Happy New Year to you all thanks for another great year loved every video u put together best wishes to u all and looking for to another great wrestling bios year to come
In all fairness, Vince was right about mlb. They knew their players were juicing and didn't care even while Vince was on trial in 92. They banned them but shrugged their shoulders and went "oh well"
There have also been numerous incidents in the NFL of players having severe brain damage from concussions and even some murders similar to what happened with Benoit.
@@tims4502 You too must admit that "Bulging" is not really a Pg First Name. But don't be fouled, this is his stage name, every body have a stage name, no?
In the United States, the NFL is by far the # 1 sport by a wide margin. Basketball and Baseball come in at semi-distant 2nds and 3rds (which is crazy since Baseball use to be # 1 in the U.S before the 1994 / 1995 baseball strike. That strike backfired in a huge way). That's very significant since the U.S is the 3rd most populated country in the world AND it's the # 1 biggest country when it comes to revenue spent on entertainment (while China and India have much, much larger populations, India's spending power on entertainment is NOT good at all as most people there don't have enough money and people in China are limited to the amount of entertainment they are allowed to consume per week because of the social credit nonsense). HOWEVER, If we are talking WORLDWIDE, then soccer (futball) is by far the # 1 sport (it's hands down the most popular worldwide by an incredibly wide margin and it makes the most money on a WORLDWIDE scale). Then there are sports that are SUPER popular in certain regions (Hockey is SUPER popular in Canada as it's the # 1 sport in Canada and it's also popular in some parts of Australia and Europe, Cricket is insanely popular in the UK, other sports like tennis, golf, and volleyball are super popular in various specific regions, etc).
If you only knew how carried the NFL, NBA, and NHL have been. The NFL would not have survived the 40's if it wasn't for the gov. Going after other sports more popular than it, and again in the 80's. The MLB wouldn't be here if the gov. Didn't go after video games and pool. The only reason why sports-ball is popular is because the government and t.v. companies have and will go after anything that threatens the "N's". Remember "Ultimate Freesbi"? Remember how popular it got in the 2k, to the point of a talk of a league? Remember the gov. Came in and "talks" happened with the three possible seeders, and then the taxes and regulations made it vanish. Remember X-games and how the gov. tried to shut them down?
The funny thing is that it isn't true... neither WCW or WWF ever once beat Monday Night Football in the ratings, but they were taking away a massive chunk of their audience and caused advertising rates to drop
Rose tinted glasses, these wrestlers were used and abused and dropped dead like fruit flies, exploiting Pillmans death on air to cover themselves, yeah, amazing place so different 😂😂
It's insane just seeing how massive professional wrestling was back then. Could not go anywhere without seeing some form of Austin merch or someone talking about the WWF or WCW. Austin shifted 12_13 million worth of merch in 98 alone.Everyone had a wrestling game either on the PS1 or Nintendo 64. Wrestling was all over the mainstream. Austin and Rock stuff was filling the Billboard charts. Austin had multiple videos on the Billboard charts and Rock would later on. At some points Raw was attracting anywhere from 4 to 10 million viewers. Austin was attracting 12000 to 14000 people to house shows. Today WWE does around 2.5 million at most and nobody is drawing that many people to house shows. I really doubt it will ever be that popular again. Me and my step brother were huge Austin marks and so were his friends. It all went weird once Austin turned heel and joined Vince.
32:09 Honestly? I could see the moments before that interview going like that: Mom (or some producer. Or both): "Remember to say that it is all real!" Kid: "But mom! Everyone knows it's not real! My friends will make fun of me for saying that I think it's real!" Mom: "Just say that it is real."
I always found conventional sports boring. When I was in basic training we were allowed to go to a Spurs game. I was so bored I was wishing I was back on based getting yelled at for something stupid.
It’s even crazier that everyone blames NFL and NBA for low ratings nowadays. That’s how you know it’s not the sports, it’s the product that’s responsible for the low ratings. If people cared they’d watch WWE but they don’t because they fail to draw.
Wrestling was not beating the NFL. The ratings comparison was against cable shows, not network. NFL was on ABC, not cable. And the NFL then, as now, was far more popular and had far higher ratings,
When I was a kid my dad would sit at the VCR and record every show for me and "edit" it by stopping the tape and restarting it after certain parts. Still a lifelong fan 20+ years later. If parents wanted to, they would.
I went to school in South London and was suspended from secondary school 3 times for WWF related stuff. Gave my science teacher the crotch chop, brought beer into school one day and done the stone cold thing and hit someone in my year on the head with a folding chair in PE. Good times in my life. I’m a criminal solicitor now.
@@DopeyDetector Me? I'm 39 years old. I was making an off-color joke riffing on "the kind of pie Rock serves", because "Poontang" IS slang for a female vagina, so it's obvious what "Poontang Pie" is made from.
@@nicktaylor2657Gorilla is the area between backstage and the stage entrance. It’s usually Vince, Vince’s right hand man, and typically the person who produced the match getting ready to happen. There are usually a couple of TVs, Vince is on a headset telling Jerry and good ol Jr. what to say.
It did seem to have a lot of good factual information and the interviewers did a good job of asking the right questions, but didn't have Bischoff or McMahon answer anything in full. I'd say Bios is right that this was a timed documentary to both denigrate and take advantage of the popularity of pro wrestling at the time.
It wasnt really a documentary. It was a sports investigate journalism show called "Outside the Lines". It covered more serious topics surrounding sports, usually off the field issues. It tried to be an unbiased, professional news program.
@@L_Train Except, because it aired alongside 20/20 on ABC, which also aired Monday Night Football & as "The King" stated, the WWF was at the peak of its mainstream success, whereas Monday Night Football was in the dull drums (so much so that the Empty Arena Match between The Rock & Mankind in 1999 was the literal halftime show of that year's SuperBowl), it couldn't remain unbiased due to ABC trying to jump on the pro wrestling bandwagon.
