All language subtitles for S04E07 Dark Side of the Ring

[Thunder]

Abdullah the Butcher was like
a nightmare come to life.

He terrified people.

[Screaming]

Just savage, bloody,
thirsty machine.

Trying to rip the eyeball.

When Abdullah
walked in the ring,

you know you're
gonna get blood.

Every match he was in,
he bled.

You bled.

[Announcer]
Oh my God, right on-

[narrator] One of the most
infamous wrestlers of all time,

Abdullah the Butcher left
a legacy of violence

and bloodshed
wherever he went-

From Puerto Rico to Japan,

and across North America.

-It's Abdullah!
-[Match bell ringing]

Think about what
he's experiencing.

He's getting cooked!

You can't think of a heel
that was bigger than Abdullah.

You can't.

[Crowd cheering]

He made money
everywhere he went.

But the more
money we made,

the more danger
we had to face.

Even though Abdullah
was playing a character,

inside,
that was him.

He would have people with
slingshots hitting him and

throwing things at him,
because they think

he's hurt the damn guy.

Fans at ringside when
he got too close,

I mean,
they were running!

[Thunder]

Everybody's blood thirsty.

Everybody, everybody
is blood thirsty.

They want it.

Notorious for blurring
the line between

reality and fiction,
Abdullah remained a mystery

even to those
closest to him.

See, you all know
the wrestler,

but you don't
know the person.

He's a hero all the time.

He was a very good person.

In a gruesome but successful
career spanning 7 decades,

Abdullah's thirst for
blood made him infamous,

but also led to his downfall.

He cost me my WWE
career, that was a fact.

The Hep C caused me

not to have my WWE contract.

-[Indistinct shouting]
-Japan. Japan.

You're a piece of shit and
I hope that when you die,

you die a really slow
and painful death.

♪

Now he's biting again
the wound that's

already open on
the forehead.

Acting like he finds the

taste of the
blood pleasurable.

Abdullah the Butcher
would come into a regional

wrestling territory and
just set business on fire.

Blood everywhere!

The difference between
Abdullah and everyone else

is when anyone else
came into the territory,

fans were rooting for their
favourite to win.

When Abdullah came in,

they were rooting for their
favourite to survive.

Oh, what a...

Looks like he's getting
ready to carve up

a steak there and eat
a little bit of it.

Hello, I'm Mick Foley,
sometimes known as the

Hardcore Legend, and I
have been involved with

professional wrestling
since 1985.

I knew of the
legend of Abdullah,

because in those days,
you learned about people

outside of your geographic
area largely by the magazines.

And the magazines painted
this amazing portrait of

this unstoppable monster.

I was so intrigued by
Abdullah the Butcher that the

first thing I did, uh, when I
got to college as a freshman,

is I put a black and white
photo of him on the wall,

and began to tell the
entire dormitory that

he was my father.

When you have those,
those, uh,

Taekwondo karate pants,
and you see him

with a fork with all
those gigantic cuts...

And he opens those big eyes
and you see him on promos,

eating, uh, liver and the
blood of the liver coming out...

That's Abdullah the Butcher,
and he was unstoppable.

My name is Hugo Savinovich.

I'm from Guayaquil, Ecuador,
and I've been in this

passionate industry
for close to 50 years.

And I will do it again!
Love lucha libre.

No one was safe.

Here he comes again,
he hits Bronko Lubich.

Not the referee, not the
owner of the company.

He would put fear
into your body,

into your brain,
your soul.

[Spanish commentary]

Yeah. Eating a raw,
raw meat.

[Laughing]
Chicken.

I don't know.
And he could even

take a phonebook and
tear it in half.

♪

Mhmm.

My name is
Josephine Hearon Shreve.

Abdullah the Butcher
is my brother.

Windsor, at that time
when I was growing up,

I always say
that's old school.

And it was like we was raised
in a two bedroom house,

war time house,
there was eight of us.

Two or three of us slept
in a bed together.

I had my own room because
I slept in the bathtub.

I had a cushion
to put in there.

