All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring s03e01 Brian Pillman 1.eng

♪

The first time I saw him,
he had this

magnetic charisma that
you could feel across the gym.

And, you just thought,
hey, man,

that this guy's a star.

And I'll do
whatever it takes!

To look adversity in the
face and spit in its eye.

The wrestling world could
never have imagined that

an undersized football
player from Cincinnati would

revolutionize the business,
ushering in a whole new era.

Shut the hell up!

Brian knew what
the deal was.

That they're gonna
screw him over,

they're gonna
screw anybody over.

And how he could make that
play for his own advantage.

In an industry that depends
on the illusion of reality,

no one did more to blur the
lines than Brian Pillman,

who shattered
wrestling's 4th wall.

He was going
against the "script".

This has never
been done before.

What the fuck are you doing?
Easy!

Pillman's over-the-top
antics exposed the inner

workings of the business,
leveraging trade secrets to

make the deal of a lifetime.

That Loose Cannon gimmick,
he just took it so far.

Don't go in there!
[screams]

A lot of people thought, "Oh,
man, it was too extreme."

You didn't know where
Brian started and

his wrestling persona ended.

Get him the hell out'a here.

He had a lot of troublesome
relationships with women.

My mom had had enough
and that kind of

pushed her over the
edge a little bit.

He's being driven
crazy at home,

he's supposed to
be crazy at work.

And in between...

he's probably
really going crazy.

On track to become a
wrestling superstar at the

price of his own sanity,
his rise to the top

was tragically cut short.

I'm watching the pre-show
for the Pay Per View.

Ladies and gentlemen,
we have some tragic

news to report...
Brian Pilman.

I just screamed.

He had a persona that
he wanted to perpetuate,

even if it killed him.

♪

♪

Man, this is the gold chain
that Brian Pillman got for me

way back in the day,
and I'll never forget,

we were riding down the
road one day and he goes,

"Kid, we gotta
have gold chains."

He goes,
"That'll look great."

And all these years later,
I don't have a lot of things,

you know, from my
old wrestling days,

but this chain is something
that I'll always have it.

It's very sentimental to me,
and it was a big part of the

makeup and the gimmick
of the Hollywood Blonds.

I'm Steve Austin.

A friend of Brian's from
way back in our WCW days,

and we were
tag team partners.

Turned out to be really
good friends and a

pretty damn good tag team.

The Hollywood Blonds!

Brian didn't
phone nothing in.

He wanted to go out
there and perform.

[cheering]

A guy that was never
supposed to be big enough

or bad enough or strong
enough to do anything...

He blew everybody away with

his tenacity and
his will to win.

[cheering]

He was a good-looking guy,
great physique, high-flyer.

Could do everything.

Oh, man!

Brian was very athletic.

It really seemed like he
was willing to try anything,

and you could tell that
he really wanted

to be a pro wrestling star.

I'm Jim Ross and,

when I was in WCW
in the mid 80s,

Brian was a guy that we
had very high hopes for and

really wanted to sign.

...'cause after we're done
pounding you into submission,

the only thing
that's gonna be prescribed

for you guys afterwards is a
liquid diet of embalming fluid!

Brian, from the time he
first got in the ring,

you could tell he
was a performer.

He was an exhibitionist.
He wanted you to notice him.

He had the personality
for wrestling.

I'm Jim Cornette.

I've been involved in
professional wrestling for

over 40 years as a
manager, promoter,

announcer, matchmaker,
and I was good friends...

In the 80s and 90s,
with Brian Pillman.

He wasn't trying to
just be the move guy.

He wasn't just trying to be
the guy with

the nice mullet and the abs.

Like, he was trying
to be everything.

He was trying to hit this
business on all fronts and

fire on all cylinders,
and he was trying to be the

biggest star that the
business had ever seen.

My name is Brian Pillman Jr.
I am only son of the

late, great Brian Pillman,
otherwise known as

the Loose Cannon.

[horn & cheering]

Brian was a natural promo.

When they stuck a
mic in front of him,

he would just go off
in that raspy voice.

You're not running
this interview, I am!

'Cause I'm Brian
fucking Pillman!

[cheering & applause]

Growing up, Brian had multiple
polyps on his vocal cords,

and it was closing up
his air passage.

They'd scrape 'em off
and then, after so long,

they'd grow right back again.

And that's why his
voice was so raspy,

because his vocal cords had
been scraped so many times.

I'm Linda,
Brian's older sister.

You know, he had
over 40 surgeries.

I don't know
the exact number.

When my mother came
in from work one day,

she could hear breathing as
soon as she came in the house,

and it was closing up
his air passage.

And she called the doctor.

She had to hold the receiver up

so he could hear him breathing.

And that's when he decided he
needed emergency tracheotomy.

♪ [sirens]

[clanging]

He told my mother to
have the ambulance

bring them to his house.

