Original subtitles

In 30 years, I have never seen more exciting matches.

[Announcer] Down for the count: 1, 2, 3!

[Narrator] In 1990, the Universal Wrestling Federation

appeared out of nowhere, ready to make a major impact

on the wrestling world.

The UWF was a dream.

[Announcer] I tell you, we have some of the

finest talent anywhere in the world.

The UWF brought together a roster of

all-time greats and future stars.

It was an ambitious dream of an outsider,

a man named Herb Abrams.

The purpose of this Federation is to have

wrestling go back to basics,the way wrestling used to be.

I really believed that I was stepping into something new

and cutting edge with Herb Abrams and the UWF.

UWF! Number one, baby! Number one!

While his lofty vision put the UWF on a path to success,

Herb's dream became everyone else's nightmare.

[shouts] I am going to get you once and for all!

Right from the get-go the show was a joke.

The money wasn't legit.

Herb had squandered millions of dollars.

All hell broke loose.

Herb was like a ball of fire,

just looking for oxygen.

SWAT teams are gonna be knocking down the door here

in a minute.

I couldn't even fathom it.

I heard that he was covered in Vaseline and cocaine.

It was crazy.

You've got to start from the bottom and work your way up.

Herb started at the top and worked his way down.

Now, for the first time ever,

the true story behind the monumental downfall

of Herb Abrams.

You can't get any darker than the story of

the UWF and Herb Abrams. You can't.

♪

By the end of the 1980s,

the WWF dominated professional wrestling.

Powered by the vision and expertise of Vince McMahon,

no other organization came close to

its mainstream popularity.

But in 1990, an unknown wrestling fanatic came from

out of nowhere to attempt to slay the WWF monster.

I mean, I see him so clearly in my mind,

like it was yesterday.

And, I cannot talk about Herb without smiling.

I am Mick Foley.

I am sometimes known as The Hardcore Legend.

[Announcer] Look out! Oh! All the way to hell!

Good God almighty! They've killed him!

[Mick] Herb was a little guy with a big personality.

His enthusiasm was contagious.

I believe I was at one of

John Arezzi's Weekend of Champions.

John was one of the first guys who was

putting together wrestling weekends.

My name is John Arezzi, and I've been in and out of

the pro wrestling business, really,

since the early 1970s.

There was a gentleman who was looking to start

a wrestling promotion and, he was...

a little eccentric.

He had really big aspirations.

He wanted to launch at the Wrestling Fan Convention.

He mentioned a lot of money being pumped into

the organization, but when hementioned a name like

Bruno Sammartino, I mean, to me, that was legitimacy.

For most of the 20th century,

Bruno Sammartino was the face of professional wrestling,

and one of its first true icons.

And I called Bruno to verify itand he said he was

gonna be getting involved with Herb so...

I certainly gave him the time of day and

welcomed him to my Wrestling Fan Convention.

The wrestling fans' fantasy weekend event is

one of the first fan conventions of its kind,

and a convenient arena for Herb to approach talent

looking for new opportunities.

There was a lot of the guys from the northeast,

the Cactus Jack's, Sunny Beach's,

and Herb made a point to introduce himself to

almost everybody there.

I know he was trying to, you know,

look for talent at the convention.

He was there, I guess, recruiting.

My name is Rick Allen, formerly known as

Sunny Beach in the wrestling world.

He, he was, you know,looking to do big things and,

he goes, "Sunny, my boy,

we're gonna make it big one day,

you know, just be there for the ride."

I didn't aspire to become a professional wrestler,

to be honest with you.

He saw something in me that I didn't even see.

He's a hell of a wrestler, this guy.

The brand name is "Wild Thing" Stevie Ray.

He said, "Stevie, my boy,

I'm gonna turn you into a big star."

I can't wait to be around this guy.

Herb had never wrestled.

He had never really experienced anything in

the wrestling other than really being a fan.

My name's B. Brian Blair,and I've been wrestling for...

a long time.

I knew Herb Abrams from the very beginning.

He asked me if I wanted to come work for him.

I thought, well, you know, this is a...

a great way back to kind of the WWE without the pressure

of wrestling 67 days in a rowand it was perfect for me.

