All language subtitles for S04E10 Dark Side of the Ring

Here are Shawn Michaels
and Marty Jannetty-

'The Rockers'!

We're the best at doing
whatever it takes to win.

[narrator]
In the 1980s,

Marty Jannetty and Shawn
Michaels formed one of

the greatest tag teams
of the WWF's Golden Era...

'The Rockers.'

We're comin' at ya.

With their high-flying
moves and glam rock style,

they became heartthrobs
and wrestling superstars.

An arena with 15 to
20,000 screaming people.

You don't even get that
kind of high from drugs.

They've got that charisma
that people love.

And the outfits, and
the hair, and the smile.

After a shocking betrayal,

only Shawn would
ascend to the dizzying

heights of fame that
Marty had always craved.

Shawn Michaels,
ladies and gentlemen!

Marty just let him walk
all over him and

just steal away his life.

Driven by an insatiable
desire to reclaim

his former success,
Marty spirals down

a destructive path
of self-sabotage.

I'd get in a lot of
trouble for

my outside of
the ring antics.

He takes everything
to the extreme.

It's all about
getting that reaction.

The problem is you
get hooked onto that.

Sometimes Marty is just
his own worst enemy.

Burdened with health issues,
Marty ignites a storm of

controversy that threatens
to consume his legacy,

bringing him face to face
with a secret that has

haunted him for
over 50 years.

I mean, you said a
lot of crazy things,

so we can only hope that
there's no truth to any of it.

Trying to decipher
fact from fiction

is part of the game too.

I mean, it could've.

♪

♪

[Footsteps]

How you doing,
brother?

Good to see you, man.

Damn, how many cameras
we have, 48 today?

[Laughing]

I am MJ
in the house,

otherwise known
as Marty Jannetty.

One of 'The Rockers'
from back in the day.

Jannetty going
all the way up.

Bombs away!

This morning was rough.

It's a nerve, I can
touch it right now.

Right, right...

right there is
the worst point.

Man, I can't wait til it heals,
you know, all the way,

so we can cut it open and
put a joint back in.

[Laughing]

He's a very charismatic,
very charming individual.

My name is Al Snow,
former WWE superstar.

What does everybody want?

I've been a professional
wrestler for,

going on 41 years, and at one
time I was Marty Jannetty's

partner in
'The New Rockers.'

Ready for tag team
action.

And on that run, that was
where Marty hurt his ankle.

Really severely rolled it.

And Marty Jannetty
collapsing into the rope.

Over the years it just got
progressively worse and worse.

Yeah.

I've known Marty
Jannetty since, really,

high school is where we
played football together,

and, just were in
the same class.

I'm Lee McCluskey.

I'm an orthopaedic
surgeon, uh,

do mostly foot
and ankle work.

Marty was uh, he was
a fantastic athlete,

first of all.

You know,
wrestling, of course.

In high school he had a
lot of interaction with

my brothers, playing
ball and so forth.

I'm George McCluskey and
I'm a shoulder and

elbow surgeon in
Columbus, Georgia.

Most people have one
problem in one shoulder,

or one problem in
one foot or ankle,

but he's got about
six or seven things.

MJ's up in the house!

Twelve...

On a good day.

Your body can only take
so many slams, you know?

And uh,
I took quite a few.

The ankles were bound
to go and

we're working
on those now.

Woah!
[Cheering]

I had joint replacement
in the right ankle,

reconstructive on the left.

Both shoulders are
kind of torn up.

...back drop!

I remember him as being a

very aggressive
football player.

He probably took sports more
seriously than he did school.

A little on the wild side.

♪

I remember, we were in the
chemistry lab doing some

experiments and he said,
"Whatever you guys do now,

do not put the blue
chemicals in with the

orange chemicals."
And he didn't say why.

[Laughing]

And I thought, well,
I'd like to know why.

[Laughing]

Well, I took the
two chemicals and

mixed them together,
and wham!

♪

One girl, she got
blown back a few feet.

[Bang!]

♪

The window that was
behind me blew out,

and I got stuff on me
from the explosion.

It was all over school.

Everybody's like, "Man,
Jannetty blew up the lab.

Did you hear about Jannetty
blew up the lab?"

I don't think anybody else
ever tried to

mix the blue and orange.

[Chuckling]

Um, you can't believe

99% of what Marty's

you know, talkin' about.

My name is
Karen Walker and

I've known Marty for
upwards of 40 years.

He comes up with some of the
strangest things, you know?

You know, Marty just
walks up and talks to ya,

it's probably all a big
story that he's making up

as he goes along.

Actually I was 13 and 12

I'd come over and the
hookers would give me

freebies because they
thought I was cute.

