Original subtitles

[Missy] Make a date with me, Missy Hyatt.

Now don't keep me waiting.

[Narrator] One of the most enigmatic stars

of the 1980s,

Missy Hyatt rewrote the rule book

for women in wrestling.

[Missy] Back then, women in wrestling

weren't taken seriously.

That did not deter me at all.

I just wanted to be something totally different.

[Announcer] The lovely Missy Hyatt.

[Missy] And that's what I did.

[Jim] She's buxom and she's blonde

and she's young and she's sexy.

[Missy] I don't like candy, but I sure do like men.

She could rile people up just by batting her eyelashes

and it just changed the whole game.

[Loree] Guys were all over her.

She had her pick.

[Announcer] Look at that!

[Missy] I realized girls have the upper hand.

We have this.

They want this and they can't have it.

Forget it, bub!

[David] She had that arrogance,

almost like, "You're peasants.

You really don't even deserve to be in a room

with someone like me."

[Missy] Oh, please!

I just wanna let everybody out there know that

I'm sick and tired of being nice.

[Loree] Missy can be sweet one minute

and a hard ass bitch the next.

[Baby Doll] With Missy, it's either all or nothing.

[Missy] I hate you.

I was treated like my character...

This ain't fair.

...And not as a human being.

You know what? I'm the one in charge.

I'm standing up for myself and all the other women

and we're going to sue in federal court.

[David] In her mind, she did nothing wrong.

[Missy] I don't get the credit because I'm a woman

and it's still a man's business.

[David] And in their mind, she did everything wrong.

[Bonnie] They said, "When you bring in the lawyers,

you're not really one of us."

[Matthew] I don't think to this day

she's ever recovered from that.

It put her on a downward spiral.

[Missy] I was in my apartment and

I was getting ready to kill myself.

[Matthew] We all know the end result.

A coffin or redemption.

[Narrator] Both loved and hated,

no one was ever quite like Missy Hyatt.

[Bonnie] So what do you want to know?

You want to know about the men?

The money she's blown through?

Or you wanna know about the mystique?

The rumors? Or the reality?

She's the one, the only,

'The Walking Riot',

Missy Hyatt.

[Missy] This is what I fell in love with.

This is where I'm meant to be.

This is what Missy Hyatt was meant to do.

[Announcer] Bam! In the face!

[Knocking]

[Barking]

[Missy] Hello? Hi. Sorry about that.

Hey, be quiet.

Come on in. Welcome to my house.

My little house.

[Barking]

[Missy] Shh. They're my guard dogs.

[Off-screen] We're excited to see all the Missy stuff.

[Missy] I don't have like Missy everywhere,

but I do have some Missy stuff,

so come on this way.

I got a couple of the magazine covers

that I was on, I had them framed.

Here's my Funko Pop.

I've got some awesome pictures.

Here's a picture of me and Beefcake,

Brutus Beefcake hanging out.

That was me in Hollywood.

Me and Sunshine.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Pillman,

Tony Schiavone, and me.

This is the "First Lady of Wrestling" trademarked.

I'm just daring somebody to use it.

I can sue the shit out of them.

And I would.

This is my legendary Gucci bag

that I've had since 1984.

This is the one.

It's hit so many people, I can't even imagine

how many people this bag's hit.

Made me famous, too.

[Announcer] Look at this! Boom!

[Missy] I'd slap people, hit people with the purse.

[Announcer] She hit him with a Gucci bag!

[Missy] And act like an idiot in front of a huge crowd.

They loved it.

I know you want me, I know you love me,

but you just can't have me.

My mom didn't like it. She would say,

"Why can't she be good?"

I'm like, Mom, "I don't get paid to be good.

I'm the bad guy." She goes,

"Yeah, but the people still think you're that way."

And I go, "Well, I guess I'm doing a good job.

What Missy wants, Missy gets.

Hi, I'm Missy Hyatt.

But my real name's Melissa Hiatt.

And I've been in professional wrestling

for 40 years.

I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida.

I was such a spoiled kid.

Like, anything I wanted.

My parents just wanted to give me a really great life.

I was adopted at birth.

I can never think of a time

my parents ever said no to me.

And that's really sad.

Because I think I would have grown up a lot better person

if they would have said no.

I was a bad kid.

I'd just do stupid shit.

But I'd always weasel out of it somehow.

I had about nine cars.

And I kept wrecking them.

And my dad just kept buying me more.

This is high school photo.

I wanted to be a soap opera actress.

You know, I wanted to be Susan Lucci.

Look, if you don't get out of here and stop

pestering me, I'm gonna scream!

[Missy] I loved my soaps.

"All My Children." "One Life to Live."

I'm not your little girl anymore.

[Missy] And I still watch "General Hospital"

almost every day.

