The Harley Race episode is both a cool look at an all-time great and super influential worker, a nice piece of old-school folklore and a case study of toxic masculinity 101. How times have changed, and for the better in term of how this kinda stuff is looked at.

That Chris Colt episode was fascinating on so many levels. 

Gotta say those promos in those gay porn videos looked pretty awesome. "I'm gonna run you off and then I'm gonna fuck you !". You don't say.

This is going to be the first ep I watch in a very long time. Colt's life story is as fascinating as any wrestler ever, but he's totally unknown because he mostly stuck to the fringes over the years 

Colt ep was good and very informative. Feels like they barely scratched the surface though. Someone needs to write a biography on him someday 

Fascinating is correct.  Definitely the best episode of the season to this point.

Jim Cornette, a decade ago, wrote an article about Harley Race for FSM wherein he said that Harley was given his first NWA title when "an orderly transition between Dory Funk Jr and Jack Brisco could not be facilitated, for reasons still unclear today."

I was hoping DSotR would touch on this. Does anyone here know more?

It’s pretty simple IIRC.  Basically Dory Sr didn’t want Dory to drop the NWA to another babyface.  Graham had been heavily pushing for Briscoe and when it was approved Dory I think had a “skiing accident” or something similar.  The implication being Sr didn’t want Dory to job to Briscoe but it’s not entirely clear why.  The thought was Sr. not wanting Jr. to job to a fellow babyface or possible concerns about a shoot.  The rationale of Dory Sr is what isn’t clear.  It was a big enough deal however that the NWA inserted Race as a transitional champ to get the belt from Dory to Jack.  Race made sense since he was Kansas City based and tight with Muchnick who wanted a reliable heel to get the job done.

The Chris Adams episode sure was Dark Side. Nothing really redeeming. Sure, the kids want to remember him a different way, but Adams sure needed professional help. The one fun part was the bit about the angle with Austin and Jeannie. Can't get more pro-wrestling than this. The rest of the story, well, pretty much a downer about a guy who was a mean drunk/junkie, and not that much of a "gentleman" to begin with anyway. Don't do drugs, kids (alcohol being one). 

The one striking line of the episode goes to Kevin Von Erich, about how often pro-wrestlers used to be high-school bullies. Talk about summing up the entire culture of the era (and beyond) in one sentence. 

11 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

Jim Cornette, a decade ago, wrote an article about Harley Race for FSM wherein he said that Harley was given his first NWA title when "an orderly transition between Dory Funk Jr and Jack Brisco could not be facilitated, for reasons still unclear today."

I was hoping DSotR would touch on this. Does anyone here know more?

It was well-known that Dory Sr. didn't want his son to drop the title to another babyface and to Brisco in particular. Brisco himself thought the latter might have been due to personal animosity or Texas pride in not wanting to put over an Oklahoman. Two days before the scheduled title change, the NWA received word that Dory Jr. had separated his shoulder after rolling his truck on the family ranch and would be out of action indefinitely. The Funks swore up and down the injury was legitimate and even produced medical records, but there was plenty of skepticism for obvious reasons. Race was agreed upon as the transitional champion because he was a legit tough guy who could guarantee that everything would go according to plan and because Kansas City promoter Bob Geigel and Dory Sr. were longtime friends.

9 hours ago, El-P said:

The rest of the story, well, pretty much a downer about a guy who was a mean drunk/junkie, and not that much of a "gentleman" to begin with anyway. Don't do drugs, kids (alcohol being one). 

I just completed a Mid-South/UWF project and knowing how the Chris Adams story ends makes it even more jarring that UWF's handling of the Chris Adams airplane arrest was to present him as a returning hero upon release referencing that he had gone to jail and done his time without specifically mentioning the incident, and having him give very surface-level generic speeches about how "alcohol is a drug too" that were on the same level as basic high school lectures about drinking and driving, and then having Iceman turn on him using "Jail Bird" as a heel taunt. 