With the exhilaration of an obsessive fan,

Herb officially launches the UWF at the convention,

with a press conference laying out his grand plans

for global domination.

It was really designed to kind of introduce his vision

and announce some of the performers that were

gonna be associated with him.

But, it turned into more of a circus.

There was an angle betweenDan Spivey and B. Brian Blair.

There were tables torn, there were glasses thrown.

[Announcer] And look at this!

He introduced as his booker Jack Black Mulligan who,

at the time, was incarcerated.

[John] And, he mentioned thathe was gonna be using

Bruiser Brody as one of his top stars,

but Bruiser Brody had been murdered a year ago.

It was far-fetched, but it wasn't because

the entire wrestling businessis far-fetched.

His belief in his own words made people around him

want to believe and, you know,when he's telling you,

"This is going to be one of thegreatest wrestling promotions,"

I thought, this is the man who's going to mix

Hollywood and sports entertainment in a way that

not even Mr. McMahon had done.

Exploding out of the convention,

Herb's pure force of personality has bought him

a roster of eager wrestlers, each with the high

expectations of a man who is a complete mystery.

I didn't know a whole lot about who Herb Abrams was.

I knew that he was a business man of some kind.

He was working with the stock market.

He told me he was in the clothing industry.

I have no idea what Herb Abrams did.

I, I really don't know.

Herb owned clothing companiesin New York city called,

I'm A Big Girl Now.

It was all these beautiful dresses that you wouldn't

have thought would have been for these oversized women.

My name is Lenny Duge.

I worked at NBC for 24 years

as Head of Post Production and Quality Control.

I always wanted to get involvedwith professional wrestling.

When, when you're a fan, you have that

deep desire to want to be on the inside.

Herb Abrams was my best friend.

We were kindred spirits.

Herb was in a pair of jeans, cowboy boots,

and he was going from the minute I met him.

He let me in so quickly because he didn't have a me.

He didn't have someone that could do what I did.

He believed so much in what he was doing and

in what he was selling.

Herb Abrams' greatest dream comes to life

on October 1st 1990,

when the UWF Fury Hour debuts on cable television.

[Announcer] There's excitement in the air

throughout this capacity crowd.

This is the premiere of the UWF.

We were in Reseda, California.

It was, it was a nice setup.

It was a small venue, but it was sold out.

[Mick] We were believing in Herb's vision.

I didn't know where it might take us,

but I resolved to enjoy it.

This is Cactus Jack, and I would rather

hurt a man than love a woman.

He had guys that hadrecently parted with WWF and so,

they were fresh and hot on the television.

[Mick] Herb Abrams had what Ithought was arguably

more star power than WWE at that time.

Guys like Paul Orndorff, who'd drawn an

enormous amount of money.

[Rick] Then he had Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.

Captain Lou Albano.

[Mick] Danny Spivey and then Bob Orton.

It brought instant credibility to the UWF,

having these big names onboard with us.

[Announcer] It's coming, wrestling fans,

the Orndorff Pile Driver! Boom!

Taking a hands-off approach, Herb empowers his talent

with creative freedoms they'd never had before.

It was a lot looser in Herb Abrams' territory than

it was in Vince's where, you know,

you had to walk like you did in the army.

I went from feeling like I had been wrestling with

handcuffs on to feeling like I had total freedom.

I thought it was something special.

I thought I got in on the ground floor of

the infancy of the show.

I knew that I was heading for stardom, you know.

I knew that Herb was gonna give me that big push.

Everybody was happy and...

things were good.

With his dream of becoming a big-time promoter within reach,

Herb seeks to align with the one man who can

fast track his success in the wrestling world.

[Lenny] Herb met withVince McMahon and said to him,

"You want the east coast and the central,

and it's all yours.

What about if I promote the west coast for you?"

And Vince McMahon blew him off.

Rejected by wrestling's king,

Herb's attitude towards the WWF evolves into

a desire for utter domination.

In order to compete,

he looks to expand the UWF roster.

Do you think they'd let us? You shut up!

You shut up, I'm talking! I am a manger, for God sake.

I am the man who has to bring them to glory!

I'm Marty Yesberg. I'm from Gaffney, South Carolina.

And, back in the 80s, I was branded The Colonel

by Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant.