'Cause his house was
closer than the hospital.

And he put a tracheotomy
in Brian on his

dining room table, in the
middle of the night.

♪

But, it never stopped
him from doing anything.

He was always outside
playing and running and,

he wasn't allowed to talk
for like two or three weeks

after those surgeries
and he didn't talk.

As a result of that, I think
he overcompensated later on

by wanting to always talk,
wanting to be an entertainer.

It formed him as the guy
that was gonna overcome,

over achieve,
knock down the obstacles,

whatever the case may be.

The son of a
bitch was fearless.

I mean, he was...
[laughs]

He was a tough,
tough nut.

My name is Kim Wood.

I was the Paul Brown
Strength Coach

for the Cincinnati Bengals.

And, Pillman had a
chance to try out with us.

My instruction
was to kill him...

and not literally kill him,
but damn close.

But, he tried his ass off.

You know, he always said,
it's not about the,

the size of the
dog in the fight.

It's about the size of
the fight in the dog.

He had a reputation
in Cincinnati,

being a street fighter.

I heard that he was at some
bar that had an upper floor,

like a balcony or whatever
you want to call it.

And, he was up there
and some girl

threw a drink in his face.

And, her boyfriend
came after Brian.

Before it was over,
the guy was hanging--

Brian had him hanging
by his ankles over the,

the railing.
Over the first floor.

And Brian was
banned from that bar.

After a brief
stint in the NFL,

Brian heads to Calgary
to play in the

Canadian Football League.

Soon after, Brian suffers
an ankle injury,

cutting his career short,
which leaves him

searching for what to do next.

One thing I knew
about Brian was,

is that he wasn't gonna
be a high school teacher.

He wasn't gonna
sell insurance.

There was a lof of things
he wasn't gonna do.

He could use his toughness

and his physicality
to make money.

A couple years ago when
I was with the Bengals,

Kim Wood,
the strength coach,

he had talked to me
about getting into

professional wrestling.

He thought I had all the tools
needed to be successful.

And it turns out, Calgary
happened to be the

premiere training ground for
wrestlers in the world.

And I said, "Hey,
while you're up there,

go check out this...
this Hart bunch."

The Hart's are the first family
of Canadian wrestling...

...with patriarch
Stu Hart at the helm.

In addition to his children
that would go on to be

wrestling icons, the family
also discovered and

trained several other
future superstars.

They take him into the Hart
dungeon and they teach him

how to wrestle in one of
the most prestigious ways

to break into the
business that there is.

Well, from what I hear,
if you can't hear screaming

coming out of it,
something's not going right.

Stu, the old man, would put
people in submission holds

and then not let them
out of the thing for,

you know, 3 or 4 hours.

If you could survive that,

you could survive
almost anything.

So, you get that
great foundation...

all, right off
the bat from Stu.

It was an easy bridge to cross
from football to wrestling.

Brian gets his start
in Stampede Wrestling,

and although it's a small
territory in western Canada,

its influence on the
industry is felt

around the wrestling world.

In the 80s, there were
millions of wrestling fans,

but there was a small subset
called "smart fans" that

knew the inside inner
workings of wrestling.

The insiders all knew the name
Brian Pillman pretty quick.

I'm Dave Metzler.

Editor of the Wrestling
Observer Newsletter.

It's an insider publication.

It's covered pro wrestling
since 1982.

For a long time, it was
like really the only...

you know, what I would call
true source of pro wrestling

information that
was out there.

The sheets were kind of
a thing back in the day,

you didn't really want
to get caught with 'em.

You know, it's kind of
like secret documents.

And then, kind of got out
and damn near

all the boys are reading it.

And with Brian,
he had started wrestling

when he called me
the first time.

And, he wanted to send me
tapes and wanted me

to send tapes,
so we traded tapes.

As far as student
of the game, I mean,

top, top level, more than
almost anyone

that I'd ever dealt with.

Meltzer was a good
gauge for talent.

So, that tipped me off
that Meltzer kept

writing good things
about Brian.

Brian wound up in WCW by
me getting a hold of it.

Alright, Brian, best
of luck on that...

Upon arriving in WCW...

Brian Pillman!

Top star and matchmaker,
Ric Flair,

sees something in Brian...

And looks to feature him on
television in a main event spot.

And we put that
match together,

and it was one of the
highest rated Saturday night

television programs on
TBS at that point in

the previous several years.

And, the crowd
popped for him.

Crowd's chanting:
"Go, Brian, go!"

Ric Flair was the kind of
guy that wanted to go in the

ring with somebody like
Brian and go 30 or

45 minutes and tear
the house down.

And then he wanted to go
to the bar with Brian or

somebody like Brian,
for 5 or 6 hours and

tear the house down there.

That's the way he lived.

