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00:00Eddie Gilbert knew what he needed to do to attract attention to himself.
00:12Get that camera up here on me just a second.
00:14He was a sneaky, conniving, dirty backstabber.
00:18He really thought he was hot stuff.
00:21Egotistical, arrogant, conceited, self-confident.
00:24He loved the crowd.
00:26You cowards are dumping Alabama!
00:28Eddie himself was the complete opposite of that.
00:31What he loved was creating.
00:35Born into professional wrestling, Eddie Gilbert's vision and ambition had a profound impact on the business he loved.
00:42This is not wrestling, this is a street fight!
00:44He would see the shift before the shift.
00:47Eddie said, this is wrestling, you can do anything.
00:50This is getting out of hand!
00:51Sure enough, Eddie was right about anything.
00:54There's no ECW.
00:54You're the king of Philadelphia!
00:56He would have gone on to be one of the most influential minds in wrestling.
01:02But it didn't happen that way.
01:04A rising star with undeniable charisma, Eddie's demons threatened his career from the start.
01:10I've worked too hard and too long!
01:12Eddie could burn a bridge better than anybody.
01:14He has a history of going to territories and just leaving.
01:18Eddie, a small thing can set him off.
01:20I have been run out of any wrestling organization I've ever been in!
01:25For Eddie, coping with the chronic pain from a life-threatening injury came at a devastating cost.
01:33Night after night of putting your body through that abuse, I don't think that pain ever left him.
01:40We just want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a real warrior.
01:45You know, Eddie passed away 30 years ago.
01:48And he's still missed.
01:50But this is a story of what if.
01:54What if this didn't happen?
01:56What if this didn't happen?
01:59What if?
02:00Eddie, we're on.
02:12Eddie!
02:12Oh, oh, okay.
02:14Hello, everyone.
02:15I think what the wrestling business lost was a great worker and a mind that was about a generation
02:24ahead of what anybody else is at the time.
02:27But I look at what my brother did and his angles and pushing the limits and the guys that he helped in his short life.
02:37It's you and me, brother!
02:38He lived 32 years.
02:41He done more in that 32 than most people would do in 70.
02:44He made the best out of all of them.
02:47And to me, that's where you tell the character of a person.
02:51I'm Dangerous Doug Gilbert, and I've been in the wrestling business about 36 years.
02:54My brother is hot stuff, Eddie Gilbert.
02:57Tell him hot stuff!
02:59I looked up to Eddie.
03:01I mean, he was an idol of mine also.
03:04He was a fun guy.
03:06I mean, he was my best friend.
03:09Eddie looked out for me, and I was lucky enough to have that.
03:13That's when we was partners in Memphis and everything.
03:15To me, that's really cool.
03:16That's history.
03:17It's like a museum.
03:18His life and obsession was wrestling.
03:22He thought about it all the time.
03:24Let's kick some ass and draw some money.
03:27That was a big one.
03:28When he was a kid, he would make cards out with his friends' names on it.
03:31And I think that's when my dad realized he was actually really serious, serious about the business.
03:36Eddie's father, Tommy Gilbert, was one of the most popular wrestlers in the Tennessee Territory from the late 60s through the early 80s.
03:44Eddie grew up watching that, and that was what Eddie had his sights set on.
03:49I'm Jim Cornette, and I was friends with Eddie Gilbert even before he began his pro wrestling career.
03:55We started in wrestling in the same way.
03:57Eddie began taking ringside pictures of the matches in Memphis at the Mid-South Coliseum.
04:02And at the same age, I started doing it in Louisville.
04:05And we ran into each other at the matches and just instantly developed a friendship.
04:10Eddie, I think, was 16.
04:12Instead of saying, oh, I'm Tommy Gilbert's son, he would walk in with a tripod.
04:18So that was how he was getting access to the dressing room.
04:22He was slowly, slowly working his way in.
04:25He loved, loved the wrestling business.
04:29My name is Dutch Mantell, commonly called Dirty Dutch.
04:32And I've been in this wrestling business for over 50 years, and I used to work with Eddie Gilbert.
04:38You better watch your big, fat lip, Gilbert.
04:40He would watch Memphis live television on Saturday morning at 11 o'clock.
04:46He would study how it was produced.
04:48He would study when the commercials came on.
04:50When Eddie turned 18, that's when he started his major league wrestling career as partners with his father, Tommy.
04:59From Lexington, Tennessee, the Gilberts, Tommy and Eddie.
05:02Tommy and Eddie Gilbert, father and son champions.
05:06My brother was thrilled any time to do anything like this with my dad.
05:09My dad was both of our heroes, and he wanted my dad to be proud of him.
05:14What teamwork by the Gilberts?
05:16I mean, the real idol of my life was my dad.
05:19So I got to have a lot of good matches with him.
05:21It was to have him take.
05:22I really enjoy watching back forth and remember how it looked 10 years ago.
05:26Maybe 12 now.
05:27When he was training Eddie, it was for you to really be, to say that you're great.
05:33You've got to be able to work with any style.
05:35Now, the bloody Tommy Gilbert in the ring right now.
