411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: ‘Abdullah The Butcher: Legacy of Blood’

-Next up as we continue with this season is Abdullah The Butcher. I remember seeing pics of a bloody Abdullah in the non WWF magazines at the local convenience store that was within walking distance of my home. I would buy the WWF magazine plus PWI and whatever else and also worth get either a hoagie (they had a small Deli), or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pudding Pie (I wish they still existed). So my introduction to him was through those photos and then when he popped up in NWA or WCW from time to time. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder Chris Jericho is our narrator!

-We start with the following on the screen: “Warning: The following program contains dangerous acts performed by professionals. Do Not Try This At Home!”

-Well, the teaser before the episode starts proper has featured a lot of blood, near riots, and someone hoping Abdullah dies a painful death. Here we go!

-Mick Foley tells us Abdullah would travel region to region and set business on fire. Fans were rooting for their favorites to just survive Abdullah. He says he knew of the legend of Abdullah and makes the point I did about learning about guys outside your region via magazines. They show off some of the magazines and it’s all coming back to me now as Celine Dion once sang. Mick says he put a photo of Abdullah on his wall in college and told people that was his father. So there is how that urban legend started!

-They discuss the look with the fork he would use and all the cuts/scar tissue in his forehead. He would do promo photos eating liver with the blood pouring out of his mouth. We meet Hugo Savinovich and he has been in the business for close to fifty years. He mentions nobody was safe with Abdullah as he would put legit fear in your body.

-We see Abdullah eating raw chicken and meet his sister, Josephine Hearon. She mentions The Butcher could also tear phone books in half. Some out there may be wondering what a phone book is. Well, it’s book with phone numbers back before your fancy cellphones and numbers programmed in them or internet to look up the numbers. I marked out when I was able to get a phone book back in 2016 and saw my wife and my name in it for the first time after getting our house. She is here to talk about life growing up and they grew up in a two bedroom house with 8 people in Windsor. Ralph Shreve, Abdullah’s brother, says he had his own room as he had to sleep in the bathtub. His father would come in and piss in a can, but his mother didn’t want to do that, so he had to leave his “bed” when she needed to go. He says Abdullah is the money name, but his brother is Larry. He warns the producer about interviewing his brother and that he may want to keep his distance.

-We see highlights of The Butcher terrorizing people as they cut to him using his walker to come in for his interview. He tells us his name is Larry Shreve, but his wrestling name is Abdullah The Butcher. He is from Khartoum, Sudan, but since he is out of the business he is from Khartoum, Sudan, Windsor, Ontario. He gets emotional talking about his parents and didn’t realize his mom was scrubbing the floors of funeral homes. He didn’t care about learning to read or write and just wanted to make money. He would sell candy as a kid and learned kids were afraid of him when he would try to collect. He dropped out of school in the second grade. He would go home to home and ask for old clothes to sell and then he started shining shoes. He would work as a janitor, a mover, and was basically a hustler. He even ran a karate place for senior citizens so they could defend themselves.

-He was doing the karate deal when a promoter told him he should be a wrestler. “Oh, I don’t want to do that crap.” He was then told he could make a lot of money and that was all it took. He traveled to Detroit where he met The Original Shiek. We see highlights of The Shiek using a fork and fireballs on people. Tony Atlas is next and he mentions Abdullah learned from The Shiek. Abdullah told his dad he was wrestling at Cobo Hall and his dad told him he needed to get out of that shit. Abdullah told his dad to smack him and when he did, he started bleeding. He showed his father the blade and his dad realized his son was crazy.

-The Butcher heads to Puerto Rico with Carlos Colon and his right hand man, Hugo. Hugo was made Abdullah’s manager and says it was a crazy way to earn a living. Abdullah was earning crazy money for everyone on The Island. He was worth every penny he was paid and Hugo tells us that Abdullah was making big money. Atlas says that Abdullah was very cautious with his money and always made sure he was paid correctly. Abdullah says he always sent money to his parents and made sure his mother never had to work another day in her life. He admits he was dumb though and never had schooling. We learn Abdullah today has all kinds of legal trouble and is in financial ruin. He admits he is real bad shape.

