Original subtitles

[Announcer] Mr. USA!

Tony Atlas!

I had 19-and-a- half-inch biceps,

and I was 225 pounds at age 19.

God, he was a Black Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You have got it. Look at those arms.

You have got it.

Yeah. I mean, he was the total package.

I know that I need to work hard.

I need to train harder.

[Narrator] A bodybuilder turned wrestler,

Mr. USA, Tony Atlas,

broke barriers as one of the first major

Black superstars in the sport.

You got to keep it.

Getting it is one thing, but keeping it

all together's a different thing.

I remember seeing Black wrestlers

get tarred and feathered.

A lot of...

questionable racist behavior.

Tony Atlas made little Black kids all over the world

feel like, man, I could do that too.

I am gonna whoop on you and get paid for it.

There were very few Black wrestlers.

There was a lot of times in my wrestling area

where I'm the only Black guy.

They saw money. They didn't see color.

Hey, wait a minute!

Holy shit, look at this guy.

Get out of the way! Get out of the way!

Climbing the ladder of success very,

very rapidly in the World Wrestling Federation.

Rising to heights few Black wrestlers of his era

had ever reached,

Tony Atlas began to unravel under the weight of

fame's pressures and pitfalls.

I got trouble here and I got trouble there!

And I got trouble coming your way!

Sex, drugs, and wrestling.

It was a party every night at the hotel room.

There were a lot of temptations,

and there were a lot of different choices

out there to make.

I never bought drugs a day in my life.

It was always given to me.

It was in the dressing room, for God's sake.

There's a lot of things about Tony Atlas,

I wonder whether it's legend or fact.

You know, is it true or not?

Tony's battle with addiction

cost him significant opportunities,

leaving him with no place to call home.

So, here's a guy who was making

hundreds of thousands of dollars,

and he's living on the street.

It's not how much you make,

it's how much you save.

I was some homeless guy that smelled like something died.

No place to live. No nothing.

I became suicidal.

I didn't want to live no more.

I wanted to die.

♪

♪

[Claps]

[Video] Mr. USA! Tony Atlas!

And he looks fantastic.

Looks like he was chiseled from granite.

[Mark] Man, he was a giant.

What a well put together human.

[Announcer] His opponent weighing 320 pounds.

The incredible Hulk Hogan!

Geez.

[Video] ...unbelievable size of Hulk Hogan.

Yeah.

Oh, look at that! Oh, that's nice!

Check that out.

Check it out, girls, check that out.

Atlas grinding it out a bit.

They came unglued.

Look at this! Look at this!

[Cheering]

Hulk Hogan's, what?

330 pounds at the time, 6'4".

And press him over your head.

[Cheering]

Hogan, I can hear him now, cussing up a storm.

Unbelievable!

Damn... Tony wanted to press

the biggest guy in the company,

'cause it was telling everybody in the audience...

"Look how strong I am."

[Cheering & shouting]

[Match bell ringing]

A main event guy, Madison Square Garden.

To go to...

you know, living on a park bench.

Sometimes people have to go through hitting bottom

before they realize how good they really had it.

I was born in Virginia.

My mother was a devoted Christian.

She only been with one man her whole life.

And that was my father.

My dad never worked. My mother worked.

All of her dedication went directly to raising her kids.

One time, we were walking down the street,

and this guy slapped my mother on the butt.

My mom turned around.

She hit him with one punch and knocked him out.

Laid him out right there.

My mother said, "I gotta teach you kids how to

protect yourself 'cause I ain't always going to

be here for you."

That was something she said all the time.

Because when I was young,

you had to know how to use your hands.

All through life, you go back to my childhood.

I was in anywhere between 50 to 100 fights

anywhere in there, easily.

So I had a reputation that,

if you fight me today and I don't win,

you're gonna see me again tomorrow.

Most of the influence in the Black neighborhood

when I was a child was bad influence.

We looked up to drug dealers.

We looked up to street fighter.

We walk to school,

and there was a fist fight every other day.

I didn't care who you were.

I would fight anybody.

Now, my dad, he was a gambler,

he liked to hustle money.

So he took me down to scrap a corner and wait

for the railroad men to come in.