My father and them would
have to go to the bathroom,

they'd piss in a can.

My mother had to
come in the washroom,

she'd knock on the door,
and I'd get out of the tub

and let her in. 'Cause I
don't think my mother

wanted to piss
in a can, okay?

That's the way it was.

My name is Ralph Shreve.

I am Larry Paul
Shreve's brother,

as Abdullah the Butcher.

I call him Larry.

That's his name, to me.

Abdullah the Butcher
is his money name,

his wrestling name.

If you ever interview him,

you just look at
his damn head.

-You ever interview him?
-Mhmm.

Oh, there you go then.

I guess, you,
he tells the truth,

but I'll tell you one thing,

there I think you
should be better off

talking to him a
longer distance.

[Indiscernible shout]

He'll have your ass
jump up in one minute,

and you
scared to death.

He's a good actor.

♪

♪

♪

[Booing]

[Off-screen]
Oh yeah we just gotta-

[Abdullah] I wanted to
take it off with the thing.

I got my head off, let me
take my head off.

[Off-screen]
Looking good.

[Laughing]

Yeah, that's me.

My name is Larry Shreve.

My name,
my other wrestling name,

is Abdullah the Butcher.

I'm from
"Cartoon", Sudan,

but now since
I'm putting air out,

I'm from "Cartoon", Sudan,
Windsor Ontario.

[Off-screen]
[Laughing]

Oh they worked hard.
My mother worked hard,

my dad worked hard.

[Teeth clicking]

[Sighing]

When I seen my mother on
the floor, scrubbing floors,

you know, at the funeral home,
I said to myself,

"Holy shit, my mother
works hard."

But I never knew
that she was

on her hands and knees
until I went there.

I didn't want to learn how to
read or write because

I was only worrying about
my mother and father.

I wanted to make money.

I used to buy candy,
three for a penny.

Go to school, and uh,

"You wanna buy
some candy?" Right?

I'd sell it for maybe
a penny a piece or whatever.

When the kids owed me
money and I'd say,

"When you gonna pay me
my money?"

So maybe he got scared

like I was gonna
do something, right?

So he wouldn't
go to school.

Maybe his mother
came and says,

"My kid is scared to
come to school."

And uh, that was it.
Then I says,

"I gotta get out of here
and try to make some,

you know, money where I
don't have a problem."

And that's what I done.

He only finished
the grade second.

I was a year smarter than him
and I'm not really that smart

myself, but I'm
saying we done a lot.

He done, Larry, he went to
people's houses knocking on

the door and asking for
old clothes all that,

and he had a second hand
store with all kinds of

old clothes, and
he had a store.

He shined shoes for years,

then he got a janitorial
service, uh, business.

He had people cutting
grass and all that.

He had a, he had a truck
where he went around

moving stuff out of people's
basements and all that.

He was a worker.

Let's just say he
was always a hustler.

He'd be into, he'd been
into karate and all that.

He had a karate place where
like, senior citizens,

he trained them to learn
how to defend their self.

That's right in Windsor
he had about eight or nine

old ladies in their
60s or 70s,

and he had where they
could defend their self.

Just old people and that.

I was down at the Windsor
arena and I was doing karate

and stuff like that, and uh,
the manager of the place,

he said, "Hey, you should
be a wrestler."

I said, "Oh I don't want
to do that crap."

He said, "You could
make some money."

I said, "Oh, OK."

Abdullah crosses the
river to Detroit

where he meets the
original Sheikh,

one of the innovators of
hardcore wrestling.

Wait a minute.
The Sheikh has got the fire!

-Oh!
-A despicable act of biting.

Abdullah playing an
Arabic, uh, wrestler,

they only had
one at that time.

And that was, they
called him The Sheikh.

Not the Iron Sheikh,
the Sheikh out of Detroit.

He used to do all
that stuff, you know,

cut you in your forehead.
Walk around crazy.

[Shouting] A ball of fire
into the face...

Put out that fireball!

Hi, this is Mr. USA,

WWE Hall of Famer,
Tony Atlas.