-Commercials!

-Mick says that Larry was difficult to know for fans as you weren’t sure where the man started and the character ended. Mick says traveling with him you learn as much as he will let you know. That lets us meet Jocelyn Malikah-Marshall, who is Abdullah’s caregiver. She met him while she was on the streets feeding the homeless. Abdullah told her his name was Joe and he was out feeding people as well as he owned a restaurant (Abdullah The Butcher House of Ribs and Chinese Food). She learned later from her son that “Joe” was Abdullah The Butcher. Her son liked all the bad guys. SMARK!

-Mick and Tony say that Abdullah was in gimmick pretty much all the time he was around the public. His motto was to always protect the character. Atlas says that if you survived Abdullah it made you a star and says that himself and Carlos Colon became stars because of Abdullah.

-To Japan where Abdullah was over huge as the MONSTER bad guy. We see Abdullah in movies and commercials in Japan and even as a cartoon. He even recorded an album in Japan and we hear some of it. Well, I wasn’t expecting that! They show the various video games that used Abdullah as inspiration.

-Next we meet Devon “Hannibal” Nicholson who says he ended Abdullah’s career inside and outside the ring. Devon started in Stampede in 2001 and started his own promotion before working with Abdullah. He considered Abdullah a mentor and the first wrestler to take him under his ring and teach the business. They would often tag and work against each other. Abdullah says they were friends and he would work for him. Devon knows people will hate him for exposing Abdullah, but he doesn’t care.

-Commercials!

-Abdullah is 68 years old and is having his retirement match in Canada against Hannibal. Devon tells a story of watching a tape as a kid that featured wrestlers bleeding and he was curious how that were able to do it. So we get Devon cutting a blade and showing us how it’s done without actually cutting himself. He says Bret Hart would put it in his mouth, but he was afraid to do that and just hid it in his wrist tape.

-They discuss Abdullah bleeding and Mick says it was like magic as he never recalled seeing Abdullah blade. Atlas says that Abdullah had blades on every finger and would cut people with them and then use the fork to bring even more blood. Tony: “It hurt like hell.” He notes that Abdullah cut you deep, but nobody complained as if you did, you weren’t tough enough. “Ric Flair has to have the robe, and Abdullah has to have the blade.” Ralph notes the man was called The Butcher so what were you expecting?

-We have to work WWF in here so they note Vince never signed Abdullah because of all the blading and lack of trust. Back to Devon who tells the story of them doing press in Canada and Abdullah was booked for a day time show and the host brings out a fork. Uh oh! Abdullah puts the host in a headlock, puts a plate of food in his face and the guy is bleeding above his eye. Devon came in to break it up and play it off as a joke and somehow Abdullah got away with it, but that was 2009 and wouldn’t fly today.

-Devon was signed by WWE and we see D shows that he worked. His career is over when he tests positive for Hepatitis C. He was confused how he contracted the disease and Atlas notes a lot of guys would use dirty blades. They would share blades because not everyone carried one and they knew Abdullah always had one. They always made sure to give it back to him though. Oh dear! Devon immediately thought it was from Abdullah, but he never thought he would have evidence to support that. Abdullah doesn’t want to talk about Devon!

-Commercials!

-Devon had a documentary about his journey to the WWE and it ended up being a sad story because of his hepatitis diagnosis. They have footage from a match in 2007 where Abdullah cuts his own head with a razor and then uses the same blade on Devon. Hugo has heard about the footage but has never seen it, so the producers show it to him and he is blown away. He notes he managed Abdullah for eight years and never saw him do that to anyone. One of the top lawyers in Ottawa took on the case and they got Abdullah to provide a blood sample and he tested positive for hepatitis. The footage and the blood test were enough for a lawsuit. Abdullah says he couldn’t read the lawsuit and didn’t understand. If it wasn’t for his caretaker he would be in bad shape. He broke down and told her that he didn’t know how to read or write. She read his mail and found the papers from the lawyer. His sister told him that he lost the case by default because he didn’t show up. He lost in court in Ontario and in Georgia. Devon says Abdullah still denies having Hep C even though the blood test confirmed he had the same rare strain that Devon has. Abdullah them claimed it was Devon that gave him the Hep C.

