411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: ‘How Brian Pillman Broke Wrestling’s 4th Wall’

-Dark Side of the Ring is back and I get to cover this season after doing season two last year. These shows range from tough to watch to sometimes hilarious depending on the subject matter. Generally, they start the season with a 2-hour special and will usually close with another high-profile episode. For season three we start with Brian F’N Pillman! As a note I actually watched Part I on YouTube on Monday as Vice released it early. For the premier the two parts just rolled into one 2-hour episode. Let’s get to it!

-Narrator: Chris Jericho

-Steve Austin tells us that Brian had a charisma that you could feel across the gym and you knew this guy was a star. Brian knew that in this business, people would screw you over and he was going to do the same. Jim Cornette talks about Brian going against the script and doing things that were never done. They show his run-in with Heenan at Clash of the Champions in WCW. He took the loose cannon gimmick so far that you didn’t know how to separate Brian from his wrestling persona. He was being crazy at work, being drive crazy at home and in real life likely going crazy. Dave Meltzer brings up watching the PPV and hearing of Brian’s death and all he could do was scream. This is Dark Side of The Ring!

-We start with Sone Cold Steve Austin at his home as he shows us the famous gold chain that Brian Pillman got him when they were teaming. That chain is something he will always have, and it is sentimental to him. Steve says they were good friends and a pretty damn good tag team. Brian was never supposed to be big enough to do anything and yet he blew everyone away with what he could do in the ring.

-Jim Ross (former WCW executive) introduces himself and puts over how athletic Brian was and how he would try anything. He mentions when he was in WCW, they signed Brian and had high hopes for him. They show some Stampede footage!

-Jim Cornette mentions that Brian was someone who wanted attention and wanted to perform for people. He tells us that he and Brian were good friends in the 80s and 90s. Real quick story here as Mark Madden (former WCW announcer and Pittsburgh media legend) was great friends with Pillman and around these parts we wondered why Vince didn’t interview him. Tweets were thrown around that possibly it was due to the issues Cornette and Madden have with each other. If you go on twitter now you can find their feud continuing.

-Brian Pillman Jr (who looks just like his dad) is next as he tells us he is the only son of the late great Brian Pillman. Austin calls Brian the master of the promo and we see one from ECW where he told Joey Styles that he was running this interview. That ECW stuff was great as he debuted as a conquering hero and then nearly caused a riot after dumping on the ECW smart mark fans. Just great stuff!

-Linda Pillman (Brian’s older sister) talks about the polyps Brian had in his throat and he had to have over 40 surgeries as each time they were removed they would grow back. Crazy story as Brian had to have an emergency tracheotomy and the doctors house was closer than the hospital, so the procedure was done in the middle of the night on a dining room table. The surgery didn’t stop Brian for being active, but he had to stay quiet for 2-3 weeks and Cornette mentions Brian over compensated years later with all the talking he could do.

-Kim Wood, Cincinnati Bengals strength coach, talks about how tough Brian was. Brian got a try-out with Cinci and he busted his ass to overcome his size. He had a reputation as a street fighter in Cinci and his sister tells a story of Brian hanging a guy over a railing by his ankles after a fight at a night club.

-After a short NFL run, Brian moved to the CFL and played for Calgary. He suffered a career ending ankle injury and decided to try wrestling. The Hart Dungeon was in Calgary and Brian was taken into that camp. His sister says that from what she knows of The Dungeon, something is wrong if you don’t hear someone screaming. JR talks about how The Dungeon built a solid foundation and it was an easier transition from football to wrestling.

-Next Cornette and Dave Meltzer talk about the rise of smart fans in the 80s and how they all had heard of Brian Pillman. Dave gets a chance to plug his newsletter and explains for the longest time it was the way to get inside news about wrestling. Austin talks about the sheets and how you didn’t want to get caught with them, but at the same time nearly all the boys were reading them. Meltzer talks about his relationship with Brian and how they got together by exchanging tapes. He puts over Pillman as being a student of the game and Jim Ross read all the good things Dave said about Brian, so he was brought into WCW.

-He got put into a match with Ric Flair to see what they kid had and they tore the house down. Then Ric would take Brian out to tear the house down at the local bar. Meltzer says that Brian wanted to be like Ric Flair and Cornette puts over that Brian was a great looking guy that the women loved. Brian’s sister talks about Rochelle, who Brian met at a club in downtown Cincinnati. They lived together in Calgary and then moved to Atlanta when he signed with WCW. In Atlanta, his daughter Brittany was born.

