1
00:00:06,673 --> 00:00:10,510
<i>We greet you from ringside
for another great main event.</i>

2
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,930
<i>Whoo! Here we go!</i>

3
00:00:14,014 --> 00:00:16,349
<i>Believe me, Dr. Jerry Graham</i>

4
00:00:16,433 --> 00:00:19,227
<i>is not the favorite citizen in this arena.</i>

5
00:00:20,270 --> 00:00:22,272
We all have favorites as kids.

6
00:00:24,983 --> 00:00:28,361
My favorite was a performer
by the name of Dr. Jerry Graham.

7
00:00:28,445 --> 00:00:31,197
He wasn't a doctor, obviously.

8
00:00:31,948 --> 00:00:34,367
Big guy, bleached blond hair,

9
00:00:34,451 --> 00:00:36,870
and he would light a cigar
with a hundred-dollar bill.

10
00:00:36,953 --> 00:00:38,872
<i>I have never known a guy</i>

11
00:00:38,955 --> 00:00:41,958
<i>that could make as many enemies
as Dr. Jerry Graham.</i>

12
00:00:42,542 --> 00:00:45,253
He was a heel,
in the parlance of our business.

13
00:00:45,336 --> 00:00:48,006
Maybe that's one reason why I liked him,
I don't know.

14
00:00:48,089 --> 00:00:49,966
'Cause I never liked the good guys.

15
00:00:50,675 --> 00:00:52,218
I wanted to be like him so badly,

16
00:00:52,302 --> 00:00:55,138
I convinced my stepmother
to dye my hair blond,

17
00:00:55,221 --> 00:00:58,016
and I learned to strut just like he did.

18
00:00:58,099 --> 00:00:59,225
"Yeah."

19
00:00:59,309 --> 00:01:01,686
"He doesn't walk. You know, he struts."

20
00:01:03,938 --> 00:01:06,357
So, he sort of
took me under his wing.

21
00:01:08,526 --> 00:01:11,404
"You want to take a ride, kid?"
Boy, did I ever.

22
00:01:12,197 --> 00:01:14,199
He had this 1959 convertible.

23
00:01:15,158 --> 00:01:16,534
I'm riding shotgun.

24
00:01:16,618 --> 00:01:19,079
He's honking the horn
going through intersections

25
00:01:19,162 --> 00:01:21,247
regardless if the light was green or red,

26
00:01:21,331 --> 00:01:23,917
and it's like, "This is grand."

27
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,169
"Man, I wanna live my life like this."

28
00:01:27,212 --> 00:01:28,671
He was just so flamboyant.

29
00:01:29,756 --> 00:01:31,091
So aggressive.

30
00:01:31,174 --> 00:01:34,761
And the hubris and, you know,
the color and all of that,

31
00:01:34,844 --> 00:01:38,139
it was like,
"Yeah, that's who I want to be."

32
00:01:59,911 --> 00:02:02,539
<i>Are you kidding me?</i>

33
00:02:02,622 --> 00:02:04,374
<i>Michaels?
Are you kidding me?</i>

34
00:02:04,457 --> 00:02:07,669
<i>You gonna try to beat
Bret Hart with a sharpshooter? Yes, he is!</i>

35
00:02:07,752 --> 00:02:09,420
Ring the bell, ring the bell!

36
00:02:11,297 --> 00:02:13,258
In Montreal, in the Survivor Series,

37
00:02:13,341 --> 00:02:16,302
Bret Hart, "The Hitman,"
is counted out by Vince McMahon,

38
00:02:16,386 --> 00:02:17,762
and a brawl ensues afterwards.

39
00:02:17,846 --> 00:02:20,431
Unquestionably,
the most controversial bout

40
00:02:20,515 --> 00:02:22,475
in the history of wrestling.

41
00:02:23,017 --> 00:02:24,644
The Montreal Screwjob.

42
00:02:24,727 --> 00:02:28,314
It just was so crazy surreal.

43
00:02:28,398 --> 00:02:31,276
That caused such inner turmoil

44
00:02:31,359 --> 00:02:32,819
within the business.

45
00:02:33,403 --> 00:02:36,281
The underground world,
what is now the internet world,

46
00:02:36,364 --> 00:02:38,825
got a hold
of the behind-the-scenes information,

47
00:02:38,908 --> 00:02:41,578
and that was spreading like wildfire.

