All language subtitles for 0204 Dark Side of the Ring

In 1998,
the World Wrestling Federation

enlisted 16 wrestlers
in a radical experiment,

an unscripted, legitimate,
prizefighting tournament.

Let 'em fight for real.
Put on gloves. Let 'em go out.

Let's legitimately see
who the toughest guy is.

The Brawl for All was probably

the worst idea in
the professional wrestling business.

Wrestlers risked bodies and careers
for a chance in the spotlight.

For some, it would all come
crashing down in the Brawl for All.

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

It was looking kinda sad.

The guys were gassed
and blowing up,

and the crowd wasn't getting with it.

They got hurt.
They got embarrassed.

And they got
their careers shortened.

It was a train wreck. Come on,
watch it! Just watch! You'll see.

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By the late '90s, wrestling
had become a global phenomenon.

Two companies competed
for dominance in a TV ratings war,

as every Monday night,
millions would tune in

to watch WWF or WCW.
The battle was fought

through an escalation of bold
and provocative new ideas.

Some still resonate today,
others are long forgotten.

On this episode,
we reveal the inside story

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

This is Vince Russo here
for  The Brand.

We will talk about anything today,
but professional wrestling.

Why? I hate wrestling, bro.
I don't wanna talk about wrestling.

I'll talk about your mother,
your grandmother.

My name is Vince Russo.

I was a head writer
at  WWF Magazine.

When I started writing
the magazine, like '95,

'96, the product was horrible.

There were characters
at the time that were so bad.

TL Hopper, The Goon, Mantaur...

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

-Hey!
-I'm like, "There's no way

he's getting his head in the ring,"
and sure enough, he cannot get in.

Times were changing,
and the WWE kept going backwards.

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

People know this is fake.
What they really want to know is,

what goes on behind the scenes?
That's where everything was moving.

A lot of people say
it doesn't matter

whether people know
that it's rigged.

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

-Why don't you like "fake"?
-There's nothing fake about it.

It may be predetermined,
even choreographed.

It can be manipulated
but there's nothing fake

about guys breaking their bodies
down. I'm Jim Cornette.

I've been a promoter,
a matchmaker, a manager, a trainer.

Everything in wrestling,
for the last 40 years.

When I started working for the WWF,
at the time,

Vince's inner circle,
they were lifers.

They had been
in the business forever,

and I felt that they were looking
at the business from within.

I came as a fan.

Vince McMahon is somebody that
is never gonna be fully understood.

He's a genius and a demon.

Vince McMahon
has no other hobbies.

I doubt very seriously if he's gone

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

But Vince McMahon has always been
the WWF.

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

"Vince wants to see you
up here immediately."

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

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

Bruce Prichard,
Jim Ross, Pat Patterson,

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

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

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

And, from that point on, I became
involved in the writing of the show.

Vince Russo brings
an outsider's perspective

to the secretive world
of matchmaking.

He isn't afraid to push his vision
of what wrestling could be.

I was like, "He's a goof. He's never
been involved in wrestling.

He doesn't know how it works.
We can try to explain it to him."

And within a few months,
I realized he didn't want to learn.

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

which was  The Jerry Springer Show.

The Jerry Springer Show
was the hottest thing on TV.

We literally would sit there
and write  Monday Night Raw

with the  Springer Show  playing
in the background.

This approach would become
the Attitude Era.

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

or one guy stole the other guy's dog
and cooked it and fed it to him.

Back then, man, you had fraternities
on college campuses gathering

every Monday night to watch  Raw
across the country.

So, number one,
don't insult their intelligence.

They'll never watch again.

Two, you don't wanna
mamby-pamby it.

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

was what was gonna make
a casual television viewer

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

To maintain their edge, WWF needs
a constant stream of original ideas,

something audiences
have never seen before.

You've gotta bring something to the
old man. He's looking for an idea.

What's the next big thing?
I don't know. How about this? Okay!

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

so, my career has lasted
for many generations,

as a broadcaster, as administrator,
and executive vice president.

The idea came from Vince Russo.
Get inside his head.

-Hell, I don't know.
-The idea from the Brawl for All

was really simple, okay?

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

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

I thought he had a big mouth,
he was full of himself.

I thought he was a bully.

