Original subtitles

The accident occurred around 9 .30 last night near Lewisport, Newfoundland. A

van containing four professional wrestlers suddenly plunged into a

stream. Police in Newfoundland say they're continuing their investigation.

Adrian O 'Connor!

Good friend, call me.

He said, did you hear about Adrian? I said, no.

I phoned my wife. I said, I'm coming home. And she said, okay.

Why? Did something happen?

I said, yeah, I said, everybody's dead.

On July 4th, 1988, three professional wrestlers were killed in a tragic car

accident on a remote highway in Newfoundland, Canada.

The most famous name among the victims was World Wrestling Federation

the adorable Adrian Adonis.

The circumstances surrounding the crash have grown into an urban legend in the

wrestling world, fueling decades of debate and speculation.

From what I heard, they were drunk as hell.

The driver saw a moose, and he dodged him, and he went down over a

ravine underneath a bridge.

The ring truck went down after him, fixed their pockets.

One of them lived.

I don't know how his life would have... A tragedy that took the

lives of three wrestlers.

With one man left standing, haunted by what he saw that night.

I'll never forget it.

You're lucky to be alive.

Yes, I am.

Thank God for that.

I'm going to slap him around in front of all you scumbags, you ignoramuses, and

all you freeloaders, and all you armchair quarterbacks, and people you

that you know about the sport of wrestling, which you know nothing about.

In the 1980s, Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation presented a larger

-than -life world filled with heroes, villains, and a rotating cast of

tough guys.

But few were more colorful than the adorable one himself,

Adrian Adonis.

Adrian Adonis was one of the best big man wrestlers in the game at the time.

Adrian Adonis was a really unique wrestler because physically he had this

that didn't look like it would be acrobatic.

And it was.

Unbelievable performer.

Unbelievable. His timing alone made him exceptional.

Oh, the dancing bear. Look!

Tweedle toes, man. The guy can move like nothing.

And regardless what these fans think, Adrian Adonis is a devastating

in that ring.

Adrian's provocative ability to push buttons and boundaries catapults him to

top of the card, earning him a coveted weekly segment known as the flower shop.

You know, straight people hating gays was certainly the idea behind the

The business of pro wrestling was very, very stereotypical. And very often it

would be, you know, kind of fat guys that would bleach their hair blonde. And

that was kind of like your stereotype.

And I'm going to say something right now and admit it right now. Everybody wants

to hear it and I'm going to say it. Yes, I'm gay.

Adrian knew the business well enough so he knew what he had to

do to make people hate him. And he did that.

There's not too much really that's adorable.

However, the star's flamboyant in -ring persona could hardly be more different

from the reality of the man behind the character.

The black roots are showing in the hair.

I'm natural.

What are you talking about?

He wasn't a bullshit wrestler.

He was a bonafide, legitimate, tough guy that had had a fair number of street

fights in his lifetime.

I'm Brett the Hitman Hart, seven -time WWE World Champion, WCW Champion, and a

WWE Hall of Famer.

And I'm a very close personal friend of the late Adrian Adonis.

Born Keith Frankie, the future Adrian Adonis grew up in a working -class

neighborhood in Buffalo, New York.

He's bread -and -butter Buffalo, man, born and raised.

We grew up on the west side of Buffalo, rough neighborhood, 90 % Italian.

I'd never seen him lose a fight in my life. As soon as you put that smirk on

face, he knew you better get the hell out of there or you're in trouble.

My name is Anthony Gugino, and I'm a close friend of Keith Frankie, the

wrestler. Adrian Adonis, as you would know him.

You couldn't help love the guy, man.

He had a heart of gold. I mean, he'd do anything for you. But if you crossed

him, he'd pick you up and body slam you like that, like nothing.

Keith was my local brothel.

I'm 5 '5", 120 pounds. He's 6 '2", 240.

And when someone owed me money, I just walked with Keith by my side. You got my

money? And he just looked and said, yeah.

He was what they call very connected.

He said, I'm with Adrian. It's like it meant he had a gold card to go wherever

he wanted.

We started out as a high school fraternity, Kappa Beta.

From there, we went to street gang. From street gang, we went to fighting with

everybody.

We were the baddest in Buffalo, so everybody had a target on us. Most of

guys became gangsters.

But Keith had a purpose, and why waste your life fighting with these idiots

you could go and become something?

He knew he had to make a move, and what he wanted was wrestling.

If you want something cute, you've got to go for it.