-Brittany Pillman introduces herself as a daddy’s girl and that outside of wrestling his kids were his life. He had thought Brittany was his oldest daughter, but when she turned one, he found out he had another daughter that was two years older than Brittany.

-Danielle Pillman (Dani) introduces herself and she is the oldest daughter of Brian Pillman. Brian met her mom at a bar in Cinci and it was a very brief love affair. Dani was born when Brian was with Rochelle, so her mom tried to keep it quiet, but a girl needs her father. Dani says that once Brian found out he was there for her 100%. Good man! As another note these home photos of Brian with his children is both heartwarming and sad because you know how it ended. Dani says that Brian really did care about his kids and was there for them always.

-Back to Brittany who talks about the wrestling lifestyle and she knows her dad cheated on her mom many times which was hard for her, but she stayed with him. Rochelle had a lot of issues as she suffered from depression. We get a story of Brian being at a show and Rochelle got attacked by the groundskeeper who was trying to rob her. He stabbed her several times in the face and specifically the cheek. Damn! “That will mess you up.”

-Brian’s good looks and athletic ability gives him a solid spot on the card as a generic babyface. Brian wanted more and Meltzer says that Brian saw himself as a top-level guy. Eric Bischoff (former WCW President) introduces himself and says Brian’s early years in WCW were tough. They show Pillman getting spiked by Sid during WarGames. Nasty! Constant start and stop pushes happened because of constant changes in management.

-Brian got a big break when he was booked in a tag team with Steve Austin. Austin says that he wasn’t happy at all as he was to get a run as US Champion. He tells the story he has told countless times that Brian told him they needed to come up with a finish as they were a team. Austin was heated as he was singles wrestler, and he was in line for a push. They were two singles thrown together as they didn’t have plans for either of them, so they decided to make the most of it. Austin talks about how life of the road leads to a lot of time to talk in the car and Brian would spend the time reading dictionaries to expand his vocabulary. Pillman came up with The Hollywood Blonds name and Austin was cool with it. He puts over Brian for coming up with the look, and everything with the team. Austin says that he loved tag wrestling once he figured it out and Bischoff says they were made for each other. Cornette puts over that it gave Brian a chance to be a heel and was more of his personality as he liked to be a show-off and smart ass.

-Brian continues to party it up and falls for a show girl named Melanie. He told everyone he was going to marry that girl but was still with Rochelle. Melanie called the house and that’s how Rochelle found out about their relationship. Melanie became pregnant and Brian Jr is born. That was the last straw as Rochelle ended the relationship and Brian soon proposed to Melanie.

-They show home video footage of the wedding as it was in Vegas and Melanie Pillman is here as she talks about the wedding being on St Patrick’s Day and she wouldn’t change it for the world. Hearing her introduce herself as Brian’s widow is just so sad and she already starts breaking down some talking about him. This is going to be rough!

-They talk about Brian with his kids and how he loved all of them. He was focused on providing for his kids and eventually The Blonds were given a shot in the Main Event of a Clash against Flair and Anderson. Cornette says the rating wasn’t very good and Ric Flair wasn’t going to get the blame. Kind of how Truth and Miz took the blame for Survivor Series instead of Rock and Cena. That doomed the Blonds as they were seen as a team that couldn’t draw. Austin calls it betrayal as he still wants someone to tell him why they separated the team. “We made chicken shit out of chicken salad.” Cornette isn’t sure if he was ever seen someone blamed for a rating as TBS wasn’t drawing anywhere. Who is he kidding? People constantly get blamed and punished for buy rates and ratings, or at least they did. JR still shakes his head as it was handled as he thinks they could have done better.

-Back to the home life as Brittany felt Melanie ran the show and treated her mom poorly. Melanie was apparently very jealous of Rochelle and his sister says Melanie made it hard to like her. Rochelle disappears one day, and a missing persons report is filed. Melanie says that Brian came up with the idea to file for custody and she says she shouldn’t have agreed with him as it changed everything.