He grew up watching
the Sheikh,

imitating the Sheikh.

[Indistinct commentary]
...Camel clutch.

Wait a minute, wait a
minute, that's my scarf!

Oh this is a grudge match!
This is war!

[Larry] I told my dad, I said,
"Dad, I'm wrestling at

Cobo Hall."
My dad says,

"Those are some dangerous
people over there."

My dad used to see me
with cuts on my head.

He told my mother,
"Tell him that he'd better,

he'd better get out
of that shit."

I said, "Dad, listen,
smack me."

He said, "For what?"
I said, "Just smack me."

♪

♪

♪

He went-

He seen me bleeding.

He said, "I didn't
hit you that hard!"

Then I showed him
the blade.

He said, "Now I know
you're crazy."

[Laughing]

Having learned this
bloody trick of the trade,

Abdullah travels the world

showcasing his hardcore style.

While working
in Puerto Rico,

he meets promoter
Carlos Colón and

his right hand man,
Hugo Savinovich.

I started working with
Carlos and they say,

"You're good, but you're
not big enough."

He says, "I want to make
you a manager."

And then he says,
"By the way,

we're bringing into
Puerto Rico, one month...

Abdullah the Butcher."

And I, I have heard
of him, and I said,

"Wow, I mean, what a way
to begin a managing career."

Managing him,
it was, you know, just,

a, just a crazy, crazy
way of earning a living.

Everybody just
going crazy here.

By 1983, he was already
drawing gigantic money in,

in the Caribbean islands
and Puerto Rico.

People will fill up
the stadiums,

until I will make the promoter
Carlos Colón look good.

But at the same time,
he will destroy you.

Perhaps the fear of being
involved in this match-

[Tony] Abdullah was wrestling in
Puerto Rico for a couple of

months, he'd wrestle in
Japan for a couple of months,

and then he would come
back to the States.

[Commentary]
Whoa!

[Audience screaming]

And he was a big draw.

I mean, wherever he
went he drew money.

Abdullah was worth every
penny that he got paid and

trust me, he was
making huge money.

He lived really
like a rich guy.

Abdullah were very
cautious of his money.

When he got paid, as soon
as you'd give it to him

he'd count it.

I made sure my
mother and father,

my brothers and sisters,
got some of it.

My mother used to work for
the funeral homes and

stuff like that, I went to
her one day and I said,

"Come on, Ma."
She said, "What?"

She said, "I want you to
meet Mrs., ah..." I says,

"I don't want to meet them.
You understand?

You're here scrubbing floors
and stuff like that and

I supposed to be
Abdullah the Butcher,

and you're on your hands and
knees scrubbing floors?"

From that day, she never worked
another day of her life.

And I made sure of that.

But I was dumb.

I didn't have the schooling.

Like I tell you, if I
know what I know now,

everybody shafts me.
You understand?

Despite his successful and
profitable rise to fame,

Abdullah today finds
himself in legal trouble and

financial ruin.

Hell.

You don't know who in the
hell is working with you

or working against you.
You understand?

I'm in bad shape.
Real bad shape.

And anybody, anywhere,
that does not fear the

name of the almighty
Abdullah the Butcher,

is either an insane fool
or they're lying to ya.

With Larry Shreve, yeah,
it could be really difficult for

a fan to know where the
character ends,

where the real person begins.

He has reigned terror in the-

[Growling]

For someone who rode with him
for hundreds of hours, um,

yeah, you, you, you get
to know the real guy.

Or what he wants to show
you of the real guy.

Abdullah the Butcher moves
swiftly for a big man.

See, he always talk about
he's an entertainer.

He's entertaining you.

But the real true person,
you all don't know.

My name is
Jocelyn Malikah Marshall.

I met Abdullah while I
was on the streets

feeding the homeless.

He told me his name was Joe
and I was just so excited to

see somebody else
out there like myself

feeding the homeless.

So, I didn't know
he had a restaurant.

He gave me the address of
the restaurant and

I brought my son over there.