And when they'd get drunk,

he would tell 'em,

"I bet you can't whoop that boy, there."

I don't fight any grown men.

And he said, "If you lose this fight, boy,

you're gonna get it, get it worse

when you get home."

But I grew quick. By the time I was 12,

I was already over six feet, at 12.

But I only weighed like 110 pounds.

I was like a stick.

And so one day,

I was walking with this girl.

'Cause I helped her carry her books, I liked her.

Really, I liked her shoes.

She had tennis shoes on.

So, I hear this voice behind me say,

"I'm gonna push you." All of a sudden,

I fell head first. I got the...

the dent in my head, right here.

The whole world turned red because

all the blood ran down to my face.

My grandmother come running out:

"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord! Come here, boy!"

My skull was split completely in half.

We had no phone.

She couldn't call the ambulance.

She couldn't call the police.

No way of contacting anybody.

My grandmother said, "I want you to pray."

So, I got down on my knees, and this is what I said,

"I want to be strong like Sampson.

Built like Hercules,

and have a lot of money."

And everything that I asked for in that prayer,

God gave to me.

I blew it later, but still, he gave to me.

Yeah, yeah.

No, no.

But I do know it was something wrong with me,

that I was not like regular kids.

And I think it has something to do with the shoes,

the reason I'm so submissive to women in sneakers

and stuff like that.

Because all that was all at the same time.

I buy shoes for the girls to step on me.

What they got me into now?

Oh, my goodness. Ah, that one.

Found one.

Yeah, that's a nice pair of shoes right there.

Well, if they're feminine looking.

They look like something that

should be on a woman's feet.

I got stepped on in malls, in gyms,

in houses, hotel, elevator.

I got it done everywhere.

Couple dozen times I was with him and I seen him

just buy shoes and have 'em walk on his face,

and never talk to 'em again.

I was as shocked as the girl was.

People knew nothing about fetishes.

Fetish and all this stuff was underground,

so they thought because of my wrestling,

they thought it was part of my training.

He'd see a girl at the matches and

have 'em walk on his face.

I'd give a woman $50 just to step on me.

Plus, I buy the shoes for 'em.

They didn't have to pay for the shoe.

I thought it was a little bit out of the ordinary.

You know, it, you know...

But then, then, you know, everybody has their little...

quirks, right? You know, things that...

make them feel good.

As Papaw said, "I am what I am."

You know, he's not, he's not

the only foot guy in the world.

Well, they said, like, I suck toes, which I don't.

They say I like high heels, which I don't.

Ah, they said that I whack off, which I don't.

They try to make it into a sexual thing.

Well, for me, my shoe fetish keeps me calm.

I got more control of it now than I did then.

You sniff on it, Tony!

Hey, now we're talking.

I was into what's called dominatrix.

So, the dominatrix becomes your master.

You were called a slave.

I can't use that term now because I'm Black,

and Black people get mad, but that's what it was.

So, they dominate you.

See, I went to a person one time that explained it

to me that was into all this psychology stuff,

and I had this rage in me.

You know, ever since I was a kid.

I'd fight anybody. I'd beat up anybody.

I could lift anything, nobody could beat me.

Argh!

So, I had to learn more control.

So, I ended up going to the YMCA.

I never been to the gym a day in my life.

I was 15 years old

when I first started lifting weights.

[Knocking]

Hey, hello, welcome. Come on in, guys.

Well, I know y'all gentlemen notice I got a lot of stuff

spread out here on the table, because these items here

are items for before

there was a Tony Atlas.

This is Muscle Development magazine.

I never competed in body building before,

but what ended up happening,

I did a 350-pound press

at age 19.

That was the, the beginning of my

body building and power lifting.

♪

I saw Tony the first time at the YMCA.

My name is David Crockett.

I am part of the Crockett wrestling family

that started...

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling,

World Championship Wrestling...

TVS, that's us.

In Charlotte, the only place you had to exercise

or lift weights was the YMCA.

A lot of the wrestlers, George Scott, Sandy Scott,

Johnny Heidman, you name it,

they all were down there working out,

and they said, "Hey, we've got this young man

that we think we can do something with."

They take me to the office.

There were some mats there, and I said, you know,

put him through the paces just to see, you know,

if he knew anything.