Don't let your imagination distort your sensibilities.

[Missy] I remember as a kid practicing my autograph.

I would just sit there and do it all day on paper.

Because I knew I wanted to be somebody.

?

[Missy] I remember I was watching TV and

my dad was flipping channels.

And he stopped on wrestling.

[Announcer] Thank you.

[Missy] It was Michael Hayes and the Freebirds.

[Cheering]

[Missy] They were turning on Terry Gordy

putting a baby bonnet on his head.

[Announcer] Shove that baby bottle in his mouth!

[Missy] And I'm like, "What is this?"

And I just was enamored with it.

I realized then that wrestling is a soap opera.

It's a soap opera for men.

[Announcer] [Indistinct shouting]

[Missy] And I was like, "That's what I want to do

when I get older."

I just knew I wanted to be in wrestling.

Right then and there.

I made my girlfriend go with me to Macon, Georgia

because Tommy Rich was fighting Michael Hayes.

And back in 1981,

Tommy Wildfire Rich was the cat's pajamas.

He was the hottest thing.

I had pictures of him all over my wall.

I remember nothing from the match,

but I did get a picture with Tommy Rich.

And then, um, we just hooked up after the show.

[Laughing]

[Missy] And he denies everything, but you know,

that's okay.

[Loree] She had that girl next door

innocent look, but she wasn't as

innocent as she looked.

Hi, I'm Loree Dorminey,

and I have been friends with Melissa Hiatt

for almost 50 years.

Back then, I was working at the City of Nine.

It was an after-hours club.

Dancing and prancing and, you know,

wearing skimpy clothes.

They called them drag shows,

but I was not a drag queen.

I was working to get my surgery.

I was known as the blonde bombshell.

[Missy] I learned a lot from Loree.

She taught me how to flirt, how to be a little tramp.

[Loree] I'd turn into Marilyn Monroe, "Oh darling,

aren't you handsome?" You know, all that bullshit.

[Missy] She was out of town one time,

so I did the show for her.

And I showed my boobs.

That was like my first time I ever performed on stage.

[Loree] Melissa was wild,

and that's what I admired about her.

[Whistling & cheering]

[Narrator] With newfound confidence,

Missy uses her allure to break into wrestling.

?

[Missy] I remember when I moved to Atlanta,

when we would go to the wrestling shows,

like we'd go in the back,

act like you're supposed to be there.

So that's how I met Jake Roberts.

We started dating.

I learned a lot about wrestling from Jake.

We would sit up at night doing cocaine

and playing Gin Rummy.

And watching wrestling on TV.

Then I saw Precious and Sunshine get into a catfight.

[Announcer] Sunshine after Precious.

[Missy] And I was like, "Oh my God,

that's what I want to do!"

[Announcer] Pandemonium!

[Missy] I was in awe.

Then I knew I wanted to be a valet.

Then Jake told me, "We'll send your photos

out to Dallas to World Class Wrestling."

And I did. But they hired Baby Doll.

[Baby] From like '85 to like '90,

valets were it.

We were always main event.

Walking talent out to the ring.

We were doing the catfights.

[Announcer] And the two women are at it again!

[Baby] It just opened up a whole new genre for girls

to get in the business.

[Announcer] There she goes and there she goes!

[Baby] Hello, my name is Baby Doll, the 'Perfect Ten'.

I've been in professional wrestling my whole life.

In '84, I met John Tatum.

When Tatum saw the heat that Gino and I

had gotten in Dallas...

He says, "I'm going to get me one of those."

[Missy] After me and Jake Roberts broke up,

I got my first boob job.

And then I met John Tatum.

And I fell right in love with him.

[John] She was a lot prettier than most girls I dated.

But I guess she might have had a hidden agenda.

I'm professional wrestler "Hollywood" John Tatum.

And Missy Hyatt was my girlfriend.

Everybody in the wrestling business wants to be famous.

Missy wanted to be Missy Hyatt.

She's relatively patient.

And could wait.

She only came with me

when I got the job in Texas.

?

[David] When John Tatum came and was wrestling for us.

John came to me and said, "What would you think of

my girlfriend getting in the business?"

My name's David Manning.

I was with World Class Championship Wrestling.

You can blame me for getting Missy Hyatt

into professional wrestling.

She obviously had the looks, I mean,

she was gorgeous. And I said,

"When are you going to come to work for us?"

[Wrestler] Missy!

[Missy] When David Manning asked me to be a valet,

I knew that's what I wanted to do.

He said, "Bring a purse.

You're going to hit Sunshine in the head."

Okay, I'll do that.

[Announcer] John Tatum has got Sunshine!

[Missy] I just came out swinging.

[Announcer] And this woman is flailing her with her purse.

[Missy] It was the most exhilarating,

fun time I ever had in my life.