Dropping out of high school to focus on wrestling, Adrian brings his experience

fighting in the streets to the squared circle.

I watched Adrian when he first started in Amarillo, Texas.

I was about 15 or 16 then.

Adrian announced to the audience that he would take on anybody in the building.

It was advertised as, if you could stay in the ring with Adrian Adonis for 10

minutes, you could win $10 ,000.

and they'd be about four or five guys that would come down, and they'd

them and talk to them while they're outside the ring, and then they would

the ring.

Adrian would knock them out cold.

It gives you an idea of what Adrian was like. He was a fearless kind of guy.

So you have to be a pretty tough guy to take on all comers, you know, fight fans

for real. You don't know who the guy is.

My name is Dave Meltzer. I'm the editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter,

and I've been covering pro wrestling since 1971.

It wasn't enough to just out -wrestle the guy. You know, he'll go and tell his

friends, hey, I hung with the guy. It's like, you have to leave marks. You have

to pound his face in or break a bone or something.

And when he goes around town, it's like, oh, God, those guys were killers, you

know. And Adrian was one of those guys.

In time, Adrian's size, look, and killer instinct lands him a spot in one of the

most popular promotions in the business, Vern Gagne's American Wrestling

Association.

We all knew what he was. He was great.

I'm Greg Gagne. I wrestled for 18 years in the AWA.

My father was Vern Gagne, a legend in the sport of professional wrestling.

And Adrian came in, and Vern liked him right away, liked his presence in the

ring. And eventually, they teamed him up with Jesse Ventura.

Well, somebody's going to pay for this.

Somebody's going to pay dearly for this. Ain't that right, Adrian? Definitely

so. Let me tell you something, Stanley Blackburn. Jesse was the better talker

the two, but Adrian was not a bad talker. He was a good talker, and they

off each other really well. He wore the leather jacket, the New York Yankees

insignia, which, you know, in the Midwest, that's good for being a heel.

know, the New York biker -type guy going against your Midwest local heroes.

The golden boy, Adrian Adonis.

Seen him live in the AWA with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzel.

get punched and do these pirouettes and being whipped into the corner and do

that flip that Ric Flair would do and just making little Greg Gagne, you know,

thin guy, look like, you know, badass of all badasses.

Taking the drop kicks from Jim Brunzel.

And it was really there where he went from being what I would call a really

wrestler to being a real star.

His bumps and his reaction and, you know, his facial expression, and he was

of that...

bully on the microphone.

Then a couple weeks ago, I heard Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson out here

us the so -called challenge.

And he could back it up, so he was an exceptional talent.

Jumping Jim Brunzel.

I'm Jim Brunzel, otherwise known as Jumpin' Jim Brunzel.

And I wrestled for 28 years.

Adrian knew when to get heat, and then he knew when to give the babyface a

comeback.

We were so proud of him. One of our guys was actually making to be a star.

On TV, we're watching one of our friends grow up on the west side of Buffalo.

None of us had nothing. You have no idea the parties we were throwing.

After years of building a name for himself in the AWA and across the

Adrian eventually signs with Vince McMahon's WWF.

I got scars on my face. I've had baseball bats across my shoulder.

By the time I got to the WWE in 84, I was nobody. I was a little fish in a big

pond, and Adrian was a pretty big fish.

And look at confidence just oozing. He knew everything about everything in the

business. I tried to bond with him and become friends with him.

I can remember going up to Adrian Adonis' room.

Jim Niner told me to come up, and I remember feeling kind of funny because I

could tell I wasn't welcome.

He doesn't trust being around me. I'm a promoter's kid.

Probably going to tell on him.

And I can remember Jim peeping through the peek hole.

I can hear Adrian. It's Brett. Don't let him in. And then I can hear Jim go, no,

no, he's cool. He's cool. He's totally cool. Let him in.

Well, I hear the chain come off and Jim was like, come on in.

Adrian, he's chopping up a bunch of cocaine on a mirror.

You know, he's chopping it all up.

A very telling kind of moment for me because that opened the door for me to

in a room with Roddy Piper, Mr. Fuji, Iron Sheik.

For me, it was like sitting under the learning tree.

I know I was doing lines of cocaine with all these guys until 4 or 5 in the

morning. They were all the most creative minds in wrestling at that time.

This is so critical and important to me to be in this room with these guys

listening and learning all these little secrets about the business, wrestling

psychology.