-As noted the courts side with Devon and he is awarded 2.3 million dollars in damages. Tony says Devon shouldn’t have gotten anything and he would not have sued Abdullah. He says Devon should have cut himself as he never left Abdullah cut him, but Devon was too afraid to cut himself.

-Commercials!

-Abdullah still shows up to wrestling appearances and signings. Devon accuses Abdullah of hiding his assets and because of that hasn’t paid a dime. Tony doesn’t think Abdullah has any money to be able to pay. Jocelyn shows photos of Abdullah’s broken house that he is living in with no money to fix the issues. She notes Abdullah built a career and people have taken advantage of him. Abdullah notes he should have went to school and learned how to read and write. He was too worried about money and ended up getting shafted. Devon doesn’t buy the not being able to read or write story as he has seen Abdullah read menus at restaurants and letters from him. He notes Abdullah has owned several businesses over the years and has signed off on contracts with WCW and Japan. His sister backs up the story that he can’t read or write. Foley says that he knows Abdullah could read a menu as they would eat out three times a day, so he isn’t sure if Abdullah has that issue or not. If he can’t then Foley is amazed that he became as successful as he has. Hugo is stunned as well, and he never heard Abdullah couldn’t read or write. He can’t believe Abdullah only has a second grade education.

-Back to Hardcore wrestling and Tony says they all felt invincible. Hugo says they used to suck the blood out of the head of the heels. Abdullah talks about violence and people won’t come and see you if you don’t give them violence.

-Back to Devon who ends up having his own legal issues as he works a match where a ref is supposed to bleed. He spikes the ref a few times and it goes too deep, and the promoter decided to not have paramedics on site. Geez! The ref ended up getting an infection and we see pictures of his mutilated head. Lance Storm (from Wrestling Observer Podcast) says he was appalled as he saw a dude with a dozen different gaffs with staples in his head. He wondered why charges hadn’t been pressed and why Devon wasn’t in jail. “Damn near killed the guy because you were sloppy. There’s no place in the industry for that anymore.” That was tough to watch!

-Commercials!

-Next week Bam Bam Bigelow!

-Hugo says he didn’t test positive for Hep C and neither did Carlos or anyone else other than Devon as far as he knows. Devon had experimental treatment to help his Hep C. He says that Abdullah needs to start paying what he can and apologize for what he did. He says that all he can do is move on and hopefully this is the last time he has to talk about it. Since the lawsuit was in a civil trial Abdullah was only found liable and not guilty. Same thing that happened to OJ Simpson when he was found guilty in civil court.

-In 2011 Abdullah was inducted into The WWE Hall of Fame. Hey, I was there for that in Atlanta! Abdullah was shocked and didn’t believe it until it finally happened. He credits Terry Funk for putting him over in his speech. Foley says that a person fighting for their life against someone like Abdullah is what is missing from wrestling today. His caretaker calls Abdullah the God of Wrestling! She also says that Abdullah never got a chance to prove his innocence and says Abdullah will be okay with the help of God.

-Abdullah is asked about his legacy and he just wants the respect for what he has done and he also did not do the things people accuse him of doing. What people think he will leave up to them.

-This was a little easier to sit through mainly because there was no death involved. Since Abdullah is still with us he was able to give us his stories and his side to things which helps as whether you believe him or not, he can defend himself. This nearly became the Abdullah and Hannibal story as the last half focused mostly on their issues. If you want to see a lot of blood this is the episode for you! Thanks for reading!