[Announcer] Who is this?

[Missy] And I knew this is where I belonged.

And this is where I needed to be.

[Announcer] This woman really let...

[Narrator] Missy understands that connecting with the

audience means creating a captivating character.

[Announcer] The great Southwest,

lovely socialite, Missy Hyatt.

[Missy] I thought my character was just

a rich socialite.

I want to be a little bit of Susan Lucci.

Morgan Fairchild.

A little bit of Loree. [Loree] Uh.

[Missy] It's just dialed up 150%.

[David] She carried the image of a spoiled kid...

Forgive me, Missy.

[Baby Doll] ...who knows what she wants and

will do anything to get it.

[Missy] Come in here and sit down.

[David] And when she didn't get it,

she would throw a tantrum.

[Bonnie] [Mimicking] Oh! With that whiny voice!

I can't even get my octave up that high.

I'm Bonnie Blackstone.

I've been in professional wrestling for 30 years and I

have known Missy Hyatt for most of those 30 years.

[Announcer] There is no time out in wrestling.

[Missy] [Shrill screaming] Yes, there is!

[Bonnie] Missy is the ultimate heel.

[Missy] Oh my God, the fans hated me.

Because Sunshine was beloved.

It was so easy to get heat back then.

[David] Well, the fans wanted them to fight.

[Announcer] Today. The 3rd annual Parade of Champions!

[David] So when I booked the Parade of Champions,

the second biggest match on that card was Missy Hyatt

against Sunshine in a mud match.

Forget wrestling. Forget arm drags.

Really just running in, grabbing a head full of hair,

and here we go.

[Missy] Before I started working in the business,

they didn't think women could draw.

I sure damn showed them that we could.

You're looking at the Queen of Dallas. Ha-ha!

[Narrator] After leaving World Class,

Missy and Holly would head to the UWF

where trouble catches up with them.

[John] We all left and went to Louisiana.

And I know she was thinking she didn't need me

because... she left me.

[Missy] I loved John a lot.

I just never thought that he loved me.

And that's why it was so easy for Eddie

to come in and kind of steal me away.

[Announcer] "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert.

[John] Eddie was one of the greatest

professional wrestlers there's ever been.

Not to mention, he was the assistant booker

at that time.

Missy and Eddie came to me

and said that they were in love.

[Missy] It is fact.

Now it is Hyatt and Hot Stuff.

[Missy] He was very mad at me, yeah.

And I don't blame him.

[Bonnie] When she broke up with John Tatum,

Bill Watts said, "We couldn't write

anything better than what this woman does in reality."

So we used it.

[Announcer] Missy Hyatt is leaving with Hot Stuff!

[Missy] We had to bring our drama onto the show.

[Announcer] Hit him right here!

[John] I saw it as a way to be on top to

wrestle Eddie Gilbert every night.

[Announcer] And Hot Stuff got John Tatum!

[John] But unfortunately, I was in a horrible

car accident that pretty much

ended my wrestling career.

[Announcer] We've made a report that

Hollywood John Tatum has sustained a very

serious injury in a tragic car accident.

[John] She worked and studied to grow and move up

so she could draw money faster than me.

She didn't need me. She did perfect.

[Missy] Hollywood John Tatum and I

are no longer together.

[Bonnie] I think she became aware that

there are the haves and the have-nots.

So once you're in it, once you make the money,

once you drive the cars,

once you have access to the guys,

you don't ever let that go.

Power is the great aphrodisiac.

[Narrator] In the 1980s,

Vince McMahon's WWF explodes in popularity...

[Vince] Hello everyone, I'm Vince McMahon.

[Narrator] ...Driven by a roster of

larger-than-life personalities.

I am the king of wrestling.

[John P] You had Hulk Hogan leading the way.

[Hulk] You shall feel the wrath of Hulkamania.

[John P] And Missy Hyatt was a character

they had not explored yet in the WWF.

She seemed like such a perfect fit.

[Missy] Yeah, I know.

[John P] In 1987, Vince McMahon

calls up Missy Hyatt.

She is given the ultimate pitch to

take her star to another level.

[Missy] I couldn't even talk to him.

I was like in ah-ah and gah-gah

that Vince McMahon just called me.

Vince wanted to have us come up there and work,

me and Eddie.

We had a limo take us to the Stanford offices,

met Vince. He said,

"Eddie, you can wrestle, you can manage,

you can do whatever you want.

But Missy, I'm going to make you a superstar.

I'm going to make you bigger than Hulk Hogan."

And I'm like, "Okay."

"You're going to take over Piper's Pit."

[Narrator] Hosted by Rowdy Roddy Piper. ...

[Roddy] I could slam you myself.

[Narrator] ...Piper's Pit is a reoccurring

interview segment on WWF television.

