The Viceland Wrestling Documentaries

[hammerva]

Just playing conspiracy theorist here but do you think the reason why they did the Barber Shop angle on the breakup with the Rockers happened because someone (probably Shawn) knew that before that Shawn threw Marty through a window in a shoot drunken fight and then got his ass kicked.

The video of Marty in India driving a police motorcycle into a damn hotel and hitting people is just insane.  Like there is no way you can do that now without spending years in jail no matter the company or the star.   Also this is clearly the new worst thing he ever did near a hotel waterfall.  

Edited August 9, 2023 by hammerva

[Dolphman 3000]

Marty seems to have the Scott Hall "I accidentally killed a guy and the guilt ate away at me, so I numbed the pain" thing going on

Glad to see he's getting his ankle taken care of - from the previews I thought he was going to be permanently wheelchair-bound

[HumanChessgame]

I got into wrestling post-Rockers breakup and always found Marty incredibly underrated. After the reunion match I'd hoped he'd come back for a midcard singles run or team up with a younger guy in a non-corny less hokey team but once again he sabotaged his own success. He did an RF shoot in 05 or so that's probably one of my favorite interviews. There isn't a lot of discussion on the ins and outs of wrestling psychology or match breakdowns, but instead about four hours or stories, some of which were touched on here, and a lot of other interesting but kind of depressing stuff. At that point he was still working regularly and a lot more coherent than he was in this piece or in later interviews and came off a lot more sympathetic. You get the impression of a guy who is just his own worst enemy and can't help but sabotage his own success on account of bad choices.

[Cobra Commander]

Just imagine the money that Marty could have made or lost wrestling in Georgia if that territory had lasted a few years longer

[Curt McGirt]

I wasn't believing Marty's murder story at all until humorless, stone-faced prick Al Snow says "Yeah, he's telling the truth, he told me that in the mid-'90s." Like, WHOA. Them throwing it in at the very tail end was quite the drop of the hammer. 

Brutus saying Shawn was up Vince's ass sounded like he meant it rather literally, heh heh. And god aren't Bruti and his wife a nasty pair. I imagine them being regulars at swingers conventions and only hooking up with people who remember him from WWF that look just as beat up and gross. 

Wasn't there a story going around that Marty was actually walking on the sides of his ankles, with his feet, like, turned inward? 

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Brutus saying Shawn was up Vince's ass sounded like he meant it rather literally, heh heh. And god aren't Bruti and his wife a nasty pair. I imagine them being regulars at swingers conventions and only hooking up with people who remember him from WWF that look just as beat up and gross. 

Loooooooooool holy shit I got the exact same swinger vibe from Brutus and the Mrs.  But I found their “she says dirty shit and he gives a knowingly wise chuckle” vibe hilarious.

[Curt McGirt]

It was funny, but if she was pixellated, I could have enjoyed it more

[hammerva]

It is also funny hearing Brother Bruti talking guys kissing Vince's ass for spots.  I mean I guess he would be considered the expert on having someone head so far up another person's ass BROTHER

 

[Dog]

No one:

Nobody at all:

Not a single, solitary soul:

Marty Jannetty:

Spoiler

 

[Cobra Commander]

7 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Bruti and his wife a nasty pair. I imagine them being regulars at swingers conventions and only hooking up with people who remember him from WWF that look just as beat up and gross. 

would Bruti cut your hair before or after he watches you fuck his wife?

[Curt McGirt]

Uh... while, maybe? 

[Cobra Commander]

Quote

"Look, they're gonna give you clothes, a free haircut, you're gonna get food"
"it's not gonna be one of those weird haircuts, is it?"
"It's gonna be a haircut, all right? You said you need a haircut, they're gonna fuckin' cut your hair. You're going in, saving twelve bucks, just fuckin' do it!"

 

[Curt McGirt]

I'm reminded of the part in Bret's book where he referred to the erstwhile Disciple as Hogan's "manservant" 

[The Natural]

9 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm reminded of the part in Bret's book where he referred to the erstwhile Disciple as Hogan's "manservant" 

Bret's the best.

[Technico Support]

It’s wild that, aside from that whole post 9/11 anthrax scare, we’ve never heard a cross word about Beefcake that I can recall.  He’s just out here living his best swinging life.  If the worst you can say about an 80s wrestler was “career ball licker who got out alive and never molested or killed anyone,” then you’re well ahead of the game.

[odessasteps]

Not to mention "lucky to be alive" after the accident.

[Elsalvajeloco]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:05 PM, Cobra Commander said:

whoa... didn't know that Mean Mike from Disorderly Conduct was actually a dude in anything else

There are a good number of guys who broke in during the dying days of the territories who eventually had a brief stint in WCW or WWF or in Japan. Puerto Rico, and/or Mexico. Everyone wasn't Foley or Austin or (Jeff) Jarrett or Taker who pivoted off of that into much bigger careers.

