that I didn't even know about him straight up stabbing that dude in an indy in the mid '00s (that Florida indy owner was fantastic too). HELL OF AN EPISODE!

 

[AA484]

One of the best Youtube comments I've ever read was for the New Jack episode:

"D-Lo Brown is like the friendly black uncle that gives you good life advice. New Jack is the crazy, ex-con black uncle that everyone hopes doesn't show up to the family cookout."

 

[King Kamala]

Watched the Brawl for All episode too. D Lo Brown is there It was pretty good too but it did rely too much on Cornette Vs Russo stuff, which really belongs on its own episode as much as people here (except Brody) would hate to admit instead of clogging this one up.


I think I *did* finally have a moment of clarity IRT understanding Jim Cornette's psyche in that moment when he was complaining about Vince Russo saying "it was just wrestling" when wrestling was Cornette's entire life. Cornette has built his entire life passionately defending something that is intrinsically kind of a joke. Tough burden! These last few episodes have made me kind of sympathize with Jim Cornette which I didn't know was possible.

Bart Gunn seems like a chill ass dude. Part near the end where he talked about missing being near the curtain and and the adrenaline as he waited to go on is something I can relate to since Corona has shut down comedy. Anyway, I've drank a lot of beer tonight and just be glad I'm keeping my thoughts ITT instead of bumping the Drunk Tank.

 

[Epic Springs]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJSnQ8ME8cs

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/jimmy-snuka-girlfriend-nancy-argentino-death

Bix offers up some new info on the Snuka case.

 

[RedJed]

Really enjoyed Dark Side last night on the Road Warriors. I wonder if there will ever be a Dark episode on the (mostly) tragic history of the Robbinsdale wrestling alunmi (Hennig, Zenk, etc, etc, etc)? That would make for an interesting one.

Anyhow, most of this episode was a bit more light hearted than most, but Animal still didn't hold back on his feelings.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I liked it well enough. Kind of felt a little disappointing as a lot of stuff got brushed over and I think too much emphasis was placed on the initial upbringing/Minnesota bar stuff so the 2nd half seemed really fast paced. The story about Summerslam '92 was interesting but then it went right to some clips of Japan to the Hawk is drunk angle on Raw.

 

[Gary]

The story about The Road Warriors and Vince in a strip club may be my favorite in this series that didn't involve Herb Abrams.

 

[OldSchoolWrestling]

After years of watching Nikita Koloff, this was the first time I heard his regular voice. Last I heard he had never stopped doing the Russian voice.

 

[Master Thrasher]

Not part of the show but still important to listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hSKKMmxww

 

[909]

https://heelbynature.com/wrestling-news/martha-hart-to-release-official-owen-hart-merchandise/

Gonna buy some of this.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Papa Shango debuted in 1992, and the famous Vince McMahon taking finishers story happened between the summer of 90 and early 1991, so either Godfather saw it because he was working the club, or he was around for a tryout, otherwise he's telling his story 3rd hand. (They may have mentioned his connection and I glossed over it)

They used clips of a 1997 Hawk shoot interview as part of his Christian change over bit (which was early 2000s).

Bill Watts gave the Warriors the face paint gimmick, but he may have told Ole the idea, which in turn would make this doc's version of events accurate.

 

[OG]

Papa Shango debuted in 1992, and the famous Vince McMahon taking finishers story happened between the summer of 90 and early 1991, so either Godfather saw it because he was working the club, or he was around for a tryout, otherwise he's telling his story 3rd hand. (They may have mentioned his connection and I glossed over it)

They implied it happened at the club he was working and that's how he was there.

 

[BUTT]

Bret's book places the incident in San Antonio after Tuesday in Texas, and Godfather worked a dark match that night as "Sir Charles," so yeah he was there.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/owen-harts-legacy-a-priority-as-martha-harts-wounds-have-healed-though-her-distaste-for-wwe-has-not/

After initial publication of the story, WWE outside legal council Jerry McDevitt reached out to CBS Sports to reflect on the case.



