All language subtitles for Dark.Side.Of.The.Ring.S04E07.1080p.WEB.h264-BAE[eztv.re]

Abdullah the Butcher was like a
nightmare come to life.

He terrified people.

Just a savage, bloody, thirsty machine.
Trying to rip the eyeball.

When Abdullah walks in the ring, you
know you're going to get blood.

Every match he was in, he bled.

You bled.

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.

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

You can't.

He made money everywhere he went. But
the more money we made, the more danger

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 a damn guy.

Fans at ringside, when he got too close,
I mean, they were running.

Everybody's bloodthirsty.

Everybody is bloodthirsty. They want it.

Notorious for blurring the line between
reality and fiction, Abdullah remained a

mystery even to those closest to him.

You all know the wrestler.

You don't know the person.

He's a hero all the time.

He is a very good person.

In a gruesome but successful career
spanning seven decades, Abdullah's

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.

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

painful death.

Acting like he finds the taste of the
blood pleasurable.

Abdullah the Butcher would come into a
regional wrestling territory and just

business on fire.

Blood everywhere!

The difference between Abdullah and
everyone else is when anyone else came

the territory, fans were rooting for
their favorite to win.

When Abdullah came in, they were rooting
for their favorite to survive.

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 when

to college as a freshman is I put a
black and white photo of him on the wall

began to tell the entire dormitory that
he was my father.

When you have those 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

eating liver and the blood of the liver
coming out, that's Abdullah the Butcher,

and he was unstoppable.

My name is Hugo Sabinovich. I'm from
Guayaquil, Ecuador, and I've been in

passionate industry.

For close to 50 years, and I will do it
again, love Lucha Libre.

No one was safe.

Not the referee, not the owner of the
company.

He will put fear into your body, into
your brain, your soul.

What's happening in here?

Can you explain to everybody what you're
watching?

Yeah. Eating the raw meat.

Chicken. Uh -huh. And he could even take
a phone book and

tear it in half.

Mm -hmm.

My name's Josephine Heron Shreve.

Abdullah the Butcher is my brother.

Windsor at that time when I...

When I was growing up, I always say,
that's old school.

And it was like we was raised in a two
-bedroom house, wartime 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 I had 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.

But I don't think my mother wanted to
piss in a can.

Okay, that's the way it was.

My name is Ralph Shreves.

I don't... Larry calls Shreves' brother
as Adoodle the Butcher.

I call him Larry.

That's his name to me.

Adoodle 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? Oh, there you go
then.

I guess 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.

You're at the end.

You have your ass jump up in one minute.

And you're scared to death.

He's a good actor.

I got my head off. Let me take my head
off.

Looking good.

Very good.

Oh,

it really is you.

My name is Larry Shreve.

My other wrestling name is Abdul the
Butcher.

I'm from Khartoum, Sudan.

But now, since I'm pretty near out, I'm
from Khartoum, Sudan, Windsor,

Ontario.

Your parents had to take care of a lot
of kids?

Like, was it challenging? Oh, they
worked hard. My mother worked hard. My

worked hard.

Yeah.

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

You know, at a 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

mother and father.

I wanted to make money.

I used to buy candy, three for a penny,
go to school.

You want to buy some candy?

Right?

I'd sell it for maybe a penny a piece or
whatever, where the kids owed me money.

And I said, when are you going to pay me
my money?

So maybe he got scared, like I was going
to 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 that was it. Then I said, I got to.

get out of here and try to make some
money where I don't have a problem.

And that's what I've done.

So Larry only finished the second grade?

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've done a lot. Larry,
he went to people's houses knocking on

their door and asking for old clothes
and 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, a
business.

He had people cutting grass and all
that. He had a truck where he went

moving stuff out of people's basements
and all that. He was a worker. Let's

say he was always a hustler.

He'd been in the karate and all that. He
had a karate place where, like senior

citizens, he trained them.

to learn how to defend yourself.

That's right in Windsor. You had about
eight or nine old ladies in their 60s or

70s, and he had it where they could
defend themselves.

Just old people and that.

I was down at the Windsor Arena, and I
was doing karate and stuff like that,

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 can make some money.

I said, oh, okay.

Abdullah crosses the river to Detroit,
where he meets the original Sheik, one

the innovators in hardcore wrestling.

Wait a minute. The Sheik has got that
fire. That despicable act of biting.

Abdullah playing an Arabic wrestler,
they only had one at that time, and that

was, they called him the Sheik, not the
Aaron Sheik, the Sheik out of Detroit.