We were backstage
at a show one day,

and John Layfield
made the comment that,

"If this were real, I would beat
everybody's ass in the locker room."

So, now I'm sitting there

and I'm saying,
"You braggadocious bully bastard.

I know of at least 10 guys in the
locker room that'll kick your ass."

I went to Vince McMahon

and proposed the idea of Brawl for
All. He goes, "What do you mean?"

I said, "Vince, we're becoming more
and more and more and more real.

Let 'em fight for real.
Put on gloves. Let 'em go out.

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

Vince gave the idea his blessing
and we went on

with the Brawl for All.

The top stars have nothing to gain

risking their reputation
in an unpredictable fight.

The challenge is to find
16 competitors with nothing to lose.

I got stabbed with the wine bottle.
I was in a bar fight

and they broke a bottle
and stuck it in. It went in and up.

Punctured a lung,
lung collapsed,

shredded the diaphragm
and lacerated the liver.

Everybody knows me as Bart Gunn.

Part of The Smoking Gunns.

Cowboy gimmick.
We rode horses out. That was cool.

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

For whatever reason, everybody
that comes in as a tag team,

eventually, they get split up.

When Billy and I were split up,
my career kinda...

Don't want to say "fizzled."
I guess you could say it fizzled out.

Just, I had a hard time adjusting to
it though. It was a little difficult.

When I was first approached,
it was Bruce.

He says, "Hey, we're gonna do this
Brawl for All, a tough-man contest."

I go, "How will you do that?"
I said, "Nah, don't want to."

I thought it was a stupid idea.

Then Kevin Kelly said,
"This will be great for your career.

You're stuck at the middle,
and you go through this,

you'll have a great run with Austin
'cause the winner gets

a run with Steve Austin."
He was the hottest thing going.

Of course, you work with the top,
top guy, you get top, top pay.

And then
I thought about it,

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

The WWF approaches

their toughest,
most under-utilized wrestlers,

with the lure of cash prizes
and main event status.

There were a lot of tough guys
in the locker room.

I think when I looked at this thing,
I'm like...

Godfather, like, was probably
the toughest guy.

Big 6'7", 6'8" guy. Worked in bars.
Had been a bouncer.

My real name is Charles Wright.

I wrestled for many years

in the WWF,

as everything from Papa Shango
to Kama,

joined the Nation of Domination
with The Rock and that whole group.

And then, became my favorite
person ever: The Godfather.

Selling white girls on TV.

Talking about getting high,
and selling pussy.

I'm in the Nation of Domination now.
They're building up Mark Henry.

The Rock's taking over.

So I'm like, "I gotta make a change.
They do nothing with me."

Bruce Prichard called me and said,
"We're doing this thing. You get,"

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

And you're wearing gloves."
I'm like, "I'll do it."

Stuff I do anyway,
so I was in from the beginning.

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

from University of Maryland,
he just wanted to compete.

They brought me in
as a football player

to see if I could learn the sport.

We saw footage of him puking
on an NFL game.

I threw up all the time.
If I was throwing up,

if I could grab ya,
you'd get one in the face.

I'd run into the WWE offices to have
a meeting with Vince McMahon.

Vince loves that humor.

If you come up with a skit
that involves puking,

taking a dump, peeing,
he'll probably buy it.

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

-Yeah, he's gonna puke!
-Whatever it takes, you know.

I thought, "We'll do it this way.
I'll come in as Puke."

It got my foot in the door
or whatever,

and I just went from there.

Russo's idea is gaining traction,

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

I first heard
about the Brawl for All,

I believe, at one of the TV tapings
when they were mentioning

it was gonna be starting in
the next few weeks, and as I grasped

what they were talking about, I got
more and more concerned about it.

You don't know that it won't work
until you try. I didn't kill the idea

when I heard it.
There was no precedent.

You're putting guys
into their imaginary element

of what they pretend they know,

bar fighting,
when some have never been in one.

The wrestlers are living out their
fantasies, and the result's chaos.

With the unusual concept

of combining professional wrestling
and real fighting,

the architects of the Brawl for All
make final preparations.

They went to all the talent
and asked who wanted to participate.

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

but the story was that

pairings were chosen at random
by drawing names out of a hat.

