All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s02e04_English

♪

[Narrator] In 1998,
the World Wrestling Federation

enlisted 16 wrestlers in a
radical experiment:

an unscripted, legitimate,
prize-fighting tournament.

Let 'em fight for real, man.
Put on gloves.

Let 'em go out there.

Let's legitimately see
who the toughest guy is.

♪

The Brawl For All was
probably the worst idea

in the professional
wrestling business.

Wrestlers risked their bodies -
and their careers -

for a chance in
the spotlight.

For some, it would all
come crashing down

in the Brawl For All.

A lot of people did get hurt.
I was fucked up.

It was looking kind of sad.

The guys were gassed
and blowing up,

and the crowd wasn't
really getting with it.

[Audience]
[booing]

They got hurt.
They got embarrassed.

And they got their
careers shortened.

It was a train wreck.
Come on, watch it!

Just watch! You'll see.

♪

By the late 90s,

wrestling had become
a global phenomenon.

Two companies were
competing for dominance in

a TV ratings war,
as every Monday night,

millions would tune in
to watch WWF or WCW.

The battle was fought
through an escalation

of bold and
provocative new ideas.

Some still resonate today,
others are long forgotten.

On this episode, we reveal
the inside story of

what's been called
wrestling's worst idea... ever.

♪

This is Vince Russo here
for The Brand.

We will talk about
anything today,

but professional wrestling.
Why?

Because I hate
wrestling, bro.

I don't want to
talk about wrestling.

I'll talk about your mother,
your grandmother,

your grandfather.

My name is Vince Russo.

I was a Head Writer
at WWF Magazine.

Around the time when I
started writing the magazine,

like, '95, '96, the product
was horrible.

There were characters at the
time that were so bad -

T.L. Hopper,
The Goon, Mantaur...

What is this? It looks like a
half-man, half-beast. Hey!

I'm like, there's no way he's
getting his head in the ring,

and sure enough,
he cannot get in the ring.

Times were changing, and the
WWE kept going backwards.

With the internet, the secret
was out of the bag.

People know this is fake.

What they really
want to know is,

what kind of really
goes on behind the scenes?

That's where
everything was moving.

♪

There's a lot of people that
try to say it doesn't matter

whether people know
that it's rigged.

I don't like to use the
word fake. It does matter.

'Cause there's
nothing fake about it.

It may be predetermined, it may
even be choreographed.

It can be manipulated,
but there's nothing fake

about guys breaking
their bodies down.

I'm Jim Cornette.
I've been a promoter,

a match maker,
a manager, a trainer.

Everything in wrestling,
for the last 40 years.

[Vince] When I started
working for the WWF,

at the time, Vince's
inner circle, they were lifers.

They had been in the
wrestling business forever,

and I felt that they were
looking at the

wrestling business from within.
I came as a fan.

[Jim] Vince McMahon is,
is somebody that

is never gonna be
fully understood.

He's a genius and a demon.

Vince McMahon has
no other hobbies.

I doubt very seriously if
he's gone to the

grocery store or been to a
movie in over 40 years.

But Vince McMahon has
always been the WWF.

I got a call from Vince's
assistant, and she said,

"Vince wants to see you
up here immediately."

So, I literally think I am going
up to his office to be fired.

Then, as I walk
in his office, all the minions -

Bruce Prichard, Jim Ross,
Pat Patterson, Jim Cornette -

and, Vince has got the
Raw Magazine in his hand.

And he slams it down on
the table and he says,

"This is what our television
show needs to be."

And, from that point on,
I became involved in

the writing of the show.

Vince Russo brings an
outsider's perspective

to the secretive
world of match making,

and he isn't afraid to
push his own vision of

what wrestling could be.

At first, I was like,
"Okay, he's a goof."

He's never been
involved in wrestling.

He doesn't know how
this stuff works.

We can try to explain it to him.
And, within a few months,

I realized he didn't
want to learn.

He wanted to do wrestling
the way he wanted to do it,

which was...
The Jerry Springer Show.

[screaming]

The Jerry Springer Show
was the hottest thing on TV.

We literally would sit there
and write Monday Night Raw

with the Springer Show
playing in the background.

This approach would
become the Attitude Era.

You had angles where guys were
stealing each other's wives,

or, you know, one guy
stole the other guy's dog

and cooked it
and fed it to him.

Back then, man, you had
fraternities on college campuses

gathering every Monday
night to watch Raw,

across the country.

So, number one, you can't--
you don't want to insult

their intelligence 'cause
they'll never watch it again.

And number two, you don't
want to mamby pamby it.

That's what I was all about
during the Attitude Era was,

what was gonna make a
casual television viewer

watch this product if they
weren't a wrestling fan.

To maintain their edge,
WWF needs a

constant stream of
original ideas,

something audiences have
never seen before.

Look, here's the deal, man.

You gotta bring
something to the old man.

He's looking for an idea.
What's the next big thing?

I don't know.
How about this? Okay!

I'm Jim Ross. Got into
wrestling in 1974 so,

my career has lasted
for many generations,

as a broadcaster,
as administrator,

and Executive Vice President.

