All language subtitles for S04E05 Dark Side of the Ring

[Cheering continues]

♪

My opinion is, Junkyard Dog
was the most prominent

Black wrestler to ever
lace a pair of boots.

Overcoming incredible
odds, a young,

Black wrestler rose from
humble beginnings to become

a generational superstar,
achieving unimaginable

heights in a sport dominated
by white performers.

Yes, he did, he paved
the way for all of us.

You feel you're gonna
be wearing the crown?

Just as sure as
I'm Black and the

day's sunny,
Mean Gene.

His charisma and, you know,
his personality

is what got him to
where he was,

'cause he was a
fan favourite,

no matter how
you looked at it.

JYD was on top,
selling it out.

I mean,
it was incredible.

If you guys could
just hear the crowd,

they just loved him.

And couldn't
nobody stop him.

He's invincible!

[Junkyard Dog] There ain't
nothing else all I can do

no better,
and that's fighting.

I seen the stars for him,
because at that time,

there were no
Black superstars.

Bill Watts,
he saw dollars.

I saw his charisma,
and named him.

Gave him music,
and did everything,

and he was so dynamite.

The unlikely friendship
between promoter

Cowboy Bill Watts and
The Junkyard Dog

was tested when the Dog
defects to the WWF.

I think Dog went because

there was a better
opportunity.

You know, there's
more money and then

he was gonna be a
big star there.

But JYD's dreams of
achieving superstar status

in the big leagues
fell short.

Vince McMahon didn't
use him like Bill did.

I wish he had because he
could have been

one of the biggest
stars in the WWE.

Yeah, it broke his spirit
because he went there to be

that big hero again,
and he didn't get it.

How can Vince McMahon
put everything on JYD?

'Cause you don't know if
he's gonna show up or not,

you're not dependable.
Untrustworthy.

Dog forgot one thing-
you can't do

what the white man do
and keep your job.

♪

♪

When you're trying
to become a star,

and on your way to stardom,
you can figure out a lot of

things to be successful
as a wrestler-

you have to put
the time in.

You have to become
known by the fans.

You have to be able
to sell your product.

You have to be able
to have some dialogue.

When Junkyard Dog came to
Mid-South, he had dialogue,

he had style, he had
physical attributes.

These things turn
into box office.

These things
turn into money.

Sylvester Ritter was
probably the greatest star to

come through the
state of Louisiana...

they ever had,
in terms of wrestling.

[Announcer]
He represents the people.

They all love him.

Dog had a great following.
He was universally loved.

That gleam in his eye,
his little smile that he had...

was infectious.

Man, he just got over.

The people in
Louisiana loved him.

You know, he'd get to
the ring, you know,

and he'd grab that top rope
and lean back and

shake his legs
and his butt,

and the people would
just go wild.

I'm lacing up the boots,
and the whole building's

going, "Who that?
Who that?

Who that gonna beat
The Dog? Who that?"

Boom, boom, boom.
"Who that?!"

I'm lacing up my boots,
going, "Holy smokes!"

[Chuckling]

More than just a wrestler,
Junkyard Dog is a hero to the

working class, a beloved
figure in the city of

New Orleans who became
a superstar to fans

across the Southeast...

transcending the sport
to become an icon.

The Junkyard Dog,
brother,

nobody messes with the
damn Junkyard Dog.

I'm Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

Hall of Famer, and I can
still kick your butt.

Mid-South, I am tired
of you ripping me off,

and playing your
stinking games with me!

New Orleans was
his town, man.

By God, if you were
wrestling him, brother,

you were scared
to death...

because you didn't know if
you were gonna make it

out of that arena back to
the dressing room.

Police usually had to
carry the guys out that

wrestled Dog, because
if you parked your car

in that parking lot,
they would destroy it.

"Who that gonna
beat that Dog?"

Nobody, that's who.

Before becoming one of the
most popular wrestlers the

south had ever seen,
The Junkyard Dog was

a rookie named
Big Daddy Ritter...

Searching for his big break
in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Well, Dog tried to get into
wrestling several times.

They were all
short-term deals.

He wasn't on everybody's
most wanted list

because then, A,
he was Black.

And, a lot of the
white promoters-

and they're all white-
had a quota, seemingly...

unwritten, unstated,
but it was there.

And so, he didn't
fit their quota,

they already had
a Black babyface.

I ain't gonna
hire another one.

It's sad to say.
It's coarse, it's hurtful.

I am Jim Ross.

Been into wrestling
since 1974,

and along the way I got
to meet The Junkyard Dog,

become friends.

It's great to have you
back, Junkyard Dog.

JYD, when I first met him,
was all-

seemed like he was
always smiling.

And his skillset
was limited.

But my God, the charisma
and the love that

he created
with fan base.

Well, you can't
coach charisma.

You either got it,
or you don't.

Despite Ritter's charisma
and size, only Bill Watts,

the owner and promoter
of Mid-South Wrestling,

decides to take a chance
on the young brawler.

Cowboy was bigger than life.

He was a disciplinarian.

He was kind of like
the head coach.