6 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

It was well-known that Dory Sr. didn't want his son to drop the title to another babyface and to Brisco in particular. Brisco himself thought the latter might have been due to personal animosity or Texas pride in not wanting to put over an Oklahoman. Two days before the scheduled title change, the NWA received word that Dory Jr. had separated his shoulder after rolling his truck on the family ranch and would be out of action indefinitely. The Funks swore up and down the injury was legitimate and even produced medical records, but there was plenty of skepticism for obvious reasons. Race was agreed upon as the transitional champion because he was a legit tough guy who could guarantee that everything would go according to plan and because Kansas City promoter Bob Geigel and Dory Sr. were longtime friends.

IIRC Dory Jr did actually roll his truck but the extent of his injuries were the controversial point.

I guess if there was any redeeming part of the Chris Adams episode it was that no matter how bad he got, he apparently never showed that side of himself to his children. They both seemed to know about it for sure, but it didn't seem like he abused them.

12 hours ago, El-P said:

The Chris Adams episode sure was Dark Side. Nothing really redeeming. Sure, the kids want to remember him a different way, but Adams sure needed professional help. The one fun part was the bit about the angle with Austin and Jeannie. Can't get more pro-wrestling than this. The rest of the story, well, pretty much a downer about a guy who was a mean drunk/junkie, and not that much of a "gentleman" to begin with anyway. Don't do drugs, kids (alcohol being one). 

The one striking line of the episode goes to Kevin Von Erich, about how often pro-wrestlers used to be high-school bullies. Talk about summing up the entire culture of the era (and beyond) in one sentence. 

I watched the doc about him back when it came out and yeah he was a terrible guy.  Looking forward to watching this episode.

On 4/17/2024 at 6:10 PM, El-P said:

 

The one striking line of the episode goes to Kevin Von Erich, about how often pro-wrestlers used to be high-school bullies. Talk about summing up the entire culture of the era (and beyond) in one sentence. 

The Kevin line that stuck with me was when he admitted that he had heard Adams stories but was shocked and disgusted hearing them back to back. 

Kevin seems like a decent guy but either had blinders on or was willfully ignorant of things that were happening around him, including his own family.

 

I give Kevin every bit of understanding and acceptance of whatever his reality is now. I can't imagine how I'd function after a life like his, so he gets a pass on whatever. 

1 hour ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

I give Kevin every bit of understanding and acceptance of whatever his reality is now. I can't imagine how I'd function after a life like his, so he gets a pass on whatever. 

at the very least I would imagine he's become very good at building mental barriers on things like this just out of survival.

Does their use of WWE-owned footage fall under fair use?  

On 5/4/2024 at 12:04 PM, flyonthewall2983 said:

Does their use of WWE-owned footage fall under fair use?  

Yup.

If there is a season 6, here's some topics I'd like to see:

Virgil
Manny Fernandez
Renegade
Missy Hyatt
Dick Murdoch
Jim Duggan
Heroes of Wrestling
Pro Wrestling USA (though that might have been better for Tales from the Territories)
The Gilberts (2 hours, one on Eddie, one on Doug)
Kamala

Buzz Sawyer

Given who they have spoken with already, I figure it would be an easy lay up for them to have a pretty full roster of talking heads for Eddie Gilbert : JR (I believe he has said he doesn't want to work with Dark Side anymore, but he did appear on Tales From The Territories), Jimmy Hart, Missy, Madusa, Jim Cornette, Mick Foley, and now Todd Gordon. 

On 5/17/2024 at 5:02 PM, JRH said:

Jim Duggan
 

What would be the big Dark Side of Duggan? The Iron Sheikh drug bust? A notable anecdote but his career was able to get back on course fairly quickly. Sheiky would definitely make an episode, though. 

Someone hasn’t read the DVDVR Sleaze Thread.

23 minutes ago, Timbo Slice said:

Someone hasn’t read the DVDVR Sleaze Thread.

I did, but it was a lifetime ago. 

The only Duggan story I saw on the sleaze thread (or at least the compilation on Angelfire) is an incident with him and Balls Mahoney. They were working a match and there was supposed to be a spot where Mahoney blew fire and Duggan ducked it, but Duggan blew the spot by knocking the lighter out of Mahoney's hand. Mahoney was pissed and went to the back to retrieve a knife, but Duggan left before things got out of hand. Not really much of a story.

16 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Not really much of a story.

This is how you know you're on a wrestling forum.

Imagine this same story about two actors.

It would dominate headlines for at least a year.