The Viceland Wrestling Documentaries

[Curt McGirt]

It was like the worst cross ever too. Two boards and a nail, some carpentry there Hak.

[WebConn89]

It wouldn’t be WCW if Ric Flair wasn’t undermined.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

So, I'm watching the episode on Bam Bam Bigelow for the first time. Being a Jersey boy, Bam Bam was always one of my favorites, so it's cool to see the Stone Pony and the Monster Factory getting name dropped. Aside from that, this is an incredibly tough watch. I'm trying to think of more to say, but just can't find the words. Addiction is the worst. Fuck Oxycontin.

[zendragon]

On 4/23/2024 at 11:50 PM, Curt McGirt said:

This is one that I don't think I can watch again. It's just too heartbreaking. I can't believe how beautiful was, and how talented, because I haven't seen much really, so to have it end like that...

And fuck Eric Bischoff forever. All the money in the world. No rehab, no surgery, no nothing. Right out on her ass. Fuuuuuuck YOU. 

I wonder if they asked him if he attempted to help her and if she maybe refused

[Elsalvajeloco]

We're talking about Sherri right? I just caught up on the series so I apologize if I am out of the loop.

I don't really necessarily fault Eric for letting Sherri go. I have documented this several times on the board. Go back and watch some of those Sherri appearance especially the months right before she is let go. She is basically zombified standing behind Harlem Heat. She is doing the "act like everything is okay while you are clearly in no shape to perform" stilted walk to the ring. It is depressing in hindsight. She had outlived her usefulness to the act especially in that condition.

I get what Madusa is saying in terms of the implied sexism at play, but Eric let it go on for months before she had to go. And it was likely going on for several months before that if Cornette's story is true, and Jim has no reason to lie about that.

WCW was never the we will pay for rehab place or even ask you to go to rehab. Judging by Sherri's life, rehab probably wasn't her thing. 

 

[sabremike]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:00 PM, Curt McGirt said:

It was like the worst cross ever too. Two boards and a nail, some carpentry there Hak.

In his defense he was completely sober at the time.

[Curt McGirt]

He did a lot of construction jobs but nobody ever said he was GOOD at them haha

Sherri did want to get her back fixed but they said she didn't have the money for the operation. I doubt she would have looked a gift horse in the mouth. Really I don't care how much rope they gave her, they didn't have to fire her. It was inhumane under the circumstances, and look what happened.

[Elsalvajeloco]

3 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

He did a lot of construction jobs but nobody ever said he was GOOD at them haha

Sherri did want to get her back fixed but they said she didn't have the money for the operation. I doubt she would have looked a gift horse in the mouth. Really I don't care how much rope they gave her, they didn't have to fire her. It was inhumane under the circumstances, and look what happened.

I mean they kinda did. And she died ten years later, not the next day. Now folks like Spicolli, who was a notorious drug guy and died while under WCW employ, I can see that gripe. However, there are stories about Spicolli prior to WCW.

Sherri was on drugs in WWF and got fired. I already mentioned Luna's last match on TV being a disaster cause she was likely under the influence. She got fired not too long after that after already being suspended. It's really hard to begrudge the employers especially when they don't have the hindsight that we have now. She got warned about it, and then she got fired when she showed up again at TV not able to perform. That's how that usually goes. And I think the back thing was later on when Sherri had not been working in wrestling for awhile. That's more of an argument for a pension fund for wrestlers cause countless folks need surgery years after being in the business.

[Cobra Commander]

who would have said No first on Sherri in the NWO in 1996, Sherri or the NWO?

obviously once Elizabeth ended up in the NWO, they weren't gonna add another woman. Also guessing that wouldn't have been a great combo for the sake of substance abuse

[Elsalvajeloco]

I don't think the guys would be that excited about Sherri joining. If the Four Horseman didn't have Debra AND Woman, that would have been her spot. However, yeah, it was Harlem Heat or bust.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Supposedly, if Chyna had signed with WCW, she would have been put in the nWo. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

People didn't really turn the corner on going to rehab being a positive until well over a decade later anyway. That was the era where if you were a celebrity going to rehab, you were fodder for late night show monologues. We needed at least a decade of TMZ/Perez Hilton to get most of society to realize that maaaaaaaaybe mocking people for having addictions isn't exactly the fix we thought it was.

(Why no, I didn't just rewatch Framing Britney Spears recently, why do you ask)

[zendragon]

On 5/1/2024 at 2:52 PM, Curt McGirt said:

You gotta come pre-fucked, at least you used to. But it'll warp anyone.

Sander looked way worse under the camera lights insofar as his skin looked like a desert landscape. I guess being able to drink 45 Long Islands in a sitting will do that to one's complexion.