And I never, ever looked back on those days as being wasted time.

Cocaine was about as prevalent as marijuana was in the 60s. And I mean,

everybody had it. You meet somebody in the bar, you shake his hand, and as soon

as you shake his hand, he'd squeeze out.

eight -ball cocaine into your hand, and basically it was like a starter kit.

Don't worry, it's on us. They give it to you and tell you, you know, we'll get

you down the road sometime.

We're going to pay you back.

Adrian went hard every night.

Every night.

If you looked up Party Animal in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of

Adonis. The problem with cocaine was how it could turn around and become a

monster in a short time.

And then you're sitting at home watching soap operas in the middle of the

afternoon and you're going, it's all over.

252 pounds, Adrian Adonis!

Joining the WWF roster during its 1980s golden age, Adrian Adonis seems destined

for greatness.

But behind the curtain...

The trappings of success begin to take a toll.

There was a lot of wrestlers that were strung out on cocaine.

And we started to realize it wasn't the friendly drug that we all thought when

we first started snorting it.

It's a bad drug that you've got to wean yourself off of and stay away from.

Me and Jim Neidhart, we had the white flag up. You have nothing left in the

tank. Like, you can't do any more drugs in late nights.

We kind of stopped kind of partying with everyone because it was just too much.

They were all cokeheads. Don't let nothing fool you. They were all

There wasn't nobody in that business, maybe a few. You could probably get one

out of a hundred who wasn't a partier.

I mean, it was nothing but a party.

Be entertained, had a good time, but they partied.

I remember one night, I just had the rest of my beer, and I was going to bed,

and I heard this knock on the door. Let's open the door, here's Adrian.

And he says, God damn it, Jimmy, I'm going to kill myself. Take this bag of

cocaine and keep it for me.

I said, okay, you know.

About four and a half hours later, I hear bam, bam, bam at the door, and I

thought, what the heck, you know, it's like five in the morning. Let's open the

door. Adrian's fit to be tied. He says, Brunzi, where's the goddamn coke? He

says, you better not have taken any.

And I gave it to him, and out he went.

I just remember thinking, his wife has no idea. I doubt he ever does stuff like

that at home.

When he was with his wife, he was a completely different guy.

Talk about Jekyll and Hyde, I don't know if there's anybody that I know of that

was more of a devoted, loving family man that loved his wife, loved his kids.

The way he talked to his wife was like she was like an angel. And I remember he

pulled her chair out and slide it back in when she sat down.

Like he was such a gentleman.

I almost thought it was a put -on at first.

I was 19 when we met.

I knew what I was getting into with him. I think to have that strong bond with

the rest of you, you have to really love each other.

This was his dream, and I wanted it for him.

I used to be Frankie Hall.

And I was married to Adrian Adonis.

Home life, that was different.

He was definitely not the same as you would see in the ring. No, he was a very

gentle, kind, loving, flower, jewelry, sweet, sweet man.

I would wake up and he'd have breakfast made for me and bring it to me in bed.

They had such a close relationship. Even though he was gone a lot of the time,

he would call several times a day. She's, you know, always, I remember her

talking about the collect phone calls, the bills would be outrageous.

They just had a really good relationship.

I mean, their personalities meshed well.

I'm Gina Banta, and Adrian Adonis was my father.

I thought I was the coolest kid ever. I had a Pee Wee Herman signed poster that

he got for me.

I am Angela Freitas.

and I am the oldest daughter of Adrian Adonis.

Watching Three Stooges, that was something that he loved to watch. It was

on when he was home.

In his big bag that he would take on the road, there was always just presents,

gifts, we were going to have fun.

Dad was home.

I think I was a good wife.

He trusted me totally.

I never stood around.

I never asked questions.

I think we had an awesome relationship.

I do not get mad at that man.

I do not.

Despite his stable home life, Adrian's cocaine addiction causes his in -ring

style to become even more vicious, ultimately damaging his reputation

He was edgy.

I mean, he was edgy.

He had a temper.

I know Adrian. He's going to get real nasty right now. Coked up Adrian Adonis

going to be very, very rough on guys. And if they complain, it's like, well,

you're not tough enough for this business. Get out.

The thing about all those kind of things is every dog has a stay. There's always

going to be somebody that can whip your butt sooner or later.

In 1985, Vince McMahon decides that Adrian's character needs a dramatic

makeover. From New York City tough guy to something...

Completely different.

You look a whole lot different.