In the dressing room, we kept hearing about...

this mark, out in California,

who had tons of money and was putting together

a TV show called The UWF.

He flew us all out to California.

He set me up in this two-bedroom estate hotel,

Beverly Hills. And it was...

all that and a bag of chips.

And we wasn't working for him.

Understand, we was just going to meet him.

You know, I'm like, wow.

That night, he knocks on the door and,

he has two high end call girls.

We're not talking about South Carolina

snaggletooth call girls.

We're talking about Hollywood honeys.

He brings these girls into my suite,

that I thought was my suite,

and I'm drooling all over myself because I mean,

I'm thinking, I don't even get to see women like this

much less, you know...

have this delivered to my room.

And, in the process,he broke out a little mirror.

And, he had his nose candy with him.

The only thing I can think of is, you know,

SWAT teams are gonna be knocking down the door here

in a minute and we got two high price hookers

and cocaine everywhere.

I didn't know how to get out of the room.

I really and truly wanted out of that room.

I'm in California, I'm on his dime...

I can't call the police. Hell, the room's in my name!

So, I kind of just sat over in the corner and, you know,

I mean, it was like a live

pornography session and...

it was a very long night.

♪

This is my pride and joy. This is the original

Television Championship belt for Sports Channel.

It says UWF on both sides and,

when you hold it like this, it was...

fuck you to Vince McMahon,

that's what the "FU" was standing for.

So, when he would hold it up,

Herb would hold it up, he knew that he was

telling Vince McMahon to... have himself.

Herb's vision for the UWF was toput the WWF out of business.

I mean, he was that cocky.

Herb was doing everything in power to intentionally

needle McMahon and to piss 'em off.

He wanted to squash Vince.

He wouldn't even be happy with peaceful coexistence.

I think he just wanted to put the guy down.

With rival WWF far out of view,

Herb Abrams takes the opportunity to launch

his first attack, bringing in one of

Vince McMahon's most prized attractions.

Herb calls me and he's so excited.

He goes, "Lenny, get here as fast as you can.

I'm not gonna tell you who's sitting here,

but this is the best thing."

Now, when I came out here before,

I said I had a surprise. Something special...

something that onlyUniversal Wrestling Federation

can handle...

The 12th wonder of the world,

here he is, Andre the Giant!

Yes, this is true, Andre the Giant has signed

a long-term contract with theUniversal Wrestling Federation.

Well, he's not in his prime anymore

as everybody knows, but...

- He will be wrestling, John.- He will be wrestling?

He will be wrestling.

They had Andre the Giant...

Andre the Giant had come in.

It was just colossal to have him walk down to the ring.

Even though we maybe had 200,

300 people in the audience, they were all standing,

and they knew that we had hit.

I want to ask you one thing: What does UWF mean?

And after Andre made that appearance for UWF,

Vince McMahon got on the phone and called him and

brought him right back in.

The 8th wonder of the world...

- Andre the Giant! - [cheering]

This is going to be very, very interesting.

The embarrassment of losing Andre the Giant is

an enormous blow to Herb's plan for dominance.

Without McMahon's riches, Herb responds by throwing

every gimmick in the book to gain the attention of fans.

Herb would think of things on the fly,

change things on the fly.

- Ladies and gentlemen... - What?

This is a disgrace! I am reversing the decision!

As long as it entertained Herb,

he thought it was entertaining the world.

The Viking is back. I told you I'm gonna hurt

every pencil-neck, every pipsqueak.

I want a cage match!

Give me a strap match!

Give me a strap match, no holds barred.

I don't think he had the knowledge, you know,

to really take it to the next level.

[Commentator] Southside flip.

He went for a southside flip and he missed.

[Brian] If you don't understandthe psychology,

if you don't understand how each guy works,

what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are,

how to put them together,who they worked the best with,

then, you are never going to be successful.

Running out of ideas, Herb turns to yet another

new strategy to invigorate the UWF.

What made you come to this--

Who is this overgrown Smurf hereasking me questions?

I beg your pardon?! I beg your pardon?!

I said, who is this overgrownSmurf asking me questions?

It's interesting what happensto a promotion when the,

when the boss becomes the,you know, the star of the show.

Welcome back to another night of The Fury Hour.

I'm Herb Abrams, and again,

we've got a powerful show for you tonight.

