All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring s03e02 Brian Pillman 2.eng

♪

[Narrator] Previously, on
Dark Side of the Ring...

Sure, you can watch
the Hollywood Blonds,

and we could've been a great
tag team if we'd been

left together, but if you can
watch Flyin' Brian in his

total element being
the Loose Cannon,

you're seeing one
of the true really, really

bright minds in the business
of professional wrestling.

What the .... are you doing?
Easy!

He was on track to becoming the
biggest star in wrestling

by convincing people that
he was the only one

that wouldn't do
what he was told.

I have been fired...

by Eric Bischoff!

Brian and I talked about it.
"I can't give you what you want.

Raise the value in your stock
so that when you come back,

it'll give me the
ability to pay you more

'cause you've
raised your own value."

Brian Pillman masterminded a
cutting edge character

the wrestling world
had never seen.

Playing the system
at its own game,

he single-handedly turned
the industry on its head

in order to manipulate
his way to the top.

If he played 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.

But did he want
it for himself?

He didn't care
about himself.

He cared about
those little kids.

Lost inside his
manic performance art,

Brian's real life
spirals out of control.

He's depended on to provide
for several different

mothers and families, and I
think that does weigh on a man.

A tragic turn of events
would not only alter

the course of Brian's
career indefinitely,

but also the lives of
those closest to him.

I really believe that if it was
not for the Humvee wreck,

that everything would
have turned out differently.

♪

Melanie called me, and
she called to tell me that

Brian had an accident
and it was bad.

♪ [sirens,
helicopter chuff] ♪

And he was airlifted to
the university hospital.

And, was in the
emergency room so,

again, I was the lucky
one to go to the hospital.

And I thought, oh,
Jesus, here we go again.

When I got to the hospital,
I walked right by the room.

And then Linda's like,
that's his room, Melanie.

I'm like, "That's
not my husband."

She's like, "I know, it doesn't
look like him, does it?"

♪

'Cause his hair was
red with all the blood,

and they had him
in a neck brace.

I mean, his head was swelled
up like a beach ball.

And I thought, oh, my god...

It was really bad.
His eyes were red, like,

I didn't see any colour
than red, like blood.

His eyes were just, ugh.

[Linda] He had six different
doctors for his face.

There's one that
just does the forehead,

the lower mandible,
the upper mandible,

the nose, the eye sockets.

Everything in his
face was shattered.

They had to put plates
in his face and

they peeled his scalp back...

to make the incision,
and peeled his face down

to put the plates in.

Word travels quickly that
Brian has been in a terrible

car accident, and there's
talk of him losing a foot.

His ankle was shattered.

In fact, the nurse told
me that it was just like

hanging off the table.

She had to pick it up to
put it back on the table.

♪

And then the doctor said,
you know, that they would

have to just fuse it into a
walking position,

that he wouldn't probably
be able to run.

Or, or even wrestle again.

♪

I show up, and he
goes, [muffled] ...

I said, "Don't talk, Brian.
It's alright.

Hey, I'm with you,
I'm with you."

I'm thinking, holy ....,
I don't know...

And then he's got
a titanium mask,

and he's got things
holding his legs together.

I remember him crying in
the hospital, just saying,

he said, "I really messed up.
I really messed up."

'Cause he thought, you know,
his career was over.

And I said, "Just be grateful
you were by yourself,

there was no kids
in the car. It'll be fine."

But he, he was crying,
saying, "I really messed up."

♪

Oh, he fell asleep at the wheel.
He had been up and...

he went and picked up
some of his medication,

and I guess it hit him too
soon before he got back to

the house and you know,
he just drove into a...

into a tree trunk off the side
and it threw the Humvee,

totaled the Humvee.

No, just those...

muscle relaxers.

Maybe a few pain pills.

Well, we are turning the
microphone over to you, sir.

We don't need any police
reports or doctor reports.

Can you tell us, in your
own words, what happened?

[voice of Brian Pillman]

[Interviewer]
Oh, my lord.

♪

When he came home
from the hospital,

I do remember him
being in the living room,

and I had a gift and I
wanted to give it to him.

And, I was just
terrified 'cause I'm like,

that's not my dad.
I don't know who that is.

You know, as a child and
seeing my father like that,

I think it just kind of
freaked me out a little bit.

♪

I do have some small
memories there of just

seeing those bolts and how
they're just screwed into

his leg and I'm thinking,
what's going on here, you know?