05:38Tommy Gilbert had been trained by the old timers.
05:41The way that they laid the blows in, you could hear the smack of the meat and the flesh from the cheap seats in the arena.
05:49Tennessee wrestling is about brawling, fighting, blood and guts, personal issues, hatred, rivalries, animosity.
05:59Hey, you guys save that for the ring.
06:02And Eddie Gilbert fit right into that.
06:04Here comes Eddie. Look at that.
06:07I just never got that chance, even up to 81, that I could show that I had any kind of character at all.
06:11So Ricky Moore and I had this chance to go to Tupelo.
06:14And they went into the concession stand of the Tupelo Sports Arena.
06:17Into the concession stand.
06:19And had a knock-down, drag-out brawl involving furniture and concessions and hot dogs and mustard.
06:26Poochie nails with mustard and blood all over it.
06:30It was a very believable fight because I think even the people involved in it believed it.
06:35They were knocking the shit out of each other.
06:37Oh, Nita's head busted wide open.
06:39We was just hitting each other in the head with pots and pans and chairs.
06:45Rick Morton hammering with a garbage can top.
06:48I mean, that shit hurts, buddy.
06:51I'm Ricky Morton.
06:52Went half of the Rock and Roll Express.
06:54One of the greatest babyface tag teams ever.
06:58And I was best friends with Eddie Gilbert.
07:03You see, it was a hardcore match, really.
07:06But at that time, we didn't understand that.
07:08As a matter of fact, that night is where Atsushi Onita got the idea for hardcore wrestling that he took back to Japan.
07:17And in the 90s, made a fortune with it came from that night in Tupelo, Mississippi.
07:23What a ball.
07:25Yeah, keep shooting it.
07:26We're not going to be able to show a lot of it.
07:28Just keep shooting it.
07:30He was always on fire.
07:33Thank you very much.
07:34I'd like to say hello to all my friends and family and everyone out there.
07:36Let's face it, he was a good-looking kid.
07:40My name is Darla Staggs, and I met Eddie Gilbert when he was 17 years old.
07:46We were just good, good friends.
07:48He went on to work for WWE.
07:52It was a dream for him, and it was his road to stardom.
07:56Memphis was great, but WWF, you know, it's Madison Square Garden.
08:05I mean, what are you going to say?
08:06No.
08:07Making his Madison Square Garden debut, Eddie Gilbert.
08:13My brother brought me with him to New York.
08:15I guess I was 12 or 11.
08:17Doug and Eddie were close, very close.
08:20Eddie was 18 years old, and he's hanging out with his 11-year-old brother.
08:24That says something to me.
08:27Being a two small-town country boy, seeing him in Madison Square Garden, I was really proud of that.
08:34Eddie wasn't a big guy, and that actually helped him.
08:38That was beautiful.
08:39He had great timing.
08:42You see, that was Eddie getting his foot through the door.
08:45Right back on his feet with a kickoff.
08:46You see that?
08:46Do you believe it?
08:48Fans are loving that.
08:49En route to a meeting with WWF's patriarch, a tragic series of events is triggered.
08:56Went to my room, got a shower, dripped.
09:01It was already like 12 o'clock, so I was tired, and I started driving.
09:04We got a phone call at my house.
09:14It was like 1 to 2 in the morning.
09:18And they said, Mr. Gilbert, it's your son, Eddie.
09:20And she said, yes.
09:21And they said, he's been in an accident.
09:23They didn't even know that they could keep him alive.
09:26He's in critical condition, and it broke his neck.
09:29The steering wheel, I think, hit him right here in the solar plexus, like, right over
09:34his heart.
09:35They said, he will never wrestle again.
09:37His heart was like Jell-O.
09:38It would never heal.
09:41He wasn't even 22 years old yet, and suddenly, his career may be over.
09:47That was not acceptable.
09:48It wasn't an option for Eddie.
09:51No matter how catastrophic the injury was, he was going to get back in the ring.
09:55When something like that happens to you, it takes a long, long time to get over that.
10:00It takes years.
10:02Put yourself in that situation.
10:04You're still wanting that opportunity.
10:07So that's why you keep going.
10:09Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome back the very popular Eddie Gilbert.
10:18Three months later, he will start back wrestling again.
10:21Such is the tenacity of this young man, Eddie Gilbert, who has made it all the way back.
10:26I can speak for myself.
10:28You know, it was a hard, long road in our business.
10:31Ooh, you wonder if blows like that, if it would affect the neck.
10:34Apparently not.
10:35When you have a car wreck and break your neck, they don't send you home with Tylenol Plus.
10:41You understand me?
10:42I'm sure he wouldn't be back in the ring if he was not ready.
10:45It takes a tremendous amount of courage for a man that had a broken neck to come back into wrestling.
10:58Eddie came back to wrestling probably too quick, but he wanted to get back before he lost his spot.
11:04They did an angle based on the fact that the fans knew that he'd had a serious neck injury.
11:10And they used the masked superstar to allegedly re-injure the broken neck.
11:17Oh, no!