The idea came
from Vince Russo.

So, get inside his head.
Hell, I don't know.

The idea from the Brawl For All
was really simple... okay.

I was not a big fan
of JBL, John Layfield.

I was from New York.
John was, you know, from Texas.

I thought he
had a big mouth.

I thought he was
full of himself.

I thought he was a bully.

We were backstage
at a show one day,

and John Layfield
made the comment that,

"If this were real, I would
beat everybody's ass

in the locker room."

So, now I'm sitting
there and I'm saying,

you braggadocios
bully bastard.

I know of at least ten guys
in this locker room

that'll kick your ass.
I went to Vince McMahon and

I proposed the idea of
a Brawl For All.

And he goes,
"What do you mean?"

I said, "Vince,
we're becoming more,

and more, and more,
and more real.

Let 'em fight for real, man.
Put on gloves,

let 'em go out there,
let 'em fight.

Let's legitimately see
who the toughest guy is!"

Vince gave the idea
his blessing and...

we went on with
the Brawl For All.

The top stars have nothing
to gain risking their

reputation in an
unpredictable fight.

The challenge is to find
16 competitors

with nothing to lose.

♪

I got stabbed with
the bottle, the wine bottle.

I was in a bar fight and
they broke a bottle

and stuck it in.

When they stuck it in,
it went in and up.

Punctured a lung,
lung collapsed...

shredded the diaphragm
and lacerated the liver.

Everybody knows me
as Bart Gunn,

here in the States.
Part of The Smoking Gunns.

Cowboy gimmick.
We rode horses out.

That was pretty cool.

- Hey there, I'm Bart.
- And I'm Billy.

- Yeehoo!
- Yeehaw!

Yoo!

For whatever reason,
everybody that comes in as

a tag team, eventually,
they get split up.

When Billy and I were split
up it-- my career kinda...

ah, don't want
to say fizzled.

I guess you could
say it fizzled out.

Just, I had a hard time
adjusting to it though.

I, it was a
little difficult.

When I was first approached,
it was Bruce.

He says, "Hey, you know,
we're gonna do this

Brawl For All, kind of a
tough man contest."

I go, "How are you
gonna do that?"

I said, "Nah," said,
"don't want to do it."

I thought it was
a stupid idea.

And then, Kevin Kelly,
he said,

"This here will be
great for your career."

He says, "You're kind of
stuck right there at the middle

and, you go
through this," he says,

"you'll have a great run
with Austin 'cause that's--

the winner of the
tournament's gonna get

a run with Steve Austin."

And at the time, he was
the hottest thing going.

And then, of course, you work
with the top-top guy,

you get top-top pay.

And I thought about it,
thought about it,

and that's when I decided that
I would go ahead and do it.

The WWF approaches
their toughest,

most under-utilized wrestlers,

with the lure of cash prizes
and main event status.

Well, there were a lot of
tough guys in the locker room.

I... I think when I
looked at this thing,

I'm like, Godfather, like,
was probably the toughest guy.

[Jim] Big. 6'7, 6'8 guy.

Worked in bars.
Had been a bouncer.

My real name is
Charles Wright.

I wrestled for many years
in the WWF,

as everything from
Papa Shango to Kama,

joined the Nation of Domination
with The Rock and

that whole group.

And then, became my
favourite person ever:

The Godfather.
Selling white girls on TV.

Talking about getting high,
and selling pussy.

I'm in the Nation
of Domination now.

They're building up
Mark Henry.

The Rock's taking over.

So, now, I'm like,
I gotta make a change.

They're not doing
nothing with me.

Bruce Prichard had
called me and said,

"Hey, we're doing this thing.
You get," I think,

"$10,000 if you fight
and so much more if you win.

And, you're wearing gloves."
And I'm like, "Hell, yeah!

I'll do it."
Type of stuff I do anyway,

so I was in right
from the beginning.

Darren Drozdov, one of my
favorite recruits of all time,

came out of the
University of Maryland,

he just wanted to compete.

They brought me in
as a football player

to see if I could
learn the sport.

We saw footage of him
puking on an NFL game.

I threw up all the time.

If I was throwing up
at that time,

if I could grab
a hold of ya,

you'd get one in the face.

I'd run into the WWE offices

to have a meeting
with Vince McMahon.

Vince loves that
kind of humor.

If you're a writer and you
come up with a skit that

involves puking,
taking a dump,

peeing,
he'll probably buy it.

He's gonna puke!
He's gonna puke!

He's gonna-- Yeah,
he's gonna puke!

Whatever it takes, you know...
We'll do it this way.

I'll come in as Puke, right.

You know, it got my foot
in the door or whatever,

and you know, I just
went from there.

Russo's idea is
gaining traction,

but not everyone in the
WWF is convinced it'll work.

I first heard about the
Brawl For All, I believe,

at one of the TV tapings
when they were

mentioning it was gonna be
starting in the next few weeks.

And, as I grasped what
they were talking about,

I got more and more
concerned about it.

You don't know that it's not
gonna work until you try it.

I didn't kill the idea in
my mind's eye

when I first heard it.

There was no
precedent for it.

