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Dark side of the ring

undertaker fan 88

The second series started tonight in the US with a double episode on the benoit murder suicide.. My god what a show. Quiet possibly the greatest wrestling show I have ever seen. This episode blew series 1 out of the water.

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HanFiredFirst

No point in watching now since the ending is given away that the cops didn't kill him.:mad::p

Agent Coulson

Another episode I wouldn't call a Dark side however it was a really interesting look at a man trying to make it in the wrestling business.

Also nice to see B Brian Blair always loved the Killer Bees as a kid.

Next weeks episode is The Last Ride of the Road Warriors .

Then the season finale that everyone has been waiting for The Final Days of Owen Hart.

gerrybbadd

OneEightSeven wrote: »

I'm enjoying this series, but I'm struggling to see what's so "dark" about the Brawl For All and David Schultz.

In regards to other stories they can document. They can cover steroids and sex abuse scandals involving Terry Garvin, Pat Patterson, and Mel Phillips. The steroids stuff would have to be at least a two-parter and they should include footage of Vince trying to intimidate the interviewers. Here's one such example:

I think there's another one where he gets in Bob Costas' face and comes across as such a deranged weirdo, but the WWE blocked it from YouTube:

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/05/10/bob-costas-vince-mcmahon-pro-wrestling-xfl

Rob Feinstein getting caught in a child predator sting operation is another story they could cover:

https://www.facebook.com/AvoidRFVideo/videos/vb.799819180036558/1038217486196725/?type=2&theater

For season 2, the producers/directors opened it up to the public to make submissions about what should be covered in the episodes. What we are getting is a result of those submissions. This is what people asked to see.

Although many of the episodes are not really "dark side" material, they are entertaining nonetheless.

Real shame to see what happened with Dr D, and to think of what could have been. He seems to be a real character, and extremely genuine.

PTH2009

Takeaway and the new episode of Dark side of the ring is a weekly thing for me now

Fascinating episode tonight and first I've heard of that promotion and Herb Abrahams

I'd say Cocaine was rampant in the industry at that time. Vince McMahon liked a bit of snow apparently. Hulk and Warrior were on it during the promo

gerrybbadd

PTH2009 wrote: »

Takeaway and the new episode of Dark side of the ring is a weekly thing for me now

Fascinating episode tonight and first I've heard of that promotion and Herb Abrahams

I'd say Cocaine was rampant in the industry at that time. Vince McMahon liked a bit of snow apparently. Hulk and Warrior were on it during the promo

I think Warrior lived on the stuff, given some of his promos! Ya, i'd bet it was rampant. Bret was interviewed recently, where he spoke about Coke being lovely stuff.

Is this the 2nd last episode of the current run?

Bounty Hunter

gerrybbadd wrote: »

I think Warrior lived on the stuff, given some of his promos! Ya, i'd bet it was rampant. Bret was interviewed recently, where he spoke about Coke being lovely stuff.

Is this the 2nd last episode of the current run?

3rd last I believe, Road Warriors next then Owen Hart.

Gotta admit that line about him dying doing what he loved got to me :P

Itssoeasy

gerrybbadd wrote: »

I think Warrior lived on the stuff, given some of his promos! Ya, i'd bet it was rampant. Bret was interviewed recently, where he spoke about Coke being lovely stuff.

Is this the 2nd last episode of the current run?

Sure listen to a ric flair, randy savage promo from the 1980s. I doubt it was just alcohol fuelled although it's more likely savage was doing drugs more than flair. Flair was hyper in his promos but made sense, wheras randy savage was on the warrior line at times.

Agent Coulson

The Road Warrior story was about the rise of The Road Warriors and downfall of Hawk.

The Godfather tells the legendary story of Vince taking everyone's finisher in a strip club.

What i am really liking this season is the talking heads this week they had Animal of course along with Hawk's brothers and Scott Norton, Barry Darsow, Nikita Koloff, Eddie Sharkey, Paul Ellering, Droz

PTH2009

They should have had a warrior stable back in the 90s

Road Warriors and Ultimate Warrior

Itssoeasy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The Road Warrior story was about the rise of The Road Warriors and downfall of Hawk.

The Godfather tells the legendary story of Vince taking everyone's finisher in a strip club.

What i am really liking this season is the talking heads this week they had Animal of course along with Hawk's brothers and Scott Norton, Barry Darsow, Nikita Koloff, Eddie Sharkey, Paul Ellering, Droz

when you look at the wrestlers there bar droz who are from Minnesota and include ric flair originally, ric rude and mr perfect it's a hall of fame class all on its own.

PTH2009

Itssoeasy wrote: »

when you look at the wrestlers there bar droz who are from Minnesota and include ric flair originally, ric rude and mr perfect it's a hall of fame class all on its own.