11:18Oh!
11:18Oh!
11:19Now, there's no need for anything like that.
11:22See those scars there on the throat?
11:24That was from the automobile accident.
11:26And unfortunately, that is where Eddie met Dr. George Zahorian.
11:32I'm presently evaluating Eddie Gilbert following a traumatic accident to the vertebrae of his neck.
11:38Dr. George Zahorian was a doctor in Pennsylvania, was also appointed by the Athletic Commission
11:44to be the doctor to give physicals and etc. to all the wrestlers.
11:48Anything that the wrestlers wanted, drugs, substances, whatever that he could prescribe,
11:54there was your guy.
11:56Now you've got Eddie Gilbert, who's had a severe neck injury.
12:01What do you think is going to happen?
12:03He was in a lot of pain from the wreck, but if the doctor was prescribed or something,
12:08he would definitely take it.
12:10When he was doing it to be able to work, I guess that was our justification.
12:16As Eddie steps back into the ring, the WWF charts a new direction, jeopardizing his climb to the top.
12:23WWF at the time was like superheroes.
12:25That was the Hulk Hogan start of there.
12:29Everybody that was up there got bigger.
12:31Oh, look at that!
12:32I didn't want to go that bodybuilder path, and Eddie didn't want to either.
12:36Now, we might have did a little something-something to tone you up, but you get caught up in that circus act.
12:45I think Eddie thought that some of the stuff they do in WWE was too much show business and not enough realism.
12:53I knew that meant that I was probably going to be probably buried.
12:56And I thought to be the best career move was to leave and go back home to Memphis to be a heel,
13:03because I knew that when I started a business, that's all I wanted to be, and I thought that was my calling.
13:09Returning to the Southern Territories, Eddie reinvents himself as a villain and creates his most iconic persona.
13:15Eddie knew that in the 80s, the people expected more excitement, more action, more life, more talking.
13:28I am the greatest wrestler, the prettiest face, and the greatest set of brains of professional wrestling.
13:33He had the flashy sequined jacket, frosted the hair blonde, and he was wearing sunglasses.
13:39Now, he's this guy that looked like he just stepped off this new thing called MTV.
13:46A cocky heel that really thought he was hot stuff and was better than everybody else.
13:52Listen to me, boy, when I'm talking to you!
13:54He came up with a patter and a style that was all of his own.
13:58Heaven won't take me, and hell's afraid I'll take over.
14:02My grandmother said to me, he's so mean and dirty, I just hate him.
14:06If you hate him, that means he's doing his job well.
14:11But you know what? He's still the same sweet guy that he's always been.
14:15No, he's not either.
14:17It was an amalgamation of all of the heels that Eddie had watched over the years, and it worked.
14:24One of his idols was Jerry the King Lawler.
14:27Who's the greatest wrestler in the world, and why am I?
14:29He was the undisputed king of Memphis wrestling.
14:32Lawler from the top rope, he gets in!
14:34I am in rare form, and I guess you saw it right there, didn't you?
14:37The first chance he got, he went to wrestle Jerry Lawler.
14:40Lawler, I want to tell you something, brother.
14:42You're not hungry anymore. I am.
14:44He ultimately wanted to follow in Jerry Lawler's footsteps as the king of Memphis wrestling.
14:51Jerry Lawler, look what you've done to me!
14:54When the opportunity comes, you've got to chase your dream.
14:57Hurt! Stop, Eddie Gilbert!
14:58You're going to be real hot, brother!
15:00Eddie had that in his mind. He knew that.
15:05That's why he was successful down south.
15:07Already a star in Memphis, Eddie gets his first shot at fulfilling his dream of becoming a company's booker in Louisiana,
15:15working for Bill Watts Mid-South Wrestling.
15:18The booker is basically the matchmaker.
15:20Even from the time he was a teenager, Eddie already had that in his sights.
15:23I knew it was 17, and no one was going to listen to me, so I had to wait until I was 25, which was, uh, I was still one of the youngest ever to get a chance.
15:32That's Eddie Gilbert doing out there.
15:33They're getting ready to find out, I think, yeah.
15:35Wrestling is more than just doing the moves. Wrestling is telling a story.
15:39I really think I need to set the record straight because I am not a communist, ladies and gentlemen.
15:43And Eddie, Eddie was very good at that.
15:46You can do whatever you want to with this flag. I'd like to give it to you.
15:50Let's burn it!
15:51Everybody loved Bill Watts. He's in the big cowboy babyface down there.
15:55And everybody thought Eddie was going to do something trickier, low down.
16:00Hold on!
16:01That's the Cole-Offs!
16:02The Cole-Offs!
16:03The Cole-Offs!
16:04And they've got Watt's down!
16:05They've got that chain!
16:07When a great heel has a great babyface, they can tell a story that's unbelievable.
16:12But they put the flag over the Cowboys! Look at that!
16:14Look at that! The fans are getting out of their seats!
16:17This place is mayhem!
16:18You've really got to work to get that feeling when you walk out to the BYU-H.
16:22What does the people want to pay to see you?