Is a superplex really the equivalent of a 30 MPH car wreck on the human body like he said?

 

I think he looks great for someone who for all intents and purposes really should have been dead a decade plus ago

[Curt McGirt]

They kind of went out of their way with the lighting. When he was on the New Jack episode a couple years ago he just looked fat and happy. Here, a little dessicated. But yeah I mean his wife even said he should be dead; hell, he DID die from shooting that Oxy.

And hey, we didn't get our Sabu LSD match talk! Hopefully that'll be on the extended cut. 

[zendragon]

I saw him vs Josef Samuel in PCW Ultra a few years pre pandemic and was surprised how slim he looked, honestly healthier than a lot of his time in ECW

[SirSmUgly]

Making my way through these, and Iceman King Parsons is a treasure. Someone just have this guy tell stories while sitting in a chair with this level of production value. 

[Curt McGirt]

He should've been on the Territories episode of World Class.

[Cobra Commander]

I could rewatch the Black Saturday episode to pay more attention to the first 15 minutes

but yeah, this was certainly an interesting journey

also congrats to Bob Roop on making people think they got Ole. Bryant was pretty good as Ole's proxy.

the last segment felt a little tacked on due to recent events and yet there was still more VInce news after that

Meanwhile I was watching a Continental show on the BigTimeWrestling stream where Freddie Miller was there post-Black Saturday and I suspect he might have been low-key blackballed, or just otherwise aced out, for working with Vince.

edit: Also, Wrestling 2 and Spoiler were both pretty old but them going to the WWF seems to have limited their career options post-WWF

Edited May 8 by Cobra Commander

[odessasteps]

Wrestling 2 had a run in Continental after the WWF, if I remember right. And he still indies in the 90s, seem8ngly with or against the Bullet or Mr Olympia throughout Alabama and the Panhandle.

[Cobra Commander]

it's possible Wrestling 2 was in Continental at the same time that Freddie Miller was there

rewatching this episode and in a way, it's kinda remarkable that Ole was popular enough to win a vote to dethrone Barnett

Also pretty amazing that the legal battle went on for 4 months and people outside of this scene didn't know what was happening. Even people in the business.

And Tommy Rich is looking good (better) these days

Edited May 8 by Cobra Commander

[Curt McGirt]

I dunno, given that Ole's angle was "you're getting robbed", and his probable talent for getting his point over in that respect, those cheapskates were probably bound to turn on the old gay dude that held the purse strings. But revenge is a dish best served cold as he found out. I don't recall Jerry having much of anything to say about Barnett so I wonder just what his opinion was about him. 

12 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Bryant was pretty good as Ole's proxy.

NO SHIT!!! Wow. He not only looked like his dad but SPOKE like his dad. It was uncanny. You could close your eyes and see Ole talking. 

This was pretty engaging to me because I didn't know anything about it really, a total blind spot in my historical knowledge. Probably the lowest thing Vince did during the whole thing was giving all the locals their walking papers. That was unfair. Guess he didn't really need them if he's just airing his own material, but at least give them a check or something to let them land on their feet, you're a fucking millionaire after all. Instead it was just a kick out into the cold. He even offered Ole a job, but the little people? Screwed like always. 

[Curt McGirt]

Forgot to mention one of the neatest parts: Bill Watts' letter to Ole. The kid is like "he just took all the shit on his desk and wiped it off right into a box" and right there is the Cowboy getting literate about the death of the territories. It'd be worth a small piece of anatomy to get to sift through all that stuff for the gems you'd find. It also makes you wonder about the real friendships, or at least close levels of trust, that some of these guys might've had and who actually liked who. The wrestling business didn't have a lot of friends back then, but Watts and Ole were probably more alike than most, and had the same thing happen to them, so they could bond over it like that, even if it was just a letter. 

Edited May 8 by Curt McGirt

[odessasteps]

I was listening to Jerry Jarrett on the Brisco pod and he was talking about how Eddie Graham was like a dad to him and yet, Eddie stopped talking to him because Jerry said Jack Brsisco was not unbeatable in a shoot. 

[hammerva]

On 5/1/2024 at 8:22 AM, hammerva said:

Next week is Black Saturday and wait was that Ole Anderson in the promo talking about the blood oath?

So the person that I thought was Ole Anderson was actually Bob Roop.  Not sure if he would find that insulting or not

I guess we got another great What If on this show because what would have happened if Crockett and I guess Turner just let WWF in Georgia die a horrible death and didn't give Vince a million dollars to get the time slot back.   I guess it really depends on how much of that money went to Wrestlemania 1.  Plus to be honest I am sure Turner would have given Vince a million dollars a month into the disaster much less a year.

Edited May 8 by hammerva

[odessasteps]

They are so similar that Ole would prob hate being compared to him.