What we did, and we did it

in my office, we had Savio Vega,

we had a brown paper bag, I wrote
everyone's name on a piece of paper,

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

The first name drawn was first on
the bracket, and so on and so forth.

That's how the brackets were made.

As the brackets are set, the 16 men
become the official competitors

in wrestling's first ever
legitimate prizefighting tournament.

You knew Steve Blackman
was the real deal.

Then, you had a guy like Marc Mero,

who was a legitimate
Gold Gloves champion.

Mark Canterbury. 6'5", 300.
Punches like a bull.

John Layfield Bradshaw.
He's a big 'ol rough and tough Texan.

Brakkus was a bodybuilder.
He didn't have the mobility.

Brakkus had as much business
in the Brawl for All as I would.

Savio Vega always had

a little bit of a belly,
but could take care of himself.

Hawk'd have no problem pulling
a guy's eye out, eating it,

-or biting his nose off his face.
-Bart Gunn was hardworking, loyal.

-You could rely on him.
-Droz was a no-fear kinda guy.

Bob Holly was a badass
on a street level.

Carl Ouellet. Big-time talented kid.

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

Dan Severn,
a UFC Hall of Famer.

A Superfight champion,
a Triple Crown winner.

Ron Harris walked into bars for
one reason, and that was to fight.

2 Cold Scorpio had decided

he would try and break out
of the Flash Funk ha-ha gimmick.

The one man that stands out

is recent WWF acquisition
Steve Williams,

-also known to fans as Dr. Death.
-He was like a little brother.

We brought him out of college,
gave him a job.

Introducing, first,
in the red corner,

from the University of Oklahoma,
Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.

He was
a homegrown sentimental favorite.

Four-time all-American football.

He was 4-time all-American wrestler,
too. Toughest guy in the business.

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

Jim Ross's boy. Took a lot of heat
for saying that, but he's JR's boy.

You hear about the stories in Japan.

He just beat the Japanese up,
drop 'em on their head.

The reason for bringing Dr. Death
into WWE was to eventually have

a run with Stone Cold.

We thought if this works out
and Doc can pull his way

through the tournament, we may have
him ready for a program with Austin.

These guys, for years and years,

go out there
and they have a choreographed fight.

You know at some point
in the locker room, like,

these conversations
really had to come up.

Like, how bad an ass
is Steve Blackman? Now it was real.

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

Scheduled over a two-month period,
the Brawl for All premieres

June 29th, 1998,
on  Monday Night Raw.

Each match consists of
three one-minute rounds

with five points awarded for each
landed punch and each takedown.

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

We are watching the Brawl for All
for the first time in over 20 years.

Look, look, look. Look, look,
look at this here. Look, look. See?

This is great, man. Catching up.

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

Maybe two, three, four hours
before the match,

getting ready
to fight a UFC fighter...

Well, me, I was outside with some
of the girls, smoking cannabis.

That goes to show you, one,
that I was always smoking cannabis.

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

Anybody that knows anything
can tell right off the bat

these guys do not know how to box,
it's sloppy.

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

It has nothing to do with wrestling.

Jim Ross had to explain to fans
why the guys may be great wrestlers

but they look like drunks
in a bar right now.

It's not just the fans
who are frustrated.

The fights' chaos makes them
difficult for  anyone  to follow.

I was so confused
when everybody got signed up

and rules kept evolving,
and are takedowns legal?

I don't know if that's a takedown
or a knockdown...

Is that a takedown?

-That should be.
-You think?

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

or a competitive fight.

You've got judges that have never
judged a competitive fight.

When you've got stupidity

on this grand, biblical scale,
anything is possible.

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

As a pure television viewer,

I'm totally entertained by this.

Dan Severn narrowly defeats
The Godfather in the first round,

but senses his reputation

as a decorated fighter is at risk
if he continues on.

He decides to drop out
of the tournament altogether,

which sends The Godfather
into round two.

Nobody knew what was going on,
so guys started saying,

"Let's just punch each other."
Make it exciting.

Just throw punches. Somebody gets
knocked out, they get knocked out.

I was wrestling with Bob Holly,
as a tag team, The Midnight Express.

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

I just thought that was
a really shitty way of doing it.

"So, yeah, we drew 'em all
out of a hat.

That's just the way it came out."
No, I'm not buying that one.