@@TherealRNOwwfpooh because what? You didn't finish your point. Wwf was up and football was down(kind of) but what does "except, because" have to do anything. If you want a hit piece watch John stossel not otl
@@L_Train 20/20 journalist John Stossel got ear-smacked by "Dr. D" David Schultz at the urging of chairman Mr. McMahon (who encouraged David Schultz to remain in-character after being grilled with the "I think it's fake" accusation, which led to Stossel getting smacked around); However, the questionable journalist was eventually paid through settlement court. My point was, with MNF being down & the WWF being up, ABC was trying to use OTL to jump on the pro wrestling bandwagon, even if detractors still tried to wring the business through the proverbial mud due to its seedier & more salacious elements.
@@L_TrainUnbiased?!?!? Not at all, rewatch the last 2 minutes of this "expose". ESPN's Bob Ley is essentially encouraging you the viewer to stop watching wrestling. It's like calling Op-Ed Articles "journalism", just because it's loaded with tons of factual information. Opinion Articles isn't real journalism. They're still covering the story with a slant or an overall agenda.
Today 95% of media is controlled by 6 corporations all telling you the same thing. Some things never change. Except Wrestling Bios. This channel never steers you wrong!
I was around 11 in Australia when this documentary aired, and we did alot of what was mentioned. Suck it chants/ crossed arms, stone cold stunners etc. I remember we would get in trouble, but only as far as being explained why it was inappropriate. I don't recall anyone getting suspended. I also remember in high school (14-15) we would have massive groups of us "fighting" every recess and lunch, but it was just our own version of a royal rumble, with plenty of wrestling moves. The teachers freaked out initially thinking it was a legitimate fight, then once they realized we were all friends having fun, they just let us go 😂
Vince bringing up the MLB not having any steroid testing program at the time was definitely a jab at the home run chase between Sammy Sosa & Mark McGwire in 1998, as both were accused of taking steroids at the time when they achieved their wild records, and McGwire himself would eventually admit to taking steroids during his entire career, including 1998. The whataboutism he used weakened his argument, but in that one case he did have a point. Also, while seeing Brian Pillman Jr. look at the memorial case for his father I couldn't help but think "I'm nobody's junior" & "I even have a college degree!", lines from his Lexis King debut promo package.
I agree whataboutism tends to weaken an argument. Buy in the context here--ESPN trying to use steroid use as evident of some sort of moral bankruptcy while at the same time pushing the hell out of the home run race--it absolutely should be on the table. Not for excusing WWE's own actions, which is why whataboutism is a fallacious argument, But in terms of ppinting out the hypocrisy.
A lot of the MLB was juiced. He had a major point. Plus, they had no testing program setup to make sure the players aren't. And the just shrug "oh well".
It wasn't even whataboutism though it was him clearly stating that's not the consensus of pro sports organisations, that's literally how you counter a point in a debate by giving a valid comparable point that disproves the opposing stance.
Last point. ESPN Outside the Lines had nearly 30 seasons. Why target wrestling? Because it is a ratings magnet. Wrestling fans would watch it. But this series also covered OJ, politicians, Hurricane Katrina, and other topics around sports. This was the first version of 30 for 30. So, I don’t think this was a hit piece. It was a topic to get people to watch. Also wrestling never beat 14.8 ratings on Monday Night Football in 1998.
There is an overwhelmingly positive response in the comments. I've followed your channel for years and some might worry that this is a dark way to end 2023 but I think it's great. Honest, grounding, reflective and respectful. I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year.
Eddie Kingston gave you a Shoutout on an interview. He mentioned this TH-cam channel called reliving the war. I was sure I'd heard of that before and it's you! He was talking about how he'd like wrestling to be as popular as it once was, the stuff that you show 🙌🏽
The whole Pillman thing is what gets me: they said he passed away from an enlarged heart. But they also wouldn't say that it's hereditary and his father passed away from one as well I think.
This video is one of the best, in depth overviews of a wrestling documentary ever produced. Your style of covering each argumen, scene for scene, is brilliant. This ESPN piece was unfamiliar, so it was very eye-opening watching & listening to this, to say the least. Vince McMahon is eerily reminiscent of Jim Jones here. Watching the 10 Bell Salute to Brian Pillman ( R.I.P. ) was a sobering memory. The look in his eyes on the titantron said it all about his pain & suffering. Sad to know that we would lose Rick Rude ( R.I.P ) & others, 5 yrs later & after
It would be great to get a follow up on Cory. See if he ended up in prison or something. Thankfully I always saw pro wrestling as encouragement to lift weights and bulk up to be a man if I was ever going to make it in the real world.
The Melanie Pillman interview on the Raw the day after was confusing at the time. I was thinking his death actually a storyline because I couldn’t believe Vince actually did that.
@@coreyhall1150There was nothing to cover though. Brian took the drugs on his own and was taking them before he joined WWF. VInce was trying to get ahead of the press that was going to blame him when it actually wasn't his fault this time.
@@chriskay1449 WHAT DO U THINK covering his ass means? You literally just described Vince COVERING HIS OWN ASS by doin what he did. Think before you speak honcho.
This was a 10 outta 10 my friend. This brings me back to my childhood and puts in perspective just how dominate WWE and WCW were in mainstream in that 5 year span
My primary school in Birmingham was strict with WWF stuff. The weekly newsletter would try and get parents to stop letting us watch it. I had a phone call home and the day in the headmasters office after telling him to suck it. Wrestling in the playground got you put in isolation which basically turned into classes with your mates when we just did royal rumbles on the field hill 😂
This was actually much better done than the "Pro Wrestling: Secrets Exposed" Fox did. But, OTL was always one of those hatchet shows disguised as journalism. I used to watch this after school every day, and the show is actually one of the reasons I got in sports talk radio.
@@L_Train I wasn't joking, even if though it seemed like it. Eric Bischoff's autobiography IS, quite literally, given the subtitle "Controversy Creates Cash".
I came up during the early and mid eighties. I was fine. The wrestling landscape definitely changed...they figured out that gearing towards teens got them the new audience.
I wouldn't be surprised if Eric bischoff literally couldn't tell them how many people had tested positive for steroids because the Turner legal department is smart enough to know you can't just share potentially career damaging medical info about your contractors.
Saying they tested positive is in no way "career damaging". Hell, he doesn't even have to mention anyone. He can just give a number. He ducked the question because he didn't want to out himself looking the other way.