Donald Trump was coming
towards me smiling,

"How you doing, Marty?

You always got a pretty
girl on your arms."

I got talked into going to a
sex addiction clinic and

I ended up dating
my councillor.

He puts on a show for
every single person

he comes in contact to.

So if you don't
know him intimately,

you don't know the gentle
side, you know, the kind side.

The side that gets
his feelings hurt.

You know growing up,
my mom and dad

had a lot of issues
with each other,

and we, we
struggled a lot.

My dad would never
let my my mom beat,

beat on me.

She would always have to
wait until he went to work.

So I would hide it
from him so that

they wouldn't
get in a fight.

It was a tough
upbringing.

I mean, you know, he's
got some bad stories.

My name is "Mean" Mike Moran
and I wrestled for WCW

as one half of the
Disorderly Conduct,

and I also wrestled for
20 plus years as

one half of the
Texas Hangmen.

I met Marty in 1984.

It was both our
first territories,

our first opportunities,
and here we are

39 years later
still friends.

Marty's mom was
very abusive.

His dad he loved to death,

but his dad wasn't
always there.

I think that, honestly,

athletics got
him out of there.

I mean he was a good
athlete, thankfully.

And he punched his ticket
and got to see the world and

get the hell
out of Columbus.

Determined to channel his
natural athleticism into a

pro-wrestling career,

Marty picks up
the trade from

veteran Jerry Oates before
making his debut in 1983

in Mid-South.

A great maneuver
by Marty Oates.

After jumping to
Central States Wrestling

in Kansas City,

Marty's invited to mentor
another young wrestler.

So I'm looking for him in
the dressing room.

I don't know who
I'm looking for.

I went up to this one guy
'cause he looked

shy and quiet,
kind of standoffish,

and he was sort of nerdy.

You know he had his blue
jeans pulled up, you know,

up under his damn chest
with a big belt buckle.

Short hair.

I felt comfortable to go ask,
"Hey man, do you know who,

is Shawn Michaels
around here?

Shawn Michaels?
Do you know Shawn Michaels?"

"Oh I'm Shawn Michaels."

And I'm thinking,
I'm supposed to

hang out with him and
show him around.

It's gonna
take some work.

[Laughing]

You know from there,

it was probably two weeks
later, they said

"You guys get
together for a tag match."

We went out there, and
uh, it was like magic.

It was like telepathy.

We already knew what
we were thinking.

Remember he tapped me,
he goes,

"Did you feel
something there?"

Yeah that's,
that was different.

The Midnight Rockers!

[Cheering]

Those guys were
incredible.

My name is Pat Tanaka.

I've wrestled
for many decades,

and I guess people would
know me best because

I've wrestled The Rockers
for many, many years.

Look out!

Marty and Shawn
would run out,

and all you heard
was just loud,

high pitched screams
of girls going crazy.

Marty just seemed like he
was out there having fun,

and just doing what
he knew how to do.

I'm Brutus "The Barber"
Beefcake,

WWE Hall of Famer.

Welcome to the barber shop,
ladies and gentlemen!

And I am Missy Beefcake,
also known as "The Delish."

Marty had this thing
where you just,

no matter where he
was in the ring,

you couldn't take your eyes
off of him.

He'd go here or there
and he just, yeah-

Made you wanna look and,
you know, maybe even, like,

undress him with your
eyes and wonder, like

what else was going
on in that, you know,

little outfit he was wearing.

[Laughing]

I mean, I was in heaven,
having all these

girls around for
several states.

I got into, like,
middle school when

I got a crush on
Kerry Von Erich, you know?

And I went to see Kerry
Von Erich one night and

Marty was there,
and I saw him and

I was like, "Oh my God,
that's a Greek god.

I'm gonna go home and throw
rocks at my boyfriend."

Yeah, and he was looking
at me the same way.

So we ended up getting
together that night.

I'm his forever wifey
by the way.

Every time I went to
St. Louis I would see her.

We hit it off and uh...

Yeah, well for St. Louis,
you know.

[Laughing]

From 15
feet above us!

Marty and Shawn have a
stellar run in the AWA,

culminating in a violent
match that gets

the attention of
Vince McMahon.

Dropping 'Midnight'
from their name,

'The Rockers' are
signed to the WWF.

And I think this is well
known through

the wrestling world
what happened.

[Laughing] Our first,
our first day in there-

It was common for all the
wrestlers to go out, party,

you know,
rumble around.

But to the extent that
Marty and Shawn would go,

it was ridiculous.

We had,
we had great times.

I mean we had...

yeah, great times,
but you know,

that's the only way
I can say it

without getting
myself in trouble.