16:24They want to pay because they don't like you.
16:27And they want to see the good guy beat the crap out of you.
16:31A little bit too cocky there!
16:33If you had heat like that, you was usually drawing good money.
16:37Listen to this crowd! They love it!
16:39Eddie had some great guys there that went on to be superstars, like Steam.
16:45Rick Steiner was there.
16:47Ultimate Warrior.
16:48Dr. Death's Steve Williams.
16:50All these guys were there under the guidance of Eddie Gilbert.
16:54In his mind, he said, where can I take this guy?
16:57Or who can I book this guy with?
16:59Because his mind never stopped.
17:01And this is all of everyone. I'm thinking things are finally falling in place here.
17:05We were successful. The gates were good.
17:07And the TV was turned around.
17:10But then the fire came right after him.
17:14Bill Watts sold the company to Jim Crockett Promotions.
17:18And about a year and a half later, Crockett Promotions had sold to Turner Broadcasting.
17:23With that kind of personal, I love the UWF.
17:25I hated seeing the people who had jobs that did.
17:28And I never forgot it when we got to WCW.
17:32Eddie's booking success lands him on WCW's creative team, trading sole control for a seat on a committee.
17:39Weighing in at 220 pounds, Eddie Hot Stuff Gilbert!
17:44One of the worst things to be is be on a friggin' booking committee.
17:49Because you have no control.
17:51And that's when Ric Flair got involved.
17:55Flair was the top star for world championship wrestling.
17:59And he demanded to be made the booker.
18:03Ric Flair made the power play to get the booking job, got it.
18:06And it was real appreciate in their attention.
18:08I felt like it was being real, real, real kind of a little bit.
18:10Ric Flair didn't know that much about Tennessee wrestling.
18:13Ric Flair didn't know that much about Eddie Gilbert.
18:16He wanted people to carry out what he was asking them to do.
18:19They go to Memphis one night.
18:22Eddie Gilbert is booked to wrestle against Ron Simmons.
18:25So Flair sends the finish.
18:27Ron Simmons beat Eddie Gilbert.
18:29There must be some mistake.
18:30This is Memphis.
18:32You can't beat me in a preliminary match in Memphis.
18:34So Eddie changed the finish.
18:40Within a week, I got a phone call from Ric Flair.
18:43So he changed the finish.
18:45Who the f*** is this guy?
18:47I'm going to have to move him out.
18:49And that's when he told me,
18:52I'm fixing to have an opening on the creative team.
18:55Would you like to fill it?
18:57I had had aspirations of one day being a booker,
19:00but here was an opportunity right in front of me
19:03to start doing what I'd always wanted to do.
19:06But it was at the expense of Eddie losing the chance to do what he wanted to do.
19:10After overriding Ric Flair's planned finish to a match,
19:20Eddie is dismissed from the creative committee,
19:23his spot taken by a childhood friend.
19:26Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Cornette will have a lot to say.
19:28We never had a face-to-face disagreement.
19:32However, Eddie told the story that,
19:35well, I showed up at the booking meeting
19:38and there was Jim Cornette sitting in my chair.
19:41Actually, no.
19:43Eddie never came in to see me there
19:45because he already knew he was done,
19:46regardless of whether I got the job or not.
19:49But I've heard it said by people close to him
19:52that that demotion pretty much broke his heart.
19:55I just wanted to get out.
19:56The gentleman would let me out on my contract
19:58and I came back to Memphis in 1990.
19:59Like, that's when I got my first full-time booking job in Memphis.
20:04Hot stuff, Eddie Gilbert.
20:05Surprise, surprise, surprise.
20:07What a surprise, yes indeed.
20:10Returning to his home territory in Memphis,
20:13Eddie solidifies his legacy as an innovator,
20:16pushing the boundaries between reality and fiction even further.
20:19He knew the fans were getting smarter
20:22and he was trying to do cutting-edge stuff.
20:26I thought, uh-oh.
20:27And the Lawler was shooting at an angle.
20:30Jerry Jarrett said, well, what have y'all not done to him?
20:33Eddie said, well, I hadn't run over him.
20:36Wait, Eddie, you gonna do what?
20:38Now, you may think I'm crazy.
20:40If I came at you with a car,
20:42you think you could jump and hire me all the way?
20:44It looks good. It looks good.
20:45Lawler says, man, I love it.
20:48Dang, he actually wants to do this.
20:50The only problem was we was going way too fast.
20:54Hey, look out.
20:56Whoa!
20:57Oh, holy shit. Excuse my language.
21:00And what I said to Doug is, do you think he's okay?
21:02Thank goodness.
21:03No, I don't think he's okay.
21:05Calling for some help from, uh, there's Jerry Calhoun.
21:08The fans at home called the police department
21:11and said they had a hit and run.
21:14They was gonna arrest us.
21:15So Lawler had to come out and actually tell the police
21:19it's not their fault.
21:21And I even said, even if I had to go to jail for a week,
21:23you didn't get a wrestling all over.
21:24You had to just about do anything to do.
21:27People hated us for that.
21:29And, I mean, we wanted them not to like us.