And then, it's like--
then they look like

they're greased up,
but it's like, not grease,

but it's like blood
and like, just the--

it's all hardened
and it's just,

oh, it was just a
wild sight to see, you know,

just some, some rusty bolts
sticking out of your dad's leg.

♪

Yeah, I just, I really
remember him just being like

so exhausted...

and rundown.

I was just too young
to really understand, like,

what was really
going on with him,

and like, how ragged
his life had become.

♪

The Loose Cannon thing had
gone so far at this point

that a lot of the guys were
convinced there was no wreck

and it was Brian
working again,

and they're just trying to
figure out what the angle is.

How does he expect to get
more money out of this,

or more attention
out of this?

Or, you know, was it really
a wreck or maybe he just

ran his car off the road and,
and wrecked it to get,

you know, publicity.

He had created so much,
not only mystery,

but confusion about himself
that even the guys that were

his friends weren't exactly
sure how to take him.

Perhaps he would have
done that for attention.

And Kim,
who would not work me,

Kim is just like,
"No, no, no. It's, it's real."

And I told people, I go,
"It's real," and you know,

I think most people didn't
believe me either.

He was, you know, there's
the Andy Kaufman thing

in him, faking an
auto accident,

perhaps he would have
done that for attention.

There was even at one point
a rumor that some of the

wrestlers put out that he
was having plastic surgery

to look just like Shawn Michaels
so he could go into

the World Wrestling
Federation and be the evil

Shawn Michaels and
fight him for the title.

Guys believed that...

'cause they
thought Brian was nuts.

While the wrestling rumor
mill is speculating

the authenticity of
the accident,

media outlets also
question Brian's intentions.

Brian, now, you're not
having plastic surgery and,

you know, gonna go into the
WWF as Shawn Michaels' twin

or something?

I don't know what goes
on in America online.

[voice of Brian Pillman]

[Interviewer] Oh, it's
preposterous, but--

[David] I can look back,
and Brian was pretty

honest with me most of the time.

But the one where I know
that he wasn't was

right after the accident.
And Brian, you know, said like,

"Oh, yeah, the doctors
told me, you know, like,

it's gonna take a while,
but I will be 100%.

The doctors have told me."

And I know that the doctors
told him the exact opposite.

The wreck happened
during the negotiations.

He kept it pretty quiet
how badly he was hurt.

And, if the real story of
that wreck had come out

at that point, I don't think
he would have got a contract

from either company.
He could never again do,

physically, what he had
been able to do before,

and he didn't want
anybody to know that.

The object was to
play Vince for money,

and he did.

Only he was...
near dead when he did.

Vince signed him, and he
signed him for more money.

♪

Vince McMahon offers Brian
a guaranteed 3-year contract,

and although Eric Bischoff
offers him more money,

his deal is subject to be
renegotiated

every three months.

Brian knew, at that point,

because of the
extent of the injury,

that if he had an out
clause in a contract that

at some point fairly early
it was gonna get exercised.

The events that have
taken place in my life,

just in the past
8 weeks have...

really changed my...

the future of my life and...

from going from a point not
knowing if I was gonna

live or not,
to standing here...

signing a contract with the
World Wrestling Federation,

it's a dream come true.

[applause]

What changed about Brian
coming in to our company

at that time, well, he's not
gonna be able to wrestle

to any degree, or even
comparably to what he was.

♪

Although Brian is still
in rehabilitation

for his injuries,

he officially joins the
WWF in 1996 with the

Loose Cannon persona
already in full force.

There's Brian Pillman.
What's he doing here?

Brian Pillman,
recently signing with

the World Wrestling
Federation...

I just remember
him coming in and,

I was like, okay,
let's see what he can do.

Here in the land of,
you know, WWF.

They'll let you go out
there and push the envelope,

but you know,
how strong is he?

Can he do it?

And, I would have, if I
was gonna bet on Brian,

like, oh, yeah, if he
could just get healed up,

he's gonna go
right to the top.

I'm gonna rape,
pillage, and plunder

this entire federation!

♪

When Brian came home,
he still had an IV.

And, he'd unhook
himself from the IV,

go do the show, and then
come back and

hook himself back up again.

He had to do that
because of work.

So then, it wasn't
fun for him anymore.

You know, I don't think
he enjoyed it anymore.

You know, that was
what I consider

the beginning of the end.