To celebrate their first
night in the company,

Marty and Shawn join their
new colleagues at a bar,

but their notorious
reputation for partying

proceeds them.

Jimmy Jack Funk comes up,

"Hey, I heard you guys
are partiers, huh?

Ya'll supposed to be
some big partiers."

He goes, "Yeah, let me
see you do this."

He takes a glass.
[Mimics cracking]

He bit the glass.

And Shawn was like,
"Well, I can't do that

but I can do this."
And he took a wine glass,

"Ch!",
breaks it over his head.

And then uh, they ended up
throwing some shot glasses

I believe, over the
bar at the mirror.

♪

They would fight.

They would bleed
everywhere.

I mean like, just like they
were in a wrestling ring.

Throw each other
around and stuff.

Just get so,
so messed up.

And that's why they
were booted out,

'cause they were
just too wild.

It was just kind of
one day and out,

on this, one day
and done for WW...

now what do we do?

♪

After only one
week in the WWF,

Marty Jannetty and
Shawn Michaels are fired

for their wild and out of
control antics.

And uh, I mean, what
kind of luck, you know,

GAT luck that I talk about.

I have not explained
GAT yet have I?

And I'm gonna bring it up as
many times as I can

because it's a,
it's a fact, and it exists.

MJ's up in this house!

We are gathered here today
in the Holy Spirit of GAT.

♪

Just stands for:
God's Amusement Toy.

[Laughing]

When God gets a
little bored with

his natural disasters...

where's Jannetty?

And I'll be just strutting
down the street minding

my own business, and
then all of a sudden...

[Buzzing]

He throws a couple
bolts of lightning on me.

And he just sits
there and giggles.

GAT, back at GAT again.

GAT because he can't
accept responsibility,

so it's gotta be somebody's
fault, so it must be

God who's always turning
the tables on him.

And it's like, no,
it's you.

I do believe Marty
has had some bad luck,

no doubt about it.

But I also believe, and
I've told Marty this,

that a lot of the decisions
you've made have caused

the problems you
have, and

you need to stop
blaming GAT.

His worst quality is Marty
is Marty's own worst enemy.

Gone from the WWF,
Marty and Shawn sign with

a much smaller promotion,
Continental Wrestling...

Well you know in our short
career we've beat 'em all.

...where they struggle
to make ends meet.

But after a year of
impressing the crowds,

they once again attract the
attention of Vince McMahon,

leading to a second
chance with the company.

Well if you've got talent,
you get many chances,

in any sport.

The Rockers!
[Cheering]

They just kept moving up and
up and up on the card.

Women loved 'em, the guys
wanted to be 'em.

I mean, The Rockers were
truly on their way.

Oh!

And we've backed
down from nobody,

and the future has a lot
to hold for The Rockers.

We are the
masters of motion,

and whether it be for
business or pleasure,

we have all the
right moves.

[Screaming]

The girls were chasing
the guys around.

The 80s, and the 90s
were, you know,

models and stuff.

-Strippers.
-[Laughing]

♪

And we always
partied together.

I mean, we used to have,
like, you know,

20, 30 girls
at the pool.

I was getting tired
and I says,

"Marty, I'm gonna lay
down for a minute."

So I lay down and
close my eyes,

and all of a sudden he had
this pistol in his hand

and he just starts goin'
bam, bam, bam, bam!

Shooting at, you know,
everything.

I jumped up, I thought
he had shot me.

He was trying
to wake me up.

[Laughing]

He didn't want me
to go to sleep.

Jesus Christ. I had
a heart attack, man.

[Gunshot]

When he had done that,
he'd shot his car,

put a hole in his bedroom
through the glass window,

and he got mad at me.

"If you wouldn't
have laid down

I wouldn't have
had to done that."

Yeah, fuck,
Marty was crazy man.

We had so much fun.

When Marty and Shawn
were really hitting it

out of the park,
they'd go to a hotel.

They'd take a girl to the
room and there were

girls lined up
in the hallway,

waiting to go and take
their turn at bat.

And like we were on the
road 300 days a year.

We partied 290 of them.
[Laughing] You know?

And Shawn and I,
we were like brothers.

We would room together,
we would rent a car together,

we'd go eat together,
we'd go to the gym together.

You know, a lot of the
women we did together.

And um, at one point,

you couldn't have
been a closer,

you know, couple guys
in wrestling.

As their popularity soars,
Marty and Shawn

reach the pinnacle of their
careers as a tag team.

But on December 11, 1990,

a tragic incident threatens
to derail their momentum.

Chuck Austin
is his name.

And I'd show him there
was this move I do

for the finishing,
"The Rocker Dropper."

Look at this,
here we go!

