411’s Dark Side of the Ring Report: ‘Collision in Korea’

-Sorry for the delay as I was 50 minutes into this review and I accidentally unplugged my laptop. Normally, no issue, but my battery is shot so once it is unplugged it shuts down. It took about 25 minutes to reboot and then I lost about 20 minutes of the review so we had to backtrack a bit. It’s almost like someone (or some country) was sabotaging this review. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder Chris Jericho is your narrator!

-In 1995 a group of wrestlers were sent to Communist North Korea in a show to promote world peace, but instead they were pawns in a political power play. This should be great!

-Eric Bischoff is our first talking head as he says he spent a few minutes in the pro-wrestling business and now spends all his time looking back at it. He is asked his goals when he took over as head of WCW and Bischoff says that he was a fly on the wall as an announcer and then made a bunch of changes when he took control. Jericho tells us that WCW in the early 90s was still seen as a regional territory which is kind of crazy as sure they weren’t WWE, but they were a clear cut number 2 with fans all over the country. Now their goal with Bischoff was to reach a global audience and Bischoff even says one of his goals was to fix their broken relationship with New Japan. They would bring in top talent from New Japan and WCW in turn would send their top stars to Japan.

-Antonio Inoki came to Eric about bringing the WCW roster to North Korea for a 2 day peace festival. Bischoff is asked to describe Inoki and Bischoff calls him an enigma. He is Japan’s Vince McMahon and Scott Norton calls Inoki the most popular wrestler he has ever seen in his life. 2 Cold Scorpio next as he talks Inoki and his infamous slap that could bloody and knock people out. He compares Inoki to Hulk Hogan, but two times above that level in Japan. Bischoff talks about Inoki’s political aspirations in Japan.

-In 1976 Inoki had his famous match with Muhammad Ali and then used wrestling as a way to get Japanese hostages out of Iraq. Going to North Korea was decided to eclipse them all. Inoki tells us he was always taking on challenges and he half heartedly asked the officials in North Korea if she should introduce everyone to pro-wrestling. A committee was immediately put together and the performance was scheduled the following April to also celebrate Kim II-sung’s birth. The committee wanted to invite big name stars including Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson.

-Inoki asked Bischoff to get Ali and Eric says that he didn’t hesitate at all. Eric had never been to North Korea and he said sure, let’s do it. He says trying to convince talent was a comedy. They wanted Hogan and Bischoff asked and Hogan thought for a second and said “can’t make that one brother.” Nice! Inoki says Hogan is a very careful man and he isn’t surprised he turned it down. The next plan was Ric Flair who Eric says wasn’t quite as popular coast to coast as Hogan, he had a reputation and could put on a great match with anyone. Flair was all for it though Bischoff later heard that Flair was a bit disappointed he was the second choice.

-Norton is asked who pitched North Korea to him and he says he was working out and was told by two guys that came into the locker room that they had a big match in North Korea next month. All the boys were going crazy and Chono told him we are going to North Korea and “they want us dead as they don’t like us very much.”

-Bischoff mentions North Koreans and Japanese have been killing each other for thousands of years and Inoki was trying to use this to broker some peace. Scorpio was all for it as he just liked seeing new countries. Bischoff brings up that The US didn’t want Americans to head to North Korea. He mentions his bosses didn’t even know they were going. Bischoff could have gone to the Federal Government, but that could take 6 months to get cleared, so he just decided they would go.

-Along with Flair, Norton, and Scorpio also going were The Steiner Brothers, Road Warrior Hawk, Chris Benoit and some of the top stars from New Japan. The biggest star going was Muhammad Ali. Norton mentions the chaos of Ali entering the airport in Japan and how all the reporters flocked to him. Ali started showing magic tricks to Norton and some of the other boys. Having Inoki and Ali made them feel more comfortable.

-North Korea sent a military plane to Japan to pick everyone up. Norton says that plane was from the 40s and was a piece of garbage. Apparently Flair was losing it over the plane and knowing his history you can understand why. Scorpio talks about seeing the tanks and cannons positioned on the border between North and South Korea. He then questioned what he was getting into.

-Norton talks about landing with nobody to greet them and then having their bags searched. They took all their passports, walkmans or anything that was from America. Flair was losing it and Scorpio questioned how things were going to work with them taking their passports. Just from what we have heard so far, Hogan is again showing why he is one of the smartest men in the history of the business. Even he won’t take a pay day for this show!