And, you're taking guys out
of their element and

putting them into their
imaginary element of

what they pretend they know,
and that's bar fighting,

when some of them have
never been in a bar fight.

Now the wrestlers are
living out their fantasies.

And the result's just chaos.

♪

With the unusual concept
of combining

professional wrestling
and real fighting,

the architects of the Brawl For
All make final preparations.

They went around to
all the talent and

asked who wanted to participate.

The story was - and I
didn't see this hat - but,

the story was that the pairings
were chosen at random

by drawing names
out of a hat.

What we did -
and we did it in my office -

had Savio Vega.
We had a brown paper bag.

I wrote everyone's name
down on a piece of paper,

threw it in a bag and,
Savio drew the names.

And, the first name drawn
was the first name

on the bracket, and so
on and so forth.

So, that's how the
brackets were made.

As the brackets are set,
these 16 men become the

official competitors in
wrestling's first ever

legitimate prize
fighting tournament.

You knew Steve Blackman
was like the real deal.

Then, you had a
guy like Marc Mero,

who was a legitimate
gold gloves champion.

Mark Canterbury.
6'5, 300.

Punches like a bull.

John Layfield Bradshaw.

He's a big 'ol
rough and tough Texan.

Brakkus was a body builder.
He didn't have the mobility.

Brakkus had about as much
business in the

Brawl For All as I would.

Savio Vega always had like
a little bit of a belly,

but could take
care of himself.

Hawk would have
no problem pulling a

guy's eyeball out and eating it,
or biting his nose off his face.

Bart Gunn was hard working,
dependable, loyal.

You could rely on him.

Droz was a no fear
kinda guy.

Bob Holly was a
badass on a street level.

Carl Ouellet.
Big time talented kid.

Godfather. He beat up people,
like, for a living.

Dan Severn was a
UFC Hall of Fame'r.

A Superfight champion,
a Triple Crown winner.

Ron Harris walked into
bars for one reason,

and that was to fight.

2 Cold Scorpio had decided
he would try and break out

of the Flash Funk
ha-ha gimmick.

The one man that stands out
is recent WWF acquisition

Steve Williams, also known
to fans as Dr. Death.

He was like a little brother.
We brought him out of college,

gave him his first job.

Introducing, first,
in the red corner...

From the
University of Oklahoma,

Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.

He was a homegrown
sentimental favorite.

I think he was four-time
all-American football.

And, I believe he was four-time
all-American wrestler, too.

Toughest guy in
the business.

Does this face look like
he's ever been scared?

Jim Ross's boy.

Took a lot of heat
for that, saying that,

but he's Jim Ross's boy.

You hear about the
stories in Japan.

He just beat
the Japanese up,

drop 'em on their head.

Agh!

The reason for bringing
Dr. Death into WWE...

was to eventually have
a run with Stone Cold.

So, we thought if this works
out and Doc can pull his way

through this tournament,
we might have him ready

to have a program with Austin.

These guys,
for years and years,

go out there and they
have a choreographed fight.

You know at some point
in the locker room,

like, these conversations
really had to come up.

Like, how bad an ass
is Steve Blackman?

Now it was real.

Now a lot of these questions
were going to be answered.

Scheduled over a
two-month period,

the Brawl For All premiers
June 29th 1998

on Monday Night Raw.

Each match consists of
three, one-minute rounds

with five points awarded
for each landed punch

and each take down.

The last man standing will
receive a $75,000 cash prize.

We are watching
the Brawl For All

for the first time
in over 20 years.

Look, look, look. Look, look,
look at this here.

Look, look. See?

Oh, this is great, man.
Catching up.

God, I was 28 years old
and I'm 50 now so...

Maybe 2, 3, 4 hours
before the match,

getting ready to
fight a UFC fighter...

Well, me, I was outside
with some of the girls,

smoking cannabis.

And that just
goes to show you,

one, that I was
always smoking cannabis.

That's not the big deal.
It's, I had no fear.

[match bell ringing]

Anybody that knows anything
can tell right off the bat

these guys do not
know how to box,

and it's just sloppy.

You've gotten away from all your
moves and all your set ups.

It has nothing to
do with wrestling.

Jim Ross had to try to
explain to the fans

why these guys may be
great wrestlers,

but they looked like two
drunks in a bar right now.

It's not just the fans
who are frustrated...

The chaos of the fights
makes them difficult

for anyone to follow.

I was so confused when
everybody got signed up and

the rules kept
evolving, and...

are take downs legal?

I don't know if that's a
take down or a knock down or...

[match bell ringing]

Is that a take down?

That should be a take down
right there. You think?

You've got a referee that's
never refereed boxing

or a competitive fight.
You've got judges that have

never judged any
type of competitive fight.

When you've got
stupidity on this grand,

biblical scale,
anything is possible.

I mean, again, I gotta
be honest with you...

As a, as a pure
television viewer, I'm...

I'm totally
entertained by this.

Dan Severn narrowly defeats
The Godfather

in the first round,
but senses his reputation

as a decorated
fighter is at risk

if he continues on.

He decides to drop out of
the tournament altogether,

which sends The Godfather
into round two.