You know, I never met
Vince Lombardi,

the famed football coach of
the Packers that won multiple

Super Bowls, but some of my
older peers said that Watts

was Vince Lombardi-like.

"My way or the highway.
Here are the rules.

There are not many of them.
I expect you to adhere to them,

and there's no negotiation."

Bill Watts gave him the
biggest break for a Black man.

[Phone playing song]

Oh, I'm gonna turn this off.

Hey, this is "The Birdman",
Koko B. Ware.

Man, you know me flying
all over the place

in the wrestling business.

[Announcer] "The Birdman"!
Koko B. Ware!

I mean, wrestling is a
white man's sport.

JYD, well, he wasn't
a wrestler at all.

He couldn't put you in a
leg lock or a chicken wing.

He don't know nothing
about all that.

He was a street fighter.

Bill Watts gave
him a chance...

to draw some money,
and you know what,

he bust Louisiana
wide open.

[Jim] Mid-South Sports was
based on realism.

So, athleticism,
realism,

making it more easy
to suspend your disbelief of

the art form that
is pro wrestling.

Watts had a rule-
if you go to a bar,

or you get into any kind of
scuffle and you

get your ass whipped,
you're fired.

The booker for Cowboy
Bill Watts was Ernie Ladd.

Ernie Ladd was
a philosopher.

He was 6"9 and
300 pounds.

So, Ernie was always
looking for talent.

Somebody along the way
told Ernie that, "Hey,

there's this Black guy,
big, muscular powerhouse.

Kind of guy you'd like,
Ernie,

that you ought to
take a look at."

So, Ernie brought
Dog in and,

he had a rough start because
Cowboy didn't know that

Dog was not a great
technical wrestler.

He brought that big, fine,
Black specimen

of a body down that aisle.

Some young gals started
screaming and hollering,

and we would
excite the crowd.

He was so statuesque,
and he looked great.

Turn your head,
you wouldn't forget him.

Dog just clicked with
the wrestling fan,

so he knew how to connect
with the audience.

This is "Mr. USA",

WWE Hall of Famer,
Tony Atlas.

So all you boys
in the Mid-South,

get ready for yourself,
because I got trouble here,

and I got trouble there!

And I got trouble coming
your way, to the Mid-South!

We gonna boogie,
baby!

So, I have to give credit for
this to Cowboy Bill Watts.

Bill Watts came up
with ideas.

Dog was a hell of
a football player.

He was a hell of a street
fighter, he was a brawler.

So, what Bill Watts did
was create matches

that fit Dog's style.

Bill wanted Dog to do a
few things really well-

clothes lines, thumps,
body slams, tackles.

And so, those things, based
on his football background,

those things could be
translated

very easily into
pro wrestling.

[Announcer]
Boom, power slam!

To boost Junkyard Dog's
star power,

Bill Watts and Ernie Ladd
know they need to find the

perfect villain for JYD
to face in the ring.

[Announcer]
Which, wait a minute!

What's he doing?

There's nothing that he
couldn't do in the ring.

You know, if he was in the
ring with the right guy.

I am Ted Dibiase.

Towards the end of my career,
I was known in the WWE as

"The Million Dollar Man".

[Announcer] Ted Dibiase!
[Audience] [Booing]

-1, 2, 3!
-[Match bell ringing]

1, 2, 3.
Alfred nearly raises a hand.

He put something
in that glove!

[Ted] And the thing that
I did was,

I always highlighted
in the ring

what he did best.

I mean, Bill Watts
coached me.

The Funks coached me.

They would say, "Teddy,
you gotta basically put him

in the middle of the ring
and work around him,

and emphasize or highlight
the things that you know

he does very well, and stay
away from the things that,

that he doesn't do so well."

He had enough trust in me
to know that, you know,

I wasn't gonna make him
look bad out there.

I was always gonna
make him look good.

The Dog just thumped him,
and there's the count.

Well, you talk about an
action-packed duo, they are.

[Ted]
We became friends.

We traveled together a lot,
and so much so that

when we got married,
JYD was my best man.

That's how close we were.

That chain around his neck.

Put that music on, "Another
One Bites The Dust".

And he came back
in with the thump,

the rest of it is history.

[Announcer] There he goes
with that big thump.

He just put him
about 6 feet under.

Bill Watts is the first
wrestling owner, promoter,

who ever featured as

one of his very top stars,
a Black guy.

This last year has kind of
been the year of the Dog.

I don't know if it's a
Chinese year of the Dog

or not, but in
Mid-South Wrestling,

it was the year
of the dog.

Bill Watts took JYD and
made him "thee" star.

When you get
awards like this

it's because you're
doing so many good things.

[Tony] They had a very, very
close relationship.

Anything that Dog needed
or wanted, or disliked,

he would never talk to
the wrestlers about it.

He would only talk
to Bill Watts.

I don't think anyone
in the business

did more for an individual

than Bill Watts
as he looked at

mentoring and helping Dog.

Bill looked at him
like he was family.

You always go out
and give 100%

for the people
and for yourself.

A lot of people were just
astounded that Cowboy

was so friendly with
a Black person.