When Vince took over in 84, it was more and more about colorful characters. It

was not as much about tough guys.

You know, everybody had to have a gimmick.

And that Adrian Donis gimmick he didn't see as a main event gimmick.

The New York tough guy thing.

The leather jacket is going to be retired.

Playing 281 pounds, The Adorable.

Adrian Adonis.

Well, there are certain things that defy description.

The idea of the gay character.

That was not super common, but it was absolutely there, you know, starting

Gordon George. So, of course, you know, when something is successful in

wrestling, everybody copies it.

So he went from, yeah, the Adrian Adonis, black leather, New York tough

thing, and then they started doing vignettes where he was, you know,

his other side.

May the Rockettes eat your heart out.

I'll tell you, when he made him dressed up with the perfume thing and is a

homosexual, none of us liked it, but we understood it.

He was too good to be doing what McMahon wanted him to do.

But up there, that's the way he had to survive.

They do not approve, apparently.

If he had to do that, he had to have a gimmick, he had to be this big, gorgeous

George for Vince to give him any credit.

Do they say when he's out on the town that he's a gay blade? I don't know.

What are we saying here? I don't know that Adrian liked the idea at first, but

think he did a quick turnaround.

You know what, I'm going to just prove to you that I can do it, that I'm not

talented, that I can take something as...

Stupid as that, make it work, and I'm going to prove that to you.

In May of 1986, Adrian is set to wrestle a relative newcomer to the business.

I was scheduled to work with Adrian because Adrian was getting ready for a

with Hogan.

Chicken champion Hulk Hogan. Let me tell you something, Adonis.

So to get Adrian people to beat up and be impressive with, I was kind of

forward to it because Adrian, you know, was one of the main guys.

Hi, everyone. My name is Dan Spivey, formerly known as Dangerous Dan Spivey.

Spivey looking absolutely fantastic.

I was new into the wrestling business. I'd probably only been in there a little

over a year.

I guess Adrian thought I was just some young guy, easy big guy. I was always

quiet, didn't have much to say, and so I guess he took that as weakness, and he

was wrong.

Pitted against Spivey, Adrian will learn just how wrong he was.

in a match that will change his life forever.

He just exploded.

All of a sudden, he let off, and he hit him in the head with a left hook.

He said, I'm going to kill that son of a bitch.

In the lead -up to his showdown against world champion Hulk Hogan, Adrian Adonis

is set to wrestle and defeat Dan Spivey.

solidifying his position as one of the top villains in the company.

Of course, I had in the back of my mind that he was also a tough guy, and, you

know, I heard that he would take advantage of guys. So I had good

wrestling. And sure enough, got in the ring, he started kicking me really hard

and calling me a stupid son of a bitch, you know, and just abusing the shit

out of me.

I was pissed after the match.

I was going to fight him right there.

And J .B. Boyd and Dynamite and Scott McGee grabbed my stuff.

They got us a cab, got me back to the place, and got me out of the Coliseum.

So next night, we were in Flint, Michigan. It was sold out, 10 ,000

Vince says, you guys are working together.

I said, okay.

Bob Orton and I had heard there was some bad blood, and it had been building

between Adrian and Danny Spivey. We were hoping that the match would get by.

He was supposed to win.

I don't remember what it was, but he was going over, which was expected.

But he started the same show with me again.

I was on all fours. He knocked the air out of me, and then he got me in the

sleeper hole, and he was really cinching down on it.

And I just had enough of it.

I kind of snapped.

I came up swinging and knocked him out. The referee says, Dan, that's not the

finish. I said, I changed the finish. He's not going over tonight.

So Bob and I run in the spring because I didn't want, you know, Danny to kill

him.

Please, let's go back to the locker room.

Everybody was going crazy running around the dressing room.

I'm still pissed.

And then all of a sudden, the door opens up.

And Adrian's coming.

He starts talking to Danny, you know, like he was going to apologize or

something. And then he goes to leg dive Danny.

Spidey, you know, he's a quiet guy.

If you poke a dog.

A number of times, he's going to bite your ass.

You can imagine a guy, 6 '7", you know, 280 pounds, throwing a punch from down

by his knee, an uppercut.

Lifted Adrian up in the air, and Adrian came down like a walrus.

Boom!

And he just rolled his eyes back, and you could see his cheekbone.

The white part of the bone was sticking through the skin.

They called an ambulance and they took him to the hospital and nobody saw

again for, it had to be a couple weeks.