Nobody knew
what was going on,

and that's when
guys started saying,

"Let's just
punch each other."

Make it exciting,
just throw punches.

Somebody gets knocked out,
they get knocked out.

At the time, I was
wrestling with Bob Holly.

We were a tag team.

We were actually
The Midnight Express.

But, my first bout and his,
they put us against each other.

You know, I just thought
that was a really

shitty way of doing it.
"So, yeah, we drew 'em.

We drew 'em all
out of the hat.

That's just the
way it came out."

No... I'm not buying that one.

As the reality of the
situation takes hold,

brotherhood and professional
relationships are put aside.

My friend, my partner,
we're gonna go out and,

and whack each other.
Started... kinda weird.

'Cause, we travel together.
We shared rooms.

You know, we always
ate together, go train together.

Said, well, I gotta hit him
or he's gonna hit me.

Oh! A smack!

I didn't go easy on him.
I wanted to win.

Here is your winner,
Bodacious Bart!

Yeah, 'cause-- Well, actually,
we had to get in the car

'cause we stayed
in the same room that night.

It was a little quiet,
little awkward.

I think we might even have
had a match or something

the next day together.
You know, as a tag team.

Vince McMahon can't keep his
finger out of anything so,

even something that's
supposed to be a

legitimate shoot,
he probably said to himself,

" As long as
they're really fighting,

we can play with the
matchmaking all we want."

People have talked about -

they've had the
Dr. Death theory -

that this was
skewed to Dr. Death,

putting him in there
with a one-eyed guy.

No, it wasn't.

Carl Ouelett.
Had sight in one eye.

Should he have been in
Brawl For All? Hell, no.

What are we thinking?
He's blind in one eye.

I don't even remember
who the first injury was.

Was the first of several.
It was one after the other.

That's where my bicep and--
torn thighs and torn ACLs.

It was like it was jinxed.

Vince could have pulled
the plug on this any time

he wanted to,
but he chose not to.

It didn't take but one week
of TV to convince me that

this thing has shit the bed.

I dreaded having another
night of Brawl For All matches

'cause you never who was
gonna get hurt tonight

because it seems
to be inevitable...

and enough is enough.

The Brawl For All tournament
is already on the rocks,

but through the chaos,
an unlikely hero

is set to emerge.

When I was in the 9th grade,
I weighed 89 lbs.

I was the shortest kid in class
so, I got picked on constantly.

They slap you in the head.
They push ya. They trip ya.

Knock your books
out of your hands.

And then I got older,
grew up,

got a little bigger, and then
I kind of went back and

everybody that
kinda picked on me,

I went back and
paid them a visit.

Let 'em know
what it was like.

♪

After an awkward victory
over his tag team partner

in the first round of
the Brawl For All,

Bart Gunn awaits
his next opponent.

Well, what happened was,
Bruce calls me up.

He says, "Oh, Bart, just
calling to let you know

you're gonna be
fighting Dr. Death."

I go, "Really?"
He says, "Yeah."

I said, "Oh, so, you changed
your brackets around?"

And I go, "Well, Bruce,
why don't you guys leave it

like it is and save us
for the end?"

I said, "You know, I'd be
more than happy to work with

you guys 'cause everybody
knows you guys want him to win."

He goes, "No, no, we got
all the faith in the world

in Dr. Death."

That tells me right there
it was designed for him.

Absolutely. I already
knew that because

any time they actually
advertised the Brawl For All,

they talked about Steve.
And I said, "Okay."

I said, "Well, let me ask
you this: Am I gonna

get heat with you guys
when I beat him?"

He goes, "Oh, no, no, no!

We got all the confidence
in the world in him."

Now, Bruce, at that time,

had known Doc for a long time,
just like we all had.

And, I think kinda giggled
and said, "Sure, yeah.

Ha-ha-ha, knock out
Dr. Death."

When they said that it
kinda made me feel like

now they're already
putting him with me now,

maybe they don't have any
confidence in me and

I'm just a nobody.

Well, why wouldn't you have
confidence in Dr. Death?

Is that a sin?

He was a fucking four-time
all-American in wrestling...

In Division One. They don't
give that stuff away.

Soon as I walked
in the door,

Pat Patterson, he walked
right up to me. He says,

"Oh, so, you're gonna
knock out Dr. Death, are ya?"

And at that time,
I was just furious.

It just boiled my blood
'cause they nagged at me

all day long.
They said,

"Oh, yeah, you're
gonna knock him out.

You're gonna knock him out."

I go get something
to eat or...

anywhere in the hall,
somebody would have

something smartass to say.
They're all back there,

they got their little
clans and yacking.

So, just kept it all
bottled up all day long.

When that match came on,

it was standing room only
at those monitors.

It became very,
very, very real.

As both men
head to the ring,

Dr. Death is the
overwhelming favourite.

At that time, I was so
furious 'cause of what

everybody in the
office was saying.

And I was more
tunnel vision.

I wasn't seeing it
any other way.

I was gonna go out
and beat him.

Stood there toe-to-toe,
just thinking in my mind,

"Okay, this is it. This is
what I'm gonna have to do."