Brock is from Minnesota too

Blanco100

PTH2009 wrote: »

Brock is from Minnesota too

Brock is from South Dakota, only went to college in Minnesota

undertaker fan 88

Road warriors was a great episode. Brought back some memories for me

gerrybbadd

PTH2009 wrote: »

They should have had a warrior stable back in the 90s

Road Warriors and Ultimate Warrior

Ugh.

They were booked as so powerful, they didn't need a stable. Warrior was always a singles guy. Plus, they weren't The Road Warriors in WWE, they were the Legion of Doom.

Furthermore, it was kinda tried with Droz, and it didn't work.

Clareman

Really enjoy this, stuff like the state he was in at SummerSlam is a real eyeopener to what happens behind the scene.

Not sure what they're going to do with the Owen Hart bit, is it going to be how he was forced to do what he didn't want to do or the fall out from the screwjob, I'll definitely be watching. I'm surprised with the amount of footage they have from WWF events

Itssoeasy

Clareman wrote: »

Really enjoy this, stuff like the state he was in at SummerSlam is a real eyeopener to what happens behind the scene.

Not sure what they're going to do with the Owen Hart bit, is it going to be how he was forced to do what he didn't want to do or the fall out from the screwjob, I'll definitely be watching. I'm surprised with the amount of footage they have from WWF events

It seems the Owen hart episode will be around the days leading up to his death. They used WWE footage that was taken from a recording of sky sports in the episode this week so they aren't getting the footage from WWE itself.

The White Wolf

I always thought it was Hawk that was a Laurianitis, you learn something new everyday.

Have to say that was a very exciting episode, possibly best one this season.

B.A._Baracus

Itssoeasy wrote: »

It seems the Owen hart episode will be around the days leading up to his death. They used WWE footage that was taken from a recording of sky sports in the episode this week so they aren't getting the footage from WWE itself.

I remember that night very well watching live on Sky Sports. Very sad. Always will remember that line of "Owen Hart has died" from JR.

The million dollar question has been raised ever since... Should the show have ended.
I think now we all know more about the dealings of WWE (such as WWE having live smackdowns as not to breach the contract with FOX) I wonder if that played a similar part. By ending earlier could pay per view providers gained leverage over WWE since they didn't honour a full show?

Mental isn't it? As what ever the reason may be a man died and the show went on.

Itssoeasy

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I remember that night very well watching live on Sky Sports. Very sad. Always will remember that line of "Owen Hart has died" from JR.

The million dollar question has been raised ever since... Should the show have ended.
I think now we all know more about the dealings of WWE (such as WWE having live smackdowns as not to breach the contract with FOX) I wonder if that played a similar part. By ending earlier could pay per view providers gained leverage over WWE since they didn't honour a full show?

Mental isn't it? As what ever the reason may be a man died and the show went on.

Well as far as I can recall the live crowd were not told about his death. We the live audience were although the live crowd obviously saw more than we did because they didn’t show Owen in the ring or been taken out. I know Jerry lawler in hindsight his commentary hasn’t aged well but Jesus I felt sorry for him that night. His face when he comes back to the announce table is awful. He looks really shaken.

I think in this era the event would have been stopped(although it’s doubtful anything like that would even happen) but its easy for us to say it should have been stopped years after the fact.

I mean just watch Jeff Jarrett and Debra try to do an interview right after. I can only imagine the backstage chaos and mood.

Clareman

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I remember that night very well watching live on Sky Sports. Very sad. Always will remember that line of "Owen Hart has died" from JR.

The million dollar question has been raised ever since... Should the show have ended.
I think now we all know more about the dealings of WWE (such as WWE having live smackdowns as not to breach the contract with FOX) I wonder if that played a similar part. By ending earlier could pay per view providers gained leverage over WWE since they didn't honour a full show?

Mental isn't it? As what ever the reason may be a man died and the show went on.

The mentality is completely "The show must go on", no matter what happens the show goes on, that's clear with the Owen show as well as the Covid now, they were also the first show back after 9/11. I'd imagine that Vince would be at RAW even if Linda died that day

Itssoeasy

Clareman wrote: »

The mentality is completely "The show must go on", no matter what happens the show goes on, that's clear with the Owen show as well as the Covid now, they were also the first show back after 9/11. I'd imagine that Vince would be at RAW even if Linda died that day

Well I mean you'd hope that a immediate McMahon family member died then the family wouldn't be there and the other top people would run the show.

The show must go on isn't just a WWE thing. When David VonErich died in Japan the other brothers took barely a week off and were back wrestling in the territory as if nothing had happened. It's this weird wrestling mentality.

CastorTroy

I doubt Vince would be at Raw. Watching the Taker documentary, he said Vince was at the hospital with him even though Mania was still on

B.A._Baracus

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Well I mean you'd hope that a immediate McMahon family member died then the family wouldn't be there and the other top people would run the show.

