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2021 Wrestling RIP Thread


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One of my small regrets as a wrestling fan is that I never went to his indie shows that were maybe 2 miles from my house in the mid 80's as a kid in West Virginia.   Not that they were must see shows but I could have watched guys like Mick Foley and Shane Douglas in his early years and never did.  I would love to know if there was footage of those shows existed

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Quote
THINKING ABOUT DENUCCI
It has been a couple days since I attended the service for Dominic DeNucci at a small funeral home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, just a couple miles away from Freedom, where I learned to wrestle. I keep thinking about the man in the casket - having left us at 89 years old - who was so instrumental to my life and my career. I have been lucky to have been helped by so many over the course of my career and my life, but without Dominic, none of the good things that transpired during my career would have been possible.
I must have seemed like a hopeless case that first time we worked out in the fall of 1985. I had set up the ring for promoter Tommy Dee in enough time to do a work out with Dominic: that was the deal I had worked out with Tommy; if I assembled the ring before the fans came in, I had a chance to work out with DeNucci. In that first work out, Dominic completely turned everything I thought I knew about professional wrestling on its head. I was about 235 pounds at the time, working out hard, but hardly a physical specimen. I had been a decent amateur wrestler, but had Dominic, an extraordinary amateur chosen to impose his will on me, he could have broken me in a half. He tested my will, but never took advantage of me. He made me respect wrestling, but never made me fear him.
Over the course of our initial workouts - when I would head down from my college in Cortland New York and hope that I had the ring set up in time for these few shows a month in the New York metropolitan area - I gradually earned his respect. Dominec told me about some guys he was training near Pittsburgh, and had I possessed a GPS at that time (or even a Rand McNally atlas) my career would have ended right there. I had no idea that Pittsburgh was 350 miles from my college in upstate New York and over 400 miles from my home on Long Island. But I made that trip about three out of every four weekends and slowly but surely improved – and knew as I was traveling that the dues I was paying on the road were part of my wrestling education.
I remember those early days so well. We did shows all over western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio – towns like Hundred and Poca, West Virginia that I have never traveled through again, but will remember for the rest of my life. Some of the guys I trained with are no longer with us – Ray Miller, Tony Nardo, my dear friend Brian Hildebrand. But many others turned up from all around to pay their final respects to a man who was so much more than a trainer to us. He was a valued friend, a father figure. In a business where so many get taken advantage of, I placed my faith in Dominic and had that faith rewarded so many times over.
In Dominic’s casket was a pair of wrestling boots – the exact same kind that he sold to me for only $25. I was just college kid in early 1996, with about $100 to my name - and my first match was quickly approaching. Those boots were worth so much more than $25, and yet he let them go for a fraction of their cost, just so I could have something to wear for my first match. After my first weekend of training in an old Elementary school in Freedom, Pennsylvania, Dominic asked me what I thought I should pay for the weekend. I shot low, knowing I did not have much money to exist on, and suggested $50. He shook his head and I felt my heart drop a little bit. “That’s too much”, he said, and then set the price at $25. A year later he told me that I had been driving through snow storms, sleeping in my car, and that I didn’t need to pay any more.
I wonder how my career would have turned out had I been trained by someone else. I probably would not have fared well with one of those trainers who made trainees do squats and push-ups until they puke, and then bring in a shooter to stretch them every which way. Dominic understood there were other ways to measure the toughness of an individual, and knew the business itself would test us in so many ways. He saw something in me that very few others would have seen - and through his example of kindness, respect and belief created an atmosphere in which I could flourish. In that atmosphere, I had some of the best times of my life, met some of the best friends I have ever known, and had the absolute honor of learning from a truly great man.
God bless you Dominic. May you rest in peace, my friend. I love you.
May be an image of 2 people and beard
 
 
 
 
 
 

https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley/posts/372128504283026

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  • 2 weeks later...

i was so relieved when i didn't see this thread bumped when i first checked it this morning.

then i came back and saw that it had been and immediately felt terrible because I figured it meant this.

awful.

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Just thinking about the fact that she aired her suicide note live is really fucking me up.  I was hoping against hope that with no updates it meant they managed to talk to Daffney and were working on helping her out.  To say it saddens me is a huge understatement.  RIP.

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I am not sure how helpful it ultimately became but at least some of her best friends in the business were on that instagram Live show and was so scared for her well being that they frantically got as much people to try to help her.   Still horrible and sad and just shows how devastating mental illness can be

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I was worried for Daffney Unger's wellbeing as we all were and to find she's passed under those circumstances is tragic. This one hurts. Fan of Daffney since I first saw her as Daffney in WCW, 1999 and TNA as The Governor. RIP Daffney Unger. Thoughts go out to her family and friends at this difficult time xxx.

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Mental illness is serious business. If someone is suffering from depression they don't need to "just cheer up" or "get over it" because often times they can't. So sad. By all accounts an absolutely wonderful person too, and one of my favorites from WCW. May she RIP. 

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2 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Just thinking about the fact that she aired her suicide note live is really fucking me up.  I was hoping against hope that with no updates it meant they managed to talk to Daffney and were working on helping her out.  To say it saddens me is a huge understatement.  RIP.

Just real quick because I wouldn't feel right not addressing this: some person on Twitter is keeping that video up against her family's wishes. He's kinda doing it under the guise of "it may help someone" but it's pretty gross to me, I dunno. I won't link it here but it's pretty easy to find if anyone feels like they want to report it. I wasn't sure myself if I was going to, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. For one thing, I think it's pretty exploitative, and for another, I think it's messed up to show someone at their absolute lowest moment - that's notwithstanding the fact that this literally *just* happened. 

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43 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said:

Mental illness is serious business. If someone is suffering from depression they don't need to "just cheer up" or "get over it" because often times they can't. So sad. By all accounts an absolutely wonderful person too, and one of my favorites from WCW. May she RIP. 

If only depression were as simple as "just cheer up" or "get over it". Sometimes people who say that have good intentions, but don't know what else to say and usually don't understand mental illness. It's sad how stigmatized mental illness remains. You'd never say to someone with lupus, "Damn it Otto, you have lupus, just get over it.". 

I can only hope that Daffney is free from pain, and she can rest in peace.

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36 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Just real quick because I wouldn't feel right not addressing this: some person on Twitter is keeping that video up against her family's wishes. He's kinda doing it under the guise of "it may help someone" but it's pretty gross to me, I dunno. I won't link it here but it's pretty easy to find if anyone feels like they want to report it. I wasn't sure myself if I was going to, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. For one thing, I think it's pretty exploitative, and for another, I think it's messed up to show someone at their absolute lowest moment - that's notwithstanding the fact that this literally *just* happened. 

I want to chime in on this in the general context.  I'm a 20 yr plus* psychotherapist with a specialized focus on characterological/personality disorders.  And, in that arena, there tends to be a lot of suicidal and parasuicidal behavior.

I admit that I looked for the video.    Not due to any morbid fixation, but whenever something happens like this, I'm always interested in the dynamics of the final words.  What do people say?  How do they present?  The study of suicide never ends, because the goal of prevention doesn't.

So the guy isn't entirely wrong, in spirit, though he may be using that to be a dodgy prick.  I can't say.

Now, saying that, I also feel compelled to add, I read about Daffney while taking a break at work.  If I had read about this situation at home, I probably wouldn't have looked for the video.  I have to cut my workself off sometime.

Edited by nate
*in the field of mental health
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My biggest problem is that her family said over and over again to stop doing it and they still it.  They can say they are doing it for "awareness" but at this point it is mostly you are doing because you get off on the attention 

Edited by hammerva
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