@@chriskay1449 I'm not referring to what's actually actionable, but I know how cautious corporate lawyers can be and no you cannot just give a number without knowing you are going to have a long session of being asked to name names
tbf hogan was talking about ppv, the fingerpoke of doom happened on nitro. also wrestling on the trampoline was some of the most fun memories as a young kid i have
I loved wwe in 98 and was a senior in high school and had no clue people were getting suspended at least at my school. In 99 I was out of school and it's just silly seeing this hit piece
I watched WCW in 1998 through 1999, and WWF/E in 1999 as a kid through the present day as an adult. It was awesome back then, and I glad that I grew up watching that era from my childhood years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Kudos to the wrestlers here. They were really well-spoken here. As for the cliff-hanger idea, WWE did it best here. They left cliff-hangers via the storylines, versus just not finishing the match.
This is when wrestling was really the thing to watch. Wrestlers was always making an appearances on top tv shows and talk shows. You would see bumper stickers and stickers on cars everywhere. It was crazy. Wrestling was the greatest back then.
It's preety conspiricist to say they only put the doco out to reduce WWF ratings. More likely they thought a sensational doco about a very popular business (pro wrestling) would get them some good ratings. The final piece was probably just the doco maker looking for some way to wrap it up - that is 'while it's popular, it won't stop'.
To be honest, I wonder how steroids are viewed in wrestling from other countries, I've never heard of any kind of steroid scandals from Mexican or Japanese wrestling
It's more like the NFL (and NBA) added their own "storylines"... Brady vs Manning was their answer to Rock vs Austin and it worked. Chiefs/Taylor Swift are pretty much a soap opera on turf. Plus their own element of backstage drama and yellow journalism. And like WWE, now that all the veterans who made it big have retired, the product is starting to become stale.
This is exactly what takes me back when I was growing up I got in trouble for saying Hell Yeah and wearing a Austin t-shirt and when I was in 8th grade people want to blame wrestling they want to blame heavy metal music at that time they wanted to go after video games inside the children's fault it's not whoever it's people going into it not realizing it's not real and having the illusion of it watching a movie or TV show you get caught up carried away and don't realize what you're doing at the time here we are into New Year and I'm defending wrestling I could say the same thing about video games and comic books people been going after that for a very long time
You have a big group who's really into pro wrestling and Mortal Kombat you're not going to cancel that especially in the late 90s . Now looks that were into the late 2000s and Mortal Kombat is just as popular and so is pro wrestling you're not going to change anything by telling people to stop watching it or not make it as violent people are going to go out their way to watch it and have and be happy doing it
How to turn in side out my Austin 3:16 or hell yeah t-shirt same with my Metallica t-shirts that have anything like with the skull or spikes on it I had to do the same thing with my Svengoolie t-shirt
@@dalesanteford7432 that school must have really sucked mine was more just about profanity and gore if anything band shirts with skull and what not were common place along with the wanna be goths with spiked bracelets and chain wallets they were all fine
thanks for the great video hope you cover the WWF TLC vhs it was amazing when i first popped it into my vcr and finally got to see the great moments I wasn’t able to catch live
Maybe segment by segment. I.E. from 9:15 pm to 9:28 pm Raw had more total viewers then MNF, but I doubt they were beating them handily every week. I was around and remember how big wrestling was and also remember people tossing out that nugget that wrestling was beating MnF and never thought twice about it, but it does seem unlikely.
I believe the argument was not that they beat MNF, but that MNF's ratings were going down lower than they had been in the past because they were losing some viewers to WWF.
Yea you’re right raw never beat mnf in the ratings, I believe the caveat that was used was that wwe “meant total ratings for the entire year.” As in more viewers tuned into raw that calendar year than mnf. Which should come as no surprise to anyone since the nfl doesn’t play any Monday night games from January through the 1st week of September…
I mean to be fair WCW and WWF were the two largest promotions. ECW didn't even have a TV deal yet at this point so I think it was more the average non-wrestling fan just believed it was only a 2 man game rather than it being a ratings deliberate omission.
For me, definitely a hit piece. I don't think Vince was just using whataboutism, I think it's legitimate that wrestling was getting scrutiny for steroids but other "legitimate" sports were not even testing while at the same time being question if wrestlers are even athletes. Is the concern for steroid use in sports for the the health of the athletes? Is it to quell criminal drug abuse? Or is it about performance enhancing and unfair competition? I think it's the latter and that's not really an issue for scripted stuff is there? Lol
As an 18 year old kid and huge wrestling fan I absolutely thought this was a hit job. I consider myself lucky to have been a teenager right when the attitude era set in. It was truly an incredible time - "lightning in a bottle". The 98-2001 run of the WWF was pretty damned legendary. I watched wrestling less and less but would still check in as I got into my early to mid 20s but it just wasn't the same.
Bro, the way they entered the conversation about steroids and vinces comment about a syringe seems like it could've been edited to make it look like that was his full answer about wwf's testing. And chris was absolutely right to ask why steroids should matter. It's the same as any other sport. People come to see larger than life figures doing larger than life things.
Thank for tackling this! Jeremy Scapp, who was interviewing Bischoff, is an amazing journalist. You gotta cover the bill Costas vs McMahon inter view too!
My friend’s parents walked in on us with each other in leg locks screaming at the tops of our lungs while torquing on the others leg. We wrestled all the time in the late 90s. We made full sized wrestling dummies out of clothes and duct tape to beat in too. I remember trying to do hurricanranas from ladders with the dummies. I once dropped my buddy from a barn loft onto a wood chipper. In my defense it wasn’t running
Yea im an Attitude Era kid To this day, I remember pro-wrestling was under attack at its peak in popularity and Karens kept whining for it to be removed from the air
I remember watching this when it came on tv and actually rooting for Vince in this. The king was right, all they were trying to do is talk down about the wrestling business because it was hurting football. Wonder what Corey Fear is up to now days 😂
Hilarious how under Bret's name at the 13:38 mark it has him listed as "WCW Wrestler 1998-present" and "WWF Wrestler 1985-1997." As if Bret wanted ESPN to know once upon a time he was in a better place.