21:32But that goes into where you're getting to the point
21:34where it's almost went too far.
21:36One night, me and Eddie, we went to get in the car
21:38and I heard Eddie say,
21:40hurry up, a guy's coming with a knife.
21:41What?
21:42He had a butcher knife and he's running.
21:45And so I start trying to get the key in the car.
21:47And I heard Eddie say, hurry up, hurry up.
21:49And he got right almost to Eddie.
21:52There was cops at the fence
21:53and a police officer saw that.
21:56He got them before they got to us.
21:57Here's the thing,
22:01and a lot of people don't understand this,
22:03look at your TV today
22:04and then go back and see what we did.
22:07He was ahead of his time for so many years.
22:10Oh, come on!
22:11And it was stuff that he thought about all the time.
22:14Rotten, despicable, devious mind.
22:15He's a perfectionist at work
22:17and he was a perfectionist at booking.
22:19And a lot of people will say,
22:21well, that's why you wind up with burnout.
22:23I don't think he was the booker at one spot
22:28more than six months at anywhere.
22:30Most of the time that I was successful,
22:32I didn't really know what.
22:33We saw Memphis jump back up again,
22:36so went to Alabama, changed everything.
22:38But there's always those few
22:40that think they can do the job a little bit better.
22:43The power stroke goes on from day one
22:45and the booker takes over.
22:46And after a while, he's frustrating.
22:48And it's not worth it.
22:50Yeah, I'm sorry.
22:52Yeah.
22:52As Eddie bounces from promotion to promotion,
22:57he enters a romantic relationship
22:59with WCW star Missy Hyatt.
23:03Meow.
23:05Missy Hyatt was one of the first women in wrestling
23:08that was both attractive and used
23:11as the valet slash manager slash confidant
23:15of many of the top heels.
23:17And then, of course, we got adorable Eddie Gilbert.
23:20And then Eddie and Missy became a couple in real life.
23:23After he got off the booking committee
23:25in WCW, I bought him a boat
23:27hoping that, you know,
23:29maybe he could go fishing and relax.
23:31He took it out maybe twice.
23:33He didn't have a hobby.
23:34His hobby and his work and everything was wrestling.
23:37I remember my dad looking at his own room.
23:40Good luck.
23:41How long did he last?
23:42The whole marriage and everything,
23:44maybe a year and a half or something like that.
23:46I hate you and I hate everybody.
23:49He liked beautiful ladies.
23:51From Milan, Italy,
23:54the AWA Ladies World Champion.
23:58I got the opportunity to be in the ring with Eddie.
24:02And that's when everything started between him and I.
24:06Hi, I'm Medusa, M-A-D-U-S-A.
24:08I'm Made in the USA, baby.
24:10And I've been in this business over 40 years.
24:13And I was married to Eddie Gilbert.
24:16It was Eddie and myself
24:18against Mick Foley and Luna Vachon.
24:21Right then and there, I'm like,
24:25God, there's something about this guy and his cockiness.
24:29We just hit it off.
24:31One thing led to another and he's like,
24:34do you want to get married?
24:35And I'm like, what?
24:36What?
24:38Yeah, let's just do it.
24:39And we did.
24:41His family was so loving and so open to me.
24:46What do you got there?
24:47Oh, do you know how to do that?
24:49Not at all.
24:49And I felt welcomed.
24:52His dad.
24:55There's more action going on over there.
24:57You know, you're the only one that's opening them.
24:59And his mom.
25:00This is World.
25:01And little Dougie at the time.
25:03Look, what do you got over here yesterday?
25:05I came to work with you.
25:06Oh, he loved his family.
25:10Goals, Ralph Henry book.
25:12They got all the shirts, like shirts.
25:13It was healthy.
25:15That's how I felt.
25:16I owe you a weaner.
25:18My marriage overall was wonderful from the beginning.
25:22And towards the end, I knew it wasn't the Eddie that I grew to love and was in love with.
25:29If it was because of the pain of the business physically and his choices to get rid of the pain, then, you know, that's what he did.
25:38And it just changed him.
25:39I just got done making dinner.
25:43We sat down to eat and he fell asleep at the dinner table and his food.
25:47I did see him fall asleep at the table one time.
25:53I mean, I tried to talk to him about it.
25:56He kind of shut it down like, it's none of your business.
26:00And it wasn't my business.
26:01I didn't really see too much wrong with it, which I look at it today and I can see that maybe it was a little bit wrong.
26:09But now I see so much other stuff so much worse than anything that was going on with Eddie.
26:16So I guess I just took that as everything was kind of normal.
26:20It wasn't just being a rock star that caused him to do this.
26:26It was trying to overcome serious injuries to get back in the ring.
26:31The pills taken over Eddie.
26:33That wasn't who Eddie was, though.
26:37He wanted to get better.
26:41It just didn't happen.
26:43They probably know what physical punishment they're both going to endure.
26:54Eddie and I had the best feud of the independent scene.
26:59Oh, almost ripped his head off of him.
27:01The bulls and maxes of Cactus were to sell and ever get them.
