Kind of a random guy to do an episode about, but I feel like the death of Andrew Martin AKA Test is one of those darker wrestling deaths that falls under the radar. I would like to hear more about his life story and what caused his downfall. He was primed to be a main even star, but he never quite made it. He was only in his early to mid 30s when he died.
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You guys pretty much covered everything; good job!
Hope there will be many episodes to put outā¦ or not.
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Dennis Rodman in WCW. With all the stories over the years from Jericho, Bischoff etc we know it was crazy and in the wake of The Last Dance, it would be TV gold. Could also touch on Karl Malone and Jay Leno.
I want an hour of Rodman strutting to the ring like the coolest motherfucker youāve ever seen, interspersed with stories of how it all went down.
Misawa and Mike Awesome would be good. A look at Chris Candido would get some terrific talking heads.
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Candido would be amazing.
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Probably add Sunny/Tammy Lynn Sytch to The Candido one.
Also I was thinking:
Nick Gage
Feud between Memphis and ICE (Randy Savage group I think)
Racism e.g. ACH
The TNA Wrestler who got paralyzed by DJZ (Canāt remember his name)
Jake Roberts
Louie Spiccoli
Axl Rotten
Wcw 2000 (ft. Nate Milton and Brian Mann)
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I agree it would be cool to hear more about this, but there isnt really anything ādarkā about his stint in WCW, unless there is stuff I dont know about.
What about the wrestler that was killed by the Great Khali in wrestling school?
So I suspect they will focus on North Americaās wrestling because of their target audience. So I see the following
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Steroid trials - the Hogan/McMahon trial and issues is a huge story. Eventually it will happen but it likely requires even to this day a high risk of litigation
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Chyna - as some have said her story is the most unique in terms of her unconventional rise as a star, sex symbol and downward spiral
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Sunny - again like Chyna a story of rise and slow fall and keeps going. Would also cover Chris Candido
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Curt Henning - probably the biggest name star to most wrestling fans to die of an OD in recent memory. His rise and the enduring legacy of his son and family story make it very compelling. Can also cover plane ride from hell
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Jake Roberts - kind of writes itself. Heroes of wrestling and BTM stuff
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JBL/Bullying - would be great to cover The various stories of bullying and college style humour they employee
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Linking in bill demott to number 6 with JBL would be good too.
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I kind of feel theyāll avoid Jake, as there is already a feature documentary covering his struggles - and itās incredibly well documented.
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I donāt know if thereās enough for an hour, but Buddy Landel seems to be widely regarded as someone with all of the tools who couldnāt shake his personal problems and wasted opportunity after opportunity.
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I would love to see one on Chyna, however I dont think think they would be able to get the people they would need to do it right. You know Hunter, Shawn & Road Dogg wouldnāt do it, maybe Waltman would but I doubt he would be honest when it comes to things like Hunter/Steph, so the only one who could be open to speaking about things honestly would be Billy Gunn who doesnt really have a strong connection with Chyna outside of both being in DX. It would be like doing Road Warriors without Animal.
Steroid Trials, Hennig and Sunny would all interest me as well.
Good list but Iām not sure Hennig was ātragicā enough and youād have to get a lot of footage and cooperation from WWE.
As @RTH75 said, Louie Spicolli would be a great episode
Youāre probably right, but there are only so many tragedies at the level of Bruiser Brody, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart etc to do. At some point they are going to burn out the sure fires and they may have to do oneās like that.
Unfortunately, the history of wrestling is littered with broken bodies and untimely deaths. There is no shortage of stories to tell, sadly
Iāve quite a few:
- Jeff Hardy
- USWA Angle between Vince and Lawler, which ended with Jerry Lawlerās trial in 1993
- Adam āPacmanā Jones
- Shad Gaspard and his recent disappearance
- Mick Foley (yes, I do know about Beyond the Mat, but they can do more since BTM was long ago.
- Mass Transit incident
- Steve Austinās injury
- John Tentaās last days with cancer
- Vaderās accident that led to his death
- All of WWEās gimmick PPV matches like Hell in a Cell, Money in the Bank, and TLC after all that they said that they wonāt risk their wrestlers as per the Owen Hart incident. I would love to watch something like that.
Iāve got many more, but I donāt want to steal anyoneās thunderā¦ I just jinxed myself.
As far as real life goes, 100% agree with you. Unfortunately the wrestling business has been littered with tragedy over the years and every one of these tragedies matter. With that said, there is only so many times you can tell the āwrestler became a star, struggled with Drugs/Alcohol, tragically died youngā story. Again, please donāt mistaken this as me marginalizing any of these stories, Iām purely talking about this from the perspective of what a TV show can do.
One of the things that has made Dark Side so successful is the diverse story telling. Think about it, you had Benoit (Murder/Suicide), Owen (Freak death during a live show), Savage (an abusive relationship), Snuka (an alleged murder of a girlfriend), Bruiser Brody (Murder of a wrestler at a show), David Schultz (the assault of a reporter on live TV), Brawl For All (a barbaric tournament), New Jack (A guy who almost killed a kid in the ring) etc. etc. etc. These stories all all so different and unique.
Iām not saying that they canāt do stories like I referenced above, but you can only do a few as they have to find stories that are unique or else people will stop watching.
Another obscure one would be hardbody Harrison.