My son said, "Do you know
who that is?" He said,

"That's Abdullah the
Butcher." And I said,

"Who is that?" Because
I'm not into wrestling.

Abdullah was his, uh, hero.

He loved the bad guys, yes.

[Tony] Abdullah was
the best heel

that the world ever saw.

Even picturing it in my head
now, just the way he stands,

the way he, he moves
around the ring,

and the things he did.

To see a whole crowd
of people move back.

He could walk
through an aisle and

people would
run from him.

And when he come
through that ring and

people go, "Uh oh,
here come Abdullah."

It got so
it wasn't a gimmick.

He was in character
most of the time.

Especially when he
went out in public.

Uh, I remember seeing
a flight attendant

go over to him, and as
soon as Abdullah saw

that flight attendant,
his eyes bugged out,

his mouth started
watering,

and she tried to like get
his beverage order and

just walked away.
And I was like,

"Abby, are you ok?"
And he goes,

"Gotta protect the
character, champ.

Gotta protect the character."
And that's what he would do,

and so in his own way he
would create this grass roots

campaign for the authenticity
of his character.

Put it this way, when he
went into the ring with

any wrestler, he made
them a good wrestler.

If you had to fight Abdullah,
you fought Abdullah.

You got over.

People knew you
the next day.

They got like a crown on
their head because

they're wrestling
one of the best.

That's why I say, Abdullah
made Carlos Colón.

Abdullah made
Tony "Mr. USA" Atlas.

Everybody that fought
Abdullah became a big star.

Here he comes, hard!
There goes Kevin with a...

The dirty battle continues
between Abdullah and Kevin.

And here he is with the big
karate thrust to the head of

the Dirty Dutch Mantel.

[Cheering]

What really made Abdullah
was the time in Japan.

[Japanese commentary]

In Japan during that time

wrestling was still
about 70% real.

If you got a karate kick
in Japan,

it was a real karate kick.

You got chopped in Japan,
it was a real chop.

The only thing that was
fake in Japan were

who won and who lost.

[Japanese commentary]

He was on the cover of
all these magazines.

They had billboards
of Abdullah, you know,

pictures of Abdullah.

He was what I call
"crazy over".

Like, he was an iconic
part of Japanese culture.

[Shattering glass]

You're through!

That's fine, it doesn't
bother me at all.

♪

[Screaming]
Agh!

As crazy as this
might sound,

he recorded an
album in Japan.

In the,
in the dressing room.

♪ My name is Abdullah
the Butcher! ♪

♪ I want to do all
these crazy things to ya. ♪

♪ My own family hates me
because I'm too vicious. ♪

[Laughing]

They never seen
nothing like me.

I was different.

They only seen the
wrestling, you know?

That was it.
I was different.

[Video game music]

Having found success
with the hardcore style

he adapted from the Sheikh,
Abdullah becomes a mentor

to wrestler Devon Nicholson.

But this long term friendship
will end in disaster.

I actually ended his career.

Retired him in the ring,
retired him out of the ring.

♪

My name is Devon Nicholson

and my wrestling name
was Hannibal.

There will be no more
Abdullah after the 23rd!

No class, no idea
how to dress.

Starting his career with
Stampede Wrestling in 2001,

Devon begins working under
the name "Mad Man Hannibal",

and soon launches his
own indie promotion,

Great North Wrestling.

In 2006, he begins
working with Abdullah.

Before all the, all the
negative stuff happened,

I actually considered him

somewhat of a
mentor and like...

I would say he was the
first wrestler to like,

take me under his wing a bit,
and teach me about

how to get heat and stuff.

We ended up tag teaming and
wrestling each other, uh,

numerous times.

I knew- yeah, I used
to work for him.

Yeah. I used to fly into,
um, Toronto or whatever,

and we had shows.

He'd come out to
Calgary, Alberta.

We'd have shows.
You understand?

Abdullah, you think
I'm not ready for you?

[Screams] I'm gonna get you,
in your last match in Canada.