-Commercials!

-Mike Chinoy (former CNN correspondent) talks about how different it is going to North Korea. He was given the assignment of covering the wrestling show in North Korea. He calls the who ordeal bizarre as North Korea is cut off from the rest of the world, especially North America, and then wrestlers and Ali are dropped in the middle of it all.

-Bischoff says they were paired off in twos and sent to cars where someone was going to be with them 24/7. He was told he was only the 7th American to step foot in North Korea that hadn’t been shot down or captured. That moment put everything in perspective.

-Sonny Onoo shows us his credentials for the show. He says he was told by his government that they couldn’t guarantee his safety and he shouldn’t go. Mike gives us a history lesson about the wars between North Korea and Japan. They had brutal colonials wars with bad blood that still exists.

-Bischoff mentions they were all given flowers and were forced to take them and lay them below a statue of Kim II-sung. They have footage of this and it is just crazy. The North Korean media covered all this and played it like The Americans were so honored to be here that they brought flowers to honor the leader.

-Norton and Scorpio talk about life in the hotels and how they were followed anytime they left their rooms. The TV only got a few channels and they were all news filtered by North Korea. Norton was going crazy in his room and just wanted to play pool and it took 2 hours just to get them balls to use. The game was shut down when Norton had a ball fly off the table. Guards started smashing the balls and just looked down on them in disgust. Norton wanted to tear into one of the “little bastards,” but was calmed down and promised to get through the next few days.

-Commercials!

-The wrestlers struggled to adjust and tried to find ways to cope. Bischoff had the idea to go for a morning run while the sun was coming up and the streets were empty. People started coming out and they parted as Eric ran towards them. He mentions school kids came out and they were terrified as they all had fear of Americans instilled in them. His chaperone was livid and Eric was worried about her safety.

-The Producer asks Norton if he knew of an incident between Scorpio and Hawk on a bus and he answers “yes.” Bischoff is asked the same question and doesn’t know, so the producer says “so you don’t know of Scorpio having a plan to murder Hawk in North Korea?” Eric says he has never heard that until right at this moment. Scorpio starts by mentioning he had heat with Flair over an incident that apparently cost Scorpio his job in WCW. In North Korea Hawk was riding around with Flair and on this day decided to ride the bus. Flair came on the bus looking for Hawk and Scorpio yelled out “fuck that pussy let him ride by himself.” Hawk asked Scorpio what he said and Scorpio repeated it while adding “what part didn’t you understand? The pussy part or the ride by himself part?” Awesome! He then claims Hawk called him the N word and threw a punch that missed. Scorpio then landed several shots and says he was wearing Hawk’s ass out. Hawk was bleeding and the Japanese boys were trying to separate them. Scorpio went for the eye and nearly had it but the Japanese boys stepped in again. Scorpio landed one final kick before they were separated for good. “He gave me his best shot and if that’s your best shot, bro, you’re in trouble.” Norton says Hawk was battling Hepatitis C and was on enterferon which makes you weak and sick. “Scorp can think what he wants, but if that was normal Mike he would have killed his ass.”

-Norton made a call home and his wife was asking where he had been as she thought he was partying with the boys. He tells her that she doesn’t understand the type of shit hole they are in and the phone goes dead as he thinks she hung up on him. Someone comes knocking on the door and this person speaks perfect English as he tells Norton he needs to go with him.

-Commercials!

-Norton is taken by North Korean officials to a room with armed military. He compares it to feeling like he was in a movie and the guards didn’t care if he lived or died. A guy he refers to as “the top dude” came in and told him in English he can’t say anything bad about North Korea as they are a superior country. Norton realized they were listening to his call with his wife and now he got it. He apologized and told them he wouldn’t say anything about North Korea. Onoo mentions that Inoki likely made a call to smooth things over and Norton is told to go. He went back to his room and questioned what was going on.

-One final propaganda opportunity as they are taken to a tomb of the founder of the first Korean Kingdom. All the boys watch in awe as Ali shadow boxes at the top of the steps. Norton marks out talking about it and Scorpio says that made his whole trip.

-More fun with Hawk and Scorpio as Scorp tries to smooth things over and Hawk takes a swing at him. Scorp doesn’t drop and starts calling Hawk a pussy as they are being separated. Now Scorp is thinking he needs to take things to the streets so he smuggles a set of steel chopsticks out of the State dinner they attended. Scorpio was rooming with Chris Benoit and decided to make a shiv out of the chopsticks as he mentions his father was in prison so he knows how to make a shiv. Chris Benoit was trying to talk sense into him (which is wild considering, well, you know) and told him if he killed Hawk he would never leave this country. This stuff is just wild!