The stakes are high in this
match up in the Brawl For All.

[Bart]
He took me down.

I was kind of
surprised at that.

But then, at some point,
Bart switched up

his game plan and took Doc down.

- Uh-oh!
- [cheering]

He was like halfway out of
the ropes and he was like,

"Damn, brother."
And then I just said, "Sorry.

What do you want me to do?
It's a shoot."

It's not like we're
out there working.

Then, at some point,
Doc tore his hamstring.

[Announcer] ...get him down.
That's a takedown!

And now, suddenly, Dr. Death
Steve Williams has become a

300-pound one-legged man in
an ass kicking contest

where you need to be mobile.

[Bart] You know,
right there at the end,

you know, as I caught
him a couple times,

he was staggering.

And I thought, man,
he's fixing to go down.

And then it happened:
boom, boom, boom!

[cheering]

The big left hand by Bart Gunn
clocked the Doctor!

And down goes Doc.

He's out, cold, you know.
And I was like, holy shit.

And my heart sunk, and I got
a bad feeling in my stomach

because I knew here went
Dr. Death's WWF career.

Dr. Death's injuries
are so severe,

he's forced to undergo a
lengthy rehabilitation.

But the damage to his
reputation proves far worse.

Within a year, he'd be
out of the WWF entirely.

There comes Russo
walking down the hallway.

I said, "Are you happy?

You just cost a company
$5 million in one night."

And he looked at me like,
"What are you talking about?"

I said, "You idiot! Dr. Death
Steve Williams just got beat

on live television in
front of everybody!"

"What difference does it make?

Bart Gunn's gonna
be a star now."

I said, "I want to kill you!

I would like to just squeeze
you until your britches

are full and your
eyeballs pop out!"

Dr. Death, I'm sure we could
have done a lot with him,

but it's not like he was
coming in at his peak,

or his prime,
or on his way up.

It's probably fair to say
his best years in wrestling

were behind him.

But, no doubt about it,
you know,

that injury definitely
cut his career short.

Kinda quiet
when I went back.

Management didn't
say anything to me.

I had all the heat on me then

'cause I just knocked
out JR's boy.

This whole Dr. Death element
in the Brawl For All has been

so grossly overthought
that it has embarrassed me

about some of my peers
and some of my friends

that actually believe
there's another story,

there's this covert
action that's going on.

We'll never really
know the answer.

Come on. Grow up.

♪

I didn't really see anybody
from the office after that.

So, it's kinda
like, you know,

you guys were
picking at me and,

you know, I did
what I was gonna do.

Bart secures his place
in the semi-finals

where The Godfather awaits.

In the other match,
Droz takes on Bradshaw.

Fucking back of the head,
you cocksucker.

That's Bradshaw for you.
Dirty bastard.

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

I'm sure I reminded him
a couple times.

Should have gotten fricking
points for a takedown there.

That was a takedown
under any rule,

screwy or not,
that was a takedown.

How would you call this one, JR?
Who do you think?

Well, it's close.
Very close in my book.

I'm on Droz's side here.

[Announcer] Here's your
winner... Bradshaw!

Boo! I cry bullshit.

Now I'm gonna be bitter
for the next couple days, man.

You guys got me bitter.
I got tears in my eyes.

I'm like fired up,
like, shit.

And that had me wondering,
of course,

I don't know
if the people upstairs,

if they wanted me to
fight Bart at the time.

And, I still
think that it was,

you know, that I
won the fight, but...

Bradshaw didn't go around
bragging 'cause he knew.

I so badly wanted Bradshaw
to get his ass kicked.

That's all I cared about
because he was so cocky,

he was confident when
he made the remark.

He couldn't back out of it now
because I would be

the first one to say,
"Wait a minute. Whoa!"

I just wanted to see him
get his clock cleaned.

I'm being honest.

With only one fight
left before the final,

it's up to Bart Gunn or
The Godfather

to keep Bradshaw from
having the last word.

♪

Working at this club,
right here, in the 90s...

And I was the manager from
5 o'clock in the morning

to 1 in the afternoon...
And I hated pimps.

And I would say, "If there's
any pimps behind this bar,

they better not be here in
the next 5 minutes 'cause

I will knock you off
your bar stool."

And, I swear to you, I would
walk behind the bar,

pimp was sitting there, just
crack him as hard as I could.

And they'd start running.
But, yeah, man,

I used to be able to
knock people out

by slapping them in their face.

The Godfather's second round
victory over 2 Cold Scorpio

advances him to
the final four.

He's just two wins away from
claiming the $75,000 prize.

Standing in his way is
tournament underdog, Bart Gunn.

Well, this is gonna be a
tough fight 'cause he's big.

Then I'm watching him
like shadow box and stuff,

and I go, "Wow, he's
got boxing skills, too."

I went into that fight
way over confident.

Had I been smoking all day?

Yeah, but I smoke
all day all the time.

Just before I fought Bart,
he says,

"I'm gonna knock you out."
And I'm like,

"Yeah, okay. Good luck."

Hit him.
Don't let him take me down.

[Bart] Stone cold face.
Okay. Psyche myself up.

Gonna come out
throwing leathers.