You know, I was going,
stepping through it,

he goes, "Oh I know what
you're talking about.

Yeah I know, yeah,
I've done it before."

I know exactly
what went wrong.

Right before, when I was
going off the second rope and

come down, grab him by the
back of the head and

drag him down like a bulldog
sort of, type of thing.

He took that decent,
and the crowd popped,

it looked good.

So when I got him up for
The Rocker Dropper

he was all excited,
wanted to make sure

he got that same pop.

But see he stood all the
way up and dove down.

[Crowd shouting]

He dove straight
into the ring

and broke his neck.

I go to roll him over.

I stepped over him and
saw his legs crossed.

And I saw him,
he was laying there,

and pick his arms up and
like, wiggle his fingers,

and I tagged Shawn,
I said,

"I think he might
be hurt, man."

And Shawn did great.

He dove off the top,
he did not touch him at all.

We covered for the pin.

And he was still
laying there,

he hasn't moved, and
so we get out the ring.

So, the time I got in the
back everybody's

gathered around the
monitors looking.

He has not moved,
his legs are still crossed.

He's not moved from the spot.

They took him to the back
and got him on a helicopter,

and I'm watching all that.

I'm just thinking,
"Man, I caused that."

And Chuck says he expressed
reservations about having to

fall to the mat without using
his hands to break his fall.

I questioned him
several times,

and he told me he was
a professional and

he would protect me.

When I hit the mat I knew
my neck was broken.

I find out six months later
they're suing us

for, um, 10 million.

And the jury, they know what
they saw on the TV, you know,

'cause they had the TV monitor
and they showed them.

They reacted on that,
I did too, oh God.

If they don't see it done right
it looks sickening to see.

Yeah. Dean come in,
they told the jury,

"Now you're gonna
see the move."

Brought the mat in,
did 'The Rocker Dropper' there.

They jury
just sat there like...

just looking.

But it was just
no reaction, nothing.

And for wrestlers
that's the worst thing.

You either want a,
"Yay!" Or, "Boo!"

You don't want just nothing.

[Laughing]

It was seven days
worth of trial.

When we're done,
they got the judgement,

and it was probably
20 minutes.

I mean they come down
and say, "We're ready."

You know, it's hard to get
two people to agree.

Get twelve people, and
you're ready in 20 minutes.

♪

After a very brief
deliberation,

the jury returns
with a verdict.

"We find the WWE
90% negligent.

We find Chuck Austin 5%,
Marty Jannetty 5% negligent.

We find for
Chuck Austin $24 million."

I jumped up, I was gonna say,
"They were suing for 10!"

You know, my lawyer said,
"Sit down, sit down!

We'll appeal."
We appealed.

They called me and said,
"They're willing to make a

settlement for $10 million."

"You mean I gotta
pay 5% on that?"

I think they had said
they would just take it

out of my royalty cheques.

I just didn't get
as much pay as

I was supposed to
get for a while.

The judge dismisses Shawn
and says, "You're out of it.

There's not- no evidence
against you."

That's the luck of Shawn.
[Laughing]

I've said this a
million times and

everybody that knows him
will agree.

He can step in shit and come
out smelling like a rose.

I'm not a Shawn fan at all,
not even this much.

He was...
he was egotistical,

he was um, you know,

"The Heartbreak Kid"
kind of attitude.

Well that's his real attitude,
that wasn't a show.

He was always a little cocky
and arrogant, but you know,

that's my brother,
he was good to me.

Then he started getting
edgy towards me.

He would get aggravated when
Marty'd overdo something.

But on Shawn's behalf,

he didn't have quite
as bad of a...

quite as bad of
a habit as Marty did.

I couldn't list the number of
drugs Marty's probably done.

I know cocaine, crack,
Somas, Halcions.

♪

I saw him take a
lot of Halcion-

a heavy duty tranquilizer.

And he was laying
on the floor

with the pills spilled
everywhere.

I had to call Shawn,
and tell Shawn,

"What do I do?
Do I call an ambulance?

Do I call a cop?
What do I do?"

And he's like,
"Don't call nobody!"

Him and Jimmy Snuka, um,

they just bust through
the door and

grabbed him and

got him in the
shower and stuff,

and I cleaned the room,
got the pills, and, you know.

I just was so, I was just
somewhere else, you know?

I just, "Oh my God."
You know?

He almost died.

I think maybe it was that
Shawn thought that Marty was

gonna screw up really bad
because some of the shit

that he did was,
you know, crazy.

Like most partners do,
'cause I'm in a tag team,

Marty and Shawn started
butting heads a little bit,

and it escalated to where
they actually had

a physical fight in a hotel.