As the reality
of the situation takes hold,

brotherhood and professional
relationships are put aside.

My friend, my partner,
we're gonna whack each other.

Started kinda weird.
'Cause we travel together.

We shared rooms.
We ate together, go train together.

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

-The leather's smackin'!
-I didn't go easy.

-I wanted to win.
-Your winner, Bodacious Bart!

Do you recall
what it was like afterwards?

We had to get in the car
'cause we stayed in the same room.

It was a little quiet,
little awkward.

I think we might even have had
a match the next day together.

You know, as a tag team.

Vince can't keep out of anything,

so, even something
that's a legit shoot,

he probably said,
"As long as they're really fighting,

we can play with matchmaking
all we want."

People have had the Dr. Death
theory, that this was skewed

to Dr. Death, putting him in there
with a one-eyed guy. No, it wasn't.

Carl Ouelett. Had sight in one eye.
Should he have been in it?

Hell, no. What are we thinking?
He's blind in one eye.

I don't remember who the first
injury was. The first of several.

It was one after the other.

I tore my bicep, and, I mean,
torn thighs and torn ACLs.

It was like it was jinxed.

Vince could have pulled the plug
on this

any time he wanted to,
but he chose not to.

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

that this thing has shit the bed.

I dreaded having another night
of Brawl for All matches

'cause you never knew
who was gonna get hurt tonight

'cause it seems to be inevitable,
and enough is enough.

The Brawl for All tournament
is already on the rocks,

but through the chaos,
an unlikely hero is set to emerge.

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

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

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

Knock your books out of your hands.
And then I got older,

grew up, got a little bigger,
and went back.

And everybody that picked on me,

I went back and paid them a visit.
Let 'em know what it was like.

After an awkward victory
over his partner in the first round

of the Brawl for All,
Bart Gunn awaits his next opponent.

Well, what happened was,
Bruce calls me up.

He says, "Oh, Bart,
you're gonna be fighting Dr. Death."

I go, "Really?" He says, "Yeah."
I said, "So, you changed brackets?"

I go, "Bruce, why don't you leave it
like it is and save us for the end?"

I said, "I'm happy
to work with you guys.

Everybody knows
you want him to win."

He goes, "No, no,
we got faith in Dr. Death."

That tells me
it was designed for him.

I already knew that because any time
they advertised the Brawl for All,

they talked about Steve.

And I said, "Okay.

Let me ask you this. Will I get heat
with you guys when I beat him?"

He goes, "Oh, no, no, no!
We got confidence in him."

Bruce, at that time, had known Doc
for a long time, like we all had,

and, I think, kinda giggled and said,
"Sure, yeah. Knock out Dr. Death."

When they said that, I felt like,
now they're putting him with me,

they have no confidence in me,
I'm a nobody.

Why wouldn't you have confidence
in Dr. Death? Is that a sin?

He was a fucking 4-time all-American
in wrestling. In Division One.

They don't give that stuff away.

Soon as I walked in,
Pat Patterson walked up to me.

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

And at that time, I was furious.

It just boiled my blood
'cause they nagged at me all day.

They said, "Oh, yeah,
you'll knock him out."

I get something to eat
or anywhere in the hall,

somebody would have
something to say.

They're all back there, they got
their little clans and yacking.

So, just kept it all bottled up
all day.

When that match came on, it was
standing room only at those monitors.

It became very, very, very real.

As both men head to the ring,

Dr. Death is
the overwhelming favorite.

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

I was more tunnel vision.

I wasn't seeing it any other way.
I was gonna beat him.

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

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

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

He took me down.
I was kind of surprised at that.

But, at some point, Bart switched up
his gameplan and took Doc down.

He was like halfway out of the ropes
and he was like, "Damn, brother."

I said, "Sorry. What do you want me
to do? It's a shoot.

-It's not like we're there working."
-Then, Doc tore his hamstring.

-I think he'll get him down.
-That's a takedown!

Now "Dr. Death" Steve Williams has
become a 300-pound one-legged man

in an ass-kicking contest
where you need to be mobile.

At the end, as I caught him
a couple times, he was staggering.

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

And then it happened:

The big left hand by Bart Gunn
clocked the Doctor!

-And down goes Doc.
-He's out, cold, you know.