[Narrator] As Brian Pillman
continues to struggle with

his crippling injuries, an
upcoming surgery keeps him

out of any in-ring action.

To disguise this from fans,
the WWF devises a

shocking story line involving
his old tag team partner.

I needed to do something
to get some heat.

We were in Cincinnati,
in his hometown so,

it's always great to attack
somebody in their hometown,

especially him being in
a compromised position.

[Jim] Steve and Brian
were still friends,

and they still wanted to
see each other succeed.

Steve was still
on his way up.

So, we decided to put them
together because

we thought that...

They would enjoy it,
and at the same time,

the people would
enjoy it as well.

- And wait a minute!
- Wow!

What a cheap shot!

I laid into him and started
kicking the hell out of him.

I broke that
cane on his ankle,

that brass duck he had
flew into the crowd.

- Oh!
- Oh, my god!

I stomped a mud hole in
his ass and walked--

That was a stiff beating I gave
him because it had to be.

My character was a vicious,
cold-blooded guy

who was ruthless
and remorseless.

So, had I not given him the
beating that I gave him...

who would have cared?

They cared about Brian
because I hurt his ass.

He may have re-broken
Pillman's ankle here!

He gets Brian Pillman down
and he puts a metal folding

chair around the bad ankle,
and then stomps

the seat of the chair.

Oh, my god!

And Brian screams.

"Oh, my god,
he's reinjured the ankle!"

There's a way
you can do that.

I won't give
away any secrets.

But that was an excuse
for Brian to have

continued problems with
the ankle, publicly,

on television.
It became, in the industry,

known as Pillman-izing
a body part.

Brian took that ass
whooping like a damn man.

He knew what I had to do and
he sold it like a million bucks.

In the midst of a TV
ratings war with WCW,

Vince strives to produce
edgier content to further

capitalize on the feud
between Pillman and Austin.

Somehow, they decided -
and I was not...

consulted on this - but
they decided that it would be

a wonderful thing if
they did a remote

from Brian Pillman's house
in Cincinnati...

[Commentator]
We are live.

Austin is outside of
Brian Pillman's home!

Steve Austin came to
find him and stage a

home invasion on
Monday Night Raw.

Austin, trying to
get into the house...

of Brian Pillman.

I always want to do something
that feels real and gritty,

especially something that's
gonna have the,

you know, the...

the volume turned up,
the testosterone,

the adrenaline turned up.

I mean, hell, man,
if you're just casually--

If you're not a wrestling fan
and you're kind of just

flipping channels and,
all of a sudden,

you watch this
10 seconds of this scene,

you're not gonna
change the channel.

Steve is a dead man walking!

Because when Austin 3:16
meets Pillman--

- Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
- 9-millimeter Glock!

I'm gonna blast his
sorry ass straight to hell!

All of a sudden, man,
I start bashing in

that window with that
aluminum baseball bat.

- [screams]
- What the hell is that?

[screaming]

And there's Melanie in
there just shrieking...

It's Austin!

I remember,
Vince was like...

"Alright, we're gonna have
Stone Cold and

y'all just wing it from there."

Don't go in there!
Don't go in there!

[screaming]

♪

Nothing like that had ever
been done before in wrestling.

It was kind of
groundbreaking,

whether it was in a
good way or a bad way.

People weren't ready for it.
They weren't ready for it.

The reaction was
pretty negative to it.

I mean, it was
pretty darn negative.

I didn't like it.
I didn't like the idea of like,

you know, using a gun and...

it seemed going
really extreme,

but that's the
direction wrestling went.

Oh, my god!
He's back!

That's Brian, you know.

And I don't know
whose idea it was,

and how much input
he had on the idea.

He never really
told me that,

but he was
absolutely really into it.

And they had to apologize
for it the next week because

the gun thing, you know,
Vince had to actually go

on television and apologize
for that angle 'cause

it got so much negativity.

And, on behalf of the
World Wrestling Federation,

for those of you
who were offended,

those viewers,
we humbly apologize...

for the incident that took place
last Monday night on Raw.

And, I think that's
the only angle

Vince ever apologized for.

...join us here
at ringside...

While still recovering
from the car wreck,

Pillman is temporarily
sidelined

as a broadcast announcer.

Yeah, I'm gonna cut through
all your duplicitous rhetoric

and cut right to the chase,
tell it like it is,

and hey, if the
censors don't like it,

you're gonna get fired,
not me.

I'm Brian Pillman.