He used to do all that stuff, you know,
cut you with your forehead, walk around

crazy.

Hi, this is Mr. USA, WWE Hall of Famer,
Tony Atlas.

You're up watching at the Sheep. He
imitating the Sheep.

I told

my dad, I said, Dad, I'm wrestling at
Cobo Hall.

My dad said, 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
better get out of that shit.

I said, Dad, listen.

Smack me.

He said, for what?

I said, just smack me.

He went... You see 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.

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 Colon and his right

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 monster, a

dude of the butcher. And I had 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
crazy, crazy way of earning a living.

Everybody just going crazy here.

By 1983, he was already drawing gigantic
money in the Caribbean islands and

Puerto Rico. People will fill up the
stadium.

Abdullah will make the promoter, Carlos
Colon, look good.

But at the same time, he will destroy
them. Perhaps the fear of being involved

in this match.

Abdullah would wrestle in Puerto Rico
for a couple of months. He wrestled in

Japan for a couple of months. And then
he would come back to the States.

And he was a big draw.

I mean, he went and 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 was very cautious of his money.
When he got paid, as soon as you give

it to him, he'd count it.

I made sure my mother and father, my
brothers and sisters, Got something of

My mother used to work for the funeral
home and stuff like that.

I went there one day, and I said, come
on, Ma.

She said, what?

She said, I want you to meet Mrs. I
said, I don't want to meet them.

You understand?

You're here scrubbing floors and stuff
like that, and I'm supposed to be a

butcher, and you're on your hands and
knees scrubbing floors and stuff?

From that day, she never worked another
day in 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

in legal trouble and financial ruin.

What has the whole situation been like
for you personally?

Hell.

You don't know who in 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 you.

With Larry Shreve, yeah, it could be
really difficult for a fan to know where

the character ends, where the real
person begins.

For someone who rode with him for
hundreds of hours, yeah, you get to know

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

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

He's entertaining you.

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

My name is Jocelyn Malika Marshall.

I met Abdullah while I was on the street
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, did 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 hero.

Your son liked all the bad guys.

He loved the bad guys, yes.

Abdullah was the best heel that the
world ever saw.

Even picturing my head now, just the way
he stands, the way he moved 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'd come through that ring,
people would go, uh -oh, here come

Abdullah.

It got so, it wasn't a gimmick. He was
in character most of the time,

when it went public.

I remember seeing a flight attendant go
over to him, and as soon as Abdul was a

flight attendant, eyes bugged out, his
mouth started watering, and she tried to

get his beverage order and just walked
away. I was like, Abby, are you okay? He

goes, got to protect the character,
champ.

Got to protect the character.

And that's what he would do. And so in
his own way, he would create this

grassroots campaign for the authenticity
of his character.

When he went into the ring with any
wrestler, he made them a good wrestler.

If you fight Abdullah, you fought
Abdullah, you got over him.

People knew you the next day.

They got like a crown on their head
because they're wrestling one of the

That's why I say Abdullah made Carlos
Colon.

Abdullah made Tony and Mr. USA Adler.
Everybody that fought Abdullah became a

big star.

Here he is, the fake karate thrust to
the head of the Dirty Dutchman's

tail.

What really made Abdulla was a time in
Japan.

In Japan, during that time, wrestling
was still about seven percent real.

You got a karate kick in Japan doing a
real karate kick.

You got chopped in Japan. It was a real
chop.

The only thing that was fake in Japan
was who won and who lost.

It was on the cover of all these
magazines. They have billboards of

you know, pictures of Abdullah.

He was what I call crazy over.

Like, he was an iconic part of Japanese
culture.

That's fine.

Doesn't bother me at all.

As crazy as this might sound, he
recorded an album in Japan.

In the dress room.

My name is Abdullah the Butcher. I want
to do all these crazy things to you. My

whole family hates me because I'm too
vicious.

They've never seen nothing like me.

I was different.

They only seen the wrestling.

You know?

That was it. I was different.

Having found success with the hardcore
style he adapted from the chic, Abdullah

becomes a mentor to wrestler Devin
Nicholson. But this long -term

will end in disaster.

I actually ended his career.

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

My name is Devin Nicholson, and my
wrestling name was Hannibal.

Starting his career with Stampede
Wrestling

in 2001, Devin begins working under the
name Madman Hannibal, and soon launches

his own indie promotion, Great North
Wrestling. In 2006, he begins working

Abdullah.

