411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: ‘Chris Adams: The Gentleman & The Demon’

-This week is Chris Adams and I am somewhat familiar with him. I’ve seen several WCCW documentaries and knew of Adams growing up a wrestling fan in the 80s. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder, Chris Jericho is the narrator once again this season.

-We meet Chris’ daughter, Jade Adams, and she is showing off some of his ring gear and other memorabilia. She reads a letter he wrote to her when she was fourteen. She notes Chris didn’t want his demons, but they ended up catching up to him. She says he is a great person and he is not here to defend himself, so she wants to do that for him. I can understand that!

-Next is Kevin Von Erich, who notes he has been in the wrestling business longer than he can count. He talks about Chris using the superkick as his finisher and he told the announcers they would know what it is, when they saw it. David Manning had many jobs in WCCW and he mentions Chris had a way of slapping his leg when delivering the kick to add to it. Yet they show him hit the move and I don’t see the slap or even hear the sound. All the kids slap today! Ice Man Parsons up next as we continue the superkick talk and this time we see the leg slap.

-Chris and his brother were both introduced to judo at a young age and we meet his brother, Neil Adams. Neil won the Silver Medal at The Olympics on two occasions. That’s awesome! We see some judo training from the brothers. Chris realized the Olympics weren’t going to be in his cards, so he joined World of Sport Wrestling. He was first known as Black Belt Chris Adams. His brother notes the good looks helped and he could charm anyone.

-Jeanie Clarke, the ex-girlfriend of Chris Adams, and I believe eventually one of Steve Austin’s ex-wives. She would be the mother of Austin’s daughters and is the one that came up with idea for the Stone Cold name. Chris hit on Jeanie in a bar when she was nineteen and she thought he looked like Paul McCartney. She was living with him within a month and Chris had the idea to make her his valet.

-Chris knew his fame had a ceiling in England, so he and Jeanie moved to Los Angeles. Jeanie became pregnant and Chris started getting a stray eye as LA had tanned women on the beach. She talks about being pregnant and home alone as Chris went to Mexico to work. She went back to The UK to give birth to their daughter. Chris came back and told her they were heading back to the States. She says Chris was seeing different women and the last straw was over New Year’s when Chris told her she couldn’t come with him, but if she got champagne they could have a meal when he got back. She did what he asked and three days later he finally came home. The relationship was over as she didn’t want to share her boyfriend. They were still friends, but she didn’t want a romantic relationship.

-They move to Dallas though to raise their daughter and that is where Chris joins up with WCCW. Manning talks about the star power in WCCW at the time and former ref James Beard says WCCW was as popular as the Dallas Cowboys at the time. He puts over how athletic Chris was and puts him on par with The Von Erichs, which makes you a God in Texas.

-Chris had a reputation of being Jekyl and Hyde. Kevin notes that a lot of wrestlers used to be bullies. He tells a story of Chris getting pissed off at a driver for making them late and nearly killing him by choking. Chris rational was he didn’t want the guy to do it again, and Kevin notes Chris had an aura of being out of control.

-Commercials!

-Adams was established in World Class and wanted to be the star of the show. That was hard as The Von Erichs were always on top and to work with them you needed to be a heel. They had Chris turn on Kevin and join sides with Gino Hernandez. This was 1985 and Geno and Chris were perfect together. Man, those crowds in WCCW at the time were on fire looking at these old videos.

-Jade says that Geno and Chris lived in the same complex and people always wanted to have a fun time with them. This led to drugs as Ice Man says they had a hotel in San Antonio and one room had bricks of cocaine, one room with pills, and one room with booze. Each room had a cop standing guard as they paid the cops $1000 each. Ice Man talks about all the pussy they would get as well.

-Feb. 2, 1986: Gino dies at the age of 28! His body was discovered days after his death in his home. It was ruled as a cocaine overdose. Chris’ alcohol and drug use causes even more concern with his family and friends.

-Chris was in Israel and got drunk which led to an argument with a bar tender. Chris hit the guy with a superkick and knocked his eye out of his head. They note Chris could get mean and vicious when he was drinking.

-He starts a relationship with Toni Collins after meeting at a bar where WCCW guys were given free alcohol. They are married in short order and Jade says she loved Toni as she was like a mother. Chris Adams Jr. notes that his dad met his match with Toni.

-More stories about his anger as Chris loses his mind on a plane that was delayed due to mechanical issues. They served drinks to keep people calm, but then cut Chris off once in the air. He called a stewardess a bitch, so she slapped him and he slapped back. The co-pilot tried to pull him off and ended up getting bloodied by an Adams’ headbutt. They blame it on the alcohol.

-Commercials!

-The plane incident doesn’t go unpunished as he is convicted of assault and gets a three month prison sentence. Chris tries to get his alcohol use under control and tries to find new ways to capitalize on his fame.

-Tom Lance is next and he talked Chris into starting a wrestling school. Their first student was Steve Williams who became “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. We see some early Austin footage. Adams helped teach the basics to Austin and they ended up working a feud together in Dallas. Adams introduced him to Jeanie and start an angle which led to them dating in real life. Adams figured he would use that in their angle. Jade notes that her mom, dad, step-mom, and step-dad all worked a program together which is kind of crazy even for pro-wrestling. Oh yeah, I guess Austin would be her step-dad. Jeanine got the idea for her character from watching Dynasty and that’s where they got the cat fights as well. Jeanine says the interviews were her favorite part and Chris told her what to say.