He lived a cartoon life,
a fantasy life of...

of limos and...

long black socks and
alligator shoes and...

you know, and babes.

I think Brian liked aspects
of the lifestyle a lot.

You know, he wanted
to be like Ric Flair.

Brian Pillman
was a lady's man.

I mean, he's a gorgeous guy,
he's on television,

he's a professional athlete.

So, yeah, a lot of the women
were attracted to Brian.

Rochelle was a woman
that Brian met a club,

downtown Cincinnati.

You know,
they were happy and...

we all loved her.

She went and lived with
him in Calgary for a while,

before he got the
contract down in Atlanta,

and that's when Brittany
was born in Atlanta.

My name is Brittany Pillman.

I'm the daughter
of Brian Pillman.

I was a daddy's girl.

You know, everyone sees him
as this wrestler and always

on the road and, you know,
wrestling was his life,

but outside of wrestling,
his children were his life.

My dad thought I was
his firstborn child.

When I was a year old,
he found out that he had

another daughter out
there that was 2 years old.

♪

I'm Danielle Pillman.
I go by Dani.

And, Brian Pillman
is my father,

and I am the
oldest of his kids.

My dad met my mom at the
waterfront in Cincinnati,

like, some bar.

And, I mean, it was like a,
a very brief love affair.

But, she did end up
becoming pregnant,

but my dad had Rochelle as
his girlfriend at the time.

So, yeah, that's kind of why
she didn't want to

disclose that to my
father immediately,

but at a certain point,
she felt like, you know,

I needed my dad.

And, the second that I
came into the picture,

he was there for me 100%
and wanted me to be

in every part of his life.

And I think that's something
to be said about him is that

he really did
care about his kids.

You know, my dad living
that lifestyle and all these

different women and,
you know,

he had obviously cheated
on my mom many times.

I'm sure that
was hard on her,

but she stayed
with him, you know.

She had a lot of issues.

She suffered with
major depression.

There was a time my mom and
dad were living in Atlanta

and my dad was at a show.

[Linda] The groundskeeper
broke into the place and

attacked her with an ice pick.

[Brittany] And, she was
stabbed several times.

Rob her, whatever,
I don't know.

Stabbed her in the face,
stabbed her in the cheek.

♪

So, that'll mess you up.

♪

Brian Pillman's good looks
and athletic ability

allow him a spot on the
card as a generic hero,

but he's not content to
stay in one place for long,

nor do what he's told.

He was reasonably
successful, but you know,

he wanted to be a
main eventer,

and he wasn't a
main eventer yet.

He was, he was a
good mid-level guy.

You know, Brian's first couple
years in WCW were tough.

I'm Eric Bischoff,
former president of WCW.

And, once upon a time,
Brian Pillman's boss.

Brian was relatively new
on the scene his first

couple years in WCW, so
he had to earn his respect.

What probably made that
even tougher was the

amount of management
transitions that took place.

Constant changeover in
management led to

stop and start pushes in
Brian's career.

As soon as he started
to gain ground and

earn respect, new
matchmakers would arrive,

pushing Brian back
down to the bottom.

But finally, they put Brian
together with Steve Austin.

He's ready to
back you up 100%.

Alright,
Stunning Steve Austin.

And I wasn't
thrilled at all.

[cheering]

When people hear the
name Steve Austin,

they think he was always the
biggest star in wrestling.

At the time, in 1993, he was
still finding his way and

hadn't got a main
event spot yet.

And, this is about when I
eventually started getting

a run as the
United States Champion.

So, I was really
looking forward to that.

I walked into the building
and here's Brian coming up

behind me, and I knew Brian,
but we weren't hanging out.

He goes, "Hey, kid, we need
to come up with a finish."

And I said, "What the 'F'
are you talking about?"

He goes,
"We're a tag team now."

And I was really not,
not happy.

I had nothing against Brian.

But it's like, I was,
I was a singles wrestler.

I enjoyed working with
another guy in the ring and

only having to
depend on myself.

And they didn't have
no name planned for us,

no this, no that.

It was two singles guys
and they were gonna

throw us together as an
interim tag team,

basically to get other people
over because they didn't

have plans for Brian
and they didn't have plans

for Steve Austin.

So, we were gonna try to make
the most of the situation.

Any time that you
start working together and

traveling with someone,
you become closer.

And, normally I'd be
at the wheel,

Brian would be riding shotgun
reading dictionaries,

I mean, because he
was already trying to

increase his vocabulary
for promos.

And began the
pilgrimage out to Florida!

Cut through the
bureaucratic red tape and

get that title shot!

So, as it goes, we're going
down the road and he goes,

"Hey, kid. Every tag team
has to have a name.

So, what about the
Hollywood Blonds?"

He goes,
"It's been done before,

but it's been awhile so,
let's do that."

And I was
thinking to myself,

well, I ain't come
up with a better one.

