Dark Side of the Ring - Viceland show

Loosie

The Eternal Optimist
Jun 14, 2011
16,074
3,046
Kitchener, Ontario
Nope...not ok.

Seeing Cornette fall apart, then Martha describing the call, and then going right to Oje....done.

Not quite the same but I had to tell my boys that their grandfather passed (my father-in-law). I can't imagine having to tell them a parent died.
 
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Sheppy

Registered User
Nov 23, 2011
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The Arctic
The police photo of the shot looking straight down at the ring was particularly harrowing.
Yeah, that part really got me. It was directly over the turnbuckle.

That photo and the photo of the “clip” that was released. How they decided on that was beyond me, didn’t look like it would hold a Fish.
 

GKJ

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
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Yeah, that part really got me. It was directly over the turnbuckle.

That photo and the photo of the “clip” that was released. How they decided on that was beyond me, didn’t look like it would hold a Fish.
This was right before I started watching wrestling, but I never knew the actual physics until now. I never realized this was a straight fall. It doesn’t make sense that they would even think use that kind of hook if they knew the first thing about what they were doing.

Also, obviously the show should’ve been stopped, but if Vince wouldn’t do it then the police should have. If not strictly because someone died but also because of a pending investigation. Although Martha may never have had the hook.

2 things that helped Vince get away with what he did (saying he was lucky doesn’t seem like the right term) are that there isn’t any known footage and it was on a PPV and not Raw. I don’t know when they started taping the ring for entire events, but that would’ve changed things too.

Good for Martha for seeing through Vince’s bullshit too when it comes to trying to use his name. Since philanthropy is such a glorious marketing tool, I wonder if he ever tried donating to the foundation. Guessing not.
 

Transplanted Caper

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A tremendous, albeit heartbreaking episode, of television. I'm glad they just let Martha tell her story rather than get anyone to play devil's advocate for the WWE. It's appalling WWE continued with the show that night, and the notion - as they've argued in the past - that everyone was shocked and didn't know what to do is nonsense. He *died*. Anyone with a conscience knows what to do. Selfishly, I do wish there was a way for Owen to be feted on a grand scale like the HoF, but I agree with his family, the WWE doesn't deserve to, and shouldn't get to, profit off of him. As long as Martha and the kids don't want him in the WW HoF, he shouldn't be there.
 

CDJ

Registered User
Nov 20, 2006
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Hell baby
That was agonizing but necessary to watch

Incredibly well done


His poor kids robbed of a father because bad creative
 

Sheppy

Registered User
Nov 23, 2011
55,689
57,324
The Arctic
Yeah, I'm team Martha. I admit my ignorance because I basically read up on it the entire time and everyone basically called her down to the dirt, so with very knowledge I may have thought not so kindly of her.

She's fantastic, and Oje is a well spoken kid too. Also, his daughter is a spitting image of Owen.
 

EpochLink

Canucks and Jets fan
Aug 1, 2006
59,501
15,329
Vancouver, BC
Yeah, I'm team Martha. I admit my ignorance because I basically read up on it the entire time and everyone basically called her down to the dirt, so with very knowledge I may have thought not so kindly of her.

She's fantastic, and Oje is a well spoken kid too. Also, his daughter is a spitting image of Owen.

Oje is studying to be a human rights lawyer and Athena is going into journalism.

The kids did alright, good for them
 
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Transplanted Caper

2x ATD Co-Champion
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Also, lets all agree that Dunn is a piece of shit.

He is. And unsurprisingly, for as awful as he is to others, can't take anything himself. Cornette once made fun of his teeth and Dunn went to Vince. Cornette had to apologize.
 

Loosie

The Eternal Optimist
Jun 14, 2011
16,074
3,046
Kitchener, Ontario
I used to be firmly int he WWE camp, and believed all their stories. That they didn't know Owen was dead yet, that they kept going so as not to have mass panic in the arena, that 'the show must go on'. Martha was a bitter widow that wanted nothing to do with the wrestling world, and was pushing Owen to leave as soon as he could.

Slowly over the past few years my opinion had changed, but still thought Martha was bitter. After watching the episode last night that all changed. Martha has been a strong woman raising her kids as a single parent from a young age. I always thought Oje has his dad's looks, but holy crap Athena is the spitting image.

Dunn and McMahon can go to hell. JR was put in a horrible position that night. And I don't know how King could have continued that night either.

I haven't actively followed the WWE/F in a long time. A couple of years ago I was watching through all the PPVs/RAWs/Smackdowns but stopped when Benoit came into the picture. Right around that time I lost a coworker when her husband killed her and then blew up their house (in what many feel was an attempt to cover his tracks) while he was still in it. It was way too close to a murder-suicide that I was uncomfortable watching.

I'm not sure I'll ever go back to watching again.

I see people on twitter claiming the 'blood' in the ring was from a bloodbath on Heat. So that's the only thing I may go back and try and find. But in all honesty I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
 
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CaptainCrunch67

Registered User
Aug 23, 2005
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I'm not team WWE for sure, they're completely at fault.

Martha treated Bret horribly after he stood in her corner against members of his own family once she got the money. All the stuff about him wanting the rights to his library was dishonest. She wanted to separate herself from the Hart Family, even the ones who went out of their way to support her.
 
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EpochLink

Canucks and Jets fan
Aug 1, 2006
59,501
15,329
Vancouver, BC
The Raw is Owen show was so surreal, it was like everything I knew about wrestling until that time was taken away from me.

The Rock cut a promo from the heart and you can tell he wanted to break down and cry. His line of ‘damnit the Rock loved you like no other...’ really got me until he belted ‘if ya smell.....’ with such raw emotion that I broke down..
 

sabremike

Friend To All Giraffes
Aug 30, 2010
22,541
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Brewster, NY
Yeah, I'm team Martha. I admit my ignorance because I basically read up on it the entire time and everyone basically called her down to the dirt, so with very knowledge I may have thought not so kindly of her.

She's fantastic, and Oje is a well spoken kid too. Also, his daughter is a spitting image of Owen.

Everyone who wants to learn even more about the case needs to read this book. Will also say that the fact that when told a truth you had never heard and contradicted what you had been led to believe you accepted that truth rather than reject it speaks highly of your character and personal integrity.
 

Loosie

The Eternal Optimist
Jun 14, 2011
16,074
3,046
Kitchener, Ontario
Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, D’Lo Brown and Godfather..reliving that night again was probably the most heart breaking and traumatic time that they ever witnessed.

I'm kind of glad they didn't have Jeff Jarrett on the show. I'm not sure I could have handled that one. He literally had to cut a promo after they wheeled Owen right past him. They were still teaming up at this point.
 

GKJ

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
185,660
37,456
As a sidebar, the Owen Hart episode is the highest rated show in Vice TV/Viceland history, with 349,000 viewers, this surpassing the Benoit episode.
 

sabremike

Friend To All Giraffes
Aug 30, 2010
22,541
33,783
Brewster, NY
Presume you originally misunderstood my post, but I just want to make clear that it was praise. You have no idea how annoyed I am reading idiots who saw this documentary and still insist on parroting the WWE bullcrap, your post was a very welcome antidote to that nonsense.
 
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SladeWilson23

I keep my promises.
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Nov 3, 2014
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This entire series is not making Vince look good at all. You'd almost think that the creators of this show have an agenda against WWE.
 

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