I'll just go somewhere else
and beat people up.

He looked at being an
announcer as a come down.

It was less than,
it's not being a man.

When I said, "Look, you
can make a great living.

You know, you can take
care of your health."

He didn't want to hear it.

Only thing he wanted to hear
was me to encourage him that

you could come back
and be what you were,

or really,
really close to it.

And I, I never told him that
because I would've been lying.

You know, the competitor in
him wanted just to get

back in the ring and work.

He's working matches,
but he was in a lot of pain.

The former Cincinnati Bengal
has had

two major surgeries on his leg.

Even though he was able to
sometimes have decent matches,

just 'cause he was
smart enough to know how and

he would fall on his face,
do things that were

dangerous in a
different way,

but not hurt the body
parts that were hurt,

it was really sad to watch.

You know,
he wasn't the same at all.

Brian needed to stay
medicated more often than

he should because of
the pain he was in...

because he was
doing things that

he shouldn't have been doing.

Oh, no! He missed--
Oh, his ankle!

He made it through
because he'd say,

"Oh, I'm okay.
I'm good. I'm fine."

He wasn't fine.

Consistently performing
well beyond

what his body can handle,

Brian's dependency
on painkillers and

the pressure to
provide for his family

is pushing him to the
point of no return.

♪

While rushing
through recovery,

Brian Pillman hampers any
progress on his injuries

by choosing to still
perform in the ring,

which results in his pain
becoming all consuming.

The only thing Brian ever
told me was that if he had

an ache or a pain,
he took a pill.

And he said if it
didn't go away,

he took another one.

And he took a pill
until it went away.

♪

He was sick, physically sick
with infection in his ankle

because he was
going to shows and

not recouping it properly.

♪

I would talk to guys in WWF,
and they would tell me

how he couldn't get
through the airport,

you know what I mean?

He couldn't walk
through the airport,

and he was out there taking
bumps in the wrestling ring?

It's like, he cannot
walk through the airport.

I'd see him kind of walk
around with his suitcase,

and he wasn't
moving so well.

But Brian is one
of those guys,

like a man's man,
you just figure...

Whatever it is,
Brian's got it.

He's Brian Pillman.

You know, and I could have seen
the writing on the wall,

but because of the
regard that I held him in,

thought he was
gonna be just fine.

When you have wrestlers
that are missing shows,

who are obviously unable to
perform when they get there,

then you know
you've got problems.

It wasn't that obvious
with Brian and,

how were you able to tell
where the Loose Cannon ended

and the real person began?

We had some problems.
We, we were having

problems 'cause
he kept wrecking rental cars.

He was definitely, like,
nodding out at the wheel.

He was definitely
having issues.

He, he acted as though
he wasn't gonna

be around much longer.

He used to say things like,
"If anything happens to me,

make sure you move
back to Atlanta.

And don't stay up here if you're
not comfortable here."

And, "Make sure you
find somebody

so the kids have a father."

I'm like, "Why would you even
say something like that?"

And then, the next day,
he wrecked a rental car.

I had become a bit
estranged from him

because he was ....ed up.

And, at one time, he came to my
house and he had a big welt.

You could see the hole...

it was like a, you know,
the syringe,

it was a horse needle
syringe that went in there.

And it was growth
hormone or something.

But he was ....ed up.

He was like, [groans],
he kept repeating himself.

And I said, "This is it, Brian.
I'll give you to ten.

Get the ....
out of my house.

My kids are
upstairs sleeping.

Don't ever come
here in this state."

"Oh, yeah, but I gotta do...

I gotta... ah..."
[mumbling]

I said, "No, I can't.
I'm sorry.

You're a friend, but get the
.... away from me right now,"

and he did.

Some of his friends
had come to me,

when I was in charge
of talent relations...

And say, that this is
becoming a bigger issue,

and I needed to intervene.

And it was gonna be tough
because he was not gonna

appreciate that
intervention.

I called the agent,
lead agent, and I said,

"You know, I'm gonna
have a drug tester

there tonight to
test Pillman."

And I said,
"Make sure it gets done."

He felt like I had,
I had betrayed him.

That's what he told me.
"I can't believe you,

you, of all people,
would betray me.

And that you, you always,
you always had my back.

You were always there
for me, and now this."

I said, "Brian, I'm trying
to save your life.

That's all I'm
trying to do."

And Brian was calling me up,
"I hate Jim Ross.