I wish it would have been different, but I had to protect myself and protect my

reputation.

Anyway, I got fired about a month later.

Let go.

I kind of felt bad for him. Had a sting getting his ass whipped in front of

everybody, all the wrestlers that watched him.

When you're a guy that everybody fears and that happens to you, you kind of

a little bit of face and I don't want to say respect, but you kind of lose

something when that happens, yeah.

And it was horrible for Adrian because I don't think he ever really recovered

from that.

Humiliated after the confrontation with Spivey, Adrian spirals further into his

cocaine addiction.

Adrian was starting to show a lot of decline, and he was getting heavier, and

wasn't moving like he used to, and he wasn't the guy he used to be. And I

he knew that.

The trouble with substance abuse is when you do find time to eat, you gorge

yourself, and then you fall asleep.

So you're eating tons of calories, and it's got no place to go except as tissue

on your body.

He told me, damn, I'm reaching 300.

I didn't see that.

Maybe because I was his wife. I did not see that.

I just saw him.

He didn't know how to stop. I don't think he knew how to change it without

changing his whole life.

In May of 1987, Adrian suddenly leaves the WWF.

Though the reasons are unclear, rumors backstage suggest he was fired for

substance abuse.

I just know that Adrian suddenly disappeared where he wasn't on the cards

anymore.

I think guys like me just assume he'll be back in a few weeks.

I thought for a second he may have had enough.

The next time I saw Adrian, he's 400 pounds.

Him and I wrestled in Las Vegas.

We thought this would be a great match.

We were doing an international.

television champion.

I think Adonis is just too big for the frame of Greg Gagne.

And we got in the ring, he was breathing so hard, we barely made 10 minutes.

Horton is trying to drag Adonis back to the ring.

We sat down in the locker room and we just talked.

And I told him, I said, Jesus, Adrian, what have you done?

God Almighty, why don't you get back to your regular weight?

You're one of the great performers of all time.

This isn't you. And you know from our philosophy, be yourself, be who you are.

And maybe that night woke him up a little bit.

Still only 34 years old, Adrian commits to getting back in shape, losing nearly

100 pounds over the next six months.

Ditching the adorable one persona, he sets his sights on competing in Japan.

Life was great.

Everything was great.

We're just a happy family.

It was over -happy.

I saw him in Tokyo.

I ran across him at a popular place for the American guys, Gaijin's, the

steakhouse. I saw him there. I had a beer with him, shook hands, and, you

sorry things happened the way they did, you know.

So we had a beer.

Cheers, Reverend. Very happy.

Yeah, pretty much.

I remember having dinner with him and Bea.

He really did seem like he was getting his life together again, getting ready

for a big comeback. He was at that age where he could still turn things around,

reinvent himself and come back.

And I don't think anyone ever thought, oh, that's the last we'll hear of Adrian

Adonis.

The last time I thought he was in L .A. in a hotel room, he had flew in from

Japan. I met him that night.

That morning he was to fly out to Canada.

He came back to the room to tell me goodbye a second time. He had never done

that.

That was our last goodbye, the last time I saw him alive.

Leaving his wife in Los Angeles, Adrian departs for Canada, where his fate will

intersect with a pair of veteran wrestlers known as the Kelly Twins.

I was the only survivor at that time.

Quite a tragedy.

Adrian Adonis, he was a tough boy, and he loved being in the ring.

He was a good boy.

My name's Mike Kelly, and I've been a professional wrestler for 23 and a half

years with my twin brother, Pat.

People have probably known me from the O 'Henry commercial.

When you consider how big it is. Back years ago, that big chunk of fudge. It's

that big chunk of fudge.

The Kelly twins were veteran wrestlers that I remember from the 60s. They

for my dad.

Identical twins.

You couldn't tell which one you were talking to.

This is when we were in Japan, a bunch of us sitting around a sushi bar,

drinking and eating.

I think this was in Tokyo.

I think my brother fell in love that night.

We were inseparable.

We enjoyed being together, doing things together.

My mother always dressed us the same.

If Pat had a black coat on, I'd wear a black coat.

If he had brown shoes, I would wear brown shoes.

We had identical diamond rings, identical watches, identical hats.

We lived our life as twins.

He got hurt one time, and I wasn't there, and I knew something was wrong. I

said, my brother's hurt. I could feel it.

We had that special bond, which was good for us.

So how did you get the call to do the Newfoundland tour?