-Linda says the custody battle started because Melanie didn’t want Rochelle around and that Rochelle couldn’t keep up with the money to pay for lawyers. Melanie says people should never take kids from their mother and she would never do that again. Brittany talks about riding her bike and Rochelle came to see her when she wasn’t allowed and when she hugged her, Brian and Melanie thought she was trying to grab her. Linda says that Melanie filled kidnapping charges and Brian ended up with full custody. Brittany says that her mom was worried she would never see her again and called to speak to Brian, but Melanie answered the phone and apparently told Rochelle that “even your own mother things I would be a better mother to (Brittany) that you will be.” Ugh! Rochelle called her mom and told her she was going to commit suicide. Linda says that she shot herself and was taken by helicopter to the hospital but died on the way. Linda got stuck with having to break the tragic news to Rochelle’s mother. I am going to echo what Cornette has said before, it is too much to get a Bright Side of The Ring at some point? Brian was devastated by the news as he blamed himself. He would ask Melanie if it was because of all the pressure they put on her and Melanie told him it probably was. Brian paid for the funeral and seemed fine until the casket closed and then he lost it as he broke down in tears. Melanie says that she doesn’t know what her problem was back then, and she regrets everything. Nobody should lose their kids and she Rochelle wasn’t abusing her. Oh man, Brittany goes off (and I can’t blame her) as she lays blame at Melanie and calls her an evil person. She continues by saying she is literal the devil and she should have died years ago from all the drugs she has done, but she is going to live to be 100 and feal all the pain she has caused others. Wow! Melanie mentions she has doesn’t know what to do to make things right with Brittany.

-Back to the wrestling business as Brian’s contract was coming up and Meltzer mentions he and Brian would talk. Brian had 5 kids and needed to make as much money as possible. Eric says that Brian was happy with getting back to $225,000 but wanted $400,000 and Eric couldn’t get him that much. Brian and his camp decided to come up with a character to increase his value and that lead to the loose cannon character. They wanted Bischoff to offer him a ton and Vince McMahon seeing this and then offering more. His idea was to get some over with this crazy character that he could play both companies against each other.

-His plan was as simple as “more attention meant more money.” Clash of the Champions as Pillman is in a match with Eddie Guerrero (sad face) and as he bails to the floor, he grabs Heenan by the back. Cornette mentions Heenan had a bad neck, and everyone knew he was off limits. Heenan reacts by blurting the f word live on TBS. It’s amazing that I still remember that moment so vividly as a 15-year-old kid and we just passed the 25th anniversary of that moment. Cornette knew Pillman got gold out of the moment as everyone would be talking about the F Bomb.

-Next SuperBrawl, as Kevin Sullivan and Pillman have a strap match that ends abruptly as Pillman tells Sullivan, “I respect you Bookerman,” and walks out. Again, another moment I remember as clear as day watching from my living room. They all talk about the taboo of using that language and how nobody knew what was a work and what was a shoot. Meltzer felt Brian was heading down a bad road and was going to get fired. Cornette: “He was convincing people that he was insane.” Bischoff isn’t sure if anyone ever really knew if they were being worked by Pillman. Brian’s camp they came up with the idea that he should ask for his release and tell Bischoff it was just an angle. It had to be a real release though or the office would tell Dave it was a work. Bischoff gave him a real release and Cornette and Austin are stunned that it worked. Bischoff says it was a real release, but one with a wink and a nod. He told Brian to go to the WWF as he couldn’t give him what they were offering. He promised Brian he would bring him back and would be able to pay him more as he would be worth more after being in the WWF. Bischoff calls out people who think Brian worked him because they talked about the character and how to make the character work in a way to end up getting him more money down the road. Nobody else seems to be buying Eric’s story here!

-Now as a free agent Brian takes control of his character and bookings. That leads to his brief ECW run and they show his debut in the ECW Arena. Again, absolutely amazing as he turns everything back on the ECW fans as he compares all of them to Eric Bischoff. Meltzer thought Brian was losing his mind and Austin says it was amazing and he loved it. He talks about Brian trying to piss in the middle of the ECW ring. Cornette says that anytime Pillman showed up it was so different than anything else that was happening, and they show him wrestling a pencil at home. Austin never once called him to ask if it was a work because he didn’t want to know, but he knew it was brilliant. Brittany talks about how fans and friends didn’t know if his dad was crazy or just acting that way. Dani calls it a blur as nobody knew what was real and what wasn’t and that was the magic. Dave compares him to Andy Kaufman. JR says they greatest wrestlers are those that are a natural extension of themselves.

-Kim Wood told him he needed to stop talking to Dave as they didn’t want him to lie to him about what was happening. Kim continues that the real marks were Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon. Kim is asked what he thinks of Vince: “What do you do with a whore? Fuck em. That’s what I thought of Vince.” Again, Wow!