And so, like, I was cool with
being the Hollywood Blonds.

- Guess what--
- The Hollywood Blonds!

The vests, the trunks,
everything was Brian's idea,

and we were two
cocky, brash,

arrogant guys that we
started rolling the

camera footage and stuff
like that and you know,

Brian had that shit eating grin
or that laugh, you know,

when you're getting heat
on a babyface.

And Brian and I
developed this bond

and this chemistry.

I loved tag team wrestling
once I figured it out.

I hate to say it this way 'cause
it sounds really corny,

but they were
made for each other...

because they complemented
each other so well.

They worked hard to
make each other look good.

The Hollywood Blonds also
gave Brian a chance to

open up as a heel,
as a bad guy.

People nowadays are
like, "Oh, I loved

the Hollywood Blonds,"
but if you go back then,

they were getting
boo'd out the building.

Pillman, you suck!

And you loved to hate 'em.

I think it was more natural
for Brian to be a heel because,

you know, he wasn't a guy
that wanted to shake hands,

and kiss babies,
and smile.

He wanted to be a smartass,
he wanted to be obnoxious,

he wanted to show off.

You're all a
bunch of losers!

He was getting
better at what he does,

getting global exposure.

Partying, having fun.

Brian's fast and loose
lifestyle doesn't mix well

with his turbulent
situation at home,

and he pursues yet another
woman who enters

his already complicated life.

I think Melanie was
working in Atlanta.

She was a "showgirl".

He saw her picture in a
Penthouse or something and

says, "I'm gonna
marry that girl," and

somewhere along the line,
he met her...

My dad was sleeping with
Melanie behind my

mother's back 'cause he was
always in Atlanta.

Melanie would call the
house and, that's basically,

I think how Rochelle found
out about it, you know.

She was hurt 'cause,
you know,

they had a nice home,
the family was happy.

But then he had this
other life in Atlanta.

And then Melanie
became pregnant....

and, that's how we
have Brian Junior.

After another unexpected
pregnancy outside of

their relationship,
Brian and Rochelle split up.

Shortly after,
Brian purposes to

his new girlfriend, Melanie.

We went to Vegas and he
put on like a frickin'

St. Patrick's Day white tux with
a big 'ol ugly green bowtie.

[laughing] I had a
white dress, mind you,

the stripper in a
white dress. [laughing]

And I had a big 'ol
green corsage on,

and I loved it,
every second of it.

I wouldn't trade
it for the world.

Ah, my name is
Melanie Pillman.

I'm the widow of
Brian Pillman.

In private, like, he's,
he's just more laid back and

sensible acting,
but he's one of the most

intelligent men I've ever
met in my life.

So well read and he just
excelled at so many things.

He was...
he was my soul mate,

I mean, I couldn't have picked
a better guy to love...

love, than him.

His first years with her,
I thought he was very happy.

It'd be a big thing,
his Christmas card 'cause

it would be him and the wife,
and all these little kids.

'Cause I had my
two kids, you know.

He would show up with like
three or four little kids.

They all had
different mothers.

They'd be climbing on him,
he'd be carrying a couple and,

one had his legs around
his neck and

one is on his shoulder and...

he loved those kids.

He was counted on,
he was depended on to,

to provide.

That responsibility is what
pushes you to keep going

to work. You have
to provide for your family.

Stunning Steve
and Flyin' Brian.

And, finally, they made
the decision to give the

Hollywood Blonds a
big main event match.

It was gonna be on a Clash
of Champions and Ric Flair

was returning, he was
gonna be involved.

And, the rating came in
and it wasn't very good,

and they couldn't blame
Flair because

he was a big star so,
they put the heat on

Brian Pillman
and Steve Austin.

"Well, the Hollywood Blonds
didn't draw a rating."

And that kind of doomed them
there as being featured

in a more prominent
capacity going forward.

It felt like betrayal.

I wish someone would finally
tell me why the company

decided to break us up
'cause we started getting

over as a viable tag
team that could hold,

you know, world
championship belts.

We did.

We make chicken shit
into chicken salad,

and now you want to split
us out with no real

clear direction for
either one of us.

So, breaking us up
broke my heart.

I don't know of any
other talents that have been

buried because they
drew a bad rating.

At the time, TBS was
drawing a lot of bad ratings,

but I think there was probably
somebody that just thought,

"I don't want to
use these guys," and

they used that as an excuse.

How that was handled,
I look back on it today and

still shake my head that...

we could 'a done better.

I would say the period
from 1990 to 1993,

it was very
frustrating for Brian.

Also, there was some
knowledge early on that

his home life was not as
happy as it could be.

I felt like my dad allowed
Melanie to run the show.

Melanie treated my
mom very poorly.

I feel like she was
very jealous of my mother.

Melanie didn't like
him talking to her.

She didn't like me and my
mother talking to Rochelle.