Why is he singling me out?
Do you know how many guys

in this company
are doing drugs?"

And he goes, "They're not
gonna find anything on me,

nothing but my
prescription pain pills.

They're not gonna find
any illegal drugs in me."

And in fact, you know,
the only thing that they

found in him was his
prescription pain drugs and

steroids which, you know,
in extent, you know,

I don't know that that
really counts for

what they were looking for.

I had to lead Brian out of
the path that he was on,

to no avail.
I failed.

I needed to convince him
that he is so talented that

he was going to be a star in
other areas of pro wrestling.

I failed.

In October of 1997...

At the Kiel Centre
in St. Louis, Missouri,

Brian is scheduled
to compete at WWF's

Pay Per View event Badd Blood.

In those days, the call time
for talent at the

Pay Per Views was one o'clock.

And, sometimes
guys would be late,

oversleep, miss
their flight...

traffic, whatever.
But, by 5 o'clock,

everybody was accounted
for accept for Brian.

And that was egregiously late
to be for a Pay Per View.

So, Bruce Prichard asked me,
I'm in talent relations,

he said, "Call, try to
find where he, you know,

where he might be.

Call the hotel where he stayed
last night in Minneapolis,

see what time
he checked out."

I get on the phone and,
boom, a guy answers.

I said, "I'm with the
World Wrestling Federation.

We're looking for
one of our wrestlers.

He stayed there last night,
Brian Pillman.

Can you tell me what
time he checked out?"

And the guy said,
"Hold on a second,"

and he put me on hold.

Okay, I guess he's
checking his records.

And he answered,
he says, "Sir?"

I said, "Yeah?"
He said, "Mr. Pillman's dead."

And, the first flash that I had,
"What is Brian doing now?"

I said, "Is this a rib?"

[sighs]

And the guy said, "No,
the police are here now."

I said, "Okay."

So, I told one of the
production assistants,

I said, "Go get Bruce."

And he said, "Oh, Bruce
is busy. He's doing--"

I said, "Brian is dead.
Go get Bruce."

And Bruce came in
and got on the phone,

and I just kind of
walked off because I,

I did not want
to hear that...

news-- right now,
23 years later,

I don't want to hear that news.

♪

[Narrator]
On October 5, 1997,

Brian Pillman
was found dead

in his hotel room in
Bloomington, Minnesota.

He was 35 years old.

It's hard for me to
still think about it today,

and think of that heart,
of that athlete,

of that performer...
stopping.

Just doesn't
seem believable.

It almost didn't register
with me because I'm like,

"Enh, Brian ain't dead."
'Cause he couldn't die.

If you knew Brian,
this force field of energy

that he was, I thought
could never be stopped.

I honestly thought that.

State police showed up
on the door and...

and said that he had to
tell me that my husband

was found deceased.

[sighs]

♪

As a kid already in
the show business world,

I was thinking,
like, is this a work,

like, is he really dead?

Like, no, he's
surely coming back.

Like, I didn't even
know what to think.

I didn't even-- I didn't
even cry when my dad died.

And, I just remember, like,
my family were all sitting

on the bed, like, hugging
each other and crying,

and everybody's crying.
And I'm looking around,

I'm like, where's the
camera crew, you know?

They've gotta be around
here somewhere, you know.

I was like, alright, you know,
I'll play the spot here.

You know, we'll all just
hug and pretend we're sad,

but then like,
reality set in.

I'm like, oh, shit, he's
really not coming home.

Like, holy crap.

As a kid, that's just
kind of what I thought.

I figured, you know what,
he went to work that day

and he decided to stay there.

The next night on
Monday Night Raw,

the news of Brian's
death is broadcast live.

Yesterday afternoon,

Brian Pillman was found dead...

in a hotel room in
Bloomington, Minnesota.

[bell chimes]

I remember when we
tolled the bell ten times,

that was when I
got emotional.

I remember, very emotional,
and that's when I was like...

He's gone, he's gone.

And then I remember talking
to, I think Jim Ross.

I said, "Hand the
phone to Owen,"

and then Owen says,
"I don't know.

I don't know what happened."

Then, Vince got on
the phone and he says,

"Do you want to, you know,
talk on camera?"

And then I just thought,
well, you know what,

with, with Brian,
the show must go on.

Joining us now,
ladies and gentlemen,

in suburban Cincinnati,

the wife of Brian Pillman,
Melanie Pillman.

Melanie, thank you so
much for joining us tonight.