[Groaning]

There will be some people
that will always, uh,

hate me for exposing him,
but whatever.

I don't care.
[Laughs]

I stopped him from wrestling.

♪

Already 68 years old and
six decades into his career,

Abdullah returns to Canada
to wrestle Hannibal in

what's being billed as his
retirement match.

I remember my first
experience of Abdullah.

My grandmother was actually
somewhat of a wrestling fan,

and I remember she let me
rent a wrestling movie

called, "I Like
to Hurt People."

Against the butcher from the
Sudan, Abdullah the Butcher.

And I just remember
thinking, um,

how did they make
this blood effect?

You didn't really know how
they did blood in those days.

You'll probably
have to edit this.

♪

And I know Bret Hart would
put it in his mouth,

he said, but I was always
too afraid to do that.

So, then you would take the
blade and put it like there,

and tape over top and then
when it comes time to bleed

you'd pull it out.

And then, I'm not gonna
do it, I'm not Abdullah,

but you'd slice
down like that.

Now, for me to hit myself,
I would hit myself like this.

You see it?

I was around Abdullah a lot.

And you never actually
see him do the deed.

The blood would arrive as if,
you know, by magic.

Abdullah have razor
blades on all his fingers.

First he'd cut you
with the razor blade.

And what does he got?
He's got a foot!

And then he would take the
fork and scrape it across and

make it bigger so
it could bleed more.

[Laughing]

And he after
would stick that fork,

and he would stick you
with that fork too.

He's about to stab you in
the head with that fork,

hurt like hell.

That's Abdullah,
Abdullah the Butcher!

I mean,
he would cut you deep.

Not to Abdullah.

Because, see,

in the older days the guys
would tell you this,

"Suck it up!

If you don't like it you're
in the wrong business, kid.

Suck it up."

There was no bitching and
complaining in wrestling.

I didn't carry a blade 'cause
I didn't juice every night.

But this was part of
these guys' gimmick.

Abdullah, Bruiser Brody,

Dusty Rhodes...

[Cheering]

Abdullah bled every night.
Every night.

It was kind of like,
Ric Flair gotta have the robe,

where Abdullah gotta
have the blade.

Why you, why do they call
him Abdullah the Butcher?

What does a butcher do?

They take the-
make blood.

They try to hurt you,
to torture you.

This guy here, he was
rushed to the hospital.

He had four stitches
in the back of head,

'cause this guy chopped him
in the damn head and got cut.

Don't think that this
is all phoney blood.

Abdullah's intense blood
lust and unpredictable style

keeps him from signing
with the world's

largest promotion,
Vince McMahon's WWE.

Vince kind of knew that
Abdullah was going to be

very hard to be controlled,
and

I think that if you would
even ask Abdullah,

I don't think
he even trusted himself.

Because I don't think a lot
of times he planned things.

We were going to have a tag
team match in Ottawa and

before the match we were
appearing on a local

television show called,
"Roger's Daytime."

I just happen to have
a fork right here.

-Oh.
-Eh?

With the old, you know.
[Mock screaming]

And without, uh, this
being planned or anything.

-It's always a pleasure.
-Thank you.

-Why do you have to go?
-[Yells]

He put the male host
in a headlock.

-Abdullah! Abdullah!
-[Screaming]

Abdullah, settle down!

He walked the male host over
to where there was

going to be a cooking
segment after.

[Growling]

[Shattering]

And then the guy
started bleeding.

Settle, back off, are you
gonna manage this Friday?

-Ah, you know what?
-You should come with me.

And come to the show
on Friday night.

It was the weirdest
moment ever.

The guy was like,

I just remember him
shaking like that.

He was like going
into shock almost.

It was like a guy that
obviously isn't used to

bleeding or getting in
fights or anything.

Uh, we'll be right
back after this.

I think that was 2009.

You couldn't even really
get away with it then,

it was a miracle he did.

But you could see like
how in the old days

he could get away
with stuff like that.

But I think in 2022 it
would be hard to assault

a TV show host and
get away with it.