-Brian’s next stunt is to get Vince’s attention at a convention in Vegas. Meltzer says that Brian was in full gimmick and asked Dave for his credentials to get into the building. He walked up to JR and Vince and started complimenting Vince and going into his spiel. He put his arm around Vince and asked someone to take a picture and they actually have the photo, and it is glorious. Vince told JR they can’t hire this guy as he is crazy and JR shoots back that is crazy like a fox. He explained to Vince that Brian told him what he was going to do and that he was very creative, and Vince should take a chance. JR: “Brian’s balls that day could probably fill a wheel barrel.”

-Meltzer says that Brian always felt WCW was his company as they pushed smaller guys and paid guaranteed money. Kim says that it didn’t matter where he ended up as it was all about money. The only problem is “man plans, and God laughs.” Dave brings up that Brian was always about saving money for his kids and yet bought an $80,000 hummer. His sister says he would use that thing to drive around traffic lights by going off road through gulleys. Melanie says she was called and someone said the hummer was smashed and Brian Junior’s car seat will in the middle of someone’s yard and Brian had been flown to the hospital.

-That’s where Part I on YouTube ended.

-Linda says she was told by Melanie that Brian was in an accident and it was bad. He was air lifted to University Hospital. She was the one that had to go the hospital. Melanie walked right by the room as she couldn’t believe that was here husband. Linda says his hair was red from all the blood and he was in neck brace. His face was swollen like a beach ball and it took 6 doctors to fix his face as each doctor had a part of the head and face they specialized in. Just nasty stuff as they had to cut his scalp back. His ankle was also shattered and the decision was made to fuse it into a walking position which meant no running or wrestling.

-Kim showed up and told Brian he was with him. He had a titanium mask and screws and bolts holding his leg together. When he woke up Brian just kept telling his sister that he really messed up and she told him to be thankful no kids were in the car.

-The producer asks Melanie about the cause of the accident and she says he fell asleep at the wheel. He did go and pick up his prescription meds and it hit him as he was driving. He drove into a tree trunk and it totaled the hummer. She said it was muscle relaxers and pain killers.

-We get audio of Brian doing an interview and he said he was going 70 MPH and instantly became Evil Knievel. He shot up in the air and came own nose first. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt and shot out of the top of the vehicle and landed 50 fifty feet away.

-Brittany tells a story of having a gift to give him and she was terrified as it didn’t look like her had. Brian Jr has some memories of seeing the bolts holding his leg together. Dani remembers him being exhausted and run down, but she was too young to understand what was really happening with him.

-Cornette brings up that some boys thought it was all fabricated because of Brian’s gimmick. Meltzer says it’s something Brian may have done, but he knew Kim wouldn’t work him. Cornette covers the rumor that Brian was having plastic surgery to look like Shawn Michaels so he could come into the WWE and face him. Apparently, the media even picked up on that rumor and we hear Brian shooting it down as he talks about the titanium plates and swollen eyes. Dave says Brian never lied to him except when he told him that doctors said he could wrestle again. Dave knew the doctors told him the exact opposite.

-The wreck happened during Brian’s negotiations and he kept quiet how bad it was. Kim says the object was to play Vince for money and he did even though Brian was near death. Vince offers a 3-year deal with guaranteed money which was less than WCW, but it had an out clause. They show Brian’s press conference in the WWE as he talks about signing with the company. Pillman was still in rehab, but the WWE was using him and his character even though he couldn’t get in the ring. Austin was going to bet on Brian as once he was healed, he was going to go to the top. They show the cool King of The Ring moment where he and Austin pass each other in the aisle. As a Hollywood Blond fan that was surreal to see happen in the WWE. Linda says that Brian would take himself off IVs to make shows and that was when things stopped being fun for him. Brian Jr feels that was the beginning of the end.

-Brian struggles with his injuries and has a surgery coming up. The WWE came up with an angle to get Austin some heat and play off his history with Pillman. They had a Superstars taping in Cinci and Austin beat the piss out of him. Austin says it was a stuff beating because that is the character he had and had to make the people care about Brian. Cornette tells the rest of the story as Austin pillmanizes Brian’s ankle with a chair and that’s how the term came to be. It was a way to write Brian off the show so he could get the surgery. Austin: “Brian took that ass whipping like a man. He knew what I needed to do, and he sold it like a million bucks.”