Marty came in drunk,

bumping all over,
cussing Shawn.

And then here comes Shawn,
and runs across the room,

hits Marty, knocks him
out a window.

♪

Luckily we were down low
and he hit the bushes,

and crawled back
through the window,

got up in Shawn's
face and says,

"Think you can
do it again?"

Marty gets up
and walks out the door,

Shawn walks out
behind him.

Next thing you know

I look out there and
Marty's got Shawn

on the ground, he's got his
knees on his arms,

and he's choking him.

And he's already purple.

Marty said he just remembers
looking down and seeing

his jeans were all bloody
and it wasn't his blood.

It should have never happened
but it did and, you know,

Shawn had to miss a few
days on the road from it.

And uh, I think that was the
catalyst to the end of

their partnership,
because you know what?

If you get your ass
kicked by your partner,

it's kind of hard to
go back to normal.

We met with Vince,
and Vince was like,

"I'm trying to find a way to
split you guys up and

take you into singles."
I said uh,

"Shawn and I need
to talk about that first."

Shawn was like,
"I'm okay with it!"

Right fucking there,
I mean like, wow man.

I said, "Well where are we
gonna go with this?"

And you know Vince
was saying, "Well,

I see Shawn being
a superstar and

I just don't quite see that
in you right now, Marty."

Could that have
crushed him or what?

Vince just saw
something more in Shawn,

and I think that probably
Shawn was in Vince's ear,

or ass,
more than Marty was.

I hate to say, to use this
expression but...

kKssing ass.

And I said, uh, "Well what
will you do with me?"

'Cause see, I figured, okay,
you use me to get him over,

and then shit can me,
I ain't gonna do it.

But if you're keeping me
aboard, you know,

of course I'll do it.

[Announcer] ...there has
been a great deal of

speculation as
of late that uh,

maybe there's a
little trouble there

between The Rockers.
What do you know about it?

Any rumours?
Have you heard anything?

They were planting the seeds
in matchers prior

where Marty and Shawn
had a little dust up.

And Shawn would always be
the one that was initiating,

or getting angry,
or more frustrated.

Of course the magazines were
running with the story of

how we were jealous
of each other,

who had prettier girls.

The rumours about
them are true.

They don't get on at all.

They had the Barber Shop,
which was Brutus "The Barber"

Beefcake's kind of
like, talk show.

Let's welcome them right
now, they're The Rockers!

[Cheering]

And uh, that was the
pinnacle of the turn.

You've been having
some problems,

but I want to get you out
here on the Barber Shop

so we can talk about this
thing and get it all

straightened
once and for all.

Before that day I
had no idea

that that was gonna happen.

I don't want to put the
blame back and forth

just like you said.
I'll take the blame.

I'm sorry.

I want this thing to
work with The Rockers.

And if you want to go on your
own then walk off and leave.

If you want to stick together
and make this thing work,

when I turn around
we're gonna shake hands,

and we're gonna go
on a rock and roll

like The Rockers can do.

He waits a second,
listens to the crowd saying,

you know, "Stay together,
stay together!"

Then he spins
me around...

We shake hands.

[Cheering]

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Rockers!

-Told ya!
-Glad to see that.

Told ya.

You know, and the
crowd goes crazy.

I look that way
and he turns, wham!

Oh!

Oh I knew he was
gonna do that.

I just knew he
was gonna do that.

And he kicked me so hard I
didn't even feel the glass.

No!
[Glass shattering]

Oh my God!

♪

[Screaming]

Right through the glass
window of the Barber Shop!

The fans didn't want
the team to break up,

no doubt. Nobody
saw it coming.

That's, you know, it really
made it the moment.

It, in a way it
really broke my heart.

Cowardism!

[Fans shouting]

Oh he's hurt.

I think we seemed
like beast friends,

you know,
to the people.

You know, so it really kind
of broke their heart for us

to split, but then
to split that way.

What a despicable
act that was.

It was a career defining
moment for both of them,

but in really-
[Sighing]

I hate to say it, in two
different ways.

For Shawn it was,
you know,

a launching pad,
and he took it.

There's a problem
with you, Shawn!

-I don't think so.
-The Rockers are history.

Oh and Marty,
if he'd have,

he could have just
stayed out of his own way,

it could've had the same
ascension as what, uh,

Shawn did.

And I think that's where you
could see the two,

you know,
go different paths.

♪

Following a tumultuous
relationship soured by

excessive partying
and physical fights,

The Rockers finally split,

leaving Shawn and Marty
to pursue their

separate journeys as
singles wrestlers.

You know he was a
little upset,

you know, and
then he's going,

"What's supposed to
happen to me?" And I said,

"Well, what's gonna
happen with both of us?"