And I was like, "Holy shit."

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

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

Dr. Death's injuries are so severe,
he's forced to undergo

a lengthy rehabilitation.

But the damage to his reputation
proves far worse.

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

There comes Russo
down the hallway.

I said, "Are you happy?
You cost a company

$5 million in a night." And he looked
at me, "What are you talking about?"

I said, "You idiot!
'Dr. Death' Steve Williams

just got beat on live television
in front of everybody!"

"What's the difference?
Bart Gunn'll be a star."

I said, "I want to kill you!
I'd like to squeeze you

until your britches are full
and your eyeballs pop out!"

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

but it's not like he was coming in
at his peak, or on his way up.

It's probably fair to say his best
years in wrestling were behind him.

But, no doubt about it,
you know, that injury

definitely cut his career short.

Kinda quiet when I went back.

Management didn't say anything
to me.

I had all the heat on me then
'cause I just knocked out JR's boy.

This whole Dr. Death element

in the Brawl for All
has been so grossly overthought

that it has embarrassed me
about some of my peers

and some friends believe

there's another story,
there's this covert action going on.

We'll never really know the answer.
Come on. Grow up.

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

So, it's kinda like, you know,
you guys were picking at me

and I did what I was gonna do.

Bart secures his place
in the semi-finals,

where The Godfather awaits.

In the other match,
Droz takes on Bradshaw.

Fucking back of the head,
you cocksucker.

That's Bradshaw for you.

Dirty bastard.

Did Bradshaw know
that you had built it around him?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I'm sure
I reminded him a couple times.

Should have gotten fricking points
for a takedown there.

That was a takedown under any rule,
screwy or not, it was a takedown.

-How would you call this one, JR?
-It's close. Very close in my book.

I'm on Droz's side here.

-Here's your winner, Bradshaw!
-There it is!

Boo! I cry bullshit.

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

You guys got me bitter.

I got tears in my eyes.
I'm, like, fired up, like, shit.

And that had me wondering,
of course, I don't know

if the people upstairs... if they
wanted me to fight Bart at the time.

And I still think that it was...
that I won the fight, but...

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

I so badly wanted Bradshaw
to get his ass kicked.

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

he was so confident
when he made the remark.

He couldn't back out now

because I'd be the first one
to say, "Wait a minute."

I wanted him to get
his clock cleaned. I'm being honest.

With only one fight left
before the final,

it's up to Bart Gunn
or The Godfather

to keep Bradshaw
from having the last word.

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

And I was the manager from 5:00
in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.

And I hated pimps.

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

they'd better not be here

in the next 5 minutes, 'cause
I'll knock you off your stool."

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

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

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

I used to knock people out
by slapping them in their face.

The Godfather's second round
victory over 2 Cold Scorpio

advances him to the final four.

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

Standing in his way
is tournament underdog Bart Gunn.

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

Then I'm watching him shadowbox,

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

I went into that fight
way overconfident.

Had I smoked all day? Yeah,
but I smoke all day all the time.

Just before I fought Bart, he says,
"I'm gonna knock you out."

And I'm like,
"Yeah, okay. Good luck."

Do you remember what
you were thinking before that match?

-Hit him. Don't let him take me down.
-Stone-cold face.

Okay. Psych myself up.
Gonna come out throwing leathers.

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

We were punching. I think
he kinda caught me once pretty good.

I was like,
"Wow, that stung a little."

And somewhere in there, he hit me

with something
that knocked me to the ground,

and I remember going back
to the corner saying,

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

Every single person

was at the monitor
and nobody could believe it.

Bart looks for a left hand, but it's
a right hand! It's a right hand!

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

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

went out of the ring
and hanging there.

It's like, "Wow, I hope he's okay."

I mean, the reputation
of The Godfather and, you know,

Bart being under the radar, I mean,

unbelievable.

My wife was upset 'cause
she was counting on that money.

She was not happy about it.

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

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

This is a few days after that fight.

I was fucked up. I couldn't walk.
I had to get in a wheelchair.

My leg got infected.
I got this cut at.

Maybe that was the stupidest idea
in wrestling,

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

The injuries were a big deal.

It meant taking guys off the line.
They were at home.

They couldn't work or earn.
That lost the company money

because they weren't productive.
It wasn't a good thing.