You know, she just, she made
it hard to like her 'cause

she just caused trouble.

And then, Rochelle
took off and

didn't tell anybody
where she was.

Rochelle is scheduled to
see Brittany for a visit,

but she never shows.

No one is able to
get a hold of her,

resulting in a
missing persons report.

Several days later, when
Rochelle finally surfaces,

Brian and Melanie
take decisive action.

And Brian said -
and I agreed with him,

and I shouldn't have, "We
should just file for custody."

And, that
changed everything.

♪

Following the tag team
break up with Steve Austin,

Brian's career has stalled,
and the cracks in his

family life start to break open,
consuming those around him.

The custody battle
started because

Melanie didn't want
Rochelle around.

Basically, Brian had more
money and could keep the

attorneys paid 'cause the
attorneys only work

when you pay 'em.

And, Rochelle just
didn't have any more money.

I was, you know, delivering
stuff to the lawyer.

I was bombarding her with
these stupid things about

returning past child support
that she blew in--

You know, just little minutiae
that was making me feel

like a better person,
but in reality,

I wasn't the better person.

Nobody should try to take
kids away from a mother.

I should have
never done that.

In a million years,
I would never do it again.

It just devastated Rochelle.

♪

I was outside riding
my bicycle one day.

This was at a time when she
wasn't allowed to see me,

and she came pulling up and
I just went running to her

and I was so
happy to see her.

Rochelle was hugging her...

and they thought
she was taking her.

Here comes my dad and
it was just like this

huge argument, him pulling
her away from me.

Melanie filed kidnapping
charges against Rochelle.

And so, my dad had
got full custody of me,

and in my mom's mind,
she was just like,

I'm gonna lose my daughter
and I'm never gonna

see her again, and so...

my mom called my dad's house
and she wanted to

talk to my dad,
but he was out of town.

Melanie had answered
and Melanie told her,

she said, "Even your own
mother thinks I would be a

better mother for your
daughter than you'll ever be."

♪

And my mom
called my grandma...

She called her mother
and told her mother

what she was gonna do...

♪

And then she shot herself.

♪

I got the call to go to
the hospital 'cause

she was being airlifted in,
I was the closest.

And I was the one at the
hospital that they told,

and then I had to
tell everybody...

that she was gone.
She died on the helicopter.

So, I had to call her
mother and tell her mother.

Oh, it was very hard.
To tell some--

to tell somebody's mother
that their child was dead.

♪

It just destroyed
Brian because

he felt so responsible. I mean,
he was just so upset.

He cried, and he cried,
and he said,

"Do you think it was all
that pressure we put on her?

I think it was, Mel."

I'd be like, "Yeah,
it probably was."

So, Brian, he wanted
to pay for

her whole funeral
and everything.

And, at the funeral,
he held it together...

until they
closed the casket.

And, he lost it.

He was hugging me
and sobbing.

And, in fact, at one point,
I kind of looked at him

'cause I thought he, I thought
he was gonna pass out.

He was devastated...
He was devastated.

♪

I felt...

so guilty for that,
for years.

And, I think I drove her--
Maybe not just me,

but I think incidents
drove her to shoot herself.

Rethinking it, I would,
I wouldn't have done it

the same way.

Nobody should have to
fight for their kid.

I mean, it wasn't like
she was abusing her.

So, I don't really know what
my problem was back then.

It was, it was devastating,

and I know it was for Brittany.

I have a lot of anger built
up towards my dad in a sense

because I do wish that
he would have, you know,

allowed my mom
to at least see me because

maybe she would
still be here today.

I don't, you know,
I don't know.

She had a lot of issues,
but Melanie was

the overall call.
She's,

she's an evil person
and she's always been that way.

Melanie should have never
said those words to my mom.

She's just, she's literally
the devil and they say,

you know,
you reap what you sow...

and now, she's living a life
that she should have already

been dead years ago because
of all the drugs that

she's done, but I feel like
she's gonna live to be

100 years old and absolutely
miserable for all the pain and

suffering that
she has caused me,

and my brother,
and you know,

my Aunt Linda.

♪

And I-- And Brittany's the
one that, you know...

I don't know how to
make it up to her.

I just, there's nothing I...

I don't really know how
to make it up to her.

I wish I could.

♪

The guilt of Rochelle's death
weighs heavily on Brian,

and he dives even
deeper into his career.

With his contract renewal
with the WCW looming,

Brian is determined
to renegotiate

for even more money.

When we talk business,
it's like, "I have five kids,

I don't know how many
more years I can do this

because my
body's falling apart.

I have to make
big money now...

because I've got five kids!"

This was his shot.

He talks with Bischoff
that was evidently doing the

contracts there, and
Bischoff says to him,

"Expect about what
you're getting now."

He was pretty happy that
I got him back to 225,

but I think he wanted four,
is the number that

he was really wanting.
I couldn't give it to him.