My mom never took wrestling serious she just would say it’s childish entertainment don’t do any of it. Plus I’m old enough to recall. The news doing a hit piece on the power rangers
If only it were that easy to watch something else, but there's a lot of people out there who feel they have a moral obligation (maybe religious based) to inform the world about the evils of certain things
When I was playing football as a freshman in college, we watched a video produced by the NCAA on inappropriate conduct. The crotch chop and the DX "X" sign were both 15 yard penalties.
@TheSBleeder I guess pop culture moved to fast for the Texas public school system they had to change the rule book on the fly although the description they tried to write out as hilarious
Happy New Year everyone!
Happy New Year to you all thanks for another great year loved every video u put together best wishes to u all and looking for to another great wrestling bios year to come
Happy New Year! 🍻🍻
Hny from vancouver canada
Happy New Year My Friend
Happy New Year to you too. Hope to enjoy more of the War. Thanks to your contribution to wrestling history.
In all fairness, Vince was right about mlb. They knew their players were juicing and didn't care even while Vince was on trial in 92. They banned them but shrugged their shoulders and went "oh well"
There have also been numerous incidents in the NFL of players having severe brain damage from concussions and even some murders similar to what happened with Benoit.
“This man’s name isn’t really The Rock.” 💀
LMAO
I know...my mind is blown
God damn how could they destroy everything I believed to be true?
Wait, Mr. Rock’s first name isn’t really “The?”
@@tims4502 You too must admit that "Bulging" is not really a Pg First Name. But don't be fouled, this is his stage name, every body have a stage name, no?
The "Roids 24:7" sign in the crowd was funny as hell.
Was Bruno holding the sign?
Tremendous 😂
In 2023 it seems impossible that wrestling (or ANYTHING) would beat the NFL.
@@carlos_herrerabs
Blame it on Hogan
In the United States, the NFL is by far the # 1 sport by a wide margin. Basketball and Baseball come in at semi-distant 2nds and 3rds (which is crazy since Baseball use to be # 1 in the U.S before the 1994 / 1995 baseball strike. That strike backfired in a huge way). That's very significant since the U.S is the 3rd most populated country in the world AND it's the # 1 biggest country when it comes to revenue spent on entertainment (while China and India have much, much larger populations, India's spending power on entertainment is NOT good at all as most people there don't have enough money and people in China are limited to the amount of entertainment they are allowed to consume per week because of the social credit nonsense).
HOWEVER,
If we are talking WORLDWIDE, then soccer (futball) is by far the # 1 sport (it's hands down the most popular worldwide by an incredibly wide margin and it makes the most money on a WORLDWIDE scale). Then there are sports that are SUPER popular in certain regions (Hockey is SUPER popular in Canada as it's the # 1 sport in Canada and it's also popular in some parts of Australia and Europe, Cricket is insanely popular in the UK, other sports like tennis, golf, and volleyball are super popular in various specific regions, etc).
If you only knew how carried the NFL, NBA, and NHL have been. The NFL would not have survived the 40's if it wasn't for the gov. Going after other sports more popular than it, and again in the 80's. The MLB wouldn't be here if the gov. Didn't go after video games and pool.
The only reason why sports-ball is popular is because the government and t.v. companies have and will go after anything that threatens the "N's".
Remember "Ultimate Freesbi"? Remember how popular it got in the 2k, to the point of a talk of a league? Remember the gov. Came in and "talks" happened with the three possible seeders, and then the taxes and regulations made it vanish.
Remember X-games and how the gov. tried to shut them down?
The funny thing is that it isn't true... neither WCW or WWF ever once beat Monday Night Football in the ratings, but they were taking away a massive chunk of their audience and caused advertising rates to drop
There's something about that old looking video format that makes it so Nostalgic. Good video as always.
Takes you back to good times when the world was an amazing place good memories!
@@scottpearce771 Yep it does.
Rose tinted glasses, these wrestlers were used and abused and dropped dead like fruit flies, exploiting Pillmans death on air to cover themselves, yeah, amazing place so different 😂😂
@geedee1264 Workers around the world get exploited and used everyday in a lot of work places for centuries. Wrestling is nothing new.
I feel like social media and the world of instant gratification ruined everything.
It's insane just seeing how massive professional wrestling was back then. Could not go anywhere without seeing some form of Austin merch or someone talking about the WWF or WCW. Austin shifted 12_13 million worth of merch in 98 alone.Everyone had a wrestling game either on the PS1 or Nintendo 64.
Wrestling was all over the mainstream. Austin and Rock stuff was filling the Billboard charts. Austin had multiple videos on the Billboard charts and Rock would later on. At some points Raw was attracting anywhere from 4 to 10 million viewers. Austin was attracting 12000 to 14000 people to house shows. Today WWE does around 2.5 million at most and nobody is drawing that many people to house shows. I really doubt it will ever be that popular again.
Me and my step brother were huge Austin marks and so were his friends. It all went weird once Austin turned heel and joined Vince.
Dude, we use to tailgate out in the parking lot several hours before the show and also catch the wrestlers coming into the arena.
@@firewalker1372 those were the days.
yea a rock t shirt or something it was crazy especially compared to now
As if it was our soap operas
whats more insane is its biggger now and it doesn't feel like it
Vince's biggest problem with this was probably WCW guys getting more time and attention given to them by "legitimate press".
They had years of history going on big time tv programs especially with Hogan, Macho, and Ric Flair.
How about that
ESPN : "WWE screwed WWE."
And yet ESPN thinks it's the babyface in all of this
This made me literally LOL
Dave Meltzer took what ESPN did and dialed it up to a million
32:09 Honestly? I could see the moments before that interview going like that:
Mom (or some producer. Or both): "Remember to say that it is all real!"
Kid: "But mom! Everyone knows it's not real! My friends will make fun of me for saying that I think it's real!"
Mom: "Just say that it is real."
I was a senior in high school the Winter of '98 and wrestling was everywhere.
Crazy to believe wwe was beating nfl and nba in the ratings
I always found conventional sports boring. When I was in basic training we were allowed to go to a Spurs game. I was so bored I was wishing I was back on based getting yelled at for something stupid.