[odessasteps]

Like motor city madman, for one. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

On 8/9/2023 at 8:26 AM, hammerva said:

Just playing conspiracy theorist here but do you think the reason why they did the Barber Shop angle on the breakup with the Rockers happened because someone (probably Shawn) knew that before that Shawn threw Marty through a window in a shoot drunken fight and then got his ass kicked.

Here is where this episode was at its carny best...the most simple answer is the most logical answer. They were not going anywhere, and they had outlasted a good number of teams they were around when they first came in (talking about the time they came back really). They were just a step above the Bushwhackers. I think by the time they started having issues (around WrestleMania VI in 1990), they had missed the window to really be something. I think they started the break up in late summer of 91. They could have started that several months before they did. If they weren't going to be tag champs, there was nothing fresh they could do. It also didn't help that you could see WWF was actively phasing down looking for actual talented tag teams. If it wasn't something like pairing a guy who wasn't really doing nothing (Hercules) and a guy who spent his entire run as an enhancement talent outside a brief run in another tag team that broke up cause they couldn't get along (Paul Roma), they weren't going to do much in the way of making it big deal out of promoting a tag team or even replenishing the talent pool. Moreover, if you look at it and think about it, Shawn had always wrestled with a certain swagger going back to the Midnight Rockers run in AWA, Memphis, and Continental that Jannetty never had. Even as a green enhancement talent losing to like Buddy Landell (don't worry he got that win back in SMW) in Mid South, Shawn Michaels had a great look. Go back and watch the cage match from that AWA Christmas show (forgot the year) the Midnight Rockers have with Rose and Somers. Shawn had a crazy amount of confidence and physical charisma inside of a few years or less of wrestling experience you cannot teach. Jannetty also could work his ass off and took amazing bumps (which is why he is in the physical state presently leaving out the drugs), but he didn't have that. So fast forward to 1991, they were well past their expiration date. I think Shawn knew that. While Marty kept the same hairstyle and look from the 80s, Shawn had changed his hair up and his demeanor up to match the times and not even in a heelish way. Keep in mind, the infamous Barbershop segment was taped at one of the last events in 1991 and aired in early 1992. You can tell Shawn was ready to make that pivot. So I can believe Shawn would agree with Vince's proposal. What I don't believe is Ed Leslie didn't know. He either wasn't following the product after his accident or he is just making shit up to fit the narrative. They had been breaking up for four months (five months by the time the segment actually aired). What did he think was going to happen? I also don't believe that Shawn got in Vince's ear. Shawn, by all reports, was just a guy early in his WWF run. He didn't have any sort of backstage influence until 94 at the earliest. At best, it's speculation and thinking in hindsight. Any conspiracy theory doesn't override that Shawn had more than enough ammo to be a singles star and Jannetty didn't. If Marty didn't fuck around and get fired again in 1994, they could have done something with him. Would he have been on Shawn's level? No, but he would have had a job as a reliable hand and probably gotten a few cracks at being a solid mid card champion and few paydays when talent in WWF was barren. By the time the New Rockers were a thing, he was still out there in looking like the late 80s and wrestling had moved on.

[Elsalvajeloco]

30 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Like motor city madman, for one. 

It's too many to name really cause there were a bunch of wrestlers who went through the meat grinder of the dying territories or early independents that are completely obscure even by hardcore wrestling fan standards. Hell, keeping on people from this past Dark Side ep, Al Snow should be a big success story cause he had been wrestling for a decade before people heard of him as like this budding indie star/tape trading follow.

Going back through the Observers, there were a whole host of guys who got booked on some of the smaller promotions in Japan in the 90s who never did anything remotely notable in the states. Like if Little Guido didn't do something ECW and then that cup of tea in WWE, he was going to be on that list.

[Cobra Commander]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

Not to mention "lucky to be alive" after the accident.

Does Brutus gain or lose credit for aging relatively well facially when you consider the facial surgeries to keep him from dying?

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

He’s just out here living his best swinging life.

Indeed

Spoiler

 

[Cobra Commander]

Another thing I noticed looking at Brutus’ Wikipedia entry is that 80s Brutus Beefcake looked as much like Michael Keaton as Paul Heyman did.

[Robert S]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Indeed

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I didn't know that Chris Jericho was friends with Brutus Beefcake.

[Elsalvajeloco]

8 minutes ago, Robert S said:

I didn't know that Chris Jericho was friends with Brutus Beefcake.

That looks like a still from an indie film airing on IFC in the middle of the afternoon. Judging by that one image alone, the plot revolves around a group of deadbeat dads in central Florida and their strained and contentious relationships with their ex-wives and their kids. It won some lower level award at Sundance so it can be called "critically acclaimed".