Which he didn't.

But he definitely had potential.

They said, "We're going to pay you...

$150 a week to train."

We took an investment in Tony.

Other people, we did not see it

worth buying stock in them.

So, was there jealousy? Oh, yes.

And, it was very hard for him.

Very hard, but he was like a sponge.

You know, he... he learned.

Then, George Scott said, "Well, Tony,

I guess tomorrow we have to teach you how to work."

I said, "George, I don't want to work.

I want to be a wrestler." He said, "No, Tony,

you don't understand." I said, "I don't want to work!"

I said, "I don't want to be a worker.

I want to be a wrestler!"

I learned it ain't up to me to win or lose.

It's up to some promoter.

It, it was hard to swallow, me being...

for so many years as a weightlifter or bodybuilder,

I was in legitimate sports.

Now I'm in a sport where I gotta let people

whoop me that can't whoop me.

It was the most disappointing day of my life.

I was 20 years old when I finished high school.

A lot of kids could not afford to do senior picture.

So this here became my senior picture.

And then look at my arms.

Tony Atlas was one of the biggest and

one of the strongest.

So I completely identified with it.

I'm Mark Henry.

Some might say the strongest man that ever lived.

Oh!

And Tony Atlas was my manager.

The ever present Tony Atlas.

Tony was a heavyweight...

that didn't look like a heavyweight.

You could see every vein and muscle.

He wasn't just the guy that had show muscles.

Tony had go muscles.

Down for the champion!

I was a champion in three sports.

Simultaneous. I was a champion bodybuilder.

I was a champion in powerlifting.

I was a champion in weight lifting.

You know, 22-inch arms.

24-inch waist, 28-inch thighs,

lats, traps, shoulders.

He was built.

And it just wasn't cosmetics because

he had the strength to back it.

Elbows locked and he did it.

505 pounds!

Hi, I'm Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

2009 WWE Hall of Famer.

NWA World Champion.

Weighing 237 pounds!

Ricky Steamboat!

There will only be one winner.

Thanks for being here.

We have competed on the same stage,

but I won Mr. Southern States,

and he won Mr. USA.

[Cheering]

Mr. USA.

[Announcers] Mr. USA! ...Mr. USA!

Mr. USA!

Tony Atlas!

[Cheering]

My 50 some odd plus years in this business,

I've seen bodybuilders come and go.

You're big, you're strong and all this stuff,

that doesn't make you a great wrestler.

Hey, I'm Gerald Brisco, WWE Hall of Famer.

But you might know me better as Jerry Brisco.

Gerald Brisco!

[Cheering]

Tony was a bodybuilder that was a wrestler.

Look at the agility of this man, Tony Atlas.

They wanted me to be a main event.

They didn't want me on bottom.

They wanted me on top because,

you know, back then I had the best body in wrestling.

The first year of my career, I was a champion.

With his chiseled physique

and natural talent in the ring,

Georgia Championship Wrestling wastes little time

crowning Tony their television champion.

You know, when you got this belt,

you gotta keep it.

Yeah, I mean, big guy.

Good looking.

I mean, he was a freak of nature.

Hello, my name's Tommy "Wildfire" Rich,

former NWA World Heavyweight Champion,

when wrestling was wrestling.

If you see Tommy, you're gonna see me!

If you want to fight Tommy, you gotta fight me!

If you want to make love to Tommy, you gotta love me too!

A few months, they started pushing us as a tag team.

Yeah, that's me and "Wildfire" Tommy Rich.

That's when we was young whipper snappers right there,

me and Tommy at Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Black and white...

we fight all night.

And the people just loved it, I mean, it was, you know...

salt and pepper, and I'm talking about back in '78,

I think's when I started in there, it's...

it's the Black and White thing,

you know, it was...

it was a different world back then.

You know, some of them little towns

didn't like Black folks there.

Today, it'd be called racism.

My day...

it was called...

average.

You gotta realize that a territory only kept

one Black in every territory.

So, if I walk in the dressing room and a Black guy's

sitting in that dressing room,

he was automatically my enemy.

But that was life for People of Color.