And, Cowboy said, "I want you
to know one thing," he said,

"my favourite colour
is green."

And, at that time,

JYD was selling tickets,
lots of 'em.

Junkyard Dog's
captivating presence

draws capacity crowds
night after night,

inspiring his fans to
stop at nothing

to defend their hero.

The fans not only looked up
to him, they worshipped him.

I'm Jim Cornette.

I've been involved in
a variety of ways in

professional wrestling over
the last 40-something years.

Because that's all you are,
is a yellow, dog-faced liar!

You know what he just did?

He just wrote a cheque that
his rear end won't be able to-

[Cheering]

The downtown Municipal
Auditorium was

the Dog's house every
Monday night.

And The Freebirds come in,
and they want to take over.

The Freebirds had hair cream
that could remove your hair.

And, they said they were
gonna use it to take the hair

away from one of
their opponents,

but when Junkyard Dog
came in,

and tried to do
something about it,

"accidentally",
according to The Freebirds,

the cream wound up
in his eyes.

I mean, this is supposed to
be a solution to remove hair.

The agony he's in.

My God, that moment
right there...

----!

The Freedbirds were dead men.

When the word got out that
JYD had been blinded

by The Freebirds,
and then

when JYD went on
television and said,

"My daughter, my baby
daughter is about to be born

and I'll be able
to hold her,

but I'll never be
able to see her,"

the people wanted to kill
The Freebirds, literally.

As the highly-anticipated
Dog Collar match with JYD

against Freebird Michael
Hayes approaches,

Dog plays his
part at ringside,

until one fateful night
when the line between

fiction and reality
really blurs.

JYD, himself,
told me this story!

Others have disputed it.

But it sounds very typical
of New Orleans and

the wrestling scene
at that time.

They're in the downtown
Municipal Auditorium.

And Dog is sitting
at ringside.

He's blind,
but he's in the corner.

The Freebirds look around
and they see Dog

sitting in the corner,
and all of a sudden,

some guy comes
over the railing and

is right there at
Dog's shoulder,

and the guy pulls out the
biggest gun he's ever seen,

and said, "Don't worry,
Dog, I got him!"

And for two seconds,
Dog is conflicted.

"Do I grab this guy's gun
and save their lives,

but expose
that I can see?

Or do I sit here and
let him shoot him?"

And while he
was conflicted,

the cops came
over the rail and

grabbed the guy
and took him down.

[Jim Ross] In our little world
out there in Mid-South,

he became bigger
than life.

Sometimes you wonder
when success comes

somebody's way...

is it truly a
blessing or a curse?

[Announcer]
JYD, JYD...

he transcends race,
colour, and creed.

He's everybody's champion.

Under the guidance of
legendary promoter,

Bill Watts, The Junkyard Dog
has emerged as a main event

superstar in Mid-South,
drawing record breaking

crowds for the company.

He was the Black Hulk
Hogan down there.

Louisiana, Oklahoma,
Arkansas...

I mean, he had all those
towns just sewed up.

Let me tell you something,
"Buzza Wuzza",

it ain't but one Dog.

Well, there wasn't many
Black wrestling stars

when I broke in
the business.

I'm WWE Hall of Famer,
Teddy Long.

You will go, one-on-one,
with The Undertaker!

[Cheering]

Dog was a big draw.
He had that charisma,

so he brought
the Blacks out,

and then also, he brought
the whites out.

There were whites
that loved JYD, too.

So, Bill Watts knew
that was money, okay,

so that's why
he pushed Dog.

[Announcer] Oh, the crowd said,
"Who that? Who that?"

[Audience chanting]
Who that? Who that?

[Announcer]
"Who that?

Who that gonna beat
that Junkyard Dog?

Who that?"

You know, in Mid-South,
we stop at a restaurant,

we stop at a gas station,

people recognized us
where we went.

We got a letters at Mid-South
asking that the Dog and the

different stars can drop
by and visit 'em.

I know we got a
nice letter from a

kindergarten teacher
in Lecompte.

Well, the Junkyard Dog
found time,

and when word got
out in that town,

they had Junkyard Dog Day,
and I'll tell you,

it was great.

After he got his,

he wanted to reach back
and help others.

He got more pleasure
out of helping you,

talk to the kids,
give them money.

Very generous,
not just with his money,

but with his time.

You know, you get
fame and stuff,

you get very well-known,
and then forget about

the way that
you grew up.

That's why I like to go back to
the schools and visit.

Long before the bright
lights and roaring crowds,

Sylvester Ritter, the man
behind The Junkyard Dog,

grew up in a small
North Carolina town.

What a lot of people
don't understand or,

don't know about it is,

it's a true rags to
riches story for him.

My name's
Jarvis Woodburn.

I'm the nephew
of Junkyard Dog.

I called him Uncle Dog.

That's what he was to me.

This was the- God, this was
the old, old one, I believe.

Yeah. He grew up
without a dad.

My great grandmother,
which is his grandmother,

is the one that raised him
and my mom.

True southern upbringing.

Family first,
treat all people equally.

And, that's just the kind
of person that he was.

This is the home where...