He was writing the checks, so Herb could do anything

that he wanted to do because it was Herb's world and

we were just living in it.

You think about it! You think about it!

'Cause you're the one that wanted it,

and now you've got it!

All I saw was money, TV.

I was open to anything to getthe exposure that I was after.

He saw a way to get heat and actually be on camera,

and have a feud between The Colonel and

the owner of the organization.

[Commentator] What's Herb doing?

Herb took him down!

Herb Abrams may have a new career, folks!

[Marty] I knew as long as he was part of it,

he would keep me around.

[Commentator] Herb Abrams...

he hit him right in the head with that cane.

And another one!

Colonel, no one has everdone something like this to me!

I am going to get you, once and for all!

Herb attempts to get one over McMahon by

emulating one of WWF's most lucrative ventures,

merchandising.

Everybody's buzzing over the UWF merchandise!

Call the UWF PowerLine, now.

Introducing the UWF Superstars cookies.

We've got the Steve Ray "Wild Thing" cookie.

The Steve Williams cookie.

And, coming soon, the Herbie cookie.

Herbie cookies. Herbie.

Let me repeat that for you, Herbie cookies.

He also wanted the ice cream bar,

but the cookies, they were, they were great.

Now, let's not forget the B. Brian Blair cookie.

It's honey-flavored.

Herb is in desperate need of a power play when

his television contract starts slipping away.

Beach Brawl! The battle that crowned the

Sports Channel Television Champion!

Pay Per View. $14.95.

The UWF Beach Brawl.

Call your cable operator today!

When I heard that Herb was putting out a Pay Per View,

it seemed like the breakthrough moment.

And it was proven by the WWF,

it was proven by WCW.

That's where they made the majority of their income,

was through their Pay Per View events,

and to Herb, to step into that arena,

maybe he was expecting to roll the dice,

get lucky, and then finance the whole operation.

High expectations for the UWF's inaugural

Pay Per View weigh heavily on Herb.

Instead of holding the Beach Brawl in

a largely populated area, Herb lands on Palmetto, Florida,

over an hour away from the closest major city.

Palmetto Manatee Civic Centerwas a nice venue.

I mean, WWF does TV tapings out of there.

I think that's one of the reasons why

Herb picked that place.

Herb said that he had every newspaper,

he had every radio station...

everyone was gonna give it a push to help him.

Of course, we're real excitedabout the Beach Brawl and

I would highly suggest that people call to secure

Beach Brawl right in their living room because

it will be just that, a brawl at the beach.

Hopefully, millions of fans watching the show.

I go, and I look at this building,

and I know that there's no way in hell

we can sell this building out.

Building was a mince. Building was bigger than

any building I had ever seen in my entire life.

And, I knew damn well that wedidn't sell this building out.

Somebody screwed up.

♪

With the UWF's first Pay Per View event just days away,

promoter Herb Abrams indulges in Florida's

nightlife scene, letting it get the better of him.

They talk about those people that work hard, play hard.

That was Herb Abrams.

[off-screen] What was his drugof choice, would you say?

Um...

Obviously, it was cocaine.

There were more drugs back in the late 80s,

early 90s than any other timein the history of pro wrestling.

That was just, like, debauchery down there.

I mean, they were staying up around the clock, partying.

It was like one, big party for some of the guys.

When I got to Florida,he was in his hotel room and,

he had been partying.

I found Herb to be in really,really bad shape, and

I said to him, "You've gotta straighten yourself out.

We've got this goddamn Pay Per View to do.

You're' gonna kill yourself like you're doing this."

"Ah, you know, Len, it's the stress I'm under."

And I said to him, "Herb,when we're finished with this,

we gotta get you into the rehab.

If you don't go into rehab, I can't do this with you."

Herb's distractions from the Beach Brawl comes to a head

as he arrives to find thousands of empty seats at the arena.

They had to cut the, the auditorium lights down

to do the TV show...

so nobody would know there was nobody there.

That's Pay Per View. That was a Pay Per View.

When I saw how few people were in the audience,

I said to Herb, "How can this be?"

And he said, "Somebody screwed up."

He tried to keep upbeat and he was in there doing the

ring announcing and his thing,

but I think that really hurt him.