I got called "nigger" so many times in professional

wrestling that one time a guy walked up to me, said,

"Hey Tony," and I didn't know who he was talking to.

There were very few wrestlers didn't use

the term "nigger". Tommy Rich didn't.

It was just in the world at that time.

It was not- you know, they all used the term.

They all, they all did it.

No.

I was making money.

My mom helped me with this.

She said, "You pick your battles."

As long as I was making money...

I didn't care.

I made $100,000 in my first year,

and that was my smallest year.

I didn't know what it was like to work your way

from the bottom.

I didn't know what that was like.

It was given to me too quickly.

Too much, too soon.

I was not supposed to been in that position that soon

because mentally I was not ready for it.

I gave it away.

Give my friends money.

In fact, when I took a girl out on a date,

I would take her shopping first.

I said, "You gotta get something to wear."

I was like, "Well, you gotta have a piece of jewelry."

And the boys was all big spending.

They told me when I first started,

there's two ways of being.

Live like a king...

or be rich. You choose.

I lived like a king.

He'd never seen that much money before.

And it happens to a lot of athletes.

They don't know how to deal with it, and...

they spend it like it's no tomorrow.

You know, he goes to the bar,

starts buying drinks.

Man, it's like piranhas when they come in,

you know, everybody is his friend now.

He was like Ric Flair with his money, where he,

he'd make five grand and the next day he'd be broke.

You find a lot of guys that, all of a sudden,

start to make it big and the next thing you know

they're buying watches and cars.

He went out and bought 1976 Lincoln Continental.

You gotta party with these big guys,

you gotta spend the money and...

and unfortunately, the parasites in our business...

jumped on to Tony, and now they're becoming

Tony's friends because he's got all this money,

and he's going to these bars.

And he's spending all this money.

"Hey, Tony, buy me a drink."

You know, "Buy me dinner tonight.

Let's go out and have some fun," right?

And, you go to a club, and the next thing you know,

you got a $300 bar tab, and guess what?

The friend that was with you is gone.

The girls would, would come up to you.

You didn't have to go to them.

And they said, "You want to go to the room?"

Most time I would take three women

up to the room.

Party, drink, smoke.

Every night was an orgy.

I wanted to fit in, and drugs was in

the dressing room, for God's sake.

I didn't go out looking for it.

It was in the dressing room!

You know, it was pain pill, Valium, or Xanax, or...

a little coke, whatever it was.

You know, we all participated a little bit.

They called our group "The Bad Boys"

'cause we was in trouble every week.

I'm Referee Nick Patrick.

You probably remember me as the NWO ref,

and I also was a referee for WWE.

Nick Patrick, for crying out loud!

It was just every week

somebody doing something stupid.

[Laughing] Just drinking,

and we had doctors writing out whatever we wanted,

and smoking and just snorting,

and whatever.

We were just as wild- it's a miracle we survived.

But anyway, we got tired of Tommy never driving,

and just finally said, "We are not your chauffeur

any longer," which was a horrible mistake.

I'd been drinking, and...

I was driving, I just rented a Lincoln.

Got on the interstate,

went down the road probably two miles.

We were like really close back to our hotel.

And...

the car started flipping.

The car flipped upside down three times.

So, I'm in the car, unconscious.

I don't know what's going on.

♪

I was almost dead.

An intoxicated journey down the freeway

ends in disaster,

leaving Tony Atlas and his fellow wrestlers

wrecked in a horrifying accident.

The roof of the car was crushed down on my side,

but I guess it come down and hit me and drove

my head down and knocked me out.

And I had a broken neck.

Tony, you know, I mean, he was in the hospital

for about 3 or 4 days and...

then come out and still couldn't wrestle.

It was the business.

We went on as normal.

Nothing, nothing ever stopped.

I feel bad for Tony.

I wish that he did have people around him

that was like, "Hey, man, you had enough.

Come on, go get some rest. Don't get in the car."

Though he struggles with life on the road,

Tony shines brighter than ever in the ring,

stepping into the spotlight of the famed

World Wrestling Federation.

Tony Atlas!

You've signed to face a number of individuals,

and I can tell you one thing, the fans are certainly

delighted about it.

If y'all don't mind, I'd like to show you all

a few of my sketches.

That is gorgeous.