Sylvester grew up,
he and my mom.

My grandmother,
great grandmother.

Ah, great,
great grandmother.

It was old school.

Wake up in the middle night,
gotta go to the bathroom.

Gotta do a number one,
you go in the bucket.

Gotta do a number two,
either you hold it,

or you're coming outside
and use an outhouse.

There we go.

Ah, there's the source
of heat right there.

♪

And this was kind of like
the living room area.

This was a bedroom,
here.

It's very cramped.
I mean, when I-

I remember, when I was
growing up there

was actually two
beds in here.

♪

There's that wall with all of
the, like, photos and stuff.

There's actually a...

a real, real young
picture of him over there.

If these walls
could talk.

But I grew up just like
everybody else, with nothing.

I grew up hard,
back down in the South.

North Carolina.

But I fought, and I'm
stilling fighting,

trying to build on myself.

I saw him one time
give the fans,

he took the dog chain
off his neck and

gave it to a kid with
a family there.

They just loved it.

He still stayed humble.

You know, he wasn't a guy
that you couldn't talk to.

Dog never changed,
he never changed.

He was the same guy,
each and every day.

Though fame didn't change
The Junkyard Dog,

life on the road,
and the days and weeks

away from home begin
to take their toll.

He would always try to
come home around-

especially the holidays,
when my mom cooks.

But then after that,
it's just kind of like just

hanging out with the family
for as long as they can

before they gotta
get back on the road.

He had a daughter,
Latoya.

His daughter was with us
since she was two,

going on three years old.

He loved her to death,
she loved him.

She was definitely
a daddy's girl.

He was a great father, he was
just on the road all the time.

Being on the road
all the time is...

[Sighing] Well, I mean,
it can take a toll.

It taxes on your body,
it taxes on your mind.

It taxes mostly on
your relationships...

with your children,
with your wife...

with your family.

You know, an average week
was 1500,

2000 miles a week.
So, you're in a car a lot.

And, you're away from
your family a lot.

And sometimes, a big, old,
fat joint was your solace.

And of course, for Dog,

this created more
of an appetite.

[Jake] We both were
experimenting with

drugs at the time.

I remember JY showing me
a jar that he had

over 1000 hits
of Speed in it.

You know, and...

of course,
when he came South,

it came with him.

Yeah, he was already
into the Speed,

into the downers,
and sleeping pills.

Ah, I hadn't gotten
into that yet, but...

I was soon to start.

There was a couple times
on the road with him,

he would always keep his
pinky nail a little bit longer.

And I'd look over and
see him, you know,

and he was just
about to do it,

and he looked over at me,
and he goes,

"If I ever see you
doing this, I'll kill you."

"Alright. You don't need
to tell me twice."

[Laughing] Kind of like
rock 'n roll, I mean...

I didn't know
wrestlers had groupies.

Found that out.

It's kind of like you
see on TV with

these rock stars
and stuff.

It was just like
anywhere they went...

restaurants, bars.

When you got fame
like this, he said,

"You can actually
make money."

I said, "What are you
talking about?" He said,

"I'm not gonna sleep with
them for free."

I mean, some of these
chicks would pay.

[Tony] I started hanging out
with Dog 'cause I got

free beer, free food,
and I got laid.

[Laughing]

And they paid for it!

We was in Little Rock,
Arkansas,

and I was low on money
'cause at that time,

unfortunately, I was
involved with drugs, and...

Dog said, "I can get you some
money." I'm like, "Okay."

Said, "I got some
girls coming over."

"Oh, thank you."

The door opened, and these
three girls came in.

And each one of them
gave Dog $100 apiece

to get laid by
the wrestlers.

So, anyway, Dog said,

"He don't do no screwing.
He like your feet.

So, he gonna play
with your feet.

You let him play
with your feet."

So, I'm playing with
the girls' feet.

Dog getting ready
to do the girl,

and then we hear another
knock at the door.

[Knocking]

He thought it was another
one of the wrestlers.

It was the girl's husband.

You know, he wanted to
fight Dog so, he did.

It didn't last long.

Dog beat the hell
out of him.

The girl stayed.
[Laughing]

♪

Dog was one of the highest
paid guys in pro wrestling

at that time.

He never made under
a grand a week.

I think he was probably
averaging more like 2 or

$3,000 a week, and in
a territory that size,

that was pretty
extraordinary.

Bill, he did nice things
for him, including a car.

You know, when he
pulled up to an arena,

you got noticed,
in a positive way.

As one of the biggest
draws in the territory,

The Junkyard Dog catches
the eye of WWF promoter,

Vince McMahon.

In the summer of 1984,

McMahon makes
JYD an offer

that's more than double what
he's paid under Bill Watts.

Vince McMahon was starting
the national expansion...

that he started in 1984.

And Vince was trying to
suck up all the talent.

Unfortunately, the thing
happened that

I never believed
would happen...

and that was,
Dog walked out.

He walked out on his
professional saviour,

and he went to
WWF for the cash.

Oh, hoo...

[Laughing]

Ah, I'd loved to
have seen him

when he got
that phone call.