Brian, I'm gonna go with the Doc.

I'm gonna go with the Doc.

So, Herb Abrams going with Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.

He was running in and out of the bathroom a lot

that night so, obviously,he was doing a lot of cocaine.

[Rick] It was the worst Pay Per View, I think,

in Pay Per View history.

He got like a 0.01, you know, buy rate.

That equates to maybe a hundred--

it's either a hundred or a thousand people.

It was a financial loss, a tremendous financial loss.

Nobody was happy.

All the guys were talking,you know, between themselves.

And, they thought it might be the end of,

you know, the promotion.

I was a glass half full guy.

I would see those empty seats and I would think that

it was a way to do cool stuff.

It was really clear that most of his best intentions

were not going to come to fruition.

With the event a financial disaster,

and checks for the talent starting to bounce,

the UWF wrestlers confront Herb face-to-face.

I go, knock on his hotel door...

so I can get my money.

And, the door opens andthere's these two naked girls.

So, not like I hadn't seen a naked girl before,

but this was a little unusualand then I look and

I see Herb on the bed.

He's naked and he's laughing,

and I look over and he's got two big ol' piles of cocaine

on each night stand.

It's a picture that's forever etched in my mind.

So, he tells those girls to leave,

and as they're getting dressed,

Herb writes 'em a check for $2,000, each.

I thought, golly, $2,000, you know,

this guy's crazy,blowing money on cocaine and,

and hookers. I mean, how long is...

how long is this promotion gonna last?

I had a guy tell me one day, he said,

"You know this is a runaway train."

I said, "No, bro, this is a train wreck,

and all they're trying to do now is just figure out

if there's any survivors."

Herb Abrams' connections in the wrestling world

start to dry up.

Many of the wrestlers stiffed on pay are refusing

to work while Herb's vices are taking hold.

I kept in contact with Herb evenwhen I did not work for Herb.

You could see the wear and tear on his face.

I mean, between the drugs and the failing promotion,

it was really taking a toll on Herb.

I don't think he was keeping up with money.

I don't think it mattered to him,

as long as the party continues.

In Spartanburg, South Carolina, he pulled...

a fast one.

So, the day of the show arrives.

TV crew gets thereabout 12 o'clock. Herb's there.

And, they said, "We need to get a check from you

for tonight's show." Herb says,

"Let me get everything set upand I'll cut you a check."

So, we get up to about 4:30, TV crew came back and said,

"Mr. Abrams, if you don't give us some money...

we're packing up and leaving."

Herb says, "Okay. Let's go up to the office."

They call Herb's bank, "Ah, Mr. Abrams has

multi-millions of dollars in this bank account."

Confirms it. TV crews look at each other.

They said, you know,"You definitely got the money."

He had two bank accounts.

He had one that was filthy richand then he had the

other bank account that he cut his check on

that had no money in it.

Herb worked something out where they accepted a check.

And I told them, "Don't accept a check

if you don't want to accept a check."

And they accepted a check.

All hell broke loose.

Some of the guys that had worked that show threatened

to throw Herb off the fifth-floor balcony,

and that's when reality hit me upside the head.

I was hiding out.

I had people calling my phone,

I mean, they were wanting to kill me for being

associated with the company.

♪

As UWF leader, Herb Abrams, is now forced to

promote shows in smaller towns, his party lifestyle grows

more intense and his grasp on reality begins to slip.

He would get in this paranoiastate where he would

swear that there was someone with a bug, you know,

in his hotel room.

I seen him paranoid several times and,

I'd ask, "What's wrong?" And he'd, like,

just stare around and look around and say,

"I think they're outside." And I said, "Who?"

He goes, "They're watching us."I said, "Who?"

And he would never tell me who it was.

I don't know who he felt was recording him,

whether it be the police, whether it be the hookers,

whether it be the pimps.

And I'm thinking, no one's spying on you, Herb.

It's the drugs talking.

He would go through the furniture and look for

microphones or cameras,

and he'd tear the furniture up,just tear it up to bits.

For some reason, he had a fascination with cushions.

And, if there was a zipper, he'd open them up...

And, he'd just start ripping through them.

I mean, he just ripped them out and,

you know, and when that was ripped out,

he'd go to the next one.

All the feathers would have been all over the room.