I think he was in his
late 60s by then too.

So, it, so it
certainly... helped.

After years on the
independent circuit and

mentorship from Abdullah,
Hannibal finally achieves

his own opportunity to
wrestle for the WWE.

When I was signed by WWE

he actually
screamed with joy,

because I guess since he
never actually wrestled

for them, and it was
kind of like,

someone that kind of
represented him in a way,

was going to get in there.

But after a series of
routine blood tests,

Hannibal receives
career shattering news.

In my blood test they found
that the Hepatitis C virus

was present, and
I was, like...

well, first of all, I was
confused on like

how I would have
such a thing.

A lot of guys would use
dirty razor blades, you know.

'Cause everybody
didn't carry blades.

Everybody didn't carry blades.

Sometimes you'd say
something like,

"Hey Abby, you got a
blade I could use?"

Then he'd go and use
the blade and, you know,

when you borrow something
you gotta do what?

Give it back.

And they would give it
back to Abdullah.

So, it was very easy for
somebody to catch a disease

because who knows where
that blade came from?

Or who they cut before
they cut Hannibal.

Yes.

'Cause there was no other
way that I would have

thought that I would have
caught it, but I wasn't...

like, at this point,
I didn't think that

I would have the evidence
or anything.

Yeah, we were good friends,
I used to work for him.

He was a promoter.

So, I don't know what
happened but, uh,

I don't want to
talk about this.

I don't want to talk about it.

His career cut short by
his Hepatitis C diagnosis,

Hannibal is desperate
for answers.

I had a guy that was doing
a documentary on me,

it's called,
"This is Hannibal."

We were hoping that it was
going to be my journey to

WWE movie, but it ended up
just being like a sad movie.

Obviously,
it didn't work out.

That the contract got
rescinded because

I have Hepatitis C.

So, he was the one that
actually saw the

cutting incident, and he
showed me the clip

from the 2007 match.

And he was like, "What is
Abdullah doing here?"

I haven't even seen
footage of the match,

to be honest with you.

I would love to see it.

And, you see him doing
that to my forehead.

So, I'm like,
he's blading me.

Oh my God.

Eight years managing him
in different countries,

I never saw him

doing that to another,
another guy.

And if that's
the case, wow.

Many local news stations
saw my movie and

did their own stories on it,

because Ottawa,
I don't think,

ever had somebody
that had made WWE.

Ronald Caza, one of the
top lawyers in this area,

saw the case and

with his skill as a lawyer
he was able to

basically force Abdullah
to provide his blood test.

According to his blood work
there's a history of Hep C,

so, you would
think that he knew.

But whether he knew or not,
he should have known

it's dangerous to cut
someone with a razor blade

with blood on it.

The footage of Abdullah
cutting Hannibal

with a used razor blade,

and the results
of Abdullah's blood tests

formed the basis of a
lawsuit filed by Hannibal.

A lawsuit that Abdullah
claims he couldn't read,

or understand.

I was getting a lot
of letters, right?

What am I gonna do,
open it up?

I don't know what
the hell it says.

If it wasn't
for Malikah, no.

I wouldn't, I'd be,
I'd really be in bad shape.

And he sat me down, he said,
"Sit down, Malikah."

But he told me he didn't
know how to read and write,

and he cried like a baby.

A big, huge man,
like this, crying.

I've never seen a
man cry like that.

♪

That's when I understood what
was going on in his life,

and he would ask me to open
his mail and read it to him.

And after I looked through it,
it included the,

the court case with
Devon Nicholson.

I don't know
anything about that.

My sister called me
and said,

"You lost the case,
in uh, Toronto."

I said, "What?"

And it was default.

That's what, because I didn't
show up, and that was it.

When you aspire to be a
professional wrestler,

this is how you celebrate
a legal victory.

He ended up losing in court
in both Ontario and Georgia,

and he was found
guilty of negligence,

assault, and battery.

He either knew,
or should have known

that he had Hep C,
which Abdullah still denies

even though he provided
the blood tests.