A lucrative offer from the
WWF proves too strong

for The Junkyard Dog
to resist,

as he suddenly
departs Mid South,

sending shockwaves
through the territory

and leaving promoter
Bill Watts stunned.

The big topic of conversation
is The Junkyard Dog and

what's happened to him
and, we don't really know.

We do know that he's
left the Mid-South area.

When Dog left Mid-South,
it broke Watts' heart...

'Cause he had never
been as kind...

and as giving to
anybody in his career.

Bill went on television,

had a little verbal tirade
directed at Dog.

I want to comment one
minute on The Junkyard Dog,

because I watched him come
to Mid-South as a youngster,

and a lot of people
watched him grow to

become truly a superstar.

But then JYD walked out,
not only on Mid-South,

which really hurt me
personally 'cause

I considered him
a great friend-

he walked out
on all the fans.

I mean, to see a
white man cry...

over a Black man
back in the day...

I saw tears come out
of Bill Watts' eyes.

This has hurt him bad 'cause
Bill Watts did everything

he could to keep him there.

And it just looked like
overnight, he was gone.

But in the aftermath
of his departure,

rumours circulate that his
sudden exit from the company

is motivated by
factors beyond money.

Dog told me this story,

the way he went to the WWF.

Dog was in the bathroom,
and he was in the stall.

Bill Watts and Grizzly Smith,
they came in the bathroom,

and they didn't know
Dog was in the stall.

Grizzly Smith went to tell
Bill Watts, he says,

"Well, I think we're gonna
lose Sylvester.

I hear he's going to the WWF,
he's going to New York."

The next thing Bill Watts
said to Grizzly Smith, said,

"Ah, don't worry about it.

That nigger ain't
going nowhere."

Dog heard that.

♪ [Suspenseful music] ♪

And so, that's when he
made up his mind

to leave and go to Vince.

♪

♪

After The Junkyard Dog
leaves Mid-South

in the summer of 1984,

Bill Watts begins a
search for his replacement.

Brother, it scared him to
death that his territory

was gonna just collapse.

So desperate...

that immediately
he tried to

slide in another
Black superstar.

Bill made a,
I think, a...

mistake, in the sense that,

we started trying out every

African American wrestler
that we could bring in.

George Wells...

You can't run this dog out.

I'm here to stay,
and I'm here to

whip a whole lot of behind.

Brickhouse Brown.

[Announcer]
Brickhouse Brown!

-[Cheering]
-The Brickhouse is styling.

They brought another guy in,
called him "The Snowman".

I had the pleasure
of wrestling him.

Jake The Snake,
he tried to take me out.

These thunder cookers,
he can't do nothing with it.

Did not work.

I want the sucker right down
here in the middle of this ring

right now!

[Jake] Butch Reed was a
very good wrestler,

but he wasn't the Dog.

He was a bodybuilder.

He was too pretty-
not that big, ugly,

bad son of a bitch that
people could identify with.

And on and on.
[Sighing]

No, none,
forget about it.

[Jim Ross] They were
good guys, they tried.

But,
replacing a legend...

that's like hiring the next
cowboy to replace John Wayne.

How the hell you
gonna do that?

The fans of the WWF
welcomed JYD with

open arms and
thunderous applause.

[Announcer] This place has
gone bananas!

He certainly has his legions
of fans here, by the thousand.

And these fans are
with him all the way!

He is something!

McMahon did a phenomenal
job of marketing JYD

when he hired him.
I will give him that.

You have become one of the
most popular athletes

in the World Wresting
Federation, perhaps in,

in the most shortest length
of time than anyone

ever to enter the ring.

You know, I've been
very fortunate.

A lot of help
come from...

just understanding
the people,

getting along
with people.

It don't make no difference
what race or colour is.

Financially, it was the
best move Dog ever made.

He told me one time,
he was making

six figures a quarter on
his action figure.

That's the third time
my junkyard's

been burgled this month.

There's only one way to
protect this place, amigo,

you've gotta get
yourself a Junkyard Dog.

I thought that was cool,
seeing the cartoons on

Saturday mornings,
his action figure.

The music video,
all that stuff,

that was pretty cool
as a kid to see.

Ah, "Grab Them Cakes".

He couldn't sing
for shit though.

[Laughing]

♪ GET YOURSELF
STARTED. ♪

♪ IT'S HARD TO STOP. ♪

♪ YOU JUST GO FOR
YOUR PARTNERS ♪

♪ YOU KNOW WHAT. ♪

♪ AND THEN YOU
G-R-A-B ♪

♪ T-H-E-M C-A-K-E-S! ♪

♪ AH,
GRAB THEM CAKES! ♪

♪ OH! ♪

And his dreams were
all being fulfilled...

and he was
making money.

He was doing it, man,
he was doing it.

Junkyard Dog, and
World's Heavyweight Champion,

Hulk Hogan!

Longevity-wise, you know,
it's hard to stick around.

Extremely
competitive business,

everybody wants Hogan's
spot, the spot below that.

A lot of hungry guys.

And, hard to
stick around.

As The Junkyard Dog joins a
WWF roster packed with

some of the biggest
names in wrestling,

his magnetic presence can
only carry him so far.