Yeah, I'm working on that.

His arms are almost as big as yours, Tony.

I believe so. [Laughing]

If there was ever a talent that was built for New York,

it was Tony Atlas.

Take a look at that!

Tony wasn't getting booked mid-card.

Tony was getting booked main event.

[Cheering]

You know, and when they did...

what happened, man, the business started exploding.

But the chant and reaction that Tony

was getting was second to none.

Tony Atlas, undefeated in the World Wrestling Federation.

As one of the WWF's biggest stars...

Tony joins forces with future

Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson...

to form a history making tag team.

It was brand new where...

you had two African-Americans...

getting that rocket ship attached to

both of these young men.

Rocky was already the established star,

and Tony was still the up-and-coming star,

and the two of 'em together with the power and the look

that they had, it was magic for both of them.

You see, back then,

all this stuff was new for Black athletes.

-[Cheering] -I can't believe it!

We've got new champions!

We are the first Black tag team

champions of the world, ever!

[Cheering]

Now that was great.

My problem was me and Rocky didn't get along

because Rocky was a top wrestler.

I was a top wrestler.

I'm the only one can take his spot.

Tony, I'm sure you're so happy.

You got tears in your eyes.

It wasn't that he hated me or disliked me.

As you know, Rocky's older than me,

and this was Rocky's first break...

in the WWF.

Think about it. I made, in one week,

what took Rocky Johnson ten years to make.

There was a lot of jealousy came into play,

and so after a while it started souring,

and it turned into a bitter relationship,

and that's sad because those two guys in the beginning,

they were equal and, and then all of a sudden...

Rocky noticed that Tony was getting the bigger push.

You did it, Tony! You did it, Tony!

Rocky Johnson tried to get me fired thousands of times.

They were kind of toxic together.

You know, Rocky would play Tony,

and get him in trouble.

They would have very vocal arguments in the

dressing room to the point where you'd get a

little concerned, how far is this gonna go?

And a lot of times, you had a road agent stepping in

to kind of, kind of calm 'em down.

And then they'd go out and they'd have one of

the best matches you ever seen.

[Indistinct commentary]

What was really concerning was when it would follow over.

I mean, you want to clear a bar out in a hurry,

you get these two gigantic men arguing with each other,

cussing each other out.

You're gonna clear a spot for 'em.

The new World's Tag Team Champions,

Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas!

But here's the kick in the britches.

After we won the belt, they did very little with us.

Look at this!

Five months later...

we lost the belt.

God, it's history!

I didn't know we was gonna lose that night.

Vince never told me nothing about it.

Ole Anderson. Ole just tell me,

"The world is not ready for a Black champion."

I think Tony dealt with a lot of racism,

not only through the fans,

but backstage too with the guys.

The foundation of the business was owned by Whites.

You know, like, you,

your representation was based off biases,

and some of 'em were based off ignorance.

You had guys that was member of the KKK,

like Dick Murdoch. He'd open his bag

and you'd see a KKK frickin' suit in his bag.

I didn't know this then.

Well, one time Dick Murdoch was in the dressing room...

and he was giving out these fliers.

And he said, "Tony, I got some friends that

want to meet ya."

I said, "Oh, thank you, Mr. Murdoch."

I'm trying to be respectful. So, I said, "Yeah,"

I said, "Can Tommy go?" "Oh, yeah, Tommy can go."

So we pulled up into this dirt road.

And up on the hill is a guy in the hood,

the Klan outfit, with a shotgun.

Tommy said, "Get down, T!"

♪

People don't realize this, but...

I have trouble with reading.

What I got, dyslexia or whatever you call it.

My mother said I was a slow learner.

And she said, it happened ever since

I got brain damage as a kid.

So, anyway, Dick Murdoch gave me this flier.

So me and Tommy, we're driving and,

Tommy had not looked at the paper yet.

Said, "Let me see that there flier you got there, Tony."

"Hot damn, T! This is for the KKK!"

So I laid down in the seat,

Tommy spun the car around.

I said, "You're shitting me?"

He goes, "Ah! They're Ku Klux Klan!

Didn't you read the thing, T?"

I said, "I looked at it." "Hot damn,

Murdoch just started a damn Klan meeting!"

