As we all know Snags' boy (lil Snags) is the current US Heavyweight Champion of the....ummm....uhhh, WWA, I think its called. Dude was tearing up that Samson, AL VFW. But anyway, there seems to have been a recent rasslin' renaissance that VICE started a few years ago with their Dark Side of the Ring series. Its especially endearing to those 40 and over who grew up on Rasslin' in the glory days of the 80s and even into the 90s.
If you haven't seen these, lets just say the real stories that went on with these guys in the 70's, 80's and 90's was more often better than the in ring stories and persona that the creative bookies drew up. NO, I don't mean Hogan showing his peen to Bubba the Love Sponges old lady on camera. The heart break, the drugs, the divorces, the arrests, the death, you name it. They cover it all in Dark Side. They just fired back up last week with the newest installment entitled "Plane Ride from Hell" about a 2002 WWE transatlantic flight to the UK and back with 2-3 dozen or so rashers raising hell and getting hammered - for a short tour of the UK and Europe. Tales of Ric Flair whipping out his dong and twirling it like a helicopter up and down the aisle made me like the guy even more.
A&E also has a more light hearted series just entitled "Biography". They covered 8 of them this year, a few were better than others. But they covered Stone Cold Steve Austin, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper™, Booker T, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Mick Foley and Ultimate Warrior. None were bad, and I hope they do a second season of these next year.
One thing you take away from these (maybe 2 things) is that: 1. Rasslin life then was as rough as it got being on the road. The pressure these guys were under. From bookies. From Vince McMahon. All of it. Many didn't make it to 40. Many developed CTE. And substance abuse issues. Most of these stories just don't end well. 2. Vince McMahon is one slimeball son of a bitch. Thats a pretty universal theme.
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