Despite his best efforts,
he fails to recapture the

towering heights of his
glory days in Mid-South.

I don't think the industry
was ready to go that route.

Um, how can I say it?

With a...

Black wrestler.

That's just my opinion.

I really believe that JYD
thought that Vince McMahon

was gonna push him the
same way as Bill Watts.

And, it didn't happen.

He figured, well, I done
let Louisiana down.

I done let my family down.

I done let Bill Watts down.
He was just heartbroken.

Having left the Mid-South
territory behind for the

promise of even greater fame,
The Junkyard Dog fails to

reach the same level of
prominence in the WWF.

Me and Dog wanna be
climbing up mountaintops!

We want to go to
the promise land!

We want to be with
Hulk Hogan, brother!

They pushed some
Black wrestlers there,

but as far as putting the
Black man in the money spot...

No...
Not at all.

They didn't go there.

So, I gotta put this Black
and white thing together

all the time, 'cause that's
the only way I see it.

From 1980, to...

I would say '86, 80% of the
top wrestlers were minorities.

In the Vince Sr. era,

Vince McMahon Sr.
figured that

you have to have a person
representing every

nationality of people,
and that was his idea.

Pedro Morales,
Bruno Sammartino,

Rocky Johnson,
The Wild Samoans,

Mr. Fugi,
Bob Backlund.

In that whole list, I named
how many white people?

One.

But right now, let's begin
the festivities without

further ado,
let's go up to ringside.

When Vince Jr.
took over, well,

there wasn't as many
minorities on top.

He came with the Hulk Hogan,

Roddy Piper, Bret Hart.

Well, he had a
pecking order for Dog.

He needed a Black
wrestler, but that,

he had to push the
Caucasian wrestler.

It's not racism, it was
a business decision.

He wanted to get the
white fans to come more.

Vince McMahon didn't
use him like Bill did.

I wish he had,
because if he'd a...

opened that door, I think
he could have been

one of the biggest
stars in the WWE.

Do I think it affected
him? Absolutely.

And I think that was when

the drugs got really bad.

[Tony]
Dog started off with pot.

And, that led to cocaine.

He just smoked it.
Y'all call it "crack" now.

[Jake exhaling sharply]
Once he got into the coke,

the coke took him.

He had to have it
every day.

JYD didn't care
where he was at.

He'd just pull
it out and do it.

On airplanes and
everything, man.

He got me in
trouble one time.

They were doing a TNT thing
that Vince used to do.

He said, "I want you to make
sure he gets there."

They got a Learjet
for him, a nice jet.

So, when Dog landed,

they got the guy with
the limousine to

pick us up at the airport.

Dog sent the limousine
out to the ghetto

to get some dope.

So, they're driving around.

"Dog, we gotta get
to the building. Dog!"

Finally, he found somebody
to sell him his dope.

The limousine driver had
no idea what was going on.

So, Dog asked, "Is it
okay if I smoke?"

The limo guy, he thought
he means cigarettes.

Dog said, "Yeah." He
takes out his crack pipe,

and he started smoking
crack in the car!

All of a sudden,
the limo driver's like...

[Sputtering] He don't know
what the hell to do!

We finally get Dog there,
but we late.

Which means I
missed my match.

Dog forgot one thing that
Thunderbolt Patterson

was trying to teach all
of us Black wrestlers.

Thunderbolt used
to always say,

"You can't do what the white
man do and keep your job."

By the late 1980s,
The Junkyard Dog

is consumed by a
devastating drug addiction,

and its consequences
are felt

far beyond the
squared circle.

He didn't look good.
He would talk, but...

he wasn't that cheerful
Dog that we knew.

He just wasn't
the same person.

He didn't care
what happened.

He didn't care at all.
I mean, he just...

[Jake] Oh, my God, yeah,
he was out of control.

I remember him sitting there
in Madison Square Garden.

And loading a pipe up,

and hitting it right in
front of everybody.

I go, "JY, what are you
doing, man?" He goes,

"---- them,
they don't even know,

they don't even
know what it is."

[Groaning]
You know?

He was just-
[Exhaling sharply] Burnt.

Oh, yeah, the Dog came
out of his hiding place.

Started to begin to move
up and down

that ladder once again.

And like I said,
time and time again,

if a Dog needs a
bone to chew on...

Of course, he had
a drug problem.

Everybody was
taking drugs back then.

I can't throw no stones.

I- A to Z- I just
never had that

addictive type personality.

But Dog,
he struggled with that.

He sank into it. It was
more and more, and...

You know, there was no
talking him out of it.

No-shows, the way
I understood it.

But when you
miss shows, you,

you scare 'em
when you do that.

[Koko] I didn't have
no idea that he was

leaving or
anything like that.

And that's the way the
wrestling business,

it was like that.

They didn't give you
two weeks' notice.

Tell you, "Hey, leave."

A guy can't go
buy groceries.

He don't have
any money.

And you haven't
seen your family.

It's disheartening.

He definitely
had a great soul.

If JYD's story isn't
a cautionary tale,

then people aren't
paying attention.