So, we get back to the dressing room,

and the guys are having a laugh, they said,

"We didn't really think you would go."

Yeah, he was definitely taken advantage of.

Tony never looked for the bad in someone.

You know, even after the first couple of stabs

in his back, didn't quite understand it.

Maybe didn't quite feel it.

But then, you know, you get stuck enough times,

you go, "What in the hell is going on here?"

Years of racism, exploitation,

and locker room jealousy...

pushed Tony to numb the pain with his vices.

He told me he would go do drugs,

or he would go get so sloppy drunk that

he couldn't even think about nothing but...

him being intoxicated.

That's a horrible existence.

Then I started going into the locker room to intimidate.

And that's when everything started spiraling down,

and the success, and the money,

and the fame started going to my head.

I had a Colt 357 Magnum.

And I started shooting at the ceiling with it.

[Gunshot]

I destroyed my own career by wanting revenge.

I figured I would hurt others as much as

I was hurt when I was a kid.

[David] He became a different person.

He was not Tony Atlas then.

Not the Tony Atlas I first saw at the YMCA.

He's gonna be in trouble now!

All these wrestlers that he's beating...

he's on top of the world and self-destructs.

I mean, it was like sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll,

but it's sex, drugs and wrestling.

Of course, back then we was all doing it.

[Tony] I was stupid.

Even though I had all this fame and everything,

I was not a happy person.

I walked out over a pair of shoes.

I threw away the championship for a pair of sneakers.

Well, one day I'm at the airport,

and this girl was telling me she can't wait to see me.

She got some new shoes.

She said, "I'm going to walk all over you."

I said, shit...

I could go do this and

come back for the wrestling.

And Chief Jay Strongbow tried to save me.

He said, "This match is going to be one of the

most important matches of your life."

I said, "Oh, ---- it.

I'm going to LA to be with my girl."

Yeah.

I had to lose everything

to learn to appreciate what I had.

What? What the hell's going on?

Merry Christmas!

If you miss one show and you got a good excuse,

that's one thing.

But if you start missing one here and there,

and here and there, you lose your dependability,

and then, that's what they do,

they depend on us to do what we're supposed to do.

I can't think of nothing worse.

Everybody there that paid money because,

"Oh, I want to see Tony Atlas."

[Commentary] Now look at that.

Yes, sir.

And then you go, "I ain't coming."

Come on, man, you can't do that.

[Tony] When I came back, Vince let me go.

I was fired. He told me himself:

"I have to make an example out of you."

In fact, it was a compliment in a way.

See, all the wrestlers were screwing up.

He said, "I have to make an example out of you

because if I fire Tony Atlas, then everybody

will know I will fire anyone."

Think about it.

You're taking out your biggest star you got

on your card, on you roster.

That says a lot about a promoter because

he's sacrificing crowds and houses to try to

bring you back to reality.

You know, sometimes you gotta be protected from yourself.

♪

Tony's addiction and release from the WWF

land him in a small New England based promotion

under the control of promoter Mario Savaldi.

Mario told me, "I know you're used to making more money,

but I could guarantee you

50 to 75,000 a year."

He said, "It's not much,

but here in Maine, it's liveable."

Then, all of a sudden, Mario would

book a show on the Saturday.

Vince would book a show in Maine on a Friday,

trying to put Mario out of business.

Mario's attendance started to drop, drop, drop, drop, drop.

All of a sudden, I had no money and no place to go.

I became homeless.

I lost everything. I'm not very well educated.

The only way that I knew how to make a living...

was in that ring.

I don't come to the park no more.

Twenty years since I been to this park.

This here was my home, right here.

It's where I slept.

I was here for a year and a half almost.

The same people that give you something,

they can also take it away.

And, and you could lose everything you ever owned

in about a second.

Got in fights.

Down here on Knock Street.

[Mark] He said that once, he woke up

and rolled off a bench.

He said, "Mark, I woke up and I was laying in

a mud puddle."

Man...

Making hundreds of thousands of dollars,

like you're making $1 million back in,

back in the 70s and 80s, you know.

And I went from that life...

to living on Knock Street, and eating out of a dumpster.