Court documents show that
Abdullah carries the

same rare strain of
Hepatitis C as Hannibal.

In the years that follow,
Abdullah makes a

range of claims including
the allegation that it was

Hannibal who gave the
disease to him.

After the Canadian judge
sees the video evidence,

coupled with the confirmation
that both men share the same

rare strain of Hep C, the
courts side with Hannibal.

It's very good to have that
on the record after all this,

all these years,
of being called a liar.

Devon Nicholson was awarded
$2.3 million in damages.

Nah, I, I don't think
he should pay it, no.

No, not that much, nah.

Nothing.

I wouldn't have sued him.

When you get into a
certain profession,

you know,
you're taking a risk.

Hannibal could have
done it himself.

That's what the
guys told me,

"Tony, he don't
change his blade.

Do it yourself."
He let Abdullah cut him.

He could have
cut himself,

but he was
scared to cut himself

so got somebody
else to do it.

And it cost him.

♪

In dire financial straits,
Abdullah continues to make

wrestling related appearances
and autograph signings.

Hannibal claims that Abdullah
has moved around his assets

in order to avoid paying him,
and to this day

the matter is still in front
of the courts.

He's never paid anything.

He hasn't paid a penny.

Nah. I don't
think he have it.

I want you all
to look at this.

These,
this is dangerous.

This is stuff that
you have never seen.

-Look at this.
-Oh boy.

He has no money to
repair none of this.

Now this is a light fixture

where the water
is coming down.

This is electrical.
I- listen.

Right now, currently.

That's why I didn't allow you
all to come back there.

♪

I am stressed.
I'm stressed.

I've never had blood
pressure until

I got moved
into this house.

But it's worth it when you
see someone being

taken advantage as him.
He built a career.

I should have went to school.
I should have went to school

to learn how to
read and write.

I studied... money.

But I needed more than that.

[Off-screen]
Right.

I got shafted.

All the tapes, what I made
for many, many years...

got nothing.

Whatever he's going through,

whatever he's going through
that was all his anyways.

So I don't want to
say too much,

I'll tell it,
that's the truth.

My brother, don't worry,
my brother is a,

he's a very nice person, but
people play games with him.

No, and I've seen him

order at restaurants,
reading menus.

I've seen letters from him.
I've seen him sign autographs.

He's owned several businesses
over the years and

been involved with large
wrestling contracts with

companies like WCW,

and Japanese companies.

No.
Nope, he never could.

But he'd find ways like,
if they told him, like,

to go, uh, to a chicken farm
or something like that,

he'd draw a picture
of a chicken.

He...

I don't mean this to
be humorous, but like,

he knew how to read
a menu? You know?

Like, uh, we would eat out
three times a day,

he never had an issue.

I don't know if
that's the case.

If it is I think
it's just, uh,

it's an accolade for him to
be that successful

around the world without that
ability, but I don't know.

I've only recently heard that.

That's like a
shock to me,

because he made great
business transactions.

Even in a cheque, in a
cheque you have to write it.

I did not know that,
and I,

eight years,
we travelled a lot.

Spent a lot of time together
and that is a shock to me.

If that is a guy of a
second grade education, wow.

That, whoever
was the teacher,

we gotta find him or her
and honour that person,

because that
teacher did a lot.

Abdullah the Butcher himself

getting stitched up
right here.

The punishing style of
hardcore wrestling has

a long legacy, but it
often comes at

great personal cost for
those involved.

Abdullah and Carlos Colón
invented a match with

a chain going right
across the ring,

and there were hook to it,

and even with the rain,
a storm,

you could still see just
all the blood coming down.

It was horrendous,
but for the fans,

it was just devastating
the punishment that

they inflicted
on each other.

We felt invincible.

[Thunder

And they trained you to
feel invincible.

At those times we will put
the blood of their opponent

as part of being a heel,
and suck the blood

out of your opponent's head.

When I talk about it right
now I see the expressions

on a young, the new
generation, like,

"What the heck were you guys
thinking?" But you know,

back then it was a whole
different, different world.