Fired from the WWF,

and struggling to
make ends meet,

JYD turns to the
independent circuit,

performing in small
high school gyms

for diminishing crowds.

After hitting rock bottom,
JYD's fortunes change with

an offer to join World
Championship Wrestling,

where his old friend
and mentor, Bill Watts,

is now in charge.

And Bill Watts came in, and
he knew that he could make

his mark if he recaptured
that Black superstar.

He was likeable as hell.

Everybody there
was happy to...

try to resurrect him,
shall we say.

I knew that his days of
working on the top were over.

He didn't know that.

He didn't seem like he
wanted to admit it, but...

you ain't the same guy.

And, you look bloated.

You're not JYD right now.

And at some point, you hold
out hope that somebody that

you love and respect, well,
they'll see the light.

But let me tell you something-
as my daddy would say,

"They gotta carry
their share of the water."

I get mad when I pull up
stories about it.

First thing people say,
"Drugs this, drugs that."

You got a, a guy that
came from nothing,

and they pulled him out
of that environment...

give him all this money.

I'm not making excuses,
but yeah, he did drugs.

Whoopee. I mean,
everybody got demons.

I'm pretty sure the last time
I seen him was like 1995,

and I came in and he
was just mumbling.

[Mimicking mumbling
incoherently]

That was about it, man,

and I went back to where
he was sitting, they said,

"He's in the ring."
I went out to watch,

they were ringing the bell,
it was over.

Lasted about two minutes.

That's all he gave 'em.
And he came back,

grabbed his money and
walked out the door.

Didn't say bye, didn't say hi,
didn't say nothing, man.

And I know exactly
where he was at.

He was wanting to get outside
so he could get high again.

Been there.

I've been there.

If he had his drug fix,
he was perfectly happy

to go into isolation until
he needed the money.

Then he'd work a show

for some independent
promoter for the cash.

[Jake] You see the pain
that you get

from the cocaine is because

you look in the mirror
every now and then,

moment of clarity, and
you'll look at yourself and

you'll see just how far
down you've gone.

That's painful and,
it's also shameful.

And those two things,
man, will kill you.

In just over a decade,

JYD goes from
headlining the Super Dome,

to working a part-time
job at a local Wal-Mart.

Dog is used to being
treated a certain way for

a long period of time,
from his football career

to his wrestling career.
And then all of a sudden,

all that is taken
away from him.

You have to get used to
being treated...

like shit, pretty much.

When I hit that spot,
I tried to commit suicide.

I was homeless for
a year and a half.

I slept in the park.

Didn't shower, or bathe,
or brush my teeth,

or comb my hair for
a year and a half.

That was right
before Saba Simba.

So, Dog was going
through the same thing.

He didn't save his money.

Dog was very
careless with money.

He was making 8,
$10,000 a week!

It just came so easy to him,

and all of us
felt the same way-

not just Dog-
that it would never end.

We figured this
would never end,

that we always gonna
be making money.

We always gonna
be big stars.

This would never end.

So, the phone rings one day
and I get a call from JYD.

I hadn't talked to him
in quite a while and,

he knows by now that,
you know,

I've had this change in
my life and that I'm now,

not only doing school
assemblies, but I'm,

I'm speaking at churches.

If you're a wrestling fan,
you may have

remembered the
Million-Dollar Man.

How many in this room would
say you remember that guy?

[Audience]
Yeah! Woo!

And he said, "I want you to
encourage those kids

you're talking to...

not to do what I did."

And I was just like, "Wow."

I did what he
asked me to do.

That sin, that one that goes
away for a week or a month,

and then it rears its
ugly head and it's back...

or maybe even worse,
it's there every day.

Drugs, alcohol, addiction.

Here's a guy who was
the biggest name.

And, succumbed
to drugs.

And of course, yeah,
it was probably

one of the last
conversations we had.

The last time he came home

was for his daughter's
graduation.

He was coming
from Mississippi.

Dog was real proud
of his daughter.

He wanted to make sure
that he was at

his daughter's graduation
because,

I mean, she would
want him there, too.

I mean, that's- you gotta
feel real proud if your dad

is The Junkyard Dog and he
walks into your graduation.

[Laughing] It don't get
no better than that.

So, he was certainly
determined to get there.

[Jarvis] From where he was
living out in Mississippi

to Charlotte,
North Carolina

is about a 9-hour
drive one way.

He misses the graduation.

We're all at my mom
and dad's house.

He shows up. Of course,
he apologizes,

you know,
that he was late.

He holds my son
for the first time.

My son was six months old,
but he looks like

a little miniature baby
doll in his hand.

And he held him for a while,
but that was

the last family photo
taken of him.

♪

And then, later on,
you know, he said,

"Well, I'm gonna get
back on the road."

So, I met him at
this gas station,

and there's something on
the driver's side door.

I'm like, "Dude, what's that?"
And he goes, "Puke."

[Laughing] "Boy,
so you had a long night,

last night." So, I didn't
think nothing else about it.

And I said, "You gonna
drive all the way back home?

You're not gonna pull over
to sleep or anything?"