How morally
and intellectually bankrupt

and irresponsible do you have
to be to create a situation

where your stars
get legitimately injured

just to get even with a wrestler

who bragged about how tough he was
in the locker room?

He can't feel good about getting
in the ring with Bart. No way.

That point, that was like the finals.

There was only one more left:
Bradshaw.

After a rollercoaster two months
of combat,

the Brawl for All final is set.

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

Both men have trained
very diligently for this contest.

Come out.
Just a couple punches.

-Caught him.
-Look at him go!

-Unbelievable!
-One!

-Golly!
-Two!

It's like, "Wow, it's over."
Then he got back up. I was like:

-You okay? Let's go.
-This may not last much longer.

-Oh, there it is. Oh, my God!
-Ring the bell!

That's it.

-We're done. There's your winner.
-Here's your winner, Bart Gunn!

Take a look at the guy that has
just made a name for himself

-in this business and earned it...
-Oh, my. Goodnight.

Man, he even had the jittery legs.
Did you see the jumpy legs?

Just the smelling salt
ain't doing nothing to him.

When he got knocked out, it was
scary because his eyes weren't there

and he twitched, and you could tell
he wasn't home awhile afterwards.

When he got knocked out, I could not
hold back those emotions. I'm sorry.

This whole tournament was
because of him and his mouth,

and there he was laying
on the canvas, unconscious.

Bro, what... You know the old saying,
"Don't..." "Never ask for..."

How does that go?

"You get what you ask for," or...
You know what I mean.

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

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

I believe he sabotaged the talent,
the integrity of the business,

got people legitimately hurt,
and killed a future superstar,

and doesn't realize
he did anything wrong.

There, in a nutshell,
you have the skid mark

on the underwear of life
that is Vince Russo.

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

When is this ever going to stop?

This might be a nine-minute story,
but all right.

So, Vince Russo said some shit
that I didn't like about me

on his little amateur podcast
he does.

I want to get in his head.
Because I'm playing chess

and he's playing checkers,
I know how to layer stuff up

instead of just putting it
out there on a plate.

Kenny Bowling calls me,
Jim Cornette's friend,

and said, "Vince,
I gotta tell you this, bro,

I had a personal conversation
with Jim Cornette

and Jim Cornette basically told me

that he's going to send
some of his "fans" or followers

to your house.

Now, you got to keep in mind,
when I was living in Indiana,

we lived in a log cabin in the woods,
like, off the road.

So I'm sitting there and I'm saying
to myself, "God forbid I'm not home

and my wife's there by herself."

So, Kenny Bowling said to me,
he goes, "Vince, I'm telling you,

you need to file a restraining order,

an order of protection,
against Jim Cornette."

He said, "Because I don't think
Jim will do anything,"

but he goes, "I think Jim
would incite people to so something."

Russo, being an idiot,

immediately fell for it,
he registers this restraining order.

They bring it, the cops knock
on the door. I'm like, "What?"

When they told me what it was,
I busted out laughing.

This is great, I've got him, I've got
this guy, right? I'm in his head.

We immediately made copies of
the restraining order and put it up

on sale on my website,
and we've raised now, I think,

over $6000
for the  WHAS Crusade for Children

off of selling copies
of the restraining order

that this dickless, gutless,
ball-less pussy put out on me

because he's so stupid, he believed
that I was gonna have him killed.

We're grown men, it's past history,
it's 10, 20 years ago.

How long are we going
to let this go on?

Cornette believed in the steak of the
business, Russo more of the sizzle.

And therein they have a tremendous
controversy and conflict.

They'll never be on the same page
in my lifetime.

Jim Cornette leaves a message
on my answering machine,

threatening to kill me,
threatening to kill my entire family.

I said, "I'd just like to tell you,
you piece of shit, you motherfucker,

what a piece of shit you are
and how you escaped getting put

in a fucking hospital by me
with a baseball bat

for all you did to me,
my friends,

the careers you ruined,
and the shitty wrestling.

I wanted to make sure you knew
from my own lips!"

And I'm just like, "Bro, this is
wrestling. Like, are you serious?

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

"Why is he doing this to me?
Just over wrestling?

Just over wrestling?" That's what
it's always been because he just...