I did say to Vince, "Please,
don't ask me about

drugs or anything like that
because I do not

exactly know
why he died yet."

Brian, because
of his injuries,

has had to take a great
deal of prescribed medicine.

And the first thing he does is
start talking about pain pills,

and then I'm like,
that's Vince, alright.

I made like a really funny
face and I remember that's

the only clear part of that
interview I can remember

thinking, wish this mother....er
was standing here

so I could smack him.
[laughs]

'Cause he swore, he swore
he wouldn't say anything like,

leading down
that direction until the

death certificate came out.

I think all athletes,
to a degree...

experience a reliance
on pain medicine,

and you know,
I knew it was just

a matter of time before...

it happened to someone,
and unfortunately,

it was my husband.

And, I just want
everyone to know that...

I hope it's a wakeup call to
some of you because

it could be your husband next
or it could be you and,

you know, you don't want
to leave behind

a bunch of orphans,
like my husband did.

I absolutely despised the
grieving widow interview.

I, I didn't like it on
a wrestling program.

I was uncomfortable with it.

I didn't know why she
had to go out there and...

and have to answer
these questions that were

obviously meant to elicit
tears and etcetera

for "television", for
"good television".

I thought he should have sent
her a cheque for $100,000

and kept her ass off TV,
is what I thought.

[Vince McMahon] Have you
had any opportunity

to think about what you,

now as a single parent,

will do to support your
five children?

Vince, I don't even...

really know what
day it is, you know.

So, I don't...

know what I'm gonna do.

Yeah, and
everybody's like,

"Oh, that was so horrible
what you did to her!"

I barely remember it.
And it really--

I didn't really...

think about not doing it.

But, nobody
pressured me into it.

[Jim] I hated it.

I didn't want to relive,
and relive,

and regurgitate, and
regurgitate this matter.

To pop a rating.

And to me, that's what
it was all about.

♪

Um... heart disease.

And see, my father died of a
massive heart attack at 55.

We got there early before people
came in 'cause it was

supposed to be
family and friends.

And when we walked in, there
was a camera crew there.

And I walked up
to 'em and I said,

"Who are you?"

And I said, "You're not
supposed to be here."

They said, "Well, Melanie
said we can," and I said,

"Well, I'm Brian's sister and
I'm telling you, no, you can't."

And they left.

Um...

No.

Just Vince and
Jim Ross were there.

[Jim] They had an open
casket, and I knew then,

this is gonna
be really tough.

There's the last
time I saw him.

That's the last
time I've seen Brian,

lying in a casket.

And that was
just gut wrenching.

Absolutely gut wrenching.

I just stared, and I had
memories flooding back,

when I was
looking at the corpse.

I'm thinking, this shouldn't
be a part of

my pro wrestling career.

This should not be a part of my
journey in this crazy business.

And, we shouldn't be burying
a guy that's this young.

You know, that's got a
young family around him.

At the very end,
everyone's gone except for,

you know,
couple family members.

And, the little girls, they're
kind of running around and

they're not, like,
crying or anything.

They were just
little kids and they go,

"We gotta say goodbye to
daddy," and they all run to

the casket, "Goodbye, daddy.
Goodbye, daddy."

It was like... [sighs]

[children laughing]

And, I think for me, I was
just in complete shock.

I just, you know,
I couldn't...

I couldn't put
it all together.

I just couldn't
believe it 'cause it's like,

I lost my mom and
now my dad, you know.

And I was just, I was
just a lost little girl.

Going through the motions
and pretending

I was still alive
and I had a soul.

I just felt like I just
didn't know what to do.

Right now, like,
it's the same day almost.

I mean, I can bring
myself back to

that same pain in my heart.

If I let go too long, which
I'm just gonna stop now,

if that's okay,
for a second.

[sighs]

He had such an impact,
such an influence on so many

people's lives, it had
to have hurt

everybody to see him go.

It had to have hurt
everybody to lose him.

But, the person that
hurt the most was,

was Melanie, was my mother.
She dealt with losing...

what was ultimately
the love of her life.

After Brian is laid to rest,

his children are jolted into
their new reality.

I never really had a problem
with Melanie until

my father passed
and then, you know,

like her true character
revealed itself.

♪

I spiraled out of control.

I wasn't the best
mother in the world.

I always loved my kids.

[Dani] Up until this day,
Melanie receives royalties

from my father's legacy,
which I have seen...

zero cents.