I mean, you know, he wanted everything.

That paranoia thing...

it concerned me because

there was some truth behind some of that.

[Marty] Is, he would go over to the door,

and the peep hole...

and he would look through thepeep hole like this right here.

Now, you gotta understand, here's this 5-foot tall,

little naked Jewish fella with cowboy boots.

That's the one thing he didn't take off,

was his cowboy boots. And he's going, "Sh. Sh."

I said, "What's wrong, Herb?"

[whispers] "They're coming. They're coming.

You can hear them. They're coming. Sh..."

[off-screen] What are you thinking around this time?

Oh...

Yeah, they're probably coming.

Herb's problems escalate further when he tries to

put one over on the wrong people.

Here he is, he's with this girl

who he's supposed to pay up. And, he's doing this,

"Well, I'll give you a check,"type thing.

"No, you're supposed to give me cash."

She's not falling for it. Boom, door breaks down.

Thugs there. Herb's eyes pop out.

He goes and throws himself through a window.

I literally get a phone call from him in California,

he's running through a neighborhood, naked.

-And he's like, "What do I do? -What do I do?"

And I said, "Make yourself visible. I don't care.

Make people see you. Get arrested. Go to jail."

And, that probably wouldn't have been a smart thing

because she probably had contacts in there as well,

but anyway...

Herb's excessive lifestyle has finally reached its limit,

and his activities in wrestling cease.

Any comeback for the UWF seems near impossible.

Meanwhile, his old rival, Vince McMahon,

stages one of his most flamboyant events yet.

The spectacle of WrestleMania IX shows

Las Vegas casinos that wrestling can be a huge draw.

For Herb, it opens the door to a golden opportunity

in the city of second chances, his first event in over a year,

The Black Jack Brawl.

What better way to showcase your product than in

one of the preeminent locations in Las Vegas,

or in the world for that matter?

For Herb to pull off the MGM grand, it's...

it's a wager city, it's a betting city.

So, obviously, he got somebody to take the bet.

That was his deal. That was his motif.

That's what he did.

And he would go for the biggest freaking bite

he could get and he'd take it.

He was spending an enormous amount of money on

the talent that he was bringing in for it.

It was a loaded show with big, big names.

And it just seemed like a party.

The night before the show, Herb brings me up

to his penthouse suite. When I saw the suite,

I believed that MGM was gonna be packed.

I was thinking 17,000 people packed to the rafters.

I mean, this overlooked the whole city.

And Herb goes, "Wait 'til you see this.

People are going to lose their minds."

♪

He proceeds to pull out a pair of yellow ostrich skin

cowboy boots that have "UWF" burnished into the leather.

The fact that he thoughtpeople would lose their minds

over a pair of cowboy boots was an indicator that

there were issues.

Making their way into the luxurious MGM Grand,

UWF talent discover, once again,

that Herb's reach is leagues beyond his grasp.

[Mick] It was a gorgeous arena.

That night, it was a gorgeous, empty arena.

[Rick] It was, like, sad to wrestle in front of,

you know, a couple hundred people again.

You know, my first match was in Clarksburg, West Virginia

and we had 300 people,

but we were at the Clarksburg Armory.

He didn't seem bothered by what was going on,

almost like it was part of the grand plan.

Like, okay, those 300 people are gonna be checking out

my ostrich skin boots.

He was just a bundle ofenergy running here to there,

and he was involved in everything.

It really was an embarrassmentand, you know,

he was really outrageous during that show.

He might have been coked up throughout that entire show.

I mean, he takes the microphoneand he just screams into it,

"Let's hear it for the Jews!"

I mean, in front of the crowd.

I mean, it was kind of hilarious.

It was sad....

all, all in the same way. It was kind of weird.

He was acting very strangely.

His mannerisms were different.

The showdown will take place!

Steve "Dr. Death" Williams puts the title on the line

against "Malicioius" Sid Vicious!

Say, I'm happy to have you as champion,

but I'm glad you got busted up. Ha!

Herb's not making too many friends tonight, John.

He was twitching and jumping and such,

so they all knew he was high.

On that night, I had a chance towrestle my idol, Jimmy Snuka.

And when Jimmy Snuka andI start heading into the stands,

you know, 16,700 empty seats,

I remember Brian Blair going,"What are you doing?"