[Roddy] When RP talks, people listen!

[John P] Roddy Piper, after WrestleMania III,

is leaving.

He's going to be focusing on movies.

Those are gigantic shoes to fill.

[Missy] Eddie was very jealous because he was all

thinking that he was going to get some great deal.

And he's like, "I'm going to stay in UWF

and you can go to WWE."

That's when I knew that me and Eddie

were going to split.

But I just wanted to be my own thing.

[Narrator] Vince McMahon hires Missy Hyatt with a plan

to replace Piper's Pit with an all-new segment.

[Missy] Welcome to Missy's Manor.

I was going to get $1,000 a week,

all expenses paid.

And a set built for me.

And it was wonderful.

Vince McMahon bought me all these leather clothes.

Then he took me out to dinner

and he taught me how to play blackjack.

At the end of the night,

he walked me to my room, tried to kiss me.

Just tried to stick his tongue in my mouth

and I pushed him out and shut the door.

After that, Vince was more standoffish to me.

I think he sabotaged me after that.

They had me interview Randy Savage,

Miss Elizabeth, Jimmy Hart,

Bobby Heenan.

And all of them sucked.

Because I was so nervous.

I didn't even know how to give

a microphone to somebody.

Vince told me exactly what to say.

And I don't do script at all.

I'm ad lib only.

Speaking of legs.

Um, you have got-

And I asked him, "Please let me do it that way."

"No, no, you can do it."

[Macho Man] Concentrate just a little harder on

your next question.

[Baby] With WWE, it was kind of expected that

you were going to be one of Vince's girls

or whatever he wanted to do.

And if Missy didn't want to play that game,

she wasn't going to play that game.

[Missy] Well, I guess I'll see you here next week

on Missy's Manor.

[Narrator] Missy's Manor is cancelled

before it ever airs.

And Vince McMahon offers Missy

a different role instead.

[Announcer] Two of our lovely Federettes-

[Missy] A Federette? They had these girls

that took ring jackets.

[Announcer] How do you like federetting it?

[Missy] Nobody's really interested in what we do.

[Announcer] I can change that for you.

[Missy] And I was like, "I don't want to do that."

So I told Vince I didn't want to do that.

And I said, "I think this is not the time for me

to be in the WWF." And he was like, "Okay."

So, in six weeks I was gone.

I was out of there. I went home.

[Narrator] Following her WWF exit,

Missy signs with World Championship Wrestling.

[Missy] When I went to Dusty, he was like,

"We're going to make you a star.

Don't worry about it, doll." And he did.

He started using me.

[Missy] Hi and I'm Missy Hyatt...

[Loree] When Missy went to WCW,

they gave her a lot to do.

She was doing interviews.

She was walking talent out to the ring.

Every week she came in and

she looked like a million dollars.

[Missy] Meow. [Hissing]

I was working with Jim Ross

and Tony Schiavone.

Is there anything that you don't know, at all?

[Missy] Nm-mm.

Doing comedic stuff. Yeah, April Fools.

They used to let me open up the show.

Now let's go to the ring.

I love doing that because you got the microphone.

I think you have more control.

Now the first woman to interview a wrestler

in the shower. Let's go see.

That was so much fun.

- Ah! - What?!

[Missy] They would let me go out there and be Missy

and make it my own.

- Woo! - [Squealing]

[Jim] She was by far the most known female personality

in wrestling that it wasn't even close.

I'm Jim Cornette and

while I was a great male wrestling manager,

Missy Hyatt was even more famous

as a female wrestling manager.

There weren't a lot of other women

being featured regularly.

If you put Missy Hyatt on the cover of

the wrestling magazine- [Snaps] Boom!

You've got an instant sellout.

[Bonnie] She was able to prove her selling power.

Selling more 8x10 merch than most of the guys

we've got out there in the main events.

She had the number one calendar

and had the number one wrestling hotline.

[Announcer] Call Missy tonight!

[Missy] Only on the wrestling hotline.

Different people had different days.

Jim Ross had Saturdays, I had Sundays.

Mine was like gossip stuff.

I made up all kinds of stories.

I don't know why everyone at WCW is mad at me.

[Jim] It was a whole lot better than calling

to hear me or Jim Ross or whatever.

They were listening to Missy Hyatt.

[Sugary] "Hi guys."

[Loree] She should have made bank on that.

But I think that they took advantage of her.

?

[Missy] Nobody else's hotline was as good as mine.

It made half a million dollars one year.

You want to ask me how much I made?

?

My calendar that they put out of me,

I got $19 for it.

I was supposed to get 20%.

I was like, "What?"

They tried to write off all this stuff for the hotline.

It was all shenanigans.

I was the lowest paid person there.

[Loree] She wanted to work and she wanted to be popular.