The show must go on isn't just a WWE thing. When David VonErich died in Japan the other brothers took barely a week off and were back wrestling in the territory as if nothing had happened. It's this weird wrestling mentality.

Maybe it's just me, but I can understand why wrestlers would go to work instantly after something. The wrestling business is so fickle. You're only as good as your last match - as they say.

Accordingly even Owen was unsure about being lowered from the ceiling on that faithful night (if true should be mentioned when it airs) so there is Owen who is in WWE years at that point and a good solid upper mid carder worrying about his spot and it's not based on paranoia.

Vince could have made the call. He doesn't have a boss to worry about. Can't use the shareholders thing as an excuse too as it was before they went public.

Monokne

The show must go on thing is such bullsh*t. A human being was dead. The ring was cracked and his blood was in the corner. The performers were all in tears. Jarrett and Debra cut an interview immediately after and were weeping. If Stephanie had dropped from the ceiling and died on impact, the show would have stopped. We all know this.

The whole thing is the most rancid moment in wrestling history.

- Vince insisted on the quick release over and over even when told it was unsafe
- They shopped riggers until they found one willing to take the risk
- They wanted Max Mini attached to him
- They kept the show going after he was killed
- Vince sued his widow Martha to try and avoid paying out
- The Hart family faxed Marthas legal documents to Vince
- WWE released DVD's on Owen and didn't pay Martha royalties

It's obviously uncomfortable to all of us people who's supported wrestling & WWE for years, but any one of those things in isolations is bad enough however taken in totality, they really do present the most graphic image of what this business and that company is, and who the McMahons are as people. They exploited Owens life, were responsible for ending it, fought like hell to dismiss that, and then exploited it again in death.

RollieFingers

Hopefully that's the end of people's shouts to see Owen inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

It's a joke of a HOF anyway, but an induction is clearly something the family don't want, as the son pointed out Owen is already honoured through his foundation.

Agent Coulson

Martha Hart comes across really well.

Owen Hart tee now up on prowrestlingtees with all profits going to the Owen Hart foundation.

I bought one and with shipping comes to about €37.

https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/wrestler-t-shirts/owenhart/owen-hart-x-dark-side-of-the-ring-in-our-harts-forever-limited-time-only.html

seandotcomm

strange that it has "dark side of the ring" on it

Monokne

The documentary was terrific, but obviously there is only so much they can get into in 44 minutes. If you want all the details - and in terms of the negligence, it is really pretty incredible - there is plenty of further info out there.

The Lapsed Fan did a terrific piece on it. TLF is always LONG but if you're patient (like me), this is comfortably the most in depth coverage out there:

https://www.spreaker.com/user/11348916/ep-95-wwfs-over-the-edge-1999

Connie & JR had a great episode on it last year, it doesn't have quite the same level of detail particularly about the legal stuff, but Ross being a friend of Owens, it's a must listen:

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/the-jim-ross-report/the-night-we-lost-owen/

David Bixenspan did a good piece on the police report last month:

https://www.fanbyte.com/wrestling/the-owen-hart-police-report-is-a-chilling-reminder-of-wwes-history-with-worker-safety/

Martha's book is very detailed - I don't know that I would recommend it as it is just so heavy and sad given when it was written:

https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Harts-Life-Death-Owen/dp/1590770366

Lastly, WWE photographer Tom Buchanan who was on sight that night wrote about the harness used in the stunt. It is truly incredible a human being was hung by this piece of apparatus:

https://prowrestlingstories.com/news/former-wwe-photographer-tom-buchanon-details-what-went-wrong-the-night-owen-hart-passed-away/

Itssoeasy

RollieFingers wrote: »

Hopefully that's the end of people's shouts to see Owen inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

It's a joke of a HOF anyway, but an induction is clearly something the family don't want, as the son pointed out Owen is already honoured through his foundation.

I don't think fans wanting owen in the WWE hall of fame is out of spite towards his family its because in a perfect world he'd be in there because he was gifted at wrestling.

I've not watched the episode yet but I did listen to Martha hart talk on jerichos podcast and she came across very well and I think the narrative of her has happened because she had never said anything. I mean I know Owens son is on camera because there is a screenshot of him but does his daughter speak as well ?

It was a depressing story 21 years ago and to me as a wrestling fan it's not got any less depressing. It should never have happened. I assume they give more info that we don't already know ?

Monokne

Itssoeasy wrote: »

It was a depressing story 21 years ago and to me as a wrestling fan it's not got any less depressing. It should never have happened. I assume they give more info that we don't already know ?

Because of the lawsuit, everything is public record already. They cover the release shackle which has probably never been seen by most people. If you want details you don't know, the list I posted above has everything.