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