We were working, like, around Toronto.

Dave McKigney, the promoter, he had called and asked us if we wanted to come

down to Newfoundland, and I said, well, yeah, we'll come down and wrestle for

you.

So we packed up our van and drove down with my brother and I, and Adrian

Adonis come in from Japan.

The main event was Adrian Adonis with the Bear Man against my brother and I.

Dave McKinney was a journeyman wrestler who promoted shows, and his gimmick

was that he had a bunch of bears living at his house that he trained to wrestle.

So that's where he got the name the Bear Man.

Dave was a complete old -school guy.

He was a good person and a good promoter and one of the best payoff men ever.

My name is Ricky Soulman Johnson.

I borrowed the name from my brother, Rocky Johnson, actually, because we were

partners for a long time and he passed away, so I decided to honor him by using

his nickname.

Beerman's stores were almost like a traveling circus. We had fidgets, beers.

It was something for everyone.

Dave, the Bear Man, he owned the Wrestling Bear.

Terrible Ted.

It's kind of a rib when the promoter tells you, you're wrestling the

Bear tonight. It's like, really?

Are you kidding me?

I wouldn't get near the Bear. A bear has so much strength, you know, it could

tear you apart in less than half a minute.

Actually, there was an incident with Bear Man's...

Apparently she was upstairs taking a shower, and the bear had sensed it, and

bear man was working in the garden, and the bear had actually came up into the

bathroom and caught her to death.

The bear had tore her to pieces.

It was a tragedy when I heard it.

Couldn't believe it.

He was supposed to marry this young lady.

Despite this tragedy, McKinney continues to work with Bears on his next tour.

An eight -week trek across Newfoundland with a troop of wrestlers that includes

the Kelly twins, Ricky Johnson, and Adrian Adonis.

It was great. Everybody was happy. Everybody was making money. And the

Newfoundland were so very nice to us.

We were in Gander, Newfoundland. The next night, we had to wrestle in

Newfoundland. The mayor of Lewisport owned the hotel in Gander, Holiday Inn.

It's hard to talk about.

And he asked would any of the wrestlers come to Lewisport that night that we

were off because he'd like to throw a party for us.

July 4th.

1988, he had called me three times.

And the last phone call he had made to me, he said, I'm getting ready to get on

a ferry.

I just want to tell you I love you.

And he just said, call me later, honey, call me later.

Adrian got in Pat's van, the Canadian Wildman. He got in the van with the

Kellys. And I was just getting ready to climb in and film Louis Dorn. He said,

why don't you come with me?

I said, sure, that's cool.

Adrian, the wild man, and the Kelly twins were 10, 15 minutes ahead of us, I

guess. Me and Phil Whipper -Watson Jr.

and little T were just riding down the road, having a few laughs.

Everything was all backed up and going like two miles an hour.

So I said to Phil, must have been an accident.

Traffic like this at Newfoundland, you know.

Then I looked over into the water, and I seen a red van in the water.

Today means that will never leave my mind.

We were traveling to Lewisport, Newfoundland, so we could advertise and

about wrestling. There was a guy there with a camera who was going to take some

pictures of us.

My brother and I, Adrian Bearman.

It was about 8 o 'clock at night. It was as broad daylight as it is at noon.

Pure daylight. I couldn't believe it. It was amazing.

It freaked me right out. It looks like a desert out there, actually.

We had to go around these big rocks. We just barely got through with our van.

We were going down the highway, and I saw a little bear cub.

My brother, the reflection of the sun, caught the sight of his eye, and he had

swerved to the left where the grass was.

The van had gotten down in a little gully and hit this huge rock dead on.

And I fainted.

And I woke up and I felt this water was ice cold. I just wondered what had

happened. Like, why am I in this stream?

Then finally, I saw my brother behind the wheel slouched on the steering

He had passed away.

I could tell right away.

Yeah, it was horrifying.

And, uh... Give me a minute, please.

I seen the van in the water, and I said, that looks like Kelly's van.

I knew it well. I went down there with him.

Adrian Adonis was in bad shape.

He was in real bad shape.

The bear man died instantly.

Adrian, he was moaning, help me, help me, help me. I remember Adrian's elbow,

all you could see was the bones sticking out of it.

I remember thinking that we got to save them, but there was no saving them.

It was Fourth of July, so, you know, we were celebrating with all my cousins in

Bakersfield. And I do remember we had just like a little get -together.