Here I am standing on the frickin' corner,

and everybody knows me!

That's what made it so hard. See, I was poor before,

but nobody knew me.

But to be poor and famous...

I was more hooked on cocaine here in Maine than

I ever been in my whole life.

I became suicidal.

I tried to be, I tried to die by police shooting.

I used to go to the police station to try to get them to

come in the parking lot to shoot me.

I used to walk in front of cars and everything,

trying to die.

Though he's ready to give up,

a local woman comes to Tony's aid,

saving him from his darkest struggles.

Monica was walking right down this street here.

She said, "What are you doing here?"

I said, "I sleep here."

She said, "You can't stay here. It's twenty below zero."

She said, "You will freeze to death."

I said, "I don't give a ----. I want to die."

So she left.

Next day she came back to check on me again.

I'd curse her out again.

It finally got so damn cold,

and my legs went numb.

Monica called the ambulance.

And they're trying to ask Monica

all these questions about me.

Monica can't tell 'em nothing.

She don't even know my name.

I went into a coma.

That picture there, this was when

I first met my wife, Monica.

That's when we first met.

I didn't have a pot to piss in,

or a window to throw it out of.

I had nothing to eat.

All I had were the clothes on my back.

And, my trophy.

That's, that's all I had.

I had nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.

And this woman took me in. She said,

"If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me."

Do you understand?

She took me home to her house.

So, I started going back to the gym, working out.

I got a little part-time job here.

I worked as a bouncer, ah, to pay the rent.

All of a sudden, Vince sent me a contract.

With Mario Savaldi's promotion struggling,

Vince McMahon reaches out,

offering Tony another opportunity for glory.

Monica started crying.

She said, "Now that you're back doing what you do,

I'll probably never see you again."

And I said, "Monica, yes, you will."

I bought these cheap rings...

I bought these rings, this ring right here,

I still got it.

And I said, "Monica, now we are married."

For Vince to do that, that's- you know,

'cause it's easy for him to just say,

"Get the hell on."

And then, of course, I'm sure Tony

had enough time to know that he'd done wrong

and love the opportunity to get to come back.

He said, "Well, let's bury the hatchet."

He said, "I got a great idea for you."

[Commentary] What have we got here?

Take a look at this, would you? Saba Simba!

Proud of his heritage, indeed.

We haven't seen this man for years,

and legally changing his name to Saba Simba.

Now here's the kick in the teeth.

My first night as Saba Simba,

Roddy Piper says this.

[Roddy] That's Tony Atlas!

That ain't no Saba Simba!

That's Tony Atlas!

Piper's right, you know.

Everybody, says, "Everybody knows that's Tony Atlas."

I thought it was low.

And, he ain't the only one.

There's a lot of people that have played roles and

characters that they felt like

were belittling.

Tony Atlas was a respected superstar.

♪

All of a sudden, he's a...

Who? [Laughing]

Vince, what were you thinking?

Why would Vince have me come out and do a gimmick,

and then tell people who I am?

I couldn't understand why he did that.

Why walk around looking like that?

You look like a fool?

[Bell ringing]

Who's he trying to fool?

I think it was a way of making fun of him.

It's because, it's because Vince can.

You know?

I think Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat worked great.

But then when they turned me into the

costume wearing, fire breathing dragon,

and it was more like a caricature.

And of course, with Tony, the same thing.

[Commentary] Look at Atlas, wow!

[Ricky] Just 180 degree turn.

If that was the intent,

then it was a success because...

[Laughing] That was embarrassing.

[Gerald] Oh, God, ugh.

Saba Simba. Give me a break.

My third-grade son at that time could have

promoted a better idea than that.

[Laughing]

I mean, right before Saba Simba,

I was eating out of a dumpster,

sleeping on a park bench, and you're gonna ask me,

"How did you like the gimmick?" Brother, I-

he could've put me in a frickin' pink gorilla suit

at that time. I would 'a loved it.

Tony's return to the WWF doesn't last long,

and despite stints in other promotions...

he never regains his former glory.

But in 2006, Tony is inducted into

the WWE Hall of Fame,

giving him one last moment in the spotlight.

Well, and of course,

this is my Hall of Fame introduction here.

WWE Hall of Famer.