And instead of paying her what they should have,

they stole from her because

she made money for those people.

[Missy] I'm not just some idiot that

shouldn't be in the business.

My talent speaks for itself.

But I don't get the credit because I'm a woman.

It's still a man's business.

[Bonnie] It happens to every female.

Even though she had the most popular hotline

and selling merch, it's always, "Well..."

"She hit her knees to get that job."

Even when you do a good job,

you're going to be accused of doing another job.

[Missy] I was treated like a blonde bimbo.

Treated as my character and not as a human being.

And then they fired me.

WCW Saturday Night!sy] o

I'm the hostess with the mostess Missy Hyatt.

[Narrator] Even as her popularity grows in WCW,

Missy begins a new relationship

that soon complicates her career.

[Jim] ...Jim Ross and Jason Hervey of

ABC's "Wonder Years" back with you.

[Missy] Jason Hervey, from "The Wonder Years".

The mean older brother.

One of the worst mistakes I ever made in my life

was to date him.

[Jason] You know, you really are a butthead.

[Jim] Jason Hervey was at the time a big wrestling fan.

[Jason] I want to thank you, Jim Ross.

[Jim] And because he was some kind of quasi-celebrity,

they wanted him on the show.

Mr. TV star, I'd like to know

what the hell you're doing out here!

[Jim] But of course he's gaga over Missy.

[Missy] At the beginning, I really had fun with him.

I really did, and I thought he was

the best boyfriend ever.

And we lived together for two years.

[Bonnie] Boy, he loved to lavish her with money.

He bought her a presidential Rolex watch

that was iced.

The clothing that Missy wore, if she wore it twice,

she gave it to me.

They lived in a beautiful bungalow

in the Hollywood Hills.

Money was no option when it came to them.

But, um, she's a beautiful woman.

And I think he's insecure.

Missy, you look nice! You look nice this evening.

[Missy] Thank you! I always look nice.

[Bonnie] Missy was hanging around all of his heroes.

Why wouldn't you feel a little intimidated?

[Missy] Lex Luger, you're a hunk.

[Bonnie] Jason would literally call my house

and say, "Where's Missy? What's she wearing?

Who's she talking to? What guys are in there?

Can you see her boobs?"

"Maybe a little bit.

I mean, you're gonna see some boob, it's Missy!"

I mean, talk about possessive.

And I think all the Rolex Presidents in the world

don't make up for somebody that's

gonna treat you like that.

[Missy] He went out on a boat with some girls.

So I confronted him about it.

"Why didn't you tell me there was girls?"

"Oh, I thought you'd get upset."

I was like, you little motherfucker.

Because if there wasn't anything nefarious,

you would have told me there were girls.

You know, I broke up with him because

you lie to me once, and that's it.

And if you're gonna lie to me about something stupid,

then you're gonna lie to me about something really big.

And then later on,

I lost my job because of him.

What happened was is after I break up with Jason,

there was a change in the office,

and Eric Bischoff became the boss.

And him and Eric Bischoff were good friends.

[Jim] Eric Bischoff wants to be a big-time

television producer, so he hooks up with this kid.

And they kept a relationship, produced all kinds of

television shows together.

[Missy] There was never an incident between

me and Eric before that.

He was just at my house like a few months before that.

But he was so far up Jason's butt that

he would do whatever Jason wanted.

Jason knew I didn't want to be a manager.

He knew I wanted to be an announcer.

All of a sudden, I couldn't do that anymore.

I am just so tired of being an announcer.

It's just no fun.

So I knew something fishy's going on.

[Announcer] The Nasty Boys!

[Missy] The next thing I know,

they have me managing The Nasty Boys.

All they did was scream on their interviews.

And they would never let me talk.

And then there was an incident

where my boob popped out.

[Announcer] Welcome to Starcade!

[Missy] The match was The Nasty Boys against

Sting and Road Warrior Hawk.

And I was wearing this mesh dress and a bra and stuff.

[Announcer] Well, she's nasty.

[Missy] At the end of the match,

I jumped on Sting's back, and when I fell off,

my boob had popped out a little bit.

[Announcer] And look at Missy!

[Missy] I looked, oh,

so I pulled it back up or whatever.

But I didn't know it at the time-

the camera guy got it. The photographer got it.

A couple weeks later,

I went up to the studios and on the bulletin board,

there was this picture of me in the ring

with my boob out.

What the hell?

So I pulled it off, tore it up,

threw it in the trash. I went to Bischoff.

I said, "I would like an apology from the

photographer, and I want, if there's more of these,

taken down out of the building."

[Bonnie] She originally threw it in the trash,

and then she went back and she got it.

[Missy] Something said, "Get it. Keep it.

You need that." So I got it.

I called the offices and talked to the higher-up.