48
00:02:41,661 --> 00:02:43,997
You're seeing
the reaction by people

49
00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,166
of something they should have
known nothing about.

50
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,794
The fans knew
that Vince double-crossed Bret Hart,

51
00:02:49,878 --> 00:02:54,090
which was something very unprofessional
by the rules of professional wrestling.

52
00:02:54,174 --> 00:02:55,800
There's two sides to every story,

53
00:02:55,884 --> 00:02:58,720
but most people
did not side with Vince on that one.

54
00:03:00,430 --> 00:03:03,057
Listen, the Montreal Screwjob,
to me, as a Canadian,

55
00:03:03,141 --> 00:03:05,768
like, I fucking hated Vince.

56
00:03:05,852 --> 00:03:08,521
Vince goes on television
and tries to explain it.

57
00:03:08,605 --> 00:03:10,523
He didn't come off very well.

58
00:03:10,607 --> 00:03:12,942
Bret screwed Bret.

59
00:03:13,026 --> 00:03:15,945
I have no sympathy whatsoever for Bret.

60
00:03:16,029 --> 00:03:18,281
The "Bret screwed Bret" speech,

61
00:03:18,364 --> 00:03:20,283
that begins a moment in time

62
00:03:20,366 --> 00:03:25,580
where reality takes front seat to fantasy,
and we begin to blur the line.

63
00:03:25,663 --> 00:03:28,291
<i>And here comes
Vince McMahon to a rousing...</i>

64
00:03:28,374 --> 00:03:30,126
{\an8}<i>- They're being booed.</i>
<i>- What?!</i>

65
00:03:30,210 --> 00:03:32,462
{\an8}<i>They're booing
McMahon out of the building!</i>

66
00:03:32,545 --> 00:03:34,505
<i>What's going on? We'll be right back!</i>

67
00:03:34,589 --> 00:03:38,676
As a result of all this,
I have all this heat, as we call it.

68
00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,179
<i>I wonder
if somebody's gonna knock the bejeesus</i>

69
00:03:41,262 --> 00:03:42,680
<i>out of Vince McMahon this week!</i>

70
00:03:42,764 --> 00:03:47,769
And so I thought, "Okay, Vince,
why not turn that into business?"

71
00:03:48,645 --> 00:03:51,064
Use now you as a character.

72
00:03:51,147 --> 00:03:53,524
<i>Vince has not
endeared himself to this crowd.</i>

73
00:03:54,651 --> 00:03:57,070
I always
wanted to be a performer,

74
00:03:57,153 --> 00:04:00,531
but my dad wouldn't let me
in the business, much less <i>that.</i>

75
00:04:00,615 --> 00:04:02,867
He just thought,
"No, that's not what you want to do."

76
00:04:02,951 --> 00:04:04,953
I was like,
"Yeah, that's what I want to do."

77
00:04:05,828 --> 00:04:07,956
When it happened, it felt pretty natural.

78
00:04:08,039 --> 00:04:09,749
If you just show a little respect...

79
00:04:11,084 --> 00:04:12,543
At that point in time,

80
00:04:12,627 --> 00:04:15,505
Vince McMahon creates
the Mr. McMahon character,

81
00:04:15,588 --> 00:04:16,839
the evil tyrant boss,

82
00:04:17,507 --> 00:04:21,803
and eventually, that would change
the trajectory of the business.

83
00:04:23,638 --> 00:04:25,515
Let's talk about the business

84
00:04:25,598 --> 00:04:29,269
and the challenge
that you have received from WCW.

85
00:04:29,352 --> 00:04:32,897
If I look at cable listings
for January in one week,

86
00:04:32,981 --> 00:04:37,026
WCW is number one, number two,
number four, and number six.

87
00:04:37,110 --> 00:04:38,903
You're down at number 18.

88
00:04:40,446 --> 00:04:43,992
Through '97, WCW,
they were just so far ahead,

89
00:04:44,075 --> 00:04:45,410
and their product was better,

90
00:04:45,493 --> 00:04:48,121
so I'm just thinking
that this is just a domination,

91
00:04:48,204 --> 00:04:51,040
and it's gonna be like this
for the foreseeable future.

92
00:04:51,124 --> 00:04:53,960
{\an8}<i>Bret Hart!</i>

93
00:04:54,043 --> 00:04:57,755
{\an8}I think once Bret Hart
made the transition and came over to WCW,

94
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:02,969
I think if you were to put the rosters
side-by-side on a piece of paper,

95
00:05:03,052 --> 00:05:06,431
WCW was in a much better position
than WWE was.