We're both gonna then
get judged on

wherever our
careers take us.

And if you get over,
they're gonna use you.

Plain and simple.

Things definitely
had changed.

It's almost like they
weren't a tag team at all.

It got a little ugly.

I think Marty resented
Shawn at that point,

and I think Shawn was trying
to distance himself

from Marty, because he
was at, you know,

making his way
up the ladder.

And so he was
trying to get

as far away from
him as he could.

Marty lives for the moment.

He just makes really
bad decisions.

One of the girls I was
seeing down in Tampa,

we went to a club.

And she was a dancer,
stripper, dancer, whatever.

Exotic dancer,
there we go.

There was policemen on the
premises, pats me down,

and he pulls out a
little baggie of cocaine.

We got arrested, and uh,

I did six months
house arrest for that.

He's got multiple stories
of getting kicked out of

multiple countries,
because he got

arrested for
doing something.

Bammer is just waiting
to get his ass home.

It was in India,
it was a five-star hotel.

Marty goes up to a cop.

Asks if he can ride
his motorcycle.

I'm sure the cop is thinking

he's gonna drive
down the street.

Marty goes up the
stairs of this hotel.

For some reason the
doorman opens the door,

and there's all these
people around the fountain,

and then he goes straight
inside the lobby.

[Engine revving]

And then wipes out and

knocks one of the dudes
into the fountain.

[Engine revving]
[Crashing]

It was just like,
did he really do that?

I mean...
[Laughing]

You know he's been in
trouble now with the law.

They booted him
out for a minute.

He and the Iron Sheikh,
I think he's ahead by one,

of the number of times
that a person's been fired,

and brought back, and fired
again, and brought back.

-Marty Jannetty!
-[Cheering]

That's Marty Jannetty!

And then they did the
whole New Rockers thing,

which Marty feels Shawn
actually was the one

who suggested it to
kind of sabotage,

and make people not think
of the original Rockers.

Here we go!
The New Rockers!

The problem was I
don't think Marty was

100% invested in it,
and I don't blame him.

It kind of took a swing
at what he and Shawn

had accomplished
and what they had done.

They'll make you think
they're really planning to do

something with you,
but they're really,

you're just a filler
for the card.

And that's when Marty
realized it was time to go.

He went to WCW and
it looked like

they were really
gonna get behind him.

They were gonna try to do
something major with him,

but Marty kind of got in
his own way again.

In WCW he was in
trouble with the law.

You know, he had
gotten several DUIs.

One led eventually to him

losing his license
for ten years.

The contract ran out
and then that was it.

He just kind of
floundered after that.

♪

♪

It devastated him.

To the point where he
had posters of Shawn

on his wall,
with darts,

and he would just
try to hit him in

the most perfect spots.

♪

By the late 1990s,

Marty struggles to compete
on the indie circuit,

and eventually vanishes
from the public eye.

Following a string of
DUI charges, jail stints,

and substance abuse issues,
Marty spirals for the next

five years before finally
hitting rock bottom.

The first time I'd ever
considered ending,

you know, life, was like,
"Fuck it, I've had enough."

What I was gonna do was buy
the biggest pile of cocaine

and just do it
until my heart bust.

So that was my
conversation with

the higher power, was,

"If you don't want
me doing this,

you need to let me know.

And you know I'm
pretty stupid,

so make it obvious."
[Laughing]

You know, you like,
you were given a sign,

"You gotta make it
obvious for my dumb ass."

[Telephone Ringing]

And the phone rings.
I look down,

didn't recognize
the number,

and that call that came
in was Shawn calling me.

And he was inviting me to,
it's called AIM.

It's Athletes
International Ministry,

he wanted me to go to
that in Phoenix, Arizona.

And he goes, "I'll take care
of everything, don't worry

about that, but I would
like you to be my guest."

You know before he made that
call to me we ain't talked

in person, on the phone,
in seven, eight years?

And that's when
it hit me like,

"Holy shit." [Laughing]

I mean, you asked
for a sign.

And then I did go out to
Arizona and then, you know,

Shawn ended up, you know,
doing the baptize thing

where they dunk you
in the water.

Shawn ended up being the
one to dunk me in the water.

♪

And we did all that and
for like three weeks

I lived the most
pure life. [Laughing]

Now that all that
has happened,

I get a phone
call from WWE.

You know, they wanna
do a Rocker reunion.

So, of course,
you know?

Marty Jannetty and Shawn
Michaels together again.

So we're at the curtain now
and it's Rocker reunion and

I've been off TV
for so many years.

Now I start getting nervous,
and Shawn picked up on it,

and he goes,
"What's wrong?" I said,

"Man, what if they don't
remember me?"