I'd like to thank...

the wrestling fans.

[Cheering]

[Mark] Tony was a...

role model for a little Black kid

that watched wrestling

and had somebody to identify and looked like him.

And I requested Tony as my manager.

I wanted Tony.

Yes, sir.

I heard you need to do that for a payday?

Next I know...

They're telling me I'm gonna manage Mark Henry.

Over 15 years after leaving WWE,

Tony's new role as a mentor sees him guiding

Mark Henry on the road...

hoping he won't repeat Tony's mistakes.

It was just a childhood dream.

Wanting to be in the same room...

with Tony Atlas.

And, Tony and I would go to the gym.

He- it used to amuse him,

the stuff that I could do.

And I got in really good shape though riding with Tony.

Tony Atlas...

and the world's strongest man!

And then I went into a different level of,

you know, Hall of Pain stuff.

Somebody call the police!

That was awesome.

The last time I worked for him with Mark Henry.

Tony Atlas is woven into the fabric of our craft.

I had to catch a flight.

That red eye, leave at like 12:30

or something out of Las Vegas.

Vince said, "Tony, you're just as much a part of this

company as anybody here." I get home,

I get a phone call: "We have to terminate your contract."

I said, "What did- I just talked to him yesterday!"

That's Vince.

What comes out of Vince's mouth,

don't trust it.

Are you ready? One more.

Years after his historic time in WWE,

Tony Atlas keeps his legacy alive,

offering fans another glimpse of Mr. USA.

Mr. USA, Tony Atlas!

The legend of Tony Atlas won't die...

because it still lives, because people see him,

they go to autograph signings.

So, he'll go up and say hi and hug people.

[Gerald] I was in Boston a couple of years back,

and I'm doing meet and greets, you know,

and Tony's there.

All of a sudden I see Tony take off his jacket.

Then all of a sudden, I see Tony bending over.

Lacing up a pair of boots.

Holy cow.

And I said, "Tony, what the hell are you doing?"

"Brisco, I'm working tonight."

Man gotta make a living.

I'm not financially secure.

I'm not that well educated.

The only thing I got left is my health and strength.

I met three women in my whole life

that cared about me. Three.

My mother, my grandmother,

and my wife, Monica.

Well, right now, when people say,

"How's she doing?" Not good.

2019, my wife Monica had a stroke.

And, she's been hospitalized since.

This is my home away from home.

My wife is here.

If I'm not at the gym, I'm here.

I thought I lost my wife, I sure did.

♪

This is my wife, Monica.

Yeah, come on, baby.

Well, this is the woman that found me in the park.

She took me in.

Went through hell and high water with me.

Say hi, baby.

-Hi, baby. -[Laughing]

So how your day going, baby?

Compassion is the biggest thing.

When somebody is bedridden, sick,

he have to cook for her, and clean for her,

and bathe her, and...

I got my little kit here. This is my Monica kit.

...it's a special person that does that.

I wash her face.

I put chapstick on her.

And then I, I help her to, to go to bed.

I could never do enough

for this woman.

Like I said, I would not be here right now

if it wasn't for Monica.

I'm sure Tony has reflected back to those days with

Rocky Johnson, Madison Square Gardens.

Getting those $5000 a night payoffs.

And then I'm sure he reflects back at

being homeless after having all that money,

and having nothing,

not even a place where you can lay your head.

But you can't do it all over again.

[Ricky] I'm gonna say this.

Tony had his moments in the business.

And those are the moments that

he should be recognized for.

No, this can't be done! Mr. USA clears the ring!

The winner, Tony Atlas!

[Tony] If I had been a little bit more humble,

I would've been the first Black world champion.

But I'm more happy now with no career, no money.

I was a miserable ---- when I had

all that money and glory. I was not happy.

The only thing that made me happy was getting

some girl to stomp on my face.

Other than that...

[Mark] The moral of the story is it's never too late

to say I'm sorry.

[Tony] You're very stiff.

It's never too late to wash all the mud off and

act like you got some damn sense.

Because other people are depending on you to.

[Tony] I do this every day.

[Mark] And you're willing to live for them

rather than die for them.

♪

-You're getting prettier. -So are you.

[Laughing]