I couldn't justify it at
the time that he wanted it.

He came to me and
he says, "What do I do?"

And what I told him
was this...

It's a question of value.

And when everybody's
using everybody else,

what can you do that
other people can't do?

What can you do
that gains notoriety?

This thing runs
on attention.

It runs on very
superficial things.

We gotta create attention.

How can we do that in
the position you're in?

With his pulse on the
wrestling landscape,

Brian knew that he had to
find a way to up the ante

in order to shock even
the most hardcore of fans.

Brian knew if he could make
people legitimately believe

that he was a loose cannon,
that he was nuts,

he was off his rocker,
he was capable of

doing anything or saying
anything at any time,

that he could be one of
the hottest guys

in the wrestling industry.

It was a pure money deal.
What do we really want?

Bischoff to offer you a
hell of a lot more money,

and we want Vince McMahon
to see that you are of value

and offer you more.
And then you flip a coin.

If he could play one side
against the other

in the middle of the
burgeoning wrestling war,

then he would come
out much better,

six figures per year better.

And that's what he
set about to do.

♪

Brian Pillman's plan
was simple:

More attention
means more money.

As the WWF and WCW are
engaged in a ratings battle,

Brian exploits this to his
advantage by playing them

off each other, while driving
up his own value.

Brian came up with the
Loose Cannon idea and

started slowly integrating it
into his television appearances.

Bobby Heenan was the
colour commentator.

Bobby had had a broken neck,
and he'd had surgery,

and he was very
protective of his neck and,

Brian goes around behind
Bobby and starts

grabbing him by the
shoulders and everything

and on live television.
Bobby says...

What the fuck are
you doing? Easy!

And then Brian
knew he got it.

He got gold out
of it, right,

because now everybody's
gonna be talking about

the F-bomb that got
dropped on Turner Broadcast.

Bobby thought
Brian was nuts.

I think the Brain has left.

It seemed real, to the point
where people were confused

whether it was real or not.

One of the guys he was
involved with was

Kevin Sullivan who was the
booker, the matchmaker.

Oh, my goodness!

They got a fight
going on here!

You know, they're just
beating the hell out of

each other and when Brian
Pillman was ready to quit,

when it was time for
him to leave, he was like...

I respect you, booker man.

"I respect you, booker man."

The mere fact that he was
acknowledging on national

television that Kevin
Sullivan was a head writer

of a wrestling show was
something that had

never been done before.

Those that knew, knew.
And those that didn't know,

would need to find out what a
booker man meant.

It was a big thing because
those guys are sensitive

about exposing the business.

When you're acting
out a story line,

it's considered a work.

And, a lot of the boys
backstage weren't really

sure this was real or
if this was a work.

The wrestling locker rooms
had never been

invaded that way before.

Because he knew if the other
wrestlers believed it was real,

then they would
tell the newsletter editors.

"Wow, that
guy's really nuts."

And the word would travel.

I thought, this is
going down bad.

Brian's getting fired.

And I'm out of
contact with him anyway,

so I think he's completely
lost his mind, you know,

he's not even
talking to me anymore.

The "smart fans" were
starting to figure out that

wrestling is manipulated,
it's choreographed,

it's pre-determined, but
that guy's nuts and

he's real, and he won't do
what they tell him.

And that sells tickets
because you had no idea

what or whether it was
supposed to happen or not.

He was convincing
people that he was insane.

Not only were the
fans ready to be fooled,

but all the wrestlers were,
the management people were,

there was a whole bunch of
people that you could

play like a violin.

- Brian, I'd like to know--
- Nervous?

No, I'm not nervous.
I'm not nervous at all.

You should be.

I don't think anybody for sure
at any given moment knew...

if or not they were really
being worked by Brian.

But then he ended up
working Bischoff.

I said, "Get him to give
you some kind of release."

From his contract.
"From your contract."

Brian says to Eric Bischoff,
"If you fire me,

and then I bust out on TV
the week afterwards and

people will know this has
just gone out of control."

"The people in the office,
the book keepers,

whatever, if they see that
I'm still under contract,

they're gonna tell Dave.

And then everyone's gonna
know that it's all a work.

So, you have to
really fire me."

"If you give me this
legitimate termination letter,

then I can show it
to everybody and I can say,

'Look at what the guy did!
Can you believe this?

Can you believe he
fired me?'"

He did!
He gave him a release.

So, he was then free to
negotiate with Vince McMahon

and the WWF against
Eric Bischoff and WCW so

he could get a better deal,
all because Bischoff thought

he was working with Brian to
create this "illusion" and

Brian was actually
working Bischoff

to create his own illusion.

♪

Dude, I mean...

how do you do that?

How-- I don't know anybody
else that ever did that.

Yeah, stroke of genius.