"I can't believe that he'd do this
to me just over wrestling!"

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

With the disastrous Brawl for All
finally over,

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

He was ready
to jump-start his career,

but he was in for
a brutal awakening.

These are the gloves they gave me
for winning the Brawl for All.

It is my privilege and honor
to present you

with these golden boxing gloves.

What was your reaction
to winning this whole thing?

It was great.
I said, "I'll finally get a push."

Jim Ross comes up, talks to me.

He says, "We didn't think anybody
could take Steve off his feet.

We shoulda did our homework
on you better."

And I said, "Probably so. I tried
to work with you guys, and..."

And he says,
"Well, there's no hard feelings."

And I think as soon as he said that,
I thought, "Wow, I do got some heat."

After his victory
in the Brawl for All,

Bart Gunn is awaiting
his big career push.

The WWF are now faced
with the problem

of what to do with a wrestler
they didn't expect to win.

It was always the plan

that whoever would win
would get a big promotional push.

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

I'm not knocking Bart Gunn. Great
athlete. Good wrestler. Good guy.

But the way he had been presented
for the previous five years

was at a level here, not here.

Examine the facts.

Nobody got over.
Not one son of a bitch that fought

in that Brawl for All got over,
end of story.

They send me home and they
don't know what to do with me.

Vince Russo called me up
and he said, "Bart,

we don't really know what type
of storyline gimmick to put you in."

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

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

They let him twist
in the wind awhile,

then Vince McMahon got the idea
'cause it's a gimmick, Butterbean.

Let him fight Butterbean
at WrestleMania.

My understanding is,
when Bart knocked out Dr. Death,

Vince got pissed, so they called me
in for his punishment.

Butterbean's an overachiever.

He's got that bald head,
he's very white.

He looks like some sort of appliance.
But, boy, does he hit. Oh, my God.

Eric Esch, aka, Butterbean,

is a 300-pound
professional prizefighter

with more than 50 wins
under his belt.

What he lacks in technique,

he more than makes up for
with raw hitting power.

So, at some point,
it was suggested Butterbean

and Bart have a boxing match
because Butterbean was

a great personality,
great for wrestling.

I think it was presented to me
and, you know, I was like,

"You know, I don't, you know...
Sure, I guess."

I was tired of sitting at home.

And they said,
"We'll send you to a boxing school."

And they started teaching me
how to box.

The crossover match serves as the
promotional push Bart's waiting for

and a chance for the WWF

to cash in on
Butterbean's mainstream popularity.

The man that will face Butterbean,
Bart Gunn.

I'm not training just to beat him.
I'm training to knock him out.

Me, Butterbean and Gillberg,
we were chilling.

I think me and Gill were smoking.
Butterbean wasn't.

We were talking about it.

Butterbean, he said,
"Listen, I've already told Vince."

He goes, "You guys are tough guys,
I give you that.

But you're not professional fighters.

I will beat that kid in seconds.
It's two different sports.

He has no chance against me."

Vince smiled at me
when I went into the ring.

He knew it was over for Bart.

He knew that I would knock him out,
and he wanted me to.

Walking into WrestleMania was
like no experience I've ever had

up to that point.
This place was huge.

On March 28th, 1999, the WWF
resurrects the Brawl for All concept

on their largest stage,
WrestleMania XV.

A talented amateur can't stand up
next to a professional in any field.

There was no reason to believe that,
even though Bart was a great athlete

and Butterbean was a big, fat
baked potato with arms and legs...

Butterbean was a trained
and experienced professional boxer.

I didn't feel how I felt with the
other fights, 'cause I'm different.

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

Here we go, round one,
Brawl for All.

Butterbean and Bart Gunn.

I remember being in the crowd.
Something was off.

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

and the guy
that I saw knock out Bradshaw.

This wasn't one of those fights.

I'm there as a green boxer trying
like, "Hold my hands like this.

Hold my feet like this."

When Bart tried to box,
I said, "I got him."

So, I just gave him a couple
good shots, put him to the mat.

And then, I'm like,
"Man, I hope he don't get up.

It'll be bad if he does
'cause he's wobbling."

When Vinny let it go on, I'm going,
"You don't need to. He's out of it."

-I gave him one last right hand.
-That's the right hand. It's over.