27:03To make this legal, we have to hurt each other.
27:07We knew that we couldn't go out there and do any less.
27:10It would take too much pride in what we do.
27:11What he loved was bringing excitement to the television screen.
27:17They just laid our bodies on the line for each other.
27:19Cactus, the barbed wire around his face.
27:21Got to stop this match right now. Stop it now.
27:24Our business brings with it constant pain.
27:30I did not know that he was having trouble with pills.
27:34Eddie was part of an era where not as much was known about pain medication.
27:39It wasn't really frowned upon at that time, but it's easy to abuse.
27:47He would say he was in pain, but I never knew the severity.
27:52He kept everything so inside.
27:55The hardest thing he did was sign those divorce papers.
28:01He told me straight out,
28:03I need to fix this.
28:04I need to get myself better.
28:08And it was Eddie's choice.
28:11I guess what I told myself at that time,
28:14the only thing I could say is that I found my way to say okay and let go.
28:21She's a really good person.
28:24I think she deserves getting out of business when she can.
28:27At that time, you know, the early 90s, a lot of things were falling apart for Eddie.
28:34Almost all the territories had gone out of business.
28:37So at that point, he really didn't have a lot of options of the old-fashioned territories,
28:42places to go anymore.
28:44Here we are at the ECW Arena in the heart of South Philadelphia.
28:47It's June 19th.
28:49Facing setbacks in his personal and professional life,
28:52Eddie Gilbert moves to Philadelphia,
28:54betting on a new promotion led by a virtual unknown in the business.
28:59We're ready to go. Tonight's the night.
29:01I grew up watching the WWF,
29:04and there was something called believability.
29:06What happened was, as time went on, it became a cartoon.
29:10Hi, my name is Todd Gordon,
29:11and I am the founder and originator of Extreme Championship Wrestling, ECW.
29:17I worked side-by-side with Eddie Gilbert to get this promotion off the ground.
29:22Jimmy Stuck on the top, I believe all!
29:23I just wanted to see something that I would enjoy, so that I could believe it.
29:26This is getting out of hand, fellas!
29:28My goal was to put on a believable, hard-hitting product.
29:31A great night, and it's going to get even better as we go on week to week.
29:34Stick with it, Jay Sully.
29:36You know, Philadelphia, they are the meanest people I ever seen.
29:42These people don't even like ice cream.
29:45I'm not bullshitting you.
29:46So, when you bring that part of Eddie being a heel to them,
29:50well, then you just eat that shit right up.
29:53Eddie brought in a lot of big names and put together the matches.
29:56He was very good at it.
29:57I'm coming for you, Eddie Gilbert.
29:59He wanted to be the king of Philadelphia, as Jerry was the king of Memphis.
30:03Yes, me!
30:04Hot stuff, Eddie Gilbert, the king of Philadelphia!
30:07We were doing that kind of hardcore stuff.
30:09He took it to another level.
30:12Oh, my Lord!
30:13Eddie didn't say, this is wrestling.
30:16You can do anything.
30:17I carried that over years later.
30:20So, when Sam came out smoking a cigarette, what are you, crazy?
30:23What are you, you can't do that?
30:25Who says you can't?
30:27He did it.
30:29He became an icon.
30:30That was Eddie.
30:31Eddie gave us that ground floor to build on.
30:34Without Eddie, there's no ground floor.
30:36Without Eddie, there's no ECW, really.
30:39Eddie brings ECW to new heights, but it's his friend, Paul Heyman, who will have the biggest
30:49impact on wrestling's future.
30:52Ladies and gentlemen, or you people of Philadelphia.
30:57Today, Paul Heyman is the most brilliant manager on the professional wrestling scene.
31:02In those days, Paul Heyman always wanted to be the booker.
31:06So, he started shadowing Eddie Gilbert.
31:09Paul was a photographer, did interviews with me when he was like 13, when I was at
31:13WWF.
31:14You know, Paul is like me a lot of times.
31:15People say things that maybe he shouldn't, but he does.
31:19That's enough.
31:20Back then, Eddie Gilbert and I were thick as thieves.
31:23You know, he was my brother.
31:25He was my mentor.
31:26He was my best friend.
31:28And he was so magnificent as a booker.
31:33They were together in Alabama.
31:35They were together in Georgia.
31:36They were everywhere.
31:36It was a good combination.
31:38It worked.
31:39It was probably six, seven months in when all of a sudden it was, you know, where's Eddie?
31:46He's supposed to be here at 2 o'clock and he's rolling around 3 through 30.
31:49He wasn't kidding around and carrying on.
31:52It's definitely a change in his whole demeanor.
31:54I wasn't that familiar with what drugs, painkillers, the effect they had on people's personalities.
32:03You get in the ring with anybody and if he wasn't bleeding, his opponent was.
32:08Those things don't just end when the show ends.
32:11They all turn to painkillers for that.
32:13It is very easy to fall into that trap.
32:15He had lost that joe de vie.
32:18He had lost that fun side.
32:20This was not the same Eddie that had contributed so much to the business.