[Japanese commentary]

Any time you watch something,
even if you watch

a movie picture or
something like that,

they always have
violence in it. Right?

You have like the
cops and the robbers,

you have this and
stuff like that.

It's always violence.

And if you don't give
the people violence,

they don't come
and see ya.

In a twist of fate in 2021,

seven years after
his own court battle,

Hannibal finds
himself at the centre of

his own controversy by
brutalizing a referee.

They were looking for someone
to bleed from the spike, so,

the promoter found this
referee that was a

known bleeder to,
to take the spike.

It hit him several
times for...

and it did some damage.

The promoter that,
for that show, um,

did not have any
medics on site.

It went on longer
than it should have,

like it was bad
communication all around.

Oh my God.
That even makes no sense.

I mean, you just were
in a situation and... wow.

Strange things do
happen because

what are the chances that
you win a court case and

now you're gonna do
that to a referee?

[Exhaling sharply]
Crazy.

To this day, Abdullah's
legal problems haunt him,

and the Hepatitis C
controversy has

tainted the legacy of his
legendary career.

I know it was
horrendous to hear,

because you never want to
hear that somebody

did this to another guy, uh,

but then you also
wonder because

in my case
I was around him

in bloody matches,
you know?

And Carlos Colón,
and other guys...

but, none of us tested,
you know, positive to that.

Hannibal eventually finds an
experimental treatment that

cures him of his Hepatitis C,
but his bitterness remains.

Yes. [Laughing]

I mean, start, start
paying what you can and

take some responsibility
for what you did.

You've been,
you've been found guilty

in both Canada and the US,

but you never
apologized for anything.

Yeah, it's just been
a nightmare situation,

but I would never expect
that from him.

So, all I can do is move on,
which I have been doing.

I'll be honest, talking about
this situation, I mean,

this, this is, uh,
hopefully the last time

I'll have to talk about it.

It was a terrible period
of my life, and I'm over it.

♪

Because the lawsuit is
argued in a civil trial,

the judge found
Abdullah the Butcher liable,

but not guilty, of causing
Hannibal's Hepatitis C.

This is the Hall of Fame,
and all of these,

these wrestlers here,
these are the old ones.

They're probably all dead now.

They're all in the Hall of Fame
with Abdullah the Butcher.

Well, I put it this way, all
my family is his biggest fan.

He done good.

And I hate to say this,
there's a lot of

good wrestlers, I put it this
way, he's one of the best.

Being around our
next inductee

always made me a
little nervous.

This is a man who took
hardcore to another level.

Take a look.

In 2011, Abdullah the Butcher
is inducted into

the WWE's Hall of Fame.

But if I'm looking to be in
the Hall of Fame, I says,

"I don't believe it until
they book me there." You know?

And Terry Funk was the one
who would put me over strong,

you know, said nice
things about me.

You know, he said,
"Whatever people say

about Abdullah the Butcher,

he made these promoters
a lot of money." See.

I cried. Because I know the
story that, uh,

to be what he became

he paid the price, and,

yes, he made the money,
but...

it wasn't easy being
Abdullah the Butcher.

What's missing in wrestling
today is the idea that

someone, an opponent,
is fighting for

something bigger than
a title or a victory.

They're fighting
for their lives.

That's what he
brought to the table,

and I don't know if anyone
ever did it better than

Abdullah the Butcher.

I never seen anybody
that found

what they're
actually afraid of.

[Screaming]

They was afraid of him.

And I never seen that, I never
saw that with anybody.

I think he should be
remembered for his greatness.

His greatness, because

he is the
God of wrestling.

Not the negative, you know,

just one little situation
and it's not, um...

proven.

He didn't get a chance to

prove his innocence.

I don't care if they
take everything he owns,

I would never turn my back
on, on being a greatness.

Such greatness.

He's gonna be okay
with the help of God.

Just to give me the
respect for what I done,

and a lot of things people
say I done I did not do.

You know what I mean?
And that's all I can say.

Whatever you want to think,
I'll leave it up to you.