-Here we go! Cornette says he wasn’t part of this as Austin invades Pillman’s home. Austin always wanted to do something real and gritty. Yes, it was controversial, but I loved it and still vividly remember watching it live and I was a WCW guy during the Monday Night Wars. Pillman: “When Austin 3:16 meets Pillman millimeter Glock, I am going to blast his sorry ass straight to hell.” Just amazing! Austin breaks into the house as Pillman threatens to shoot him and the satellite feeds cuts out. Dave tells us that fans weren’t ready for that yet and the reaction was negative to it. Not to me and my friends in high school! Dave didn’t like the idea as it seemed really extreme, but that is the way wrestling was going. He brings up that Vince had to go on TV the next week and apologize for it.

-Pillman was moved to the broadcast table on Shotgun Saturday Night to keep him involved while he healed. He apparently looked at it as a demotion as all he wanted to do was get back in the ring. He did start to get back in the ring, but he was in constant pain. Dave calls it said to watch as he could have a decent match, due to knowing how to work around it, but you knew he wasn’t well. Brian told everyone he was fine as he stayed on pain killers to push through to support his family.

-Pillman rushed through recovery and that didn’t help how many pills he was taking. Linda mentions that Brian told her he took enough pills until the pain went away. Dave says Brian could barely walk through an airport, but yet would go out and take bumps in the ring. Austin knew he wasn’t walking well, but Brian was a man’s man and you figured he would get thought. Austin held him in such regard that he thought he would be fine. Cornette says for some guys they didn’t know what was real and what was character.

-Melanie mentions they had problems and Brian wrecked a bunch of rental cars. He kept telling her that if something happened to him, she needed to go back to Atlanta and remarry so the kids had a father. Kim tells us that they grew apart due to Brian’s issues and says he saw him once with a hole in his arm from a horse needle due to growth hormone. Kim told him to get out of the house as his kids were upstairs and Brian wasn’t welcome back in that state. JR says that friends came to him to talk about Brian, and they decided to drug test him. JR says that Brian felt betrayed by him and JR told him that all he was trying to do was save his life. Brian called Dave as he felt singled out and he told Dave that all they would find was his prescription drugs. The test came back, and it was prescription drugs and steroids which nearly everyone in the company was doing.

-Badd Blood: Oct 1997: Cornette informs us that guys had to be at the building for a PPV around 1 PM and some would be a little late. It was 5 PM and nobody had seen Brian. Cornette calls the hotel, and he is informed that Mr. Pillman is dead. Cornette initially thought it was a rib, but the guy told him it wasn’t as the police were there. Cornette gets choked up talking about it and gets Prichard on the phone and walks away as he didn’t want to hear it again. He still doesn’t want to hear it 23 years later.

-Oct 5, 1997: Brian Pillman was found dead at 35 years old in his hotel room in Bloomington, Minnesota. Austin says it didn’t register as he honestly thought Brian’s energy force could not be stopped. Melanie had the police show up to inform her that her husband was dead. Brian Jr felt it was a rib and he played along thinking a camera crew was going to show up. It eventually dawned on him that his dad wasn’t coming home.

-The next day RAW announces his death again and they do a 10 Bell Salute. That was when it hit Austin and he got emotional. Melanie called to talk to Owen Hart, and he told her he didn’t know what happened. Vince got on the phone and asked Melanie if she wanted to talk and being Brian’s wife, she figured the show must go on. This wasn’t one of Vince’s best moments! Melanie mentions her only request was for Vince not to ask about drugs as she didn’t know the cause yet. Vince immediately asks about pain pills and that is why Melanie made a face. She wishes he was there so she could slap him as he promised not to ask that. This is just brutal to watch! Cornette despised the interview and was uncomfortable with it. It was a ratings ploy! He thought Vince should have sent her a check for $100,000 and kept her off TV. Vince then has the balls to ask her if she has thought about what she is going to do now as a single mother of 5. Damn! Melanie to her credit says she doesn’t even remember much from the interview and she didn’t think about not doing it. Nobody pressured her into doing it. JR hated it as it was just done to pop a rating. Just icky stuff and another I can vividly remember watching and even my mom watched as she was in the room at the time, and she was bothered by it.