"The reality is, we've never told our side of the story of what happened -- at least not outside of court. We told it in court, but when she talks about the way the lawsuit unfolded over the years, it really isn't accurate what she's saying. What she did whenever this happened is, she hired a lawyer in Kansas City who we caught essentially trying to fix the judicial selection process to get a judge that was more to their liking. We caught them and went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court said, 'No, no, no. We're not going to let that happen.' They essentially appointed an independent judge to come in from outside of Kansas City to oversee the proceedings. We were basically trying to find out what happened that night. Martha was not even remotely interested in finding out what happened that night; she just wanted to used it as a vehicle to beat up a business that she didn't like that her husband was in, the wrestling business."

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I think, like most things, there's a lot of half-truths from both sides in this entire situation.

"There was court-ordered mediation. We went to the mediation, and her lawyers were demanding $35 million and some admission of punitive damages. Vince told her right there, 'Look, Martha, I feel so bad for what happened. I feel responsible because this happened on my watch. I want to take care of you and your family, I loved Owen.' He was almost crying. We offered $17 million to take care of her. How many times does a CEO walk in a room and say he feels responsible? 'I'm not going to argue, I just feel responsible for what happened.' They turned it down; they wanted to go to court for their $35 million."

I think Vince legitimately felt responsible & anguished over Owen's death but this is also a guy who's been very... litigious and touch & go when related to the law (don't forget the implications of pay off re: Jimmy Snuka) so I find it hard to believe that Vince was willing to pay Martha $18 Million just out of his own grief and feelings of fault.

 

[alkeiper]

Given litigation issues I doubt Vince could ever comment publicly on Owen Hart. But I would bet it's probably his greatest regret in his wrestling career. He probably didn't offer $18 million out of thin air, certainly the legal team knew they were on the hook for a substantial settlement in a best case scenario. It was a clear fuck-up that I think Vince knew he was responsible for. And there's no reason to not feel gutted when something of that nature occurs.

 

[909]

Fuck Vince

The other wrestlers had to wrestle in a ring that was broken by the dead body of their friend.

 

[Epic Springs]

Really chilling stuff in the Owen episode. I had no idea Lawler ran backstage and panicked right after it happened. JR's announcement gets me every time.

Jericho was careful not to mention Benoit when talking about the people Owen could have worked with.

 

[Master Thrasher]

I'm surprised Russo wasn't mentioned. Like Russo had to have come up with the entire thing.

 

[909]

I'm surprised Russo wasn't mentioned. Like Russo had to have come up with the entire thing.

No, he did not. There's a reason he was not on the episode. It had nothing to do with him. Guys like Vince Russo have no say over who gets hired to do stunts. A lot of the stuff I post below is in police reports.

The Blue Blazer reprisal was because Owen had rejected being made to have an affair with one of the Divas. Owen rejecting that made Vince very mad. Haven't we seen this story before? How fucking dare he question Vince McMahon? Owen thought that if he did not do these stunts, Vince would destroy his paycheck and/or bury him. We've seen that story before too.

Vince didn't like how hard it was for Owen to get out of the harness. He thought it made Owen look goofy even though that was the entire point of the character!

Vince was told that the rigging company that was previously doing the rigging would not rig him any other way due to safety.

Vince went around looking for any dogshit rigging company that would hook Owen up in a way that satisfied Vince, and decided to use the cheapest one. These people apparently had no experience.

They did a rehearsal, and Vince thought it took too long to unhook Owen, so he wanted them to do something different.

Vince didn't test the new rig the way that he tested every other stunt the way he used to do and does now. Otherwise Vince would be fucking dead, and everyone would be happy about that shit.

Vince also wanted Max Mini to come down with Owen, which would have killed them both. Owen refused to have someone else come down with him because he didn't want to be responsible for someone else's safety.

Vince, in his infinite wisdom, decided that safety was unimportant and that he should decide how someone would come down from the ceiling even though he was not performing the stunt himself.



Vince McMahon killed Owen Hart. Because Vince is cheap, because Vince is a piece of shit, and because Vince doesn't care about anyone except himself and his money. That's why they tried to get out of paying Martha Hart anything while claiming Owen breached his contract. Vince is prominently known for being a micro-manager who lords over everything, and almost all of this shit sounds like stuff that Vince has done with other people. Buck stops with him. In this instance he killed someone. End of story.