I mean, it was a
legitimate termination,

but it was a
legitimate termination...

with a wink and a nod.

I said, "Brian, go to WWF.

I can't give you
what you want.

Get yourself over there so
that when you come back,

and I promise you,
I will bring you back,

it'll give me the ability to
pay you more 'cause

you've raised your own value."

In his world,
it's his stunt.

He is flattered that he's
the guy that's pulling the

great stunt, even though he
was the power to begin with!

For anyone to suggest...

that the Loose Cannon
character was designed to

manipulate me into giving
Brian Pillman more money,

when in fact, Brian Pillman
and I discussed how to make

this character work even
better so that at some point

I could give him the money,
it kind of flies in the face

of the rumours
and the innuendo.

Oh, man, that's the
greatest thing you can do.

If you can fuck somebody
over and have them think

that it's a great idea,
that's...

you know, ha, I mean,
that's the trick of

breaking up with a woman,
you know,

make her think
that it's her idea.

♪

As a free agent,
Brian takes charge of

his own appearances
and publicity.

His insider knowledge,
mastery of manipulation,

and disregard for exposing
the industry solidifies

his position as the
ultimate ring master.

In the wrestling war
layout at the time,

the fans knew one thing:
if you are really working

for one promotion, you can't
appear for any of the others.

Tonight will be one of
the most extreme hours of

wrestling with--
and wait a minute...

One of the things with
trying to prove it was real

is that WCW hated ECW so,

Brian must be on
the outs with WCW.

[cheering]

Renegade promotion ECW is
gaining traction for pushing

the boundaries of wrestling,
and is the perfect stage for

the Loose Cannon's
unpredictable antics.

He could curse, he could
say off-colour things.

Eric Bischoff is each
and every one

of these motherfucking...

smart marks rolled up
into one

giant piece of shit!

I thought Brian
was losing his mind,

as opposed to being,
you know, brilliant.

I loved it. I was just nothing
but entertained by it.

[cheering]

Damn near whipped it out and
was gonna piss in the ring...

that's a pretty
strong statement.

And, pardon my language,
I was like, man,

this motherfucker's
out there.

You know, and I mean
that in a good way.

Get him the
hell out of here.

This stuff was
working on both levels.

The fans who weren't inside,
they just thought that

he was crazy and he was doing
wild over-the-top things,

but for the fans who did
know the inside terminology

or were with the secrets,
they were like,

they can't be
allowing him to do that.

Oh!

When he would have a
television appearance,

it would be arranged so
that it didn't look like

he was supposed to be there.

Or, he was doing something
he wasn't supposed to be doing.

One time, he even to protest
the matches that he'd

been given, he wrestled
a giant pencil because

pencil in inside wrestling
knowledge was

another name for the booker.

I always end up
fighting with the pencil.

And then he's showing up
and doing

these funny little vignettes.

He's got one, he's cooking,

and flames are going out
of the frying pan.

And they hired a
woman with a baby,

and then the guy
comes to punch Pillman,

and he grabs the baby and
holds the baby up

in front of him.

You scum!
You piece of--

And I never once
called Brian and said,

"Hey, dude, are you working?
Are you shooting?"

You know, because I
didn't want to know.

But I thought what he was
doing was damn sure brilliant.

Some people think my
dad was crazy and then,

you know,
other people are like,

you know, "Your dad was,"
you know, "not crazy.

That was just a gimmick."

And a lot of people say
he kind of fell into that,

like, they couldn't, they
couldn't decipher if it was--

is this Brian Pillman now?

Or, you know, like,
is he still in character?

Or is this just how he is?

It's all just their
perception of reality.

It was just like this,
this blur between,

like, what is
actually going on?

Like, you don't
even know anymore,

but that was,
like, the magic of it.

There was a lot of
Andy Kaufman in, in Brian.

The Loose Cannon
became Brian,

that was who he was.

Brian was a renegade.

Brian was a little
bit of an outlaw.

Again, remember, when you're
not the biggest dog

of the litter, and you got
that gravelly voice...

you've had 30, plus,
throat operations

when you're a small child,
you get an attitude.

I said this many times,
the greatest wrestlers

I've ever worked with are
essentially natural,

organic extensions of
their own personality.

And the Loose Cannon
was just that.

I think the message that
Brian showing up at ECW

sent to the other
two companies is,

he was a free agent, that
he was a gun slinger and

he'd go to the highest bidder.

Vince is watching.

It's the hottest
thing in wrestling.

The only one that really
knew what was going on

was Dave Meltzer. I said, "Hey,
we have to tell Meltzer."

I value his friendship more
than I value--

you know, any of this shit.

Something happened
and I called up Kim,

and I go, "Oh, god,
Brian's... Brian's in trouble."

He just goes, you know,
like, "Brian...

you know,
Brian's doing this.