It’s even crazier that everyone blames NFL and NBA for low ratings nowadays. That’s how you know it’s not the sports, it’s the product that’s responsible for the low ratings. If people cared they’d watch WWE but they don’t because they fail to draw.
Wrestling was not beating the NFL. The ratings comparison was against cable shows, not network. NFL was on ABC, not cable. And the NFL then, as now, was far more popular and had far higher ratings,
Certain segments beat NFL. It's Meltzer type stuff.
*WWF
When I was a kid my dad would sit at the VCR and record every show for me and "edit" it by stopping the tape and restarting it after certain parts. Still a lifelong fan 20+ years later.
If parents wanted to, they would.
I went to school in South London and was suspended from secondary school 3 times for WWF related stuff. Gave my science teacher the crotch chop, brought beer into school one day and done the stone cold thing and hit someone in my year on the head with a folding chair in PE. Good times in my life. I’m a criminal solicitor now.
How is London now???😅
😂 Thanks for your backstory!
Can't tell you how many times I was suspended for my fandom. Used to bash my head on the desks lol😅
Why do you solicit criminals?
@@Mujanggapimping ain’t easy
LEGEND!!! 😂
Bob: “What is The Rock gonna be Cooking”?
Ryan: Pie. He’s cooking Pie.
😂😂
lol i was scrolling through your comments right when he said this
Shouldn't that actually be what his wife's making? XD
Puntang pie
How old are you?
@@DopeyDetector Me? I'm 39 years old. I was making an off-color joke riffing on "the kind of pie Rock serves", because "Poontang" IS slang for a female vagina, so it's obvious what "Poontang Pie" is made from.
Great lines by Jerry Lawler. Makes a ton of sense too.
highly likely they were fed to him by Vince in gorilla
@@lutherheggs451 For sure. Vince was great at hitting back.
Monsoon?
@@nicktaylor2657Gorilla is the area between backstage and the stage entrance. It’s usually Vince, Vince’s right hand man, and typically the person who produced the match getting ready to happen. There are usually a couple of TVs, Vince is on a headset telling Jerry and good ol Jr. what to say.
Interviewer: "Do you do steroids?"
Scott Steiner:"You see this arm?"
Nuff said big poppa pump
It did seem to have a lot of good factual information and the interviewers did a good job of asking the right questions, but didn't have Bischoff or McMahon answer anything in full. I'd say Bios is right that this was a timed documentary to both denigrate and take advantage of the popularity of pro wrestling at the time.
It wasnt really a documentary. It was a sports investigate journalism show called "Outside the Lines". It covered more serious topics surrounding sports, usually off the field issues. It tried to be an unbiased, professional news program.
@@L_Train Except, because it aired alongside 20/20 on ABC, which also aired Monday Night Football & as "The King" stated, the WWF was at the peak of its mainstream success, whereas Monday Night Football was in the dull drums (so much so that the Empty Arena Match between The Rock & Mankind in 1999 was the literal halftime show of that year's SuperBowl), it couldn't remain unbiased due to ABC trying to jump on the pro wrestling bandwagon.
@@TherealRNOwwfpooh because what? You didn't finish your point. Wwf was up and football was down(kind of) but what does "except, because" have to do anything.
If you want a hit piece watch John stossel not otl
@@L_Train 20/20 journalist John Stossel got ear-smacked by "Dr. D" David Schultz at the urging of chairman Mr. McMahon (who encouraged David Schultz to remain in-character after being grilled with the "I think it's fake" accusation, which led to Stossel getting smacked around); However, the questionable journalist was eventually paid through settlement court.
My point was, with MNF being down & the WWF being up, ABC was trying to use OTL to jump on the pro wrestling bandwagon, even if detractors still tried to wring the business through the proverbial mud due to its seedier & more salacious elements.
@@L_TrainUnbiased?!?!? Not at all, rewatch the last 2 minutes of this "expose". ESPN's Bob Ley is essentially encouraging you the viewer to stop watching wrestling.
It's like calling Op-Ed Articles "journalism", just because it's loaded with tons of factual information. Opinion Articles isn't real journalism. They're still covering the story with a slant or an overall agenda.
Today 95% of media is controlled by 6 corporations all telling you the same thing.
Some things never change.
Except Wrestling Bios. This channel never steers you wrong!
34:09 I've always loved how Savage actually spoke like that when out of character!
Should do the Vince McMahon Bob Costas 2001 interview
I was around 11 in Australia when this documentary aired, and we did alot of what was mentioned. Suck it chants/ crossed arms, stone cold stunners etc. I remember we would get in trouble, but only as far as being explained why it was inappropriate. I don't recall anyone getting suspended.
I also remember in high school (14-15) we would have massive groups of us "fighting" every recess and lunch, but it was just our own version of a royal rumble, with plenty of wrestling moves.
The teachers freaked out initially thinking it was a legitimate fight, then once they realized we were all friends having fun, they just let us go 😂
Vince bringing up the MLB not having any steroid testing program at the time was definitely a jab at the home run chase between Sammy Sosa & Mark McGwire in 1998, as both were accused of taking steroids at the time when they achieved their wild records, and McGwire himself would eventually admit to taking steroids during his entire career, including 1998. The whataboutism he used weakened his argument, but in that one case he did have a point.
Also, while seeing Brian Pillman Jr. look at the memorial case for his father I couldn't help but think "I'm nobody's junior" & "I even have a college degree!", lines from his Lexis King debut promo package.
I agree whataboutism tends to weaken an argument. Buy in the context here--ESPN trying to use steroid use as evident of some sort of moral bankruptcy while at the same time pushing the hell out of the home run race--it absolutely should be on the table. Not for excusing WWE's own actions, which is why whataboutism is a fallacious argument, But in terms of ppinting out the hypocrisy.
A lot of the MLB was juiced. He had a major point. Plus, they had no testing program setup to make sure the players aren't. And the just shrug "oh well".
It wasn't even whataboutism though it was him clearly stating that's not the consensus of pro sports organisations, that's literally how you counter a point in a debate by giving a valid comparable point that disproves the opposing stance.