32:25So it was falling apart for Eddie.
32:28Bad.
32:28As Eddie spirals into addiction, Paul Heyman pushes forward with plans to take ECW National.
32:37Paul was working with Jim Crockett and he was very excited about it.
32:41Eddie thought that me, Paul, and Crockett were going to go off and leave him in the lurch.
32:46At this point he was really in the depth of his despair, paranoia.
32:51And so yeah, well guess what?
32:53We quit.
32:54We'd be, you know, we had a huge show coming up.
32:57Ultra Clash is our big, big, big event.
33:00It's going to be the biggest, hottest show in the history of Philadelphia wrestling.
33:03That's right.
33:04Even though he's going to still be on the show.
33:05But it didn't matter.
33:07Sometimes you're that high or that buzz.
33:09You think reality is completely different from what reality is.
33:13And he had his own reality at that point.
33:14Welcome to a very special Ultra Clash preview edition of Eastern Championship Wrestling.
33:25Fearing that he's losing control of ECW, Eddie Gilbert storms out of the company just days before a major show.
33:33Two days later, Eddie calls me up and he said, hey boss, I'm sorry.
33:36I'm being stupid, so I'll be there Saturday night.
33:40I had to tell him, Eddie.
33:41At Ultra Clash, there will be a major change.
33:46That's correct.
33:47You quit five days before the show.
33:49I had to do something.
33:50I had to replace you.
33:51That man who will be the partner on September the 18th with Abdul the Butcher is none other than Kevin Sullivan.
33:59He said, okay, can I come to the show Saturday night anyway and say goodbye to everybody?
34:05I said, sure.
34:06He told me he was going to come and cut a promo, which nobody else knew that.
34:11What's this?
34:12That's hot stuff, Eddie Gilbert.
34:15What's he doing here?
34:16He's not scheduled to wrestle.
34:17He told the people that he wanted to thank them for coming out and supporting ECW and supporting him and everything.
34:24And all of a sudden, they started hollering in the back, cut the mic, cut the mic, cut the mic.
34:30Paul lost it in the locker room.
34:32He said he tried to screw me, but it was just a long goodbye.
34:35Why would you want to cut the mic on a guy that's just telling the people, thanks for supporting the company and him?
34:42And that's what kind of pissed me off.
34:44So there was a bat there.
34:46So I thought I'd tell them what I had to say.
34:52I just swung the bat and I hid everything in there and broke it.
34:56A couple people come up that was my friends.
34:58I said, man, everything okay?
35:00I said, man, everything's fine.
35:03He left and Paul and Eddie really never spoke again after that.
35:08That was the end of the relationship.
35:10They were best friends.
35:12Made no sense.
35:14It was, I think, in the end, Holly learned too well.
35:21Holly was that one.
35:22Oh my goodness, it's Eddie Gilbert.
35:25After Eddie Gilbert's departure, Paul Heyman propels ECW to heights few wrestling companies will ever reach.
35:32This is wrestling the way it's going to be and the way we know that you like it.
35:38Rebranding Eastern Championship Wrestling into the iconic Extreme Championship Wrestling.
35:44With nothing left to lose, Eddie taps into his fan base, once again setting a trend that will influence the future.
35:54Eddie wanted recognition.
35:57He wanted to be able to plead his case.
35:59Eddie had been especially popular with the hardcore smart fans, the ones that knew the behind the scenes, the ones that knew how everything worked.
36:07I'm going to, a lot of the stuff is going to be out of order and stuff because it's later on.
36:11One of them basically sat Eddie down in a hotel room and shot the first shoot interview.
36:18First off, why don't you give a...
36:21Where one of the personalities involved in wrestling sat there and told inside stories of how it was done.
36:27I did a few angles with John, I'd like to tell you about.
36:30In those days, believability in the ring was the most important.
36:33If the people know how they're being tricked, it'll kill the business.
36:38It got some people raising their eyes at, you know, Eddie Gilbert did that.
36:43What's been your relationship with Waller?
36:45Yeah, I think, I think it's kind of, I think probably best to grab a look at you.
36:49It was about time that he did because everybody out there thought, you think they know everything about our business and they, they don't.
36:56When he saw an opportunity, he took advantage of it before anybody else.
37:00About 10 years after he done it, everybody and their brother started doing it.
37:05Played the Russian flag on Bill Watson.
37:08Eddie hated Kevin Sullivan.
37:09Bravo.
37:10Marker.
37:10Eddie was the first one in the business to recognize that.
37:15But this was 1994.
37:18People in the business didn't do that.
37:20But that was all that Eddie had left.
37:22The smart fans loved his booking.
37:24But the upper echelon in the major companies, they didn't really know or care.
37:33I was running Smoky Mountain Wrestling out of Knoxville, Tennessee.
37:36...backed hour of Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
37:38I called Eddie.
37:39I said, Eddie, you've got a great mind.
37:44Let's see if we can put this thing together.
37:46I can't believe what I'm seeing here.
37:48Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert is here.
37:50And what are you doing here in Smoky Mountain Wrestling?