And he goes,
"Are you kidding me?"

He goes,
"We were The Rockers,

nobody's gonna forget us."

As he said that
the music hit.

It's The Rockers reunion!

And the fans are on their
feet here in Atlanta!

And I go out there
and they pop.

And I was like, "Wow!"

The amazing thing
with Shawn and I was

how we were so in
tune with each other.

Like, we became one
when we tagged together.

-Tandem offense.
-Look at this!

Even the way we bounced over
the rope and went down

would be, our feet would hit
the floor at the same time.

Everything was in unison.
As a one.

They haven't missed a beat,
they haven't lost a step!

The next day that's
when they told me,

"Marty, hell of a match
you had last night,

they want to give
you a contract.

The way we're gonna use you,
you'll make over a million."

Couldn't, couldn't ask
for a better,

you know, comeback.

To end up in jail
a week later.

[Laughing]

♪

After a successful
Rockers reunion,

the WWF plans to continue
featuring Marty on

a regular basis.

But trouble with the law
once again prevents him

from capitalizing on
the opportunity.

My wifey, um, we got
to the apartment,

and got into a real
big fight and

the neighbour
called the police.

And, um, the police
show up, they were like,

"Oh he's on probation
go get him."

So I'm in jail now.

And I had just saw him
and that stripper girl

a week before and I
warned him about her,

and then a week later they
got in a big fight and

he got arrested, which
eventually had him

in the house arrest,
and he lost his job.

And he had just
gotten that last,

that was his last shot.

But guess what's the
common denominator?

Hanging out with strippers
that do drugs and

things like that, that's a
lot of fun, I like that too.

But don't be surprised if
it bites you in the ass.

Vince, he's like,
"Gosh I love Marty,

I love him. Great guy,
but he's got the biggest

black cloud over his head."
[Laughing]

You know, I mean that's,
and it's true.

When Vince recognizes
that, you know,

and he's one of the smartest
people I've ever met.

He does have a black cloud
that follows him around, but,

he's the one that's, you know,
putting it up there.

[Laughing] You know
what I mean?

And keeping it on a leash
to follow him, you know.

It doesn't have
to be that way.

Hold on, time out.

It's so swollen I can't
get the pants' leg up.

Sometimes when that
crap's acting up

then I'll get
like lightheaded.

So I was just looking
at you all I'm like,

"Oh I'm gonna faint
now, oh shit."

I do.

I do worry about him
'cause he's alone,

even though he says
he has a lot of

telephone girlfriends
and whatnot.

You know, in the past,

in the last years
I would see him and

he'd be still
trying to get in the,

getting in the ring,
trying to wrestle,

and his ankle was horrible.

It was ridiculous, like
I don't even know

how he got around,

how he was able
to walk or anything.

His audience now is,
instead of being out

around the ring,
is, yeah...

Is the internet.
It's Facebook.

I think that Facebook
makes him feel like

he's not housebound.

Um, which for the most
part he is with his injury.

♪

So he can reach out
and touch people.

They can, you know,
respond to him,

he can get reaction
from people.

♪

I think his life
feeds off of that,

because of the
way we grew up.

We grew up wanting that
every night, right?

And then all of a sudden
one day, you know,

you see that there's
no more of that.

Social media is right there.

He sits around and
he's trying to think,

"Okay, what can I think
of funny for the book?"

And he sits around and tries
to come up with a funny

story, and those are the
ones you know are bullshit.

No, I didn't do the post
about the daughter thing.

That was a complete hack.

I didn't even see it to know
to defend it or anything.

♪

'Cause I was hearing
all these things like,

"You wanted to have sex
with your daughter?"

I'm like what the hell are
you talking about?

I mean, she didn't
deserve any of that.

I mean, neither did I,

but I mean,
she certainly didn't.

I mean, I'm the whacko
on the internet,

and that's another reason,
you know anything wacky

like that is believable
because, "Well Marty..."

There are lots of things that
I see Marty post on Facebook,

and I'm like,
"What are you doing?"

And there was a point
where there were

a lot of "holy shit"
moments.

So Marty Jannetty is
trending on Twitter, uh,

because he says that
he was 13 years old.

Someone grabbed him,

dragged him to the back
of a bowling alley,

and then here is a quote
from Marty Jannetty on

the Facebook post,
he said,

"That was the very first time
I made a man disappear."

The Columbus, Georgia
police department told TMZ,

"The first step we'll be
seeing if we have any

missing persons or
unidentified remains cases

that match the limited
information in the post."

I mean, if
something happened,

I mean, it is not out of the
realm of possibility that

they could solve this crime.