-The producers ask Lind about the official cause of death. She mentions it was heart disease and says her father died of a massive heart attack at 55 years old. They talk about the funeral and Linda says it was just family and friends to start and a camera crew walked in. Linda asked who they were, and they told her that Melanie okayed it. Linda threw them out and rightly so! She is asked about wrestlers showing up and she says Vince and JR showed. JR says it was an open casket and it was gut wrenching as that was the last time he saw Brian. He could only think this shouldn’t be part of his wrestling career and they shouldn’t be burying a guy this young with a family. Dave talks about the funeral and seeing two of the daughter’s running around and being told to say goodbye to daddy. Man! Dave gets emotional talking about. Brittany was in complete shock as she lost her mom and now her dad. That poor girl! Melanie says she was a lost soul and has to take a break from talking about it.

-Brian Jr says it hurt Melanie more than anyone as that was the love of her life. Dani says that after her father passed, Melanie’s true character showed. Melanie still receives royalties from Brian’s legacy and Dani says she has never seen a dime. Melanie admits to spending some of the money on crazy things, but not as bad as what everyone says. Brittany mentions they went to living with running water being turned off. They went from a silver platter to not knowing when their next meal would be.

-Melanie says she was drinking too much and Brian Jr at 12 found her on the floor passed out from Vodka. Brian Jr talks about his stepdad and how drugs were involved. Things just get even heavier here as this horrible man abused Brian and would ground him for months on end and had dogs trained to keep here in his room or attack him. Brian Jr gets choked up as he didn’t develop socially, and he never learned to throw a football or baseball. He wasn’t athletic but was into games and his stepdad caught onto that and his GameCube into a wall. “Everything I latched onto was taken away from me.” I just can’t anymore! It is noted that they reached out to the stepdad for comment, but calls were never returned.

-The bright spot was Linda who would get all the kids together to keep them in contact every few months. Dani was living with her mother. Brittany cries talking about her Aunt as she doesn’t know what he would do without her. In a much-needed moment of levity, someone screams off camera and Linda laugh as it’s because there is a spider in her bathtub. She doesn’t kill anything and will take them outside to set them free. My wife and I do the same! She tells us Brian has a deadly fear of spiders and she saw that one earlier and didn’t think whoever was off camera would be going to the bathroom. That was so needed! Melanie hopes her children can forgive her, but she doesn’t know if that will happen.

-Cornette says that Brian’s legacy is that he created a character that people remember today. Austin puts over the odds Brian overcame and wanted to see what the next 10 years would have been for Brian if it wasn’t for that car accident. Eric says that Brian’s death started a domino effect of people looking into what caused people to do so young. Cornette says the biggest legacy is what could have been. Dani says that her dad saw the end goal and was close to become a megastar and Cornette thinks he could have been up there with Rock and Austin.

-Melanie wants to have her kids not be mad at her before she dies. Brian Jr says his dad isn’t here and he just has his mom. He has rekindled his relationship with her, and it has made him a better man. He is very happy he has a parent still left on this earth. Austin talks about talking to Melanie every now and then but fell out of contact with her. He then called up Brian Jr as he found a weightlifting belt that belonged to his dad.

-Brian Jr got the itch to be a wrestler and his mother was terrified until she saw him in the ring. Brittany was also concerned as all he ever did was sit in his room and play video games. She was nervous he would fall in the same issues her dad did. Cornette says that he feels Brian would be proud of his son and that Brian’s main concern would be that he’s not here to look out for him. Cornette says that Brian Jr has some guys looking out for him. JR tells him about the good qualities his father had but he told him to never be a loose cannon. Brian Jr says that his goal in all of this is to be a good father one day. They show a photo of Brian holding up Brian Jr and he uses that photo as inspiration as he wants to hold up his son one day like that.

-Austin gets the last word as he loved Brian and he hoped he thought the same about him.

-That was tough to watch, and I don’t know I could sit through all of it again. The things those kids have had to go through its just heart breaking. The focus on Brian’s in ring career was kind of breezed through but they touched on all the high points and I loved the insight from Kim as he discussed the loose cannon character and Brian playing WCW and the WWF against each other. Linda also came off as a saint here and good for her in doing what he can to help those kids. Melanie didn’t come off well, but she seemingly has had her own demons to battle, and she also had to bury her husband when he was only 35 years old. That doesn’t excuse her behavior and she admits that here. The kids that spoke on here all seem like they are doing well and the fact that can talk about this shows they have handled it as well as anyone can expect. Brian Jr following in his dad’s footsteps seems appropriate and I wish the kid the best and he seems to be on the right track in AEW. This is definitely worth a watch but be prepared for some hard stuff to get through and it especially hits hard if you have kids. Thanks for reading!