I told him about the boob picture.

He didn't know anything about it,

because I guess Eric never

said anything about it to him.

Like a week later, Eric called me over.

He said I went over his head.

He just told me, You're fired."

I was like, "What?" He goes, "You heard me.

You went over my head. You're fired. Go home."

I'm like, really? Am I fired?

[Missy] I went back to the room.

I took a bunch of Xanax and a bottle of wine.

I called my friend Brutus Beefcake and

he came over and he held my hand and

he made me throw up and put me in the shower,

put cold water on me.

He saved my life.

I probably would have died.

?

I didn't do anything wrong.

I knew it was Jason Hervey.

I knew it was Jason.

Eric Bischoff would do whatever Jason wanted,

and Jason didn't want me around.

[Bonnie] See, Jason's mother was a booking agent.

A lot of people don't know that.

Bischoff wanted to be a part of Hollywood.

And maybe there might have been a carrot dangled.

You know, I'll help you do that,

but you're gonna have to let her go.

Leverage.

[Announcer] Those were very good points,

ladies and gentlemen.

[John P] I don't think Eric Bischoff's arm

really needed to be twisted to

stop working with Missy Hyatt,

but once Missy Hyatt discovered that photo,

they were leaving themselves wide open for legal action.

[Bonnie] I think that's when she contacted someone

legally and said, "Would this be considered,

you know, defamation of character?"

And I think an attorney told her, "Yeah."

[Missy] And we're gonna sue in federal court,

and I'm gonna sue

each supervisor and each person individually,

besides suing Turner Broadcasting.

[Bonnie] In this industry, you're supposed to

take your licks and go on.

I think Missy had had enough.

She had fought for her job.

She had clawed for her space.

This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

[John P] It turns into a 12-count lawsuit that

is filed against WCW.

Her main issue was the money that she was not paid

for various royalties, and included in that

is sexual harassment over this photo.

[Missy] Sexual harassment, discrimination,

equal pay, you know.

And I just was like, you know what?

You're not gonna fire me and then

screw me for the money.

Went to mediation, and I got $175,000 from them.

And the lawyers got like 40%,

so I really didn't get that much.

After WCW, I was trying to

put my life back together again.

It was very hard. Very hard.

I was battling depression and anxiety.

Because once you get fame,

you want that exhilaration,

especially when you go out to the ring

and you get that heat.

And you get them standing on their seats.

You know, to get that, there's not a drug in the

world that even comes, not even close to that.

But it is what it is.

It's over with.

[Narrator] Fired from WCW, Missy Hyatt's

wrestling future is suddenly in doubt.

[Missy] I moved to New York City and I started

working as a bartender and a go-go dancer.

I worked there for about, gosh, 2, 3 years.

[Bonnie] Once you've been on television and been a star,

now you're trying to reinvent yourself

at that age.

That was a very dark time for her.

[Missy] I got diagnosed with being bipolar and ADHD.

I was just self-medicating

to make me not feel.

It made me forget about it.

Every day at work became

such an emotional tear on me.

I would go home and I would cry because

why would they do this to me?

[Narrator] Struggling with addiction,

Missy watches the wrestling world passing her by.

[Jim] To be perfectly honest,

in 1985-86, she's 25, 26,

but here's the problem.

In the WWF,

they had the next generation of that.

So, if you've got a choice of bringing in

Sonny or Missy, even though Missy

was the original, that's what you do.

And that's just showbiz.

Sorry folks, I didn't make the rules.

[Bonnie] Sometimes people say, "Oh,

everybody's already seen her."

Some people can say she's mean.

You have to find one person that'll vouch for you.

[Paul E] My name is Paul E. Dangerously

and this is The Danger Zone.

[Missy] I met Paul E. in Memphis

and we just became friends.

When I moved to New York City,

I didn't know anybody but Paul E.

Paul E. called me and asked me

if I wanted to work in ECW and I said,

"Sure, I'll work there."

[Baby] ECW was total extreme wrestling.

[Announcer] No way! Oh my God!

I'll show you extreme!

[Baby] The girls were in a total different light.

[Announcer] Francine wants payback!

[Baby Doll] With the sexualization

and they were getting thrown around.

Missy was neck deep in all of it.

[Announcer] Well, "Walking Riot" Missy Hyatt!

[Missy] Paul E. told me that we're gonna do

something with the Sandman and

Stevie Richards is gonna come out and

you're gonna give him a really big kiss and then

he's gonna sue you for sexual harassment.

And I was like, oh man, this is gonna suck.

I'll get a restraining order.

Get away from me.

[Missy] So I kissed Stevie and then I started

working in ECW with Sandman.

[Jim] The absolute last place on the face of the earth that

anybody with depression, substance abuse issues

needed to be was in ECW.

Everybody was doing various forms of drugs.