And here we go. This is
gonna be a slug fest, JR.

You know, we were punching.

I think he kinda
caught me once pretty good.

I was like, wow, that kinda
stung a little bit.

And somewhere in there,
he hit me with something that

knocked me to the ground,
and I remember going

back to the corner saying,
"I don't have my legs.

I don't have my legs.
I don't have my legs."

Every single person was
at the monitor and

nobody could believe it.

Bart looking for
the left hand,

but it's a right hand!

It's a right hand!
And The Godfather is down.

[match bell ringing]

He is out cold!

His head hit the ropes,
or come real close to it,

kinda went out of the ring
and kinda hanging there.

It's like, wow,
I hope he's okay.

I mean, the reputation
of The Godfather and,

you know, Bart being
under the radar,

I mean... unbelievable.

My wife was really upset
'cause she was

counting on that money.
She was not happy about it.

She blamed it on me smoking.
And I'm like, "Yeah..."

I didn't give Bart the amount of
respect that I should have.

This is, this is a few
days after that fight.

I was fucked up.
I couldn't walk.

I had to get in
a wheel chair.

My leg got infected.
I got this cut out.

Oh, whoo!

Maybe that was the
stupidest idea in wrestling,

right there, 'cause a lot
of people did get hurt.

The injuries were
a big, big deal.

Here's what it meant: it meant
taking guys off the line.

They were sitting at home,
they couldn't work.

They couldn't earn...
And that cost the company money

because they weren't
able to be productive.

It wasn't a good thing.

How morally and
intellectually bankrupt and

irresponsible do you have
to be to create a situation

where your stars get
legitimately injured just to

get even with a wrestler
who was bragging about

how tough he was in
the locker room?

He can't be feeling good
about getting

in the ring with Bart, man.
There's no way.

That point,
that was like the finals.

There was only one more
left and that was Bradshaw.

After a rollercoaster
two months of combat,

the Brawl For All
final is set.

A one-time long shot against
the man who inspired it all.

Both men have trained very
diligently for this contest.

Come out.
Just a couple punches.

Caught him...

[Announcer]
Oh! Unbelievable! Golly!

It's like, wow, it's over.

Then he got back up.
I was like, whoo!

[Announcer]
Okay. Let's go.

Well, this may not
last much longer--

Oh! There it is.
Oh, my god!

[match bell ringing]

Oh! Bart Gunn!

There's your winner! Bart Gunn!

Take a look at the guy that
has just made a

name for himself in this
business and earned it...

Oh, my. Good night.

Man, he even had
the jittery legs.

Did you see the jumpy legs?
Just the...

the smelling salt ain't
doing nothing to him.

When Bradshaw got knocked
out it was scary because

his eyes, obviously,
weren't there and

he twitched a little bit,
and you could tell

he wasn't home even
awhile afterwards.

When I saw Bradshaw
get knocked out,

I could not hold
back those emotions.

Like, I'm sorry.
This whole tournament

was because of him
and his mouth,

and there he was laying
on the canvas, unconscious.

Bro, what-- You know the
old saying, don't--

never ask for...
how does that go?

You get what
you ask for or...

you know what I mean.

He didn't understand
even then what he had done!

To this day...

the fucking moron doesn't
understand what he's done.

I believe he
sabotaged the talent,

the integrity
of the business,

got people
legitimately hurt,

and killed a
future superstar,

and doesn't realize
he did anything wrong.

There, in a nutshell,
you have the skid mark

on the underwear of life
that is Vince Russo.

I'm 57 years old.
Jim Cornette is my age.

When is this
ever going to stop?

Cornette believed in the
steak of the business.

Russo more of the
sizzle of the business...

And therein they
have a tremendous

controversy and conflict.

They'll never be
on the same page...

in my lifetime.

Jim Cornette leaves
a message on

my answering machine,
threatening to kill me,

threatening to kill
my entire family.

I said, "I'd just
like to tell you,

you no good piece of shit,
you motherfucker...

what a piece of shit you are
and how you narrowly escaped

getting put in a fucking
hospital by me with a

goddamn baseball bat for
all you've done to me and

my friends, and the
careers you've ruined,

and the shitty wrestling
that you produced.

And I just wanted to make
sure that you knew that

from my own lips!"

And I'm just like,
"Bro, this is wrestling.

Like, are you serious?

Like, you're gonna kill me
over professional wrestling?"

[mocking tone]
"Why is he doing this to me?

Just over wrestling?
Just over wrestling?"

That's what it's always been
because he just--

"I can't believe that
he would do this to me

just over wrestling!"

When wrestling has been the
most important thing in my life.

♪

With the disastrous
Brawl For All finally over,

Bart Gunn has proven to be the
toughest guy in the locker room.

And he was ready to
jump start his career,

but he was in for a
brutal awakening.

♪

Well, there here are the
gloves that they gave me

for winning the Brawl For All.

It is my privilege and honor
to present you

with these golden boxing gloves.

It was great.
I said,

"Man, I'm finally
gonna get a great push."

Jim Ross comes up,
talks to me.