Oh, yeah, they said
I was a gold digger, too,

and I spent all the money
I ever got on crazy stuff.

Some of it was spent on
crazy stuff, but not...

not the way they said it.

We stayed at my dad's house
for a while and then things

got really bad and we moved.

And, you know, running water
would be turned off

all the time,
electric would be turned off.

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.

[Brian Jr.]
It took a downward spiral.

I mean, there's no
other way to put it.

It got worse, and worse,
and worse, and worse.

[Melanie] Depressed a lot,
sleeping a lot,

drinking too much.

Brian found me on--
passed out one time,

and I almost died of
alcohol poisoning.

He was like 12, and
found me on the floor

with a bottle of
vodka by my head.

No kid should have to
see something like that.

Craziness.

When my mother remarried and
my stepfather came into the

picture, there was a lot of
drug abuse on the side of them,

and there was
a lot of neglect.

My stepfather was very
physically abusive

with my sister and myself.

I would be
grounded to my room,

"Oh, you're grounded for the
next 6 months," you know,

"I better not see
you out of your room."

He had dogs more or less
trained to abuse me as well.

And if I was grounded, like,
these dogs would

make sure I was kept in my room.

Like, they would bark at me,
and they would bite me,

and the would
physically, like,

keep me in my room because
of how I was verbally and

physically abused by
my stepdad, like,

these dogs would
adopt that mentality of,

of like attacking me.

♪

And then I was just,
I was just so abused

that my social--
developing, socially,

was very hard for me.
And, and that's how...

you know, like...

nobody took me out to
throw a baseball with me,

you know, like...
[sighs]

Nobody took me out
to throw a football,

you know, so...
I went to school.

I didn't know how
to play sports, you know.

[laughs] I wasn't
very athletic, you know.

So, I couldn't
catch a football,

couldn't throw a baseball.

But, I was big into games,

into video games
and stuff, and...

I had a GameCube.

Eventually,
he caught on to that.

My stepdad would
catch on to that shit.

He'd unplug it, you know,
he'd throw it against the wall.

♪

It's like everything I ever
latched on to or loved

was taken away,
you know, so...

it was hard,
it was a hard time.

While Brian Jr. and Brittany
grow up with Melanie,

Danielle lives
with her mother.

As the siblings drift apart,
their Aunt Linda takes action.

At least once or
twice a month,

I would get them together.

And so, they didn't lose
contact with each other.

[indistinct conversation]

[Brittany] She is
literally everything.

She's, I swear, I think
that she is a true angel.

I don't have a mom, but
she's the closest thing

I have to as a mom.
I can call her at any time.

I mean, she took me in,
you know.

She bought this house so we
could have a home and a family.

[sniffles] And, I just,

I don't know what I
would do without her.

I really don't.

♪

They'd all come
to my house--

[Brian Pillman Jr. shouts]

There's a spider
in the bathtub upstairs.

I don't kill anything,
you know.

I always take 'em
outside when I find 'em.

Brian has a deadly
fear of spiders.

[laughs]

And there's one,
I saw it this morning,

I thought, oh,
I'll get that later.

I didn't think he'd go
up into that bathroom.

[Melanie]
I love Linda to death.

And, she's helped
the kids a lot. And...

I just want, I just
want 'em to forgive me.

But, do I know if they will
or not, I don't know.

Brian Pillman lives on in
the hearts and minds

of his family.

But his legacy would return
to the ring in a way

no one would anticipate.

♪

Brian Pillman's legacy in
wrestling lives on in that

he created a character that
people still remember to

this day because it was
in large part himself.

[cheering]

He was a guy that
overcame a lot of odds,

and totally kicked ass in an
industry of guys that

were much, you know,
larger than him.

I would have loved to see
what the next 10 years would

have played out for him
had he never had

that damn car wreck.

♪

He knew the hand
that he was dealt

after the accident.

There wasn't a damn
thing he could do about it,

which killed him.

Figuratively, and I
think eventually, literally.

Brian's death started a
domino effect that

forced people to recognize
the steroid issue,

but put extra focus
on the real cause

of people dying too young,
which is pills.

The only hurdle he couldn't
get across was the last one

and, it was his own body
that had betrayed him.

♪

The biggest legacy though,
unfortunately,

is what would have been,
where he would have gone,

what heights he
would have achieved,

how much bigger and
better he would have gotten.

He saw the end goal.