[Missy] I mean, Sandman's drinking,

who knows what everybody's doing.

I know what I was doing.

I tripped on acid one time at an ECW show.

I was under the table giggling.

I got all geeked out of my mind.

My bipolar was just crazy all over the place.

You just self-medicate how your moods are.

[Announcer] And here comes Missy!

[John P] It felt like ECW was probably

not a great fit for her.

[Announcer] We've got a cat fight!

[John P] There's an injury she sustains

where she shatters her elbow.

I think this is where Missy Hyatt falls

out of love with professional wrestling.

[Announcer] I see no reason why this collagen-lipped

non-wrestler should even be in the ring.

[John P] ECW ends up being her last big hurrah

in pro wrestling.

[Crowd] Oh!

[Missy] I don't remember a lot of it.

'94 to about 2002 or 3 is a total blur for me.

It was just a really bad time.

And my drug use got really bad.

I was using heroin, I was using...

cocaine, pills,

ecstasy, tried meth,

and I was scared my teeth would fall out.

[Baby] She seemed like she was really,

really sad at that point.

For about a year, I guess, I didn't really

hear from her, which kind of concerned me.

[Bonnie] This was one of those dark times

where she and I weren't talking.

[Missy] It's all the people who you

surround yourself with.

If you surround yourself with idiots,

it's not going to be a good time.

I went to a guy who I thought was a friend of mine.

I said, I have a great idea for a website.

Wrestling Vixxxens.

It was a website with me

and a few other girls naked.

And you're posing here, posing there.

And you didn't have to get naked

if you didn't want to.

But I was going to damn sure get naked and make money.

We made $80,000 the first month.

I was driving a Porsche and living in

a beautiful apartment in Tampa.

I was just spending a lot of money on drugs.

Combined with the fucking craziness in my head

made me really, really out of it, so...

People just took advantage of me.

Took advantage of me.

I believe people when they say stuff and aren't

pieces of shit like they are sometimes.

That made me just blow up.

And I had a psychotic break.

[John P] Wrestling Vixxxens was an adult site for

wrestling fans that was run by Missy Hyatt

working with Tammy Sytch.

They got off to a good start

but 2001, it's the

very, very early days of the internet.

You still had people that were very hesitant to

put their credit card information online.

[Jim] They had the concept

and there was a market for it

but it was a low rent execution and

they didn't have the platform to

make the big bucks.

[John P] And the business looked like

it was not on solid footing.

[Baby] She had called me.

She was talking about doing videos and

doing the photo shoots and making a bunch of money

and that if I wanted to come down

that it would be perfect, you know,

because I had never had any pictures like that out.

It was going to be good money

that all my bills would be paid.

We'd just go out and have fun and take some pictures

and so I'm thinking, well, okay,

might be able to buy a car, you know, with some money.

And I said, "Well, how much do you think that

I'll make for the week?" And she said,

"Well, with everything being paid,

I think I could probably get you $600."

[Bonnie] Once people can go to a site like that and

copy its content and now distributes

that content virally, you're getting it for free.

I've seen it and I've never paid a dime.

[John P] The money just got depleted.

They felt they were scammed out of their money

and it largely was a disaster.

[Baby] Missy wanted to work and not that she was naive

by any means, but basically,

they took a bunch of pictures for nothing.

[Missy] And it's just like one bad thing happens

and another bad thing happens and

it piles on and piles on and piles on.

So I was self-harming myself.

And then you snap out of it by doing cocaine

or something or whatever.

[Missy] I only have a few girlfriends.

I can count them on one hand.

Really five good people that I can say that

haven't ever taken advantage of me.

Probably less than five.

You know. So...

Um... No friends.

I was a total outcast.

When some bad stuff happens

I think a lot of people get that way.

And I was so sad.

I was like, why am I living like this?

Why am I in hell?

And then doubling my Prozac caused me to have

a psychotic break.

I thought the Russians were coming and I was

running around my front yard half naked.

And my mom didn't know what to do with me and

so she called the police on me and they put me

in the car and took me to the hospital.

?

I was not taken care of mentally.

And I just couldn't, couldn't...

see straight anymore.

I couldn't, I couldn't comprehend.

Getting to that point, I, you know,

was getting ready to kill myself again.

[Bonnie] I was a real douchebag because

I did not reach out.

My husband at that time said, "Stay out of it."

And I had enough faith that Missy was strong enough that

if something was going down she would also

be able to pull herself up out of it.

of struggling with addiction, s

Missy Hyatt reaches rock bottom.

[Missy] You know, at this time I wanted to kill myself.

I was sitting on the floor with a .357

getting ready to blow my brains out.

I don't know, I just didn't want to feel.

And then I called up my friend and she's like,

"Do it in the bathtub,

that way we don't have to clean it up."