Before all the negative stuff happened,
I actually considered him somewhat of a

mentor.

I would say he was the first wrestler to
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 numerous times.

I knew I used to work for him.

Right, you guys were friends, weren't
you? Yeah, I used to fly into Toronto or

whatever, and we had shows.

You come out to Calgary, Alberta, we'd
have shows.

You understand?

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

I'm going to catch you in your last
match in Canada.

There will be some people that will
always hate me for exposing him, but

whatever. I don't care.

I stopped him from wrestling.

Already 68 years old and six decades
into his career, Abdullah returns to

to wrestle Hannibal in what's being
billed as his retirement match.

I remember my first experience of
Abdullah. My grandmother was actually

of a wrestling fan, and I remember she
let me watch a wrestling movie called I

Like to Hurt People.

And I just remember thinking, 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 afraid

to do that.

So then he would take the blade and put
it like there and tape over top.

And then when it comes time to bleed,
he'd pull it out.

And then, I'm not going to do it, I'm
not Abdullah, but he'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 had razor blades on all his
fingers.

First, he'd cut you with the razor
blade.

And what does he got? He's got a fork.

And then he would take the fork and
scrape it across you to make it bigger

could bleed more.

He actually would stick that fork. He
would stick you with that fork, too.

He's like stabbing you in the head with
that fork. It hurt like hell.

That's Abdullah.

Abdullah the butcher.

He would cut you deep.

Well, did anybody ever complain about
being cut?

Not to Abdullah.

Because, you 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 or complaining in
wrestling.

I didn't carry a blade because I didn't
juice every night. But this was part of

these guys' gimmick.

Abdullah,

Bruiser Brody, Dusty Road.

Abdullah's blade every night. Every
night.

It's kind of like Ric Flair got to have
the road.

Well, Abdullah got to have the blade.

Why do they call him Abdullah the
Butcher? What does the butcher do?

They take to make blood.

They try to hurt you, to torture you.

This guy here, he was rushed to the
hospital and had four stitches in the

of his head. This guy chopped him in the
damn head and got cut. Don't think that

this is all phony blood.

Abdullah's intense bloodlust and
unpredictable style keeps him from

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 Rogers Daytime.

I just happen to have a fork right here.

With the old, you know.

Without this being plaid or anything.

It's always a pleasure. Thank you.

He put the male host in a headlock.

Walked the male host over to where there
was going to be a cooking segment

after.

And then the guy started bleeding.

It was the weirdest moment ever. The guy
was like, I just remember him shaking

like that. He was like going to shock
almost. It was like a guy that obviously

isn't used to bleeding or getting in
fights or anything.

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 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 to get away with

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

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, it was kind of like

someone that kind of represented him in
a way was going to get in.

But after a series of routine blood
tests, Hannibal received career

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
how I would have such a thing. A lot of

guys would use dirty razor blades.

Because everybody didn't care about
blades. Everybody didn't care about

They would say something like, Hey,
Abbie, you got a blade I could use?

He's going to use the blade.

And when you borrow something, you got
to do what?

Give it back.

And they would give it back to Abdullah.

So it was very easy for him.

Somebody to catch the disease, because
who knows where that blade came from or

who they cut before they cut Hannibal.

Did it cross your mind at that point
that it might have been Abdullah? Yes,

because 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.

At some point, you and this guy Hannibal
were friendly with each other, right?

Yeah, we were good friends. I used to
work for him. He was a promoter.

Right. So I don't know what happened,
but I don't want to talk about this.

I don't want to talk about it.

His career cuts short by his hepatitis C
diagnosis.

Hannibal is desperate for answers.

I had a guy that was doing a documentary
on me. It was 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.

The contrast got rescinded because I had
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's like, what is Abdullah doing
here?

I haven't even seen footage of the
match, to be honest with you. I would

see it.

You can see here he's cutting his own
head with his razor blade that's taped

his finger, right where all the scars
are on his forehead, what he's been

for the past 50 years.

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 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 Tazza.

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

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 test form 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 going to do? Open it up?

I don't know what the hell it says.

If it wasn't for Malika, no.

I'd really be in bad shape.

And he said, sat me down. He said, sit
down, Malika. 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'd 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

to him. And after I looked through it,
it included the court case with Devon

Nicholson. I don't know anything about
that.

My sister called me and said, you lost
the case in

Toronto. I said, what?

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

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

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 these years of

being called a liar.

Devin Nicholson was awarded $2 .3
million in damages.