96
00:05:06,514 --> 00:05:08,641
I wanted to dominate and win.

97
00:05:08,725 --> 00:05:11,311
If WWE went out of business
in the process,

98
00:05:11,394 --> 00:05:14,063
that would've been unfortunate,
but I wouldn't have felt bad about it.

99
00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:16,607
<i>What is this?</i>

100
00:05:16,691 --> 00:05:18,609
<i>What a piece of work this guy is.</i>

101
00:05:18,693 --> 00:05:21,529
<i>Ho, ho!
There it is! What is it?</i>

102
00:05:21,612 --> 00:05:23,990
For years,
we were kind of stuck

103
00:05:24,073 --> 00:05:26,576
in that really young demographic,

104
00:05:26,659 --> 00:05:29,287
whereas WCW,

105
00:05:29,370 --> 00:05:32,915
they were hitting
that 18-to-34-year-old demographic

106
00:05:32,999 --> 00:05:35,043
with some really cutting-edge stuff.

107
00:05:36,002 --> 00:05:39,088
You know, 83 weeks of getting
our tails kicked in the ratings,

108
00:05:39,172 --> 00:05:42,342
it messes with your confidence,
it messes with your psyche,

109
00:05:42,425 --> 00:05:44,344
but it also lets you know that

110
00:05:44,427 --> 00:05:46,387
you gotta do something different.

111
00:05:46,471 --> 00:05:50,433
I knew if we didn't change,
we'd just get left behind.

112
00:05:50,516 --> 00:05:52,101
You're dealing with networks,

113
00:05:52,185 --> 00:05:54,479
and you're dealing with people
in the networks

114
00:05:54,562 --> 00:05:55,897
that are looking at you going,

115
00:05:55,980 --> 00:05:58,441
"Hey, these guys
are beating you in the ratings,

116
00:05:58,524 --> 00:06:00,610
and I see our talent on their show."

117
00:06:00,693 --> 00:06:01,986
"What's going on, guys?"

118
00:06:02,945 --> 00:06:06,115
You listen to the audience,
and you sort of feel it.

119
00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:07,658
It's time for a change.

120
00:06:07,742 --> 00:06:11,829
It was time for us to, uh,
take another step and evolve.

121
00:06:12,872 --> 00:06:15,666
When I started working with Vince,

122
00:06:15,750 --> 00:06:20,088
it was absolute war
between the two franchises.

123
00:06:20,671 --> 00:06:24,634
It'll be me and you, McMahon, in the ring.

124
00:06:24,717 --> 00:06:29,972
Vince decided that he wanted
to be known for pushing the envelope.

125
00:06:30,056 --> 00:06:31,933
For being bold,

126
00:06:32,016 --> 00:06:33,518
being a little crazy.

127
00:06:34,477 --> 00:06:37,897
{\an8}Vince came out
and did an interview about this

128
00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:40,900
new way of producing WWE programming.

129
00:06:40,983 --> 00:06:44,862
We in the WWE think that you,
the audience, are, quite frankly,

130
00:06:44,946 --> 00:06:47,323
tired of having
your intelligence insulted.

131
00:06:47,407 --> 00:06:51,119
Vince kind of teased all this
newness that was coming down the road,

132
00:06:51,202 --> 00:06:52,954
and I thought, "Yeah, whatever."

133
00:06:53,538 --> 00:06:56,165
"You're gonna come out
with another version of Doink the Clown

134
00:06:56,249 --> 00:06:57,458
and some evil dentist,

135
00:06:57,542 --> 00:06:59,627
and you're gonna
keep doing what you're doing."

136
00:06:59,710 --> 00:07:03,339
I didn't know that Vince
was making the decision

137
00:07:03,423 --> 00:07:05,716
to create the Attitude Era.

138
00:07:08,010 --> 00:07:11,097
Was there a distinctive
moment when the Attitude Era was born?

139
00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:13,349
Yeah, there was.

140
00:07:13,433 --> 00:07:16,394
<i>♪ I think I'm cute, I know I'm sexy ♪</i>

141
00:07:16,477 --> 00:07:18,062
<i>Well, here he comes, folks...!</i>

142
00:07:18,146 --> 00:07:21,190
One night,
Vince was not at our television taping,

143
00:07:21,274 --> 00:07:25,570
and Shawn Michaels
came down in bicycle shorts.