When my friends in
Germany are sending me the

newspapers, you know,
headlines says

"Mauler Marty Kills Man."
I mean what the fuck?

I mean, what happened
to the rapist?

You're more concerned that
a kid was trying to

save his self, and
ended up accidentally,

it's called accidental death
for a reason.

There was a big story
about your claim that

you made a man disappear
after an attempted rape

on your person
as a teenager.

Did you realize how
public this was gonna get,

with like police
involvement?

Nah, hell no.

The police showed up
on his doorstep.

I mean this thing went all
the way, they investigated.

I had to deal with police.

I couldn't even,
I had to get the,

I was scared to go
to the airport.

That's the only reason I
had to tell that it was a

storyline you know, so they
would leave me alone.

Hypothetical.

In a pretend world...
Yeah.

Okay... Okay.

♪

So this is a bowling alley,

it used to be called
Victory Lane.

When I was 14
I worked here.

♪

The dude that worked
the front desk,

but he also was somebody
to buy weed from.

When I went to buy the
weed from the guy,

went out in the parking lot
and sat in the car.

As he gave me the bag,
he reached over and

he put his hand on my crotch
and said, "What's this?"

And I smacked his hand,
I said, "Nah, not me."

And he got a little
aggressive off of that.

And he chased, and grabbed,
and got me to the back.

A big boy, man, he got me
down and got on top.

♪

And uh, you know,
he was

trying to get to my pants,

unbutton, you know,
take my pants down.

And I've got a 200 pound
weight on me,

so this is as far as I can go,
and it's right there.

♪

And it was about this size.

Maybe a touch bigger,
maybe.

But it was like,
"Get off me!" You know?

I'm just trying
to get him off me.

And evidently it caught him
in the wrong place.

In the temple that can,
that can, that can...

end your life.

♪

You know I'm thinking,
don't know what to do!

I mean, do I
tell the police?

And I thought, go get my
family member.

We both agreed you can't
call the police.

You know, we thought that would
be the wrong move.

On the other side of the trees,
the far back trees,

that's Chattahoochee River.

So, you know,

we gotta get him
to the river.

♪

This is all hypothetical,
remember,

that Columbus
Police Department.

It was a storyline
for wrestling.

♪

With what happened in
the car, with the...

with the grab,
I'll give that.

That's truth.

If you're um,
gonna write a storyline,

for wrestling,
but you take something

that had happened,
and you magnify it.

I mean, I see now that that
was too much of a storyline.

They did a missing persons,
they didn't find nobody.

So I mean, that should
be the end of it.

No body no crime,
for Marty.

♪

♪

♪

♪

I love Marty dearly,
and I want,

I just want him
to be happy.

I fear that he's
gonna be alone,

because this becomes
your life, you know,

and now what do you do?

When you gotta keep
going on living,

but your life died.

Marty,
we love you.

Keep your hands
off my wife.

[Laughing]

The future is
bright, Marty.

Give it a chance.

There are people that
love you out there.

I'm one of them and I,
I had thought about

maybe flashing you,
Marty.

-[Laughing]
-But I'm mic'd up, so...

[Kisses]
You're missing out.

There's a thing in the
wrestling business about,

you know, "Oh, I don't want
to be the Marty Jannetty

of the team." Let me
tell you something,

you'd be lucky if you were.

Because there would certainly
not be a Shawn Michaels

at the level that
Shawn Michaels was

if it was not for
Marty Jannetty.

I love him to death.

I mean, there was 7 years of
undeniably the best

relationship two people
could have, and then,

you know, from ever
since the phone call

he's been great again, so...

Yeah, I love him
to death, you know.

-He and I were together.
-Right.

24 hours a day
for 7 years.

You know, I mean, for all
that time for us to get in

maybe one, one fight,
is not bad at all.

Can't hold something, from,
that's in your

rearview mirror out in
front of the street,

you know,
in front of you.

That's back there.

You know in the
real side of it,

I didn't drag him
to the river.

♪

One of my buddies,

we drug him over
to the woods and

poured gas on him
and burned him up.

[Laughing]

And maybe I even heard
that when, if they burned,

they don't burn as much as
you think they would and

there's a lot of bones
that you gotta bury them.

That is the story
that he told me, yes.

When we were partners.

Yeah, yeah.

This is absolutely true.

He told me a long time
ago that did happen, yes.

'Cause I can look at him in
the face and I can listen to

the story and tell when
he's telling the truth and

when he's not,
you know.

[Laughing]

You got as much
as you can get.

Yeah.

That's as much
as I can give you.

Hypothetically
or not there it is.

[Laughing]

Sometimes you gotta
look through the smoke.

Smoke in mirrors
does a lot.