Yo Vince laughing at the Mark Henry skit is GOLD
😂
Vince kinda has point, the franchises of JAG/NCIS, FBI and Law & Order have more inappropriate stuff than WCW and WWF
NYPD Blue as well
NYPD Blue yes, the rest no. We are talking late 90’s, not now. Law and Order came on late at night back then.
Last point. ESPN Outside the Lines had nearly 30 seasons. Why target wrestling? Because it is a ratings magnet. Wrestling fans would watch it. But this series also covered OJ, politicians, Hurricane Katrina, and other topics around sports. This was the first version of 30 for 30. So, I don’t think this was a hit piece. It was a topic to get people to watch. Also wrestling never beat 14.8 ratings on Monday Night Football in 1998.
...but THEN Vince has a pay per view the following month where he KILLS one of his wrestlers!
Do more of these! This was great.
Parents fear mongering wrestling 😂 we turned out fine. I think
I think 😆
Well to be honest it’s kind of hard to ask the opinions of those it didn’t go well for ☠️
@@trippytradingcards7852 Degenerate junkies & gamblers only tell you about the 10% of wins...not the 90% of their losses.
Nahhh we didn't... but who cares! It wasn't their job to parent us!!
Agree we did
I gotta fart
I remember when this came out. I hate agreeing with Vince. He was right. This was a hit piece to take down the industry.
Monday Night Football or no, it was a cynical ploy to hop on the wrestling bandwagon for ratings. See also: Wrestling’s Greatest Secrets Revealed.
Why do you hate agreeing with Vince?
@@MarkDaddy69world renowned massive cyunt vince mcmahon?
he wasnt right and you know it
Hardly. Exposing wrestling shitty side is good. And raw never came close to beating Monday night football
Cory and the kindergartner are not the heroes we deserved, but the heroes we needed o7
I did the ddp bang a lot in elementary school baseball. I was having fun but my coach found it annoying whenever I did it
Sounds like your coach was a hater
D D P... Bang!
I use to do that cross face 😂😂😂
You mean he wasn't feeling the bang?
That's awesome 😅
There is an overwhelmingly positive response in the comments. I've followed your channel for years and some might worry that this is a dark way to end 2023 but I think it's great. Honest, grounding, reflective and respectful. I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year.
Vintage wrestling got more popular than pro sports and I think thats great!
Eddie Kingston gave you a Shoutout on an interview. He mentioned this TH-cam channel called reliving the war. I was sure I'd heard of that before and it's you!
He was talking about how he'd like wrestling to be as popular as it once was, the stuff that you show 🙌🏽
The whole Pillman thing is what gets me: they said he passed away from an enlarged heart. But they also wouldn't say that it's hereditary and his father passed away from one as well I think.
This video is one of the best, in depth overviews of a wrestling documentary ever produced. Your style of covering each argumen, scene for scene, is brilliant. This ESPN piece was unfamiliar, so it was very eye-opening watching & listening to this, to say the least. Vince McMahon is eerily reminiscent of Jim Jones here. Watching the 10 Bell Salute to Brian Pillman ( R.I.P. ) was a sobering memory. The look in his eyes on the titantron said it all about his pain & suffering. Sad to know that we would lose Rick Rude ( R.I.P ) & others, 5 yrs later & after
It would be great to get a follow up on Cory. See if he ended up in prison or something. Thankfully I always saw pro wrestling as encouragement to lift weights and bulk up to be a man if I was ever going to make it in the real world.
I asked the same thing, curious what ol Corey is getting up to now days.
Edit: he is on Facebook, still over in Semi Valley Ca.
Simi* @@firewalker1372
The Melanie Pillman interview on the Raw the day after was confusing at the time. I was thinking his death actually a storyline because I couldn’t believe Vince actually did that.
I remember her scowl at some of his questions
Vince will do ANYTHING to cover his own behind.
@@coreyhall1150There was nothing to cover though. Brian took the drugs on his own and was taking them before he joined WWF. VInce was trying to get ahead of the press that was going to blame him when it actually wasn't his fault this time.
@@chriskay1449 WHAT DO U THINK covering his ass means? You literally just described Vince COVERING HIS OWN ASS by doin what he did. Think before you speak honcho.
Jesus Christ people will justify anything
This was a 10 outta 10 my friend. This brings me back to my childhood and puts in perspective just how dominate WWE and WCW were in mainstream in that 5 year span
ESPN: “Pro Wrestling is a sweated scripted soap opera”
Also ESPN: “This guys arm is broken , this is so barbaric”
Lol 😂🤣💀
I don't know man, I'm from London and my friend got suspended for Stone Cold Stunnering the Chemistry teacher in a lesson
Mr.MacBios narrative input is so golden.
I use Mr.MacBio as a respectful pronoun.
No chance, heh that's what I've got...to not watch all this man's stuff.
My primary school in Birmingham was strict with WWF stuff. The weekly newsletter would try and get parents to stop letting us watch it. I had a phone call home and the day in the headmasters office after telling him to suck it.
Wrestling in the playground got you put in isolation which basically turned into classes with your mates when we just did royal rumbles on the field hill 😂
This was actually much better done than the "Pro Wrestling: Secrets Exposed" Fox did. But, OTL was always one of those hatchet shows disguised as journalism. I used to watch this after school every day, and the show is actually one of the reasons I got in sports talk radio.
I never cared for Outside the Lines. They always seemed to create controversy for controvery's sake.
@@fka322 "Controvery Creates Cash", the subtitle for Eric Bischoff's autobiography, coincidentally enough.
@@TherealRNOwwfpooh isn't the main title "grateful" lol?
@@L_Train I wasn't joking, even if though it seemed like it. Eric Bischoff's autobiography IS, quite literally, given the subtitle "Controversy Creates Cash".
@@TherealRNOwwfpooh I know, I find that funny because the actual title is "Grateful" isn't it? Grateful, controversy creates cash.
I’m 37 and even now, when I tell people I’m a wrestling fan the first words out of most peoples mouths are “You know it’s fake right?”
Hulk literally wearing the world title from the fingerpoke of doom while saying they never shortchange the fans is hilarious.