No, I don't think it's your pay. No, not
that much.

What should he have gotten?

Nothing.

I wouldn't have sued him.

When you get into a certain profession,
you know, you're taking the 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 that dude cut him.

He could have cut himself, but he was
scared to cut himself, so he got

else 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.

Hasn't paid a penny.

Nah. I don't think he has.

I want you all to look at this.

This is dangerous, the stuff that you
have ever 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.

Listen.

This is how his house is right now,
currently. Right now, currently. That's

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

Oh, 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 of.

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.

But I needed more than that.

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.

I don't want to say too much. I just
tell the absolute truth. My brother...

Don't worry, my brother, he's a very
nice person, but people play games with

him. Are you aware that he says that he
can't read or write? Did he ever tell

you that he can't read or write? 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

companies like...

WCW and Japanese companies.

So he can't read or write?

No. Nope, he never could. But he'd find
ways, like, if they told him, like, to

go to a chicken farm or something like
that, he'd draw a

picture of a chicken.

I don't mean this to be humorous, but,
like, he knew how to read a menu.

You know, like 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 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.

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

I did not know that. And eight years, we
traveled 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've got to

find him or her and honor that person
because that teacher did a lot.

Abdul the Butcher himself getting
stitched up right here. The punishing

hardcore wrestling has a long legacy,
but it often comes at great personal

for those involved.

Abdul and Carlos Colon invented a match
with a chain going right across the ring

and they were hooked to it. And even
with the rain, a storm, you could still

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.

And they trained you to feel invincible.

At those times, we would put the blood
of their opponent as part of being a

and suck the blood out of your
opponent's head.

When I talk about it right now, I see
the expressions on the young, the new

generation, like, what the heck were you
guys thinking?

But, you know, back then, it was a whole
different world.

Anytime you watch something, even if you
watch a movie picture or something like

that, they always have violence in it,
right?

You have 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 you.

In a twist of fate in 2021,

Seven years after his own court battle,
Hannibal finds himself at the center 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
take the spike.

It hit him several times, and it did
some damage.

Did not have any medics on site.

It went on longer than it should have.

Like, it was bad communication all
around.

Guy, the referee, he ended up getting an
infection. His head was, I mean,

mutilated. I was appalled.

I saw the dude's head with, you know, a
dozen different gaffes with staples in

his head. And I'm just like, what in the
heck happened here?

Why have charges not been pressed? Why
is this guy not in jail?

Even your story is saying you are
recklessly, dangerously careless and

damn near killed this guy because you're
just sloppy.

And if we believe that he got mad and
actually attacked this guy with a spike,

it's like you should be in jail.

You should never be booked to wrestle
again.

This is not good for the business. This
is 1960 where we're going to convince

somebody that he's the madman from the
Sudan that attacked somebody with a

spike.

There's no place for that in the
industry anymore.

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

a court case and now you're going to do
that to a referee?

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.

But then you also wonder, because in my
case, I was around him in bloody

matches, you know.

Carlos Colon and other guys.

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

Hannibal eventually finds an
experimental treatment that cures him of

hepatitis C, but his bitterness remains.

Is there anything that he can do to make
this right?

Yes.

I mean, start paying what you can.

and take some responsibility for what
you did. You've been found guilty in

Canada and the U .S., but you never
apologized for anything.

And, 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 is
hopefully the last time I'll have to

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 Abdul the

Butcher liable, but not guilty, of
causing Hannibal's hepatitis C.

This is the Hall of Fame, and all these
rascals here, these are the old ones,

they're probably all dead now.

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

Well, I put it this way. All my family
is his biggest fan. He's 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.

In a round, our next inductee always
made me a little nervous.

This is the man who took hardcore to
another level.

Take a look.

In 2011, Abdul the Butcher is inducted
into the WWE's Hall of Fame.

When I found out I was going to be in
the Hall of Fame, I said, I don't

it until they book me there.

And Terry Funk was the one who put me
over strong, said nice things about me.

He said, whatever people say about
Abdullah the Butcher, he made these

a lot of money.

I cried because I know the story that 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've never seen anybody that the fan was
actually afraid of.

They was afraid of him.

And 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 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 a man of
greatness, such greatness.

He's going to be okay with the help of
God.

Long after you're gone, what would you
like people to think when they hear the

name Abdullah the Butcher?

Just to give me the respect for what
I've done.

A lot of things people say I've done, I
did not do.

You know what I mean?

That's all I can say.

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