I said, "It's Herb's show. We can do whatever we want."

They're high. They're way up there!

Ladies and gentlemen, we havea double disqualification!

The downside is that check did not clear.

He wrote me a check...

It... it bounced.

[Brian] It was a failure and...

you know, that's gotta hurt.

He had the weight of the world on his shoulder.

I would never have wanted to beHerb Abrams in his position.

And when he came back, he toldme how successful it was.

"I had the MGM, Len."

"Yeah, you drew 200 people andit was a total clusterfuck."

And he says, "Yeah, but I had the MGM."

♪

Emotionally and physically defeated by his failure in

Las Vegas, Herb's dreams of a wrestling triumph

may finally be over.

The lifestyle took, took a toll on Herb.

He didn't have the spunkthat he had, that electricity,

constant, constant spark that made the room glow.

You know, it was like he aged ten years in two years.

It was such a big deal that he left LA for good,

he came back to New York.

I thought he, I thought he wasreally cleaning himself up.

So, I get a phone call from Herb and he goes,

"Len, big things are happening."

I go, "Herb, are you sure you're straight?"

He goes, "Len, I'm perfectly straight."

On July 17th 1996,

longtime friend visits Herb

at his office in New York city.

This is the last-known recording of Herb Abrams.

- Hey! Come in. - Hey! Herbie!

You want to look around here first?

Yeah, we're looking.

-You know, I can't keep, -I can't keep a house together

myself 'cause it's, it's just too much work.

- Are you happy? - I'm very happy.

- I've never been happier. - Okay.

Never been happier.

Can we be filming this, or is this supposed to be a...?

Well, you need to get a release from me.

[laughs]

Herb appears to have turned a corner on his sobriety,

but his friends are left in the dark

as he suddenly disappears.

'96, when I was working in the offices with him,

sometimes, you know, he'd come in the next day

all hung over.

Sometimes he wouldn't even come in at all.

Sometimes you wouldn't see him for a couple days or

hear from him for a couple days.

So, that was just Herb being Herb.

I was working at NBC. I got a call from Stacy, my wife.

And she said, "Lenny, I have some really,

really bad news. Sunny Beach called,

and Herb's passed away. Herb's dead.

Sunny's crying on the phone."

So, I call Sunny Beachand I go, "What is going on?"

Nobody knew what happened.

And then, his mother called me up.

And then, it was just like a...

a blur after that.

I must have cried for like two hours.

And it was just the hardest thing to call those men,

and then to hear them all start to cry.

These super gargantuan, strong men that you saw

fly across the ring, all cry over Herb dying,

and me not being able to almost talk.

On July 23rd 1996,

officers respond to an unbelievable scene

at the office of Herb Abrams.

Details are sparse, and those closest to Herb

would hear varying accounts of the disturbing events

as they unfolded.

It was kind of like how someone would say if they

walked into his hotel roomand saw him, you know, naked.

That's, that's a real shock to some people.

Okay, to me, that was part of his process of

what he was going through.

[Rick] The night that I guess he passed away,

he was partying, drinking,

he had a couple of escorts up there with him.

I heard that he had done so much cocaine that

he was whacked and,he'd found a baseball bat and

started tearing up the room that he was in and

just went absolutely berserk.

[John] I heard that he was covered in

either oil or Vaseline and cocaine.

It was crazy.

And he was chasing aroundhookers with this baseball bat.

Somebody told me that theescorts tried to rob him, too,

and that's why he grabbed the bat.

That's a sight to see, I'm sure.

So, I call Sunny Beach and I go, "What is going on?"

And he says, "Exactly what it says in the tabloids,

that Herb was running around naked,

smashing a baseball bat on the walls in the office,

chasing a couple of hookerswith coke all over his body."

Had baby oil all over him and,

I guess somebody called the police.

I heard somebody called the police on him.

[Steve] There was rumors likehe got sodomized by police

with their batons.

I mean, I heard that and I'm going,

"What the hell?"

[Rick] I guess one of the girlsran out of the office and

shut the door behind them andI think he ran into it,

and I think that's how he passed away.

[John] When the police showed up,

I heard he had a massive coronary and died.