I have a cousin that's scared to death of fireworks, so my other cousin went in

to check, answered the phone. They asked for Miss Frankie.

But I just remember she came out screaming out of the house. He was... He

dead.

They said, Keith has been killed.

He was killed in an auto accident.

I said, put Dave on the phone, Dave McKinney. They said, he's dead.

I said, put one of the Kelly twins on. I don't know, you put someone on.

And then the RCMP called me that night.

And he was, she was gone.

The first few days after his passing, I was still in shock.

I did not want to believe it.

Dead is former WWF star Adorable Adrian Adonis.

Also killed was Pat Kelly on the left. His twin brother, Mike, on the right,

the only survivor of the crash.

Oh, yes, yes.

We were half an hour apart, and he was very close to me. Where he went, I

followed behind. Where I went, he followed behind.

We were inseparable.

The whole world changed, yeah.

In more ways than one, because a couple of road guys that worked for Dave

McCagney, the bear man, they jumped in the water also.

And they robbed Adrian.

They took his money, watch, whatever valuables he had.

They were arrested.

Yes, they didn't want to press charges.

Just to the fact that what... Why?

Why rob a dead man?

So, yeah, we went to a motel in Lewisport.

We went to the bar.

Some of the guys, just to relax, they wanted to shoot pool.

So they had a couple of drinks.

That somebody had said, they're all dead.

Like, it just hit them.

The next thing I know, I just didn't stop lying and glasses were flying.

Then all hell just broke loose.

I remember seeing the manager of the motel. He was just standing off to the

against the wall with a pen and paper. He gave us a bill to export. I think it

was $12 ,000 for the damage.

The next day, we drove by the scene of the accident.

Some guys were praying, some were crying, and CBC came.

And they wanted to know if Booze was involved and stuff.

We told them to get away from us.

Don't you realize what happened here?

Though it's never been proven, some have suggested that the accident that killed

wrestlers Adrian Adonis, Dave McKinney, and Pat Kelly resulted from drinking and

driving. I don't like to think keep dying like that.

They probably were coming from a wrestling match, partying, having a good

No, no drugs, no alcohol.

The doctors had checked all that on me, and there was no... And nobody was

drinking in the business? Definitely not. No, definitely not.

I keep a photo of him in my wallet at all times.

I have photos of him in my bedroom.

Yeah, he was my life.

But things have to go on.

By the grace of God, it could be you, you know, because you never know. We're

the road every night. Guys were drinking a 12 -pack of beer, smoking, you know,

joints and snorting coke and driving 100 miles an hour.

And nobody got killed.

Here's a guy doing the right thing, and he ends up dying in a tragic accident.

When all of us guys are out here doing the wrong shit, and we're still alive.

How does that balance out?

I guess God was right to good die young.

And Keith was one of the best.

He was one of my closest friends, even though we were miles apart.

I was in a federal prison in Texas. When he died, I was in custody,

so I wasn't able to go to the funeral.

I remember B telling me that he was so big that nothing could ever hurt him.

I remember thinking the same thing, like he was indestructible.

The whole funeral was a blur.

It really didn't hit me until later.

They had bought the home while he was in Japan, and this closet and this new

home. I had his jacket with the New York emblem.

That was the only thing in that closet. I don't know who put it there.

I could just smell him.

Everything came flooding back, and that's when it really hit me.

I took that damn jacket and I went to bed.

And that was the finality of it.

You know, he was never coming home.

Ever.

I think your brother would be pretty proud of...

Yes, he sure would. You've got to stay strong.

And that's the way I've lived my life after my brother had passed.

And I'll just keep going.

We'll do the best we can.

That's all we can do.

Adrian Adonis was a very, very talented guy, and I don't think he ever got to do

for his talent that he should have, just because it was not an era where people

really recognized that. Like, if a guy with the talent of Adrian Adonis was

around today, everybody would know how good he is, and he would be a big, big

star.

He should be honored. He should be in

the Hall of Fame.

He's a Hall of Famer, without a doubt.

I think that if Adrian hadn't been in that accident, I don't think it's

impossible to think that five years later, the WrestleMania, Bret Hart

Adrian Adonis, like, who knows?

I wouldn't want him to know how much I appreciate all the little bits of advice

and encouragement that he gave me all through my career and just the

that I had.

I learned so much from him, and I never take it for granted.

I would have given anything to have an Adrian Adonis waiting for me in the

He was the real deal.