-They note there were issues between Steve and Chris. Steve felt he was being held back and Chris seemingly felt Austin was going to eclipse him. Jeanine thinks Adams was jealous that her and Steve went to WCW and jealous of the money they made. Chris goes back to drinking and his son notes he was dad when sober, but something different once he started drinking.

-Another story as Toni is driving home and Chris is in the back seat with his son. Chris and Toni get into an argument which nearly causes their car to get smashes by an 18 wheeler. Chris is so angry that he beats Toni so bad that she needed facial surgery. Chris Jr. says he was older when Toni showed him the photos and he was stunned that his father did that. Kevin calls it disgusting and he just now realizes how much stuff there was and he is putting it all together. “That’s terrible.”

-Commercials!

-Toni makes the decision to leave as Chris heads off to Global for a run. I remember watching Global on ESPN and that’s where I first saw Sean Waltman when he was The Lightning Kid. Chris had a match with Rod Price for the GWF Title. Rod had a weave sewn into his hair and it was told to the roster not to pull his hair. Chris decides to pull it off, thinking it would just come off, but it ripped his scalp and blood poured all over the ring. It took 200 stitches to close the wound.

-We jump ahead to 1997 where Chris finally makes it to WCW at a time they were the top promotion in the world. Manning notes that from what he saw they were using Chris to get other people over. We see him get SQUASHED by The Giant on an episode of Nitro (which had to be 98) during Giant’s smoking gimmick. I question what Adams expected as there was no chance they were pushing him in WCW. Chris was unhappy being used as a jobber as we see him lose to Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, and Randy Savage. Chris would complain he was better than the guys he was losing to, but as someone notes, wrestling isn’t always fair. Chris gets a DWI and is fired by WCW.

-Chris also got into GHB which basically made him comatose. Some call it the love drug and body builders would use it to relax. There is a fine line between how much you can take. Chris needed a place to stay and lived with a wrestler known as Booray. We meet Booray and his name is Brent Parnell. He calls Chris a delightful guy and he trusted him to live in his house. Chris had no money and it was hard for Brent to take money from him. He was torn over helping a friend and feeling like he was being used.

-Chris falls in love again and this time with a woman named Linda. Brent calls Linda an angel that was witty, funny and perfect. After dating for a just a few weeks the couple head back to Booray’s house, so he leaves to head to bed. Chris and Linda split GHB, which Brent told him he couldn’t have in the house. “Anything else he wanted was his business.” Brent woke up at 4 AM and both Chris and Linda were passed out. He couldn’t wake either up, but he heard wheezing in Linda’s lungs. They were afraid to call 9-1-1 as they knew Chris would be pissed, but common sense finally kicked in as neither was breathing.

-Commercials!

-Linda flatlines and is pronounced dead as Brent gets emotional talking about her. The producer asks if Chris is to blame and Brent says yes, as he was careless. Jade says Chris told her the truth as he admitted he gave Linda too much GHB. He was charged with manslaughter and the guilt made his drinking worse. He also had thoughts of suicide and was a miserable person. Friends tried to get away from him to show tough love, but have their own guilt over if they could have helped. His son thinks if Chris had these issues today he would still be alive as people are more willing to help and seek help.

-Oct 7 2001: Chris gets angry at Brent and attacks him in his house with a bed post. He chokes, and bites Brent. He notes Chris’ eyes started to glow which is something Kevin mentioned earlier in the show on several occasions. Brent was in fear for his life as Chris got stronger as he continued to choke and bite, so he reached for a gun and fired.

-Commercials!

-Next week it’s Sherri Martel! Sweet!

-We see police photos from the crime scene as Chris jumps back enough that the bullet hits him in the heart. Brent only wanted to wound him, but he knew Chris was going to kill him. Chris Jr. breaks down as he tells the story of his mom getting on her knees and breaking the news to him. Oh man, they have a police photo of Chris dead in the bed. Jade notes she was 19 when her dad died and that was her first experience with a profound grief.

-The funeral was full with former wrestlers, family, and fans. Chris Jr. notes a lot of people loved his father and it was cool hearing their positive words. Brent says he pulled the trigger, but he would not be here today if he didn’t. A grand jury found him innocent and said what he did was an act of self defense. We get more police photos including one of the bed post he attacked Brent with. Chris’ brother doesn’t believe it was self defense. Jeanine believes it was a sad and tragic accident between two friends that were drinking. Brent says it is not a good feeling taking someone’s life even if it was self defense.

-Manning says he will remember how great Chris was in the ring, but he was a man that didn’t want to control his alcoholism. Jade wishes he was here to see how his kids turned out and she thinks he would be proud of them. Chris Jr wants people to remember his father as a kind and charming man that was not just Gentleman Chris Adams, but just Chris Adams.

-I got sucked into this one and found it one of the better episodes of this season. I knew of the early Chris issues, but never followed up on what happened with his death. These get tough when children are involved as they want to defend their father, but then you have the rest of the talking heads covering the ugly side. It is clear Chris had a problem with alcohol and drugs and it’s a shame what he put people through and how it led to him not being there for his children. Based on what we saw here they both seem to be doing well in life and I commend them for taking part in this show. I figured they would work Austin into this one, but in this case it fits the story they were telling and wasn’t like the times they wedge Hogan or McMahon into a story just to name drop them. All the talking heads were great here and each added something to this story. Definitely a must watch episode and I have a few friends that were huge WCCW fans, so I know they will be interested in this one. Thanks for reading!