And what I'm told is that

he took his clothes off in the jail and...

he had a seizure and it killed him.

[Rick] Nobody knew if he was robbed,

nobody knew if he got beat up with a baseball bat.

So, there was all kinds of stories going around

at the time and nobody knew the true story.

Still, we don't know 'cause I wasn't there so, you know,

you never believe everything you hear.

Chasing hookers around and, you know,

all greased up and...

died in the back of a police car.

The one thing I know is that

Herb Abrams left this world doing what he loved...

cocaine and hookers.

♪

The wild and conflicting circumstances surrounding

Herb Abrams' death overshadow his already

extreme life and reach urban legend status

within the wrestling world.

It kind of became folklore.

Everywhere we go, you get a Herb Abrams story,

you know, and...

some are better than others, some are true.

Some, you don't know what to believe.

When they told me he died...

I said, "No, he's faked his death. He's left.

He's left the country."

And I hate to talk ill of the dead - if he's dead -

but I had a...

promotion that was down in Union, South Carolina

that ran under UWF,and this promoter swore to me

that the night of his show, this little fella

came to the show in blue jeansand cowboy boots and

asked him what the name of the organization was.

And he swore it.

He said, "I'm telling you," he said,

"that Herb Abrams showed up at my show."

And because it said UWF, this person gave them

the riot act that he would sue them,

and it was as if Herb was legitimately alive.

And, I said to Marty, "Herb's dead."

I question.

[Mick] Herb Abrams couldn't keep quiet for 30 years.

I mean, maybe he went underwitness protect-- I don't know.

He would find a way to resurface.

No, I find it completely unfeasible that Herb Abrams

is alive and not seeking the limelight somewhere.

And I know that if he was still alive

he would have come and found me.

He would have let me know that he was alive.

He would have...

he would have done everything he could

to send a message somehow.

He wouldn't have stayed away 30 years.

♪

He wouldn't have stayed away 30 years.

[Rick] [sighs] Herb, we miss you.

Wish you were still here with us.

♪

You know, could have been a great thing.

[off-screen] What's that?

You know, the UWF and...

just what he was doing, if...

he would have had a little bit more backing,

a little bit more support,

I think it could have went a long way.

And now I'm visiting Herb in a cemetery.

We deal, we cope, and we go on.

♪

I actually inherited Herb's dog after he passed away.

Cokey.

It was snow white, the dog, and it was

laying in the coke and Herb called it Cokey.

Herb loved that dog to death.

Herb's style was always to be a generous guy,

picked up the tab for everything.

But again, that's easy to do with other people's money.

If it was his hard-earned money,

he would still do the same.

[Rick] I think he was justalways trying to prove himself,

always wanting to be liked, or always wanted to be

somebody to be respected.

But, we all respected him and we all liked him.

[off-screen] How did you feelafter he passed?

♪

It was a loss of someone who...

Hm.

♪

Someone who believed in me.

[sniffles]

[sighs] And...

♪

[sniffles]

I have to say that he truly brought life.

He brought it out of me.

♪

I think Herb should be remembered as a person who

tried to do something specialin the wrestling industry.

[John] I think Herb Abrams isthis bizarre character who

wanted to become a major playerin the pro wrestling business

and he was never able to succeed'cause he got in his own way,

from his personal demons,

to the way he ran his business.

[Lenny] The worst thing that Herb Abrams did,

whether you hear about thathe was involved with hookers or,

or coke, or this, or not paying people,

the worst thing that Herb Abramsever did to me was die.

It's haunted me for the entiretime of this 30 years and

that's the only reason that I've ever talked about--

it's the first time I've everlet the secret of the UWF out.

And, you have it, the best thatI could give it to you today.

He had the enthusiasm and I think the courage

to try to live out his dream.

He was such a diehard fan that that was his downfall.

He would love the negative that's on the internet.

He would love it all.

'Cause he was Herb Abrams. He was a thing unto himself.

I have to believe this is the way Herb would want it.

Like, maybe he got in death what he didn't have in life

and that is he became a legend.

Time.

[laughs]

Yeah, there's no way Herb's gonna keep his taxes.

I just think he'd be behind bars.

He would have hurt no one except himself and,

I'd be visiting him and we'd be toasting with

a glass of milk and Herbie cookies.

♪