He says, "Hey, to be honest,
we didn't think anybody

could take Steve off his feet."
He goes, "I guess

we should 'a did our homework
on you a little better."

And I said,
"Well, probably so.

You know, I tried to
work with you guys, and..."

And, and he says, "Well,
I just want you to know

there's no hard feelings."

And I think as soon as
he said that,

I thought, wow,
I do got some heat.

After his victory in
the Brawl For All,

Bart Gunn is awaiting
his big career push.

The WWF are now faced with
the problem of what to do

with a wrestler they
didn't expect to win.

It was always the plan that
whoever would win the

Brawl For All would get a
big promotional push.

When it was Bart, the wind
kind of came out of those sails.

I'm not knocking Bart Gunn.
Great athlete.

Good wrestler.
Good guy.

But, the way he had been
presented for the

previous 5 years was
at a level here. Not here.

Examine the facts.
Nobody got over.

Not one son of a bitch
that fought in that

Brawl For All got over.
End of story.

They send me home

and now they don't know
what to do with me.

Vince Russo called
me up and he said,

"Bart," he said, "we don't
really know what type of

a story line gimmick
to put you in."

I kind of sat home for a long
time not doing anything.

The longer I sat at home,
the more frustrating it was.

They let him twist in the wind
for a little while and then,

of course, Vince McMahon
got the idea 'cause

it's a gimmick: "Butterbean!

Let's have him fight
Butterbean at WrestleMania"

♪

Well, my understanding is,
when Bart knocked out

Dr. Death, Vince got pissed.

So, they called me in
for his punishment.

[Jim Ross] Butterbean's an
overachiever.

You know, he's got that bald
head and he's very white.

He looks like some
sort of appliance.

But, boy, does he hit.
Oh, my god.

Eric Esch, a.k.a.,
Butterbean,

is a 300-pound
professional prize fighter

with more than 50 wins
under his belt.

What he lacks in technique,
he more than makes up for

with raw hitting power.

So, at some point, it was
suggested Butterbean and

Bart have a boxing match
because Butterbean

was a great personality,
great for wrestling.

I think it was
presented to me and,

I said, you know,
I was like, "Ah, you know...

I don't, you know...
sure, I guess."

You know, 'cause I
was sitting at home.

I was tired of
sitting at home.

And they said, "Hey,
we're gonna send you to a,

to a boxing school."

You know, and they started
teaching me how to box.

The crossover match serves
as both the promotional push

Bart has been waiting for...

and a chance for the
WWF to cash in on

Butterbean's mainstream
popularity.

The man that will
face Butterbean, Bart Gunn.

Well, JR, you know, I'm not
training just to beat him.

I'm training to
knock him out.

Me, Butterbean, and Gillberg,
we were chilling.

I think me and
Gill were smoking.

Butterbean wasn't smoking.
And we were talking about it.

Butterbean, he told me,
he said,

"Listen, I've already
told Vince," he goes,

"You guys are tough guys,
I give you that, okay.

But you're not
professional fighters.

I will beat that
kid in seconds.

It's 2 different sports. He has
no chance against me."

You know, Vince kind of
smiled at me

when I went into the ring.
He knew that,

that it was over for Bart.

He knew that I was gonna
knock him out and

he wanted me to knock him out.

Walking into WrestleMania
was kinda like

no experience I've ever
had up to that point.

This place was huge.

On March 28, 1999,

the WWF resurrects
The Brawl For All concept

on their largest stage,
WrestleMania XV.

A talented amateur
can't stand up

next to a professional
in any field.

So, there was no reason to
believe that even though

Bart was a great looking athlete
and Butterbean was a

big, fat, round baked potato
with arms and legs...

Butterbean was
a trained and

experienced professional boxer.

I didn't feel the same as I felt
with the other fights

'cause I'm different now.

I'm a boxer now and I
got this other persona.

Here we go, round one,
Brawl For All.

Butterbean and Bart Gunn.

I remember being in the crowd.
Something was off.

This wasn't the guy that I saw
knock out The Godfather and

the guy that I saw
knock out Bradshaw.

This wasn't one
of those fights.

Now I'm out there as a
green boxer trying like,

okay, hold my
hands like this.

Hold my feet like this.

When Bart tried to box,
I said, "This is it.

I got him now."
So, I just went and charged and

give him a couple
good shots, put him to the mat.

And then, when I
went to the corner,

I'm like, man, I hope he
don't get up 'cause

it's gonna be bad if he
does 'cause he's...

he's wobbling.

When Vinny let the fight
go on, I'm going,

oh, Vinny, you don't need
to do that. He's out of it.

So, I just gave him one
last good right hand.

Oh! Goodbye!
It's over.

His head actually
turned around backwards.

Yeah, you know, when I got
home my kids

come home from school and
they were a little upset.

They go, "Dad, my friends
told me you killed a guy on TV!

You killed Bart Gunn!"
I said, "He's not dead.

He just looked like it."

I'll be honest, he would
have had a 50/50 chance

if he went out and brawled like
he did with the other guys.

But with me,
he actually tried to box,

which was stupid.

Very disappointed.
Very, very mad at myself.

You know, just...
wasn't happy at all.