I came up during the early and mid eighties. I was fine. The wrestling landscape definitely changed...they figured out that gearing towards teens got them the new audience.
I remember when this came out it was awesome seeing pro wrestling talked about
I wouldn't be surprised if Eric bischoff literally couldn't tell them how many people had tested positive for steroids because the Turner legal department is smart enough to know you can't just share potentially career damaging medical info about your contractors.
Saying they tested positive is in no way "career damaging". Hell, he doesn't even have to mention anyone. He can just give a number. He ducked the question because he didn't want to out himself looking the other way.
@@chriskay1449 I'm not referring to what's actually actionable, but I know how cautious corporate lawyers can be and no you cannot just give a number without knowing you are going to have a long session of being asked to name names
@@nicholashurst780 Then he can simply say HIPAA and that will shut them up.
Totally forgot about this ESPN thing.. definitely a hit piece.
Happy New Year to everyone! Make 2024 even better than last year!
It wasn't. It was just made by clueless people.
tbf hogan was talking about ppv, the fingerpoke of doom happened on nitro. also wrestling on the trampoline was some of the most fun memories as a young kid i have
I loved wwe in 98 and was a senior in high school and had no clue people were getting suspended at least at my school. In 99 I was out of school and it's just silly seeing this hit piece
I watched WCW in 1998 through 1999, and WWF/E in 1999 as a kid through the present day as an adult. It was awesome back then, and I glad that I grew up watching that era from my childhood years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
@@SSJ491Best wrestling era ever
there was no WWE back then and thats y it was so awesome
You mean the WWF
Kudos to the wrestlers here. They were really well-spoken here.
As for the cliff-hanger idea, WWE did it best here. They left cliff-hangers via the storylines, versus just not finishing the match.
Man I miss the 90s
Not me. I miss the 2000's
@@alesitercrimson24 that's cool too especially the early 2000s
This is when wrestling was really the thing to watch. Wrestlers was always making an appearances on top tv shows and talk shows. You would see bumper stickers and stickers on cars everywhere. It was crazy. Wrestling was the greatest back then.
1998 was my favorite year for the attitude era i was in junior high and i was obsessed with sable 😂
I love watching old 80s and 90s documentaries just for the vibes
I remember this like it was yesterday. I still have the VHS recording of it. We had it good. We had it good.
It's preety conspiricist to say they only put the doco out to reduce WWF ratings. More likely they thought a sensational doco about a very popular business (pro wrestling) would get them some good ratings. The final piece was probably just the doco maker looking for some way to wrap it up - that is 'while it's popular, it won't stop'.
To be honest, I wonder how steroids are viewed in wrestling from other countries, I've never heard of any kind of steroid scandals from Mexican or Japanese wrestling
Because nobody in their press cared about drugs since they were in fear of the cartels.
every pro athlete is on something. nothing is clean.
bruh steroids are legal in pretty much every other part of the world than the US, no one gives a fuk here
Parents in the 90s were right to worry. If I hadn't given my cousin a Twist of Fate on the trampoline back then, I might still be alive today.
Classic Bischoff, “I don’t remember.” Even back then Bischoff was a candidate for Alzheimer's drugs.
Expanded to BlueChew now.
Another awesome video can't wait to see where this channel goes in 2024 i didn't even know about this documentary this is very interesting.
It’s great watching pro wrestling documentaries not produced by wwe is so interesting
Now the WWE or AEW would never defeat NFL.
That or college fb, NFL and College FB generate billions a year.
It's more like the NFL (and NBA) added their own "storylines"... Brady vs Manning was their answer to Rock vs Austin and it worked. Chiefs/Taylor Swift are pretty much a soap opera on turf. Plus their own element of backstage drama and yellow journalism. And like WWE, now that all the veterans who made it big have retired, the product is starting to become stale.
Wwe never beat the nfl. Just lawlor talking out of his ass
@@ELRIFLno they were doing that for decades before that. As did every sport
This is exactly what takes me back when I was growing up I got in trouble for saying Hell Yeah and wearing a Austin t-shirt and when I was in 8th grade people want to blame wrestling they want to blame heavy metal music at that time they wanted to go after video games inside the children's fault it's not whoever it's people going into it not realizing it's not real and having the illusion of it watching a movie or TV show you get caught up carried away and don't realize what you're doing at the time here we are into New Year and I'm defending wrestling I could say the same thing about video games and comic books people been going after that for a very long time
I remember how they tried to cancel wwf and mortal Kombat
You have a big group who's really into pro wrestling and Mortal Kombat you're not going to cancel that especially in the late 90s . Now looks that were into the late 2000s and Mortal Kombat is just as popular and so is pro wrestling you're not going to change anything by telling people to stop watching it or not make it as violent people are going to go out their way to watch it and have and be happy doing it
haha I use to knew a few people what were told to flip there "hell yeah" shirt inside out and yes it was in 8th grade too lol
How to turn in side out my Austin 3:16 or hell yeah t-shirt same with my Metallica t-shirts that have anything like with the skull or spikes on it I had to do the same thing with my Svengoolie t-shirt
@@dalesanteford7432 that school must have really sucked mine was more just about profanity and gore if anything band shirts with skull and what not were common place along with the wanna be goths with spiked bracelets and chain wallets they were all fine
thanks for the great video
hope you cover the WWF TLC vhs it was amazing when i first popped it into my vcr and finally got to see the great moments I wasn’t able to catch live
Did RAW ever beat Monday Night Football in the ratings? To my knowledge, RAW never came close to the MNF numbers.
Maybe segment by segment. I.E. from 9:15 pm to 9:28 pm Raw had more total viewers then MNF, but I doubt they were beating them handily every week. I was around and remember how big wrestling was and also remember people tossing out that nugget that wrestling was beating MnF and never thought twice about it, but it does seem unlikely.
MNF definitely did see a big ratings decline. It’s why the Sunday night game has eclipsed the Monday nighter.
@@joedee9811Monday Night football average ratings in 1998 was 13.9. Raw and Nitro were averaging a little above 4 million.
I believe the argument was not that they beat MNF, but that MNF's ratings were going down lower than they had been in the past because they were losing some viewers to WWF.