Like, he was so close
to like really just like

completely making it,
you know.

Like, in wrestling.

Would he have been along
with The Rock and Steve Austin

and a few other guys,
the biggest star

in wrestling,
5 years later?

Probably. One of 'em.

♪

♪

Just rebuilding my
relationship with my kids.

Having my, you know,
kids not be mad at me...

by the time I die.
We'll see if that happens.

[laughs]

♪

You know,
my dad's not here so,

if I got one parent
left that I can go,

oh, well, you know,
that's my mom,

that's just the way she is,
you know, like, sure,

I could live the
rest of my life hating her,

but where does that get me?

Ever since I've rekindled
my relationship with her,

I've been happier
in my personal life,

I've been better in my
relationships with women.

I've been more understanding
of people's plights

and people's vices.

I've been just a much
more mature adult in general

since I've buried the
hatchet with my mother,

so to speak.

And in many ways, I'm very
happy that I have a parent

left on this earth to, to speak
to and talk to, you know.

I called Mel a time or
two and then

we just lost contact and...

then I reached out to,
you know,

Brian Jr. a
couple years ago,

I had one of Brian's
old weight lifting belts.

Out of nowhere, a sign from
the wrestling gods comes in

the form of a cellphone call
from Stone Cold Steve Austin

to tell me that he has a
Cardillo weight lifting belt...

that belonged to my father
and that he wants to

mail it to me and give it to me.

And I'm like, you know what,
if that's a sign,

that's a sign.

[cheering]
Brian!

♪

When he first said
he was gonna wrestle,

like, it struck
terror in my heart.

I was like, oh, my god,
he'll have fractured

relationships, his kids
won't get the attention,

he's gonna
travel all the time,

he's not gonna be able...

And then, I saw him perform,
and I saw the look on

his face when he knew
that he was creating,

you know, homage to his dad.

♪

And, I realized, this is it.

This is what's
supposed to happen.

He just woke up one day and
he was gonna be a wrestler.

And I, I literally laughed.
I'm like, "You? A wrestler?

All you do is sit in your
room and play video games.

There's no way that
you're gonna be a wrestler."

And it was just crazy, like,
he was determined and

he quit his job, he had just
graduated college and...

he was, he was gonna do it.

And I was very hesitant
at first just because of

everything my dad went
through and I didn't want

my brother to fall into
that same lifestyle,

so I was scared.

[Commentator]
...by Pillman, oh-ho-ho!

I think he'd be
proud of him.

His son wants to carry
on the Pillman name.

He wants to make his
father proud of him.

He wants to accomplish
something on his own,

but yet pay
tribute to his dad.

I think Brian
would be into that.

I just think he might be
worried that, that...

Brian Jr.'s in it
all by himself.

He's got some people
looking out for him,

but I, I think Brian Sr.
would a whole lot rather

be there to keep an eye on him.

Great kid, looks a
lot like his dad.

And I talk to him
about these things.

There's a lot
of great traits, Brian,

that your dad had,
that I hope to god you,

you can acquire.

And then there are some...

not so much.

You have to learn
where you draw the line.

Use his passion,
use his intellect,

use his athletic ability,
use his love of the game.

But then, don't get too
far off the beaten path.

Don't be a Loose Cannon,
Brian Jr.,

don't be a Loose Cannon.

The Varsity Blondes!

You know, a lot of people,
"Oh, you know,

do you think your dad
would want you to wrestle?"

And it's like, "Well,
he kind of put his stamp

of approval on me to be a
wrestler when he named me

Brian Pillman," you know.

There's really no going
back at this point so...

no, it's just tragic
to know that we never,

we never got to have
that ultimate

father-son relationship.
But, but in a way, it...

it inspires me to, to be
a good father one day,

you know, so...

I think, I think that's
my goal in all of this,

through wrestling
and everything,

is to be a father, so...

♪

You know,
that photo is very...

very symbolic
to me, you know.

He's kind of
holding me up and,

and I always look at
it for inspiration,

you know, so...

I hope that one day I
would have a son like that,

you know, to kind
of hold up as...

as the future, you know.

It's like he's kind of
giving me his blessing there

in that photo so... yeah.

He contributed a whole lot
to the wrestling business.

He pushed the envelope.

The Loose Cannon gimmick

is one of the best
ones ever created.

And, Brian was one of the
best friends that I had

in the business.

And, I hope that he
thought the same about me.

I love Brian.

♪

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