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The Viceland Wrestling Documentaries


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Had not seen anyone mention Brutus and the parasailing accident as an episode. Or Buff presumably discussing being a gigolo and hopefully being in a movie with Julie Strain. 

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2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Shockmaster is in the trailer; is he gonna appear in Tenta's episode just because he was Fred Ottman's partner in New York? 🤨

I mean he was his tag partner for 3 or 4 years. That's an eternity in wrestling especially at that time. Compare that other random people that have appeared on DSotR barely related to the subject. He also has the advantage of being alive, which you cannot say for a good amount of people who would have wrestled alongside Tenta. 

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It may be weird but I'm not really complaining, I mean we get to have people talk about the shittiness of Shockmaster on TV, that's great. Did not know the Natural Disasters were partners that long. 

WCW needs its own two-hour special, including (as written by Schneider in DVDVR #100) 

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The Desperados search for Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan’s trip to the Dungeon of Doom, OZ, the Ding Dongs, The Shockmaster, The Speedboating bomb tossing dwarf, Robocop, Chucky, The Ultimate Warrior’s reflection, The Black Scorpion, the attack dogs, the Giant falling off the roof of the Cobo Arena and much more

 

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The Tenta episode feels like "here's a break from all the really bad stuff".

Out of those 10 episodes, I don't know which one goes first. The first 4 seasons opened with Randy/Elizabeth, Benoit murder/suicide, Pillman, and Chris/Tammy.

Not sure if they would open a season with Buff or Beefcake or Sherri, and I think those 3 have the most name recognition of the 10 episodes since they were all around for either the 80s or 90s boom.

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Buff for recency bias, but Sherri probably since her final run of significance not counting the Sexy Kurt one off was pretty damn sad. People kinda overstate men and some of the issues they faced in the era of excess, but Luna, Sherri, and Miss Elizabeth were huge names that all should still be with us today. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm finally catching up with this series. I saw Season 1 as it aired. Found an archive with the rest. I started with the XPW episode. It felt rushed which is pretty unavoidable with 45 minutes of content. I'll admit, I loved XPW. I could buy the tapes at Suncoast and Sam Goody. It was everything I was led to believe ECW was and more. I didn't start buying tapes from highspots until 2003 so this was mind blowing at the time. Add in good looking women and to a twelve year old this was heaven. Obviously now I can look at it and say a lot of it was bad but I still like Supreme and the Messiah. The luchadors were awesome to see. 

I don't remember everything about the obscenity trial but I'd like to go back and read about the case with older eyes and better understanding. New Jack was crazy. 

I almost have subscribed to the new XPW just for morbid curiosity but I can't do it. 

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On 1/26/2024 at 5:16 PM, Cobra Commander said:

The Tenta episode feels like "here's a break from all the really bad stuff".

 

This would be very appropriate IMO, and it would make an episode out of something. I agree that wrestling will never run out of tales from the darkside, but it will run out of episodes, if that makes any sense.

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Just finished the FMW episode. Again, a victim of the running time. As if we needed more proof, Onita reveals himself to be the ultimate carny. And yet, I still hold him in wrestling reverence. I find myself always interested in seeing his matches, even though the returns in them are nothing but diminishing. A friend of mine had an older cousin who had pretty much every FMW show on tape. He dubbed them for me in like 2003 or so and I just rabidly devoured them. Foley nailed it when he said the shows had something for everyone. It was hard to get bored watching an FMW tape.

I loved the subtitled promos, especially after the "retirement" match. Onita's attitude about the debt really sucks but isn't surprising. I felt horrible for Arai's daughter. 

On lighter notes, I'm happy that the anal fire crackers got onto American television. Plus, Ricky Fuji still looks cool as hell. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the info for next Tuesday's debut of Dark Side of the ring along with the following two episodes: 

Quote

S5 E1 · The Ballad of 'Earthquake' John Tenta

PREMIERE

60 min · Mar 5, 2024

John Tenta couldn't be further from the monstrous Earthquake character WWF fans loved to hate; as his career faded, a health battle threatened to take him from the family he loved.

S5 E2 · Buff and The Bagwells

60 min · Mar 13, 2024

Marcus "Buff" Bagwell's brash persona in the ring was easily matched by his wild antics outside of it, made even wilder by the eccentric family he brought along for the ride.

S5 E3 · Terry Gordy: Final Flight of the Freebird

60 min · Mar 19, 2024

Already a wrestling star as a teenager, Terry Gordy's time with the renowned Fabulous Freebirds made him a living legend until an accidental overdose robbed him of everything.

I find it rather sweet of them to start with a beloved icon who was a truly great guy in real life considering the news of the day. These guys are really wrestling fans and I think they feel just like we do right now. 

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A certain tag wrestler showing up, totally unidentifiable until he literally opens his mouth, was a good shocker. All the early photos and footage of Baby Tenta are just amazing. The kid is like 20 with a full beard standing there twice as large in a lineup of other classmates, and without it you can tell just how young he is even though he's HUGE. What's almost as sad as his death is nobody from the business showing up. How the fuck does that even happen?! He was the best-regarded guy to so many in the back and yet, nothing. The people interviewed didn't try and explain themselves even. So strange. 

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