Yea you’re right raw never beat mnf in the ratings, I believe the caveat that was used was that wwe “meant total ratings for the entire year.” As in more viewers tuned into raw that calendar year than mnf. Which should come as no surprise to anyone since the nfl doesn’t play any Monday night games from January through the 1st week of September…
I mean to be fair WCW and WWF were the two largest promotions. ECW didn't even have a TV deal yet at this point so I think it was more the average non-wrestling fan just believed it was only a 2 man game rather than it being a ratings deliberate omission.
ECW did have tv deals with multiple stations across the country. Look up ECW Hardcore TV
"We listen to our audience." - Vince "I pushed the guy my audience booed for years because I liked him" McMahon
Yes but crazy enough. He got over. So it's hard to really argue with him.
This comes down to the same problem as always. Parents and yeah Karen was nothing but excuses.
Great Job Man. Please, more of these vids of "Behind the Curtain" shenanigans.
For me, definitely a hit piece. I don't think Vince was just using whataboutism, I think it's legitimate that wrestling was getting scrutiny for steroids but other "legitimate" sports were not even testing while at the same time being question if wrestlers are even athletes. Is the concern for steroid use in sports for the the health of the athletes? Is it to quell criminal drug abuse? Or is it about performance enhancing and unfair competition? I think it's the latter and that's not really an issue for scripted stuff is there? Lol
that was until 2007...
you know the one
As an 18 year old kid and huge wrestling fan I absolutely thought this was a hit job. I consider myself lucky to have been a teenager right when the attitude era set in. It was truly an incredible time - "lightning in a bottle". The 98-2001 run of the WWF was pretty damned legendary. I watched wrestling less and less but would still check in as I got into my early to mid 20s but it just wasn't the same.
Rumble talking about his real life G.I. Joes makes me think of Tony Khan!
I like that DeNiro movie where he wears pink and goes around crying about getting screwed. Oscarworthy performance
I saw that one, it was an excellent in execution
Comedian.
He never knows when to stop bitching and crying
Bro, the way they entered the conversation about steroids and vinces comment about a syringe seems like it could've been edited to make it look like that was his full answer about wwf's testing. And chris was absolutely right to ask why steroids should matter. It's the same as any other sport. People come to see larger than life figures doing larger than life things.
Thank for tackling this! Jeremy Scapp, who was interviewing Bischoff, is an amazing journalist. You gotta cover the bill Costas vs McMahon inter view too!
The ONLY channel i get notifications for, THX BIOS❤
Today’s my 34th bday!
Would be the jam to get a shoutout from our wrestling bio lord and savior
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday and Happy New year🎉🎉
I'll be turning 34 next month aswell
Time flies!!
Happy birthday bruh
@@WrestlingBiosappreciate it!
"Special Delivery Jones, here" "he's workin' the gimmick, brother" I'm fuckin' dead hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Cory Fear reminds me so much of me when I was 13. Then again, I was around the same age as him when this documentary came out.
He is 90% of 13 year olds. When i was growing up in the 80s/90s. Boys will be boys.
Have a happy new year everybody! Oh and... Professional Wrestling > American Football.
It was the same here. Most people didn’t care. The problem was that the few people making noise about it had connections to make a really big noise.
That Dr. Wadler guy sure has one.
My friend’s parents walked in on us with each other in leg locks screaming at the tops of our lungs while torquing on the others leg. We wrestled all the time in the late 90s. We made full sized wrestling dummies out of clothes and duct tape to beat in too. I remember trying to do hurricanranas from ladders with the dummies. I once dropped my buddy from a barn loft onto a wood chipper. In my defense it wasn’t running
I’m sure it wasn’t running. That sounds exactly like what someone who dropped their “friend” into a running wood chipper would say.
Sounds like you grew up to be a great success
That was a damn good segment by Jerry "The King" Lawler at the beginning! That's the kind of attitude we fans are craving for today's business.
I'm glad I'm the only one who thoiught the Rock was cooking pie figuratively. Even though I never saw him cook literally.
Yea im an Attitude Era kid
To this day, I remember pro-wrestling was under attack at its peak in popularity and Karens kept whining for it to be removed from the air
BRET HART SAYING HE IS THE “ROBERT DENIRO OF WRESTLING” IS TOUGH
He saw things. 😂😂😂
I remember watching this when it came on tv and actually rooting for Vince in this. The king was right, all they were trying to do is talk down about the wrestling business because it was hurting football. Wonder what Corey Fear is up to now days 😂
Seen this on TH-cam last night and taught I'd love Wrestling Bios to do a review of ut, sure enough Happy New Year right here 🎉❤
Hilarious how under Bret's name at the 13:38 mark it has him listed as "WCW Wrestler 1998-present" and "WWF Wrestler 1985-1997." As if Bret wanted ESPN to know once upon a time he was in a better place.
Oh he definitely is responsible for that.
Coronation Street exposed, tonight on ESPN
Ken Barlow refused to put over Roy's rolls brother
@@That_Guy- Rosie and Sophie refused to do a bra and panties pillow fight.
Whats hilarious is ESPN proudly promotes WWE on their TV today haha
My mom never took wrestling serious she just would say it’s childish entertainment don’t do any of it. Plus I’m old enough to recall. The news doing a hit piece on the power rangers
If only it were that easy to watch something else, but there's a lot of people out there who feel they have a moral obligation (maybe religious based) to inform the world about the evils of certain things
I think we can be honest. Even Vince said to change the channel if you don't like it. I don't think saying that is virtue signalling
I can say i did get in trouble at school for doing the DX crouch chop. And as a touchdown celebration
When I was playing football as a freshman in college, we watched a video produced by the NCAA on inappropriate conduct.
The crotch chop and the DX "X" sign were both 15 yard penalties.
@TheSBleeder I guess pop culture moved to fast for the Texas public school system they had to change the rule book on the fly although the description they tried to write out as hilarious
This is so fascinating, a great video again. Happy New year everyone 🎉🎉❤
Thank you Wresting Bios. This was very informative
"Karen..shush" you are a comedian
Should deffo do more like these
Really fell out of favor in later years but Vince was spitting facts in this
Excellent video once again. I had never seen this report before.