-Goodbye!
-It's over.

His head actually turned around
backwards.

My kids come home from school
and they were upset.

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

You killed Gunn!" I said, "He's
not dead. He just looked like it."

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

if he brawled like he did
with the other guys.

But with me, he tried to box,
which was stupid.

Very disappointed.
Very, very mad at myself.

You know, just wasn't happy at all.

After WrestleMania,
I knew I was done.

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

It was the end. That was the end
there for me in the States.

Lot of old stuff here.

You said you hadn't watched
the Butterbean fight.

Can you talk about
why that's the case?

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

I just never watched it. I was mad
at myself that I made some mistakes.

But it stuck in the back of my mind,

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

I saw he was there, doing MMA.

I thought, "This is interesting."
I always wanted a second chance.

And then I said, "You know,
I'm gonna do MMA," and I got a fight

with Wesley Cabbage,
and Butterbean fought him.

Butterbean beat him
in the second or third round.

Went over there, my first MMA fight,
and stopped it in the first round.

I said, "I won quicker
than Butterbean did."

One night, said, "Hey, we got you
a match with Butterbean."

"Oh, really? Great!"
Said, "We want you to fight Friday."

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

I learned from my mistakes.
If you set up a match

with Butterbean, I want 12 weeks
to train." That didn't happen.

Coulda turned out the same,
he coulda beat me again,

but I woulda got to do it
a bit better, my way.

This may sound crazy to people,
but that's just the way I'm driven.

And then, time passed and I had
some things happen in my life.

After that, I was done with fighting
and then I didn't do any more.

I miss being

at the curtain and going through it,
and out, and performing.

You got the excitement, the crowd,
the adrenaline rush.

Me going to work,
there's not an adrenaline rush there.

But I enjoy sleeping
in my bed every night

and having my dinner at the house.

You get tired of eating out
all your meals.

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

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

until a tragic accident changed
his life forever.

Do you mind if I ask questions

-about your injury?
-No problem.

Prior to it happening,
what was your plan for wrestling?

You know, I really had no clue.

And the funny part is,
I was actually gonna win that match.

I didn't get a lot of wins.

Droz was wrestling D'Lo Brown
one night.

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

We were just gonna do a powerbomb,
and he had powerbombed me before.

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

I have this... These memories

are seared in my brain perfectly,
which stinks.

Pulled him up and we didn't go.
And we just fell forward.

Going back down,
I'm like, "This isn't right."

I couldn't get my hands down.

And I just remember hearing
"crack, crack."

And I just went, "Oh, fuck,
I just broke my neck."

I said, "Stop messing with me.
Are you okay?" "I can't move."

One cardinal rule is, you leave
the ring the same way you went in.

I remember crying,
saying I was sorry. "I'm sorry.

It should never happen."

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

Nothing we could have done
would have changed. It just happens.

So... But he's a good guy, man.

I still wished him the best
last time I saw him.

Neither of us... We talked about it,
we don't know what happened.

Neither has blamed the other.

It's one of those
unfortunate accidents that happened.

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

Well, not kicking, really, but...
Can't kick, but I still go out.

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

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

Droz is still paralyzed to this day.
It's been more than 20 years.

Things happen, you know,
in this business.

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

especially angers me
when people diminish it.

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

Don't tell me that wrestling's
a bunch of bullshit.

Just some of the ways that

people that have gotten into it
treat it, is bullshit.

-I feel bad.
-How come?

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

Especially now
with just all the stuff we know

about head trauma
and everything, man.

Oh, man.

I should have been thinking,

"These guys are
out of their element."

With what we know
about concussions,

just knowing all that today,
which we didn't know back then,

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

Brawl for All should be remembered
for what it was, a cluster.

It sucked.
There's no reason to embrace it.

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

looking to get a rub in a new event.

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

New rubs. New opportunities.
And it just didn't do it.

The Brawl for All remains

the only prizefighting tournament
to be put on by the WWE.

What could have been
career-defining for its champion

instead became a stark reminder

of how wrestling's winners are
always chosen in the boardroom.

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

"Worst idea in the history
of the business."

I agree with that.
But they're the ones that put it on.

So, explain that one.

I think they should learn
from their mistakes

and probably
should never do it again.

Should just kinda let it disappear.

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