He's, he's come up
with a character,

and he's-- you gotta
work everybody."

And Brian goes,
"What do I do with Dave?"

And he goes, "You don't
talk to Dave because

if you tell him,

then he's gonna have to say it
because that's his role.

And, I don't want
you lying to him."

So, literally, like,
he didn't talk to me for

a couple months there.
Oh, yeah, without a doubt,

he wanted to fool me with
the character.

And he did for a while.

And again,
who are the real marks?

Who are the ultimate marks?
Bischoff, and then we got Vince.

Vince McMahon was then
as he is now the

undisputed leader, ruler,
manipulator, organizer,

and owner of World
Wrestling Entertainment.

- Vince?
- Yeah, you.

Yeah, what do you-- You know
what you do with a whore?

You fuck 'em.

That's, that's what
I thought of Vince,

that's how I think of Vince.

As Brian becomes the talk
of the wrestling world,

it's time for the final step
of his master plan:

track down and
secure the attention

of wrestling's biggest
power player.

♪

In perhaps his
boldest stunt yet,

Brian Pillman plots to
get the attention of

Vince McMahon at an insider
industry tradeshow in

Las Vegas, the last place
anyone would expect

to see the Loose Cannon.

Okay, so I'm in Vegas.

I was in there and
I was leaving and,

Brian's coming and Brian's
in full gimmick at this point.

And then, I see him,
"Hey, Dave." Whatever.

I'm leaving, he goes,
"Can I get your credential?"

And I go, "Yeah, here.
Here's my credential."

And he went in and
makes a beeline for

Jim Ross and Vince McMahon.

He had an idea to be
the most outrageous,

outlandish, over-the-top
character that

Vince McMahon had ever met.

He's gonna try to get
Vince McMahon's attention.

Doing his whole
Brian Pillman,

"Hey, Vince, ah-dah-dah,
hey, let's take a picture!"

"Vince McMahon!
Motherfucker! God almighty!"

"It's the greatest thing
in the world

I got a chance to meet ya!
Can I get the arm around..."

Somebody takes a picture.

And Vince is like,
"Who is this guy?"

He made an impression.

You didn't know whether he
was a homicidal maniac or

just a guy that
was having fun.

McMahon thought, "We can't
hire this guy, JR.

We can't hire this guy, JR.
He's crazy."

I said, "He's crazy like a fox."
"What do you mean?"

"Well, he told me
what he was gonna do."

"He did?"
"Yeah, he's creative.

He's bold. He's kind of
like you are, Vince.

He'll take a chance."

Brian's balls at that
point and that day,

would probably fit
in a wheelbarrow.

And dude, you work
Vince McMahon, you know,

especially back in the day,
pretty good rib.

And got his attention, too.

It was, it was
pretty frickin' genius,

what he was doing.

But, but, he wanted to stay
in WCW 'cause

WWF didn't offer
guaranteed money.

And also, Vince was always
pushing the bigger guys so,

Brian always felt that
WCW was his company and

the company he would do
the best in anyway.

People go, like, "Oh,
"he did this manipulation

of his contract to go to WWF."

No, he did the manipulation
of his contract to be able

to negotiate with WWF to
raise his money with WCW.

Brian's bold plan is
a success as he is in

negotiations for major
contracts with both

WCW and WWF.

All he has to do is
choose the right path.

No, it's money!

That's the
bottom fucking line!

It's money!

And these people
are in fantasy land.

And it's money.

The only problem is...

like the Hebrew saying,

"Man plans and God laughs".

We're talking and it's
always about, you know,

"I gotta save money,
I gotta save money,"

and then he buys an
$80,000 Humvee.

I couldn't
fathom the idea of,

I've got 5 kids, I've gotta
make money now,

I've gotta save money,
and then buying a Humvee.

[sighs] God.

He would drive that wherever
Brian wanted to drive that.

He didn't want to
sit at the stop light,

he drove down a gully and
up the other side

in that Hummer.

He didn't, you know,
follow the rules.

I was actually in Miami,
modeling,

but I called to
check on the kids and,

the neighbour
across the street,

I called her 'cause I
didn't get an answer,

and she said, "My God, I just
passed the Hummer and

little Brian's car seat's
out in the middle of the yard

and big Brian's being flown
to the hospital."

♪

I remember he
flippedit, rolled it.

It was severe.

The wreck happened
during the negotiations.

They're getting
damaged goods.

It was truly the deal of,
you can get on the

tiger's back, but how
do you get off?

Fate figured that out.

There'd been a lot
of wrestler deaths,

but not of a guy who was
actually on the way to

the show at that moment.

It's like if Brian could
just see the future and

what happened,
Brian would have just,

"Fuck, oh my god.
No drugs, no nothing."

I know it would have
scared him straight.

It's crazy how you go
from having a silver platter

growing up to not
even knowing

when your next meal
is going to be.

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