What a piece of shit selfish person you are.

Snapped me right out of feeling sorry for myself.

You know.

And so the next day I went to my doctor

and I told him what was up and

what I was doing and I needed help

and he gave me help.

[Bonnie] It had been so noisy in her life

with one bomb after the next going off.

So yeah, she needed a quiet place.

[Missy] I went through like three psychiatrists

until I found a psychiatrist that would listen to me

and you know, I haven't drank since then.

I haven't done anything whatsoever to harm myself.

The last time was the last time.

And in the last few years I was diagnosed with

PTSD from what happened in WCW.

Going to therapy has changed my world.

It's changed my whole world,

my whole outlook on everything.

It's really helped me a lot.

?

Oh, god, more Jason.

He's everywhere.

Can't get, can't get away from him.

I'm thinking it's in here

with all these magazines and stuff,

but I'm not sure.

Oh yeah, this is it. There it is.

That's my boobie popped out

and they thought that was like something special.

The feelings of wishing somebody ill will,

I don't have that anymore.

Life's too short to be upset.

[Matthew] Missy Hyatt is doing so good now.

Missy is happy.

She's full of life and

both her and I are very happy.

My name is Matthew Roblez

and Missy Hyatt is my life partner

and we love each other very much

and, uh...

it's a dream come true.

I became a Missy Hyatt fan when I was younger

and I was completely mesmerized.

[Missy] Because, I mean, hey, look at me.

[Matthew] And I told Missy when I first met her that,

"I've loved you since I was 15 years old."

[Missy] He told me that he had my picture in his locker

and I thought that was sweet.

I thought that was cute.

[Matthew] And here I am.

It's literally storybook stuff.

This is the one... [Missy] That you had in your-

[Matthew] ...that I had in my locker.

That's this one.

[Missy] [Laughing] That's funny.

No man has ever treated me so wonderful.

He completes me.

I'm in a great spot.

I'm so happy right now.

[Matthew] You know I like that one too.

[Missy] You know what it is?

If you surround yourself with good people,

good things happen.

[Bonnie] My friend knows that I love her to death.

I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

[Loree] We had not seen each other for nearly 40 years.

One night I was drunk. I'm gonna be truthful.

And I said, "I wanna see Melissa and talk to her.

I miss her."

So I found her phone number and called her.

She said "How did you get my number?"

I said, "You know how we are.

If we want something we gonna find it and get it."

She said, "You're right."

It was like we never parted, you know.

She's still like a sister to me.

She does what she wants to do.

She has a mind of her own.

You don't tell her what to do,

you know, she's happy.

[Missy] Yeah, god, we won!

[Baby] Missy has a reputation for being out there.

And why is that? Because she is.

It takes a special kind of crazy

to want to be hated.

And Missy loved the heat.

[Missy] Yeah, Sunshine, you're history.

We're talking out.

[David] Wrestling is always about getting attention.

And Missy Hyatt was good at that.

Missy Hyatt was a soap opera.

And I'm not saying that in a negative way.

It's just she lived the part. She was the part.

[Indistinct shouting]

[David] Sometimes the image just...

you carry it with you.

[Missy] I mean, there's a lot of Missy in me but like,

Missy Hyatt's character is sure not me.

I don't even know how to start this thing.

The greatest lesson I've learned is that I'm a lot

stronger and a lot smarter than my character.

Oh please.

[Bonnie] She is a woman that got pushed down.

Had her own life exposed.

But yet kept fighting.

Kept making that money,

that was strong enough

to keep reinventing herself.

Somebody that knew

how to work an angle.

?

There's only one Missy Hyatt.

[Missy] Gosh! Yuck.

[Jim] Missy Hyatt was a Paris Hilton before

Paris Hilton was born.

[Missy] I think I'm messing up my nail polish.

[Jim] Missy was the original.

[John P] She really did

set up the runway for

how women were going to be presented in wrestling.

She understood what worked in professional wrestling

and what didn't work.

But it was going to be the next generation that would

really cash in on that fame, that fortune.

[Announcer] Cat fight! Cat fight!

[Missy] I am so not bitter about wrestling and my career.

I absolutely love wrestling.

I love what I did. I love everything about it.

Missy Hyatt was the first woman to main event

at a large show. First announcer.

The First Lady of wrestling.

This is the real First Lady of WCW.

The best dumb blonde bimbo.

[Announcer] Missy Hyatt!

?

[Missy] I got a doll. I just,

I just had a doll come out.

That's all I've ever wanted was an action figure,

and I got it.

My ending's not sad at all.

I'm the luckiest person in the whole wide world.

I have the best boyfriend.

I have the best friends around me right now.

I'm having the time of my life.

It's what Missy wants, Missy does get.

Definitely.

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