37:53I didn't know you were going to be here.
37:55Well...
37:55He came to the TV taping.
37:57Just to be honest with you, I didn't really know I was going to be here either.
38:00But...
38:00Came out and had a match with Ricky Morton.
38:03Remersal of the Irish win.
38:05And he brought him out of the power slam.
38:06He looked great.
38:07He was ready to go.
38:09Eddie told me, we're going to shoot this angle tonight.
38:12We'll be right here next week.
38:14Show us what you got.
38:15Hot Stuff.
38:16Eddie, we won't go through with it.
38:18Because I have an opportunity in Puerto Rico to do what I love.
38:24And that's booking.
38:26I was proud for it.
38:28And I said, go for it.
38:30If you don't come back, I'll cover it up.
38:32And bless my heart, he never came back.
38:35After that first TV taping, I never saw Eddie Gilbert again.
38:39He was dead three months later.
38:42Looking to make a fresh start and leave his demons behind, Eddie Gilbert heads to work in Puerto Rico.
38:55He looked at it as a great opportunity to turn it around.
38:58Carlos Colon had offered him a deal.
39:01Carlos was wanting somebody with different ideas, something fresh.
39:05He was real excited.
39:07This is the briefcase that my brother carried around all the way to his Puerto Rico days.
39:17On February 18, 1995, Eddie Gilbert vs. Ted the Bear, so that's the bear that my brother wrestled.
39:26I'm going against a bear.
39:28I'm going against a bear.
39:30I'm going against a bear.
39:32I can't go against a bear, no!
39:34He was trying to get it popped again and where everybody could make money and everybody would be happy.
39:38He asked me, he said, you want to come?
39:41I said, give me a minute to think on it and I'm sure it won't be too long.
39:45But, it would be the last territory that he ever built.
39:55The next day, somebody called and told me, they found your brother in his apartment laying
40:03across the bed with earphones on and music, just laying back like he'd laid back to go
40:09to sleep and rest.
40:11Really peaceful.
40:14Weeks after arriving in Puerto Rico, tragic news arrives back home.
40:18The wrestling world was saddened by the death this past week of Eddie Gilbert.
40:22We were notified that on February 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Eddie had passed away of
40:28apparent heart failure.
40:30When you know somebody in his early 30s, the first thing you're going to think is, was it
40:35drugs?
40:36Especially in Puerto Rico.
40:38In Puerto Rico, you don't have to have a script to do nothing.
40:42All you have to do is walk into the drugstore.
40:45Get anything you want.
40:47So, the first thing they don't say, oh, you know what he was doing.
40:51Well, no.
40:52You don't know what he was doing.
40:53Of course, there's speculation on drugs, ODing.
40:56But he had a bad heart, too.
40:58And they list the cause of death as the heart attack.
41:01Anybody could have made up anything.
41:03And it spreads like his gospel through the entire industry.
41:06But I really learned to take everything I hear like that with a grain of salt.
41:10I'm there to protect Eddie first before I start believing rumors and speculations.
41:16We ain't going to say we was choir boys.
41:18We probably did some things we shouldn't have done.
41:21But I'm not making an excuse, I'm just telling you, he had the car wreck.
41:26Half of his heart, it would never work again.
41:30And if it wasn't working right, it had to have a strain on it.
41:33And that never quit until he passed away.
41:39If Eddie was still alive, he'd be one month older than I am sitting here right now.
41:49We kept in contact.
41:50We wrote letters to each other.
41:53And this one here that I kept was probably just one of the end ones.
41:58He starts off with Deborah Ann.
42:03Deborah, you have been a terrific friend, lover, companion, and most of all, best wonderful wife.
42:14I just wish I had realized that before it got too out of hand.
42:19I have nothing but the most respect for you as a person and your abilities in the ring and also in the...
42:27If you need someone to talk to at any time, night or day, please don't hesitate to give me a call.
42:38I mean that.
42:42And that was one of the last letters that I received from Eddie.
42:47He was a good person.
42:51He meant well.
42:53You know, Eddie passed away 30 years ago.
42:56And he's still down.
42:58He's one of the best.
43:00And he died loving what he did.
43:06So when you step in that ring, it's like we're on Broadway.
43:11And we can give you part of our soul.
43:14He gave his heart and soul to you people.
43:18Remember him for that.
43:22Eddie never really wanted much in return.
43:25He just wanted this business.
43:27I was born to be the king.
43:31This year, it will be 30 years since my brother's passing.
43:35I wish he could be here.
43:37And I love him.
43:39And I know how really proud he was of me.
43:44And he had a huge heart.
43:47He'd done what he loved to the last day of his life.
43:53My boyfriend gave me reconcilivery.
44:02He didn't really want to know his memory.
44:03He did notérica, known atque entrepreneur.
44:05He knew he was able to give you a journey with a family.
44:07So if your girlfriend didn't really want to hear him ì ìÄ.
44:11He didn't really let a friend.
44:12He didn't really want to go with him fucking together.
44:15I don't know how really cute he meant to be.
44:18But what he so Δifern to bear with the disciples?