After WrestleMania,
I knew I was done.

There wasn't a future
left there for me at all.

It was the end.

That was the end there
for me in the States.

♪

Wow.
Lot of old stuff here.

I don't know if I
want that on air, but...

[laughing] Um...

I just never watched it.

I was mad at myself
that I made some mistakes.

But, it always stuck
in the back of my mind,

and then I saw - when I was
in Japan - Butterbean.

I saw he was over there.
He's doing MMA.

I thought, wow, this is
interesting 'cause

I always wanted to get
a second chance.

And then I said, you know,
I'm gonna do MMA.

And I got a fight
with Wesley Cabbage...

and Butterbean fought him.

Butterbean beat him in like
the second or third round.

Went over there,
my very first MMA first and

stopped it in the first round.
So, I said,

I beat this guy quicker
than Butterbean beat him.

One night, like on
a Tuesday night, said,

"Hey, we got you a
match with Butterbean."

"Oh, really? Great!"

Said, "Yeah, we want you
to come fight Friday."

That's like in four days.
I said, "No, no, no, no, no."

'Cause I've learned
from my mistakes. Says,

"If you're gonna set up a
match with me and Butterbean,

I want 12 weeks
to train for it."

So, that didn't happen.
Could 'a turned out

the same thing, he could
'a beat me again.

But, I would 'a got to do
it a little bit better, my way.

This may sound crazy
to a lot of people,

but that's just kind
of the way I'm driven.

And then, kind of time
passed and then I just had

some things happen in my
life and after that I was

kind of done with the
whole fighting thing

and then I didn't do any more.

I miss being at the curtain
and going through the curtain,

and out,
and performing.

You know, you got the
excitement and the crowd,

the adrenaline and rush.

Me going to work every day,

there's not an adrenaline rush
there anymore.

But I enjoy sleeping in
my bed every night and,

you know, sitting and having
my dinner at the house.

You get tired of eating out,
you know, all your meals.

You know, seven days a week.
So...

Droz's career in the WWF
would continue for another year

until a tragic accident
changed his life forever.

No problem, man.

You know,
I really had no clue.

And, the funny part is

I was actually gonna
win that match.

You know, I didn't
get a lot of wins.

Droz was wrestling
D'Lo Brown one night.

And, D'Lo was very smooth,
accomplished wrestler.

We were just gonna
do a power bomb,

and he had power
bombed me before.

When he picked me up, I don't
know if I slipped or what.

I have this--
These memories are...

seared in my brain perfectly...
which stinks.

Pulled him up
and we didn't go.

And we just fell forward.

I remember going back down,
I'm like, this isn't right.

I couldn't get my
hands down really.

And I just remember
hearing crack-crack.

And I just went, oh, fuck,
I just broke my neck.

I said, "Stop messing with me.
Are you okay?"

"I can't move."

One of the cardinal rules is
you're supposed to

leave the ring the same way
you went into it.

And I remember crying next
to him telling him I was sorry.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
It should never happen."

Droz is going,
"It's okay, dog. It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay."

Nothing we could have done would
have changed, you know.

It just happens.
So, but he...

he's a good guy, man.
I still wish him--

I wished him the best
last time I saw him.

Neither of us -
we've talked about it -

we don't know what happened.

Neither has blamed the other.

It's one of those unfortunate
accidents that happened.

Bottom line is I'm here.
Still alive and still kicking.

Well, not kicking,
really, but... [laughing]

Can't kick, but I still
get to go out. I hunt.

You know, I do all the
things that I can do.

It's just, you know, you learn
to do things differently.

Droz is still
paralyzed to this day.

It's been more
than 20 years.

Things happen, you know,
in, in this business.

And it's not ballet.
And that's why it,

it especially angers me
when people diminish it.

One move...

he's been in a wheelchair
for the rest of his life.

So, don't tell me that wrestling
is a bunch of bullshit.

Just, some of the ways
that people that have

gotten into it treat it,
is bullshit.

♪

I feel bad.

Because, I don't want to see
anybody get hit like that, man.

Oh, my god.

Especially now with just all
the stuff we know about

head trauma and everything, man.

Oh, man. Ugh!

Oof.

I really should
have been thinking,

man, these guys are
out of their element.

With what we know
about concussions today,

just knowing all that today,

which we didn't know back then,

no way, no way would
I ever propose it again.

I think the Brawl For All
should be remembered

for what it was, a cluster.
It sucked.

There's no reason
to embrace it.

It was simply a bad idea
that featured a lot of guys

looking to get a
rub in a new event.

That's what it was developed
to do: create some new stars.

New rubs.
New opportunities.

And it just didn't do it.

The Brawl For All remains
the only prize fighting

tournament to be
put on by the WWE.

What could have been a
career defining moment

for its champion, instead
became a stark reminder

how wrestling's winners are
ays chosen in the boardroom.

Bruce has said that the
Brawl For All is the, quote,

absolute worst idea in
the history of the business.

I agree with that. But,

they're the
ones that put it on.

So... explain that one. Ha.

I think they should learn
from their mistakes and

probably should
never do it again.

Should just kinda
let it disappear.

♪