-Commercials!

-Day One of the shows and Norton was riding with Flair as lanes of people are filing into the show. Norton thinks they are big deals because of the crowd, but the driver tells them it’s a forced show and they had to go or get a bullet in the head. Bischoff mentions 170,000 people being there and he was thinking “we are leaving WrestleMania in the dust.” Inoki calls the show a badge of honor. Norton and Scorpio talk about the prematch theatrics that blew anything you would see at a Super Bowl halftime show away. Scorpion mentions you didn’t even need to be high to see all the colors.

-The show starts and Bischoff quickly realized nobody had any idea what they were watching. Norton says the crowd was quieter than the noise on the room he is doing this interview. Hawk decided to cuss the crowd out during his match and ask them why they were even here. That’s our Hawk! Norton mentions he was in the Main Event of night one and they couldn’t get any kind of response even as they busted their asses.

-The role of getting the crowd invested went to Inoki, who was also using the show to honor his mentor Rikidozan. Inoki talks about his mentor and how he hit him with a wooden sword that cracked his head. Apparently it was tough love to get him ready to be his successor. Rikidozan was a massive Japanese star, but hid that he was North Korean. In 1963, The Yakuza killed Rikidozan because he was too popular in Japan for someone that was from North Korean. Mike brings up that in North Korean mythology Rikidozan expressed his loyalty to North Korea as he died and Inoki was seen favorably for having a connection to his mentor.

-Flair and Inoki close the show and they got the only real reaction of the entire two nights. Bischoff puts over Flair for getting Inoki over and showcasing him. He says there was nobody better than Flair at doing that. Norton says they place came unglued when Inoki got the win and the fans finally had fun for the first time as that place was hell. He calls the match the greatest in the history of the business.

-Commercials!

-Next week on Dark Side: The Ultimate Warrior!

-As the festival draws to a close the wrestlers are only hours away from leaving. They have one final dinner and on the way Scorpio and Hawk come face to face. They get into an elevator together and Scorpio asked him if he wanted to finish this. Hawk apologized as he was cranky because he had no pills, steroids, or smoke with him. Scorpio accepted the apology and the squashed the beef in North Korea, but he told Hawk when they got back to Tokyo they could finish this. That never happened as Scorpio says “he got an ass whopping and learned Scorpio isn’t one to mess with, I’ll tell you that shit.”

-Bischoff says that after 4 days that seemed like a lifetime they were finally given their passports and made the flight back to Tokyo. Apparently Flair got down in his $3000 suit and gator shoes and kissed the pavement once he got off the plane. Norton mentions he was back into Ric Flair mode as he was telling everyone how much he loved Japan.

-Inoki lost his reelection bid and left politics behind for nearly 20 years. Jericho narrates about how wrestling and North Korea are both masters of blurring the line of fantasy and reality. Norton says the show itself was super cool and marks out again about meeting and wrestling in front of Ali. All that was awesome to him. Scorpio talks about wrestling in front of a massive crowd like that and that is the one thing he has on Hogan as he wrestled in front of 190,000 people two nights in a row. Bischoff mentions he has been part of WrestleMania and to Super Bowls and they pale in comparison to what he saw in North Korea. He knows Vince McMahon was livid they had a crowd bigger than Mania, but admits his joy didn’t last as the crowd was forced to be there, but technically he was part of the largest wrestling event in the world. “Yep, I did that.”

-That wraps this one up and this was great. I am sure there are more stories they could share, but what we got here was wonderful. The number of talking heads was kept low for this one which worked well as you just needed the principals involved and the CNN reporter provided some nice context and history. Scorpio, Bischoff and Norton were the driving forces in this one and they all came off well. The Norton/Scorpio exchange over how tough Hawk is was fun. Part of me wants to see this show now but it’s one of the few shows the WWE will probably never load to Peacock/Network. Good stuff this week and it’s still insane they were able to do something like this. I know the WWE gets grief for the Saudi shows, but this North Korea show seems like it was on a whole other level in comparison. Again, when Hulk Hogan is turning down a pay day and wrestling in front of the largest crowd ever you probably have some issues. Definitely check this one out. Thanks for reading!