He said, "Nah, I'm just
gonna go ahead and drive on,

you know,
make it straight home."

I didn't know that
was gonna be

the last conversation
I had with him though.

On June 1st, 1998,

after leaving a
celebration of his

daughter's high
school graduation,

The Junkyard Dog sets out
on the long and

fateful journey home.

We talked 10, 15 minutes,
right before he was getting

ready to go, he's done
gassing up and everything,

and he's...

I said, "Well, man," I said,
"when you coming back down?"

He said, "Man, you know,
I'll be back on the 4th.

Be back on the 4th." I said,
"Alright, well, cool, man,

I'll see you then," you know,
dapped each other up.

He gets in the car, and
he drives away, I go home.

The next day, I get
the call at work,

and it's my mom.
And, she's...

you know, very upset,
and I just- she said,

"Sylvester got
killed last night."

I was like, "Wait, what?"
And, she...

rambled something, and I
could barely make it out.

I just heard, "Car,
he got killed,"

and she hangs up
the phone.

♪

And, according to
the authorities,

the accident happened
that morning.

So, he drove all through
the night, all night long.

He fell asleep, there was
no skid marks.

You can see where the
car veered off the road,

and it flipped
several times.

There's no way he could've
been wearing his seatbelt

'cause he was too damn
big for that seatbelt.

He shouldn't have been
in that car anyway.

And, it was head trauma.

According to the autopsy.

A lot of time when you're
on the drugs, you know,

you're up three or
four days sometimes.

You don't get no rest until
sometime the body just says,

"Hey, I don't want no more.
I'm shutting down."

So, that's what the
body has to do to you

for you to
really go get rest.

So, I think Dog just
hadn't had no rest,

and the body
just shut down.

It broke my heart.

And I'm sure it broke
the world's heart.

He loved Ted Dibiase.
They was like brothers.

And, I know it
broke Ted's heart.

I was very hopeful then that
he was gonna get better.

Next thing I know,
he's, he's had a...

car wreck.

I got a phone call when
he had the car wreck.

To tell you the truth,
I was happy for him.

'Cause I was still caught...

in the trenches.

And I knew that
he'd escaped.

I knew that the
pain was over.

I started crying 'cause I
realized I never got to tell him

how much I loved him.

The period of time
I was around him,

he was such a
dynamite human being.

The fact of how we ended

our relationship was
not near as important

as the time
we spent together.

JYD was a neat,
special person.

And then you also see
the terrible battle

that's fought when guys get
something that

gets a hold of them that
they can't whip.

Alright, so, this is
his grave site here.

One of his last
wrestling pictures.

And, just below him,
this is his daughter.

What actually, what it was,
was a ruptured heart valve.

It actually
literally exploded.

There was nothing they
could've done anyway.

And then, she passed away,
a few minutes after that.

And she was 31 years old.

My mom comes and she puts
flowers and everything.

Never misses a
holiday, birthday.

My mom finds it
very difficult

to talk about Sylvester...

because she was so
close to him and,

she raised Latoya
as her daughter.

It's just traumatic for her
to go back down memory lane,

so to speak.
I think it just opens up...

too many wounds that probably
haven't fully healed.

He was a trailblazer, man.

I'm sure a lot of those
young guys

appreciate the path
that you laid for 'em.

[Teddy] Yes, he did, he paved
the way for all of us.

I mean, any time he came out,
you always remember JYD,

and you will remember him
when you left that arena that

night so, Dog's legacy is
he's just one of the greatest

Black stars in pro wrestling.

JYD did more to
create awareness...

and acceptance within
the closed world,

very prejudiced world
of pro wrestling.

He stepped to the
front of the line,

and he stayed in the front of
the line for many, many years.

The charisma was natural,
and real, organic.

And that's what separated
him from the pack.

Oh, the crowd saying,
"Who that? Who that?

[Audience]
Who that, who that?

"Who that gonna beat
that Junkyard Dog?

Who that?"
This guy is a true hero.

So, I prefer to remember
him in the happier days.

And not anything else.

He broke the barriers.

I mean, the fans are
just all over you, Dog.

It gets pretty hectic at times,
but I enjoy it, man,

I love it. But see,
in this business,

I let them get close to me.

He always had a moment
for a kid, or a grownup.

He had that charisma that
made him a god to those that

loved him, and there
were so many people

that loved him,
Black and white.

Yeah, hard to find anybody
say something bad about JYD.

He was a stand-up guy in a
business where

there's not a whole lot of
stand-up guys.

...An honour to introduce
Sylvester Ritter,

The Junkyard Dog, to the
Wrestling Hall of Fame.

I'm hoping that he's
remembered for

good stuff that he did
in the industry.

LaToya Ritter will be
the recipient of

the award for her dad.

While I'm standing here,
it's important to me-

and I know it would be
important to him-

to introduce his sister,
Christine Woodburn.

He called her "Big Red".

I didn't get to speak to
JYD very much at the end,

but again, that last
conversation when he said,

"Tell my story...

when you're talking
to those kids."

That told me, I said,
"The guy that I knew is back."

♪