144
00:07:25,653 --> 00:07:31,117
Right before he went out, he stuffed
the front of his shorts with a sock.

145
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,910
It was gauze. It wasn't a sock.

146
00:07:32,994 --> 00:07:35,705
It was gauze that I'd wadded up
from the trainer table.

147
00:07:35,788 --> 00:07:40,001
And I was just bouncing around,
gyrating, and stuff like that.

148
00:07:41,002 --> 00:07:43,045
Vince's reaction
was to call me the next day

149
00:07:43,129 --> 00:07:46,924
and tell me how unprofessional it was
and that he was fining me $10,000.

150
00:07:47,508 --> 00:07:48,801
And I said, "Okay,

151
00:07:48,885 --> 00:07:52,472
but you go back and watch it
and tell me that isn't funny."

152
00:07:52,555 --> 00:07:55,308
If we're talking about "entertainment,"
it was very entertaining.

153
00:07:56,309 --> 00:07:59,687
That was one of the things
that got us into the conversations of,

154
00:07:59,770 --> 00:08:02,106
"You know, we need to start going there."

155
00:08:02,190 --> 00:08:04,650
I felt like you can have respect
for this line of work,

156
00:08:04,734 --> 00:08:08,321
but you don't have to act
like it's freaking not weird.

157
00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:13,242
Suffice to say,
I weaseled my way out of the $10,000 fine.

158
00:08:14,285 --> 00:08:15,620
Vince was livid,

159
00:08:15,703 --> 00:08:20,416
but then three or four weeks later,
I remember Vince pointing to him,

160
00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:23,252
"Shawn Michaels. That's attitude."

161
00:08:23,336 --> 00:08:25,379
"That's what he is, he's got attitude."

162
00:08:25,463 --> 00:08:27,006
"We need more attitude."

163
00:08:28,007 --> 00:08:30,176
The Attitude Era was born.

164
00:08:34,138 --> 00:08:38,559
The Attitude Era was
just this transformation that took place.

165
00:08:38,643 --> 00:08:41,896
I mean, we changed
how we presented our product.

166
00:08:41,979 --> 00:08:45,358
We got a little grittier.
We got a little dirtier.

167
00:08:45,441 --> 00:08:48,277
We made it a little more raw.

168
00:08:48,361 --> 00:08:51,364
People just go, "Oh, the Attitude Era.
Here's where it started. What it is."

169
00:08:51,447 --> 00:08:53,908
It was slowly bits and pieces over time.

170
00:08:53,991 --> 00:08:55,660
We are D-Generation X!

171
00:08:55,743 --> 00:08:59,664
-D-Generation.
-You make your rules, we will break 'em!

172
00:09:00,248 --> 00:09:05,294
D-Generation X is what we would call,
in sports entertainment, a faction.

173
00:09:05,378 --> 00:09:08,506
They were an offshoot of The Kliq.

174
00:09:08,589 --> 00:09:10,341
They were anti-authority,

175
00:09:10,424 --> 00:09:13,886
and there's something
about anti-authority at this time

176
00:09:13,970 --> 00:09:15,805
that really spoke to fans.

177
00:09:15,888 --> 00:09:19,892
And whether it was part of the fiction
or completely real, you didn't know.

178
00:09:19,976 --> 00:09:22,687
- This is going too far!
- And then the next thing...

179
00:09:22,770 --> 00:09:24,272
But you couldn't turn away.

180
00:09:24,355 --> 00:09:27,358
When Shawn and I
started doing D-X...

181
00:09:27,441 --> 00:09:31,571
Man, most of the things
we were saying and doing,

182
00:09:31,654 --> 00:09:34,115
Vince was coming back and telling us,

183
00:09:34,198 --> 00:09:36,909
"Goddamn, you guys do that again,
and you're going to get fucked like..."

184
00:09:36,993 --> 00:09:39,662
You know, "USA's threatening
to take us off the air."

185
00:09:40,705 --> 00:09:44,250
But we're like, coming in the back,
and people are going crazy.

186
00:09:45,459 --> 00:09:49,088
And then there's a flip moment in time
where all of a sudden it's,

187
00:09:49,171 --> 00:09:51,882
"Hey, that worked. Do that again."

188
00:09:51,966 --> 00:09:53,509
<i>A fight bra.</i>

189
00:09:54,176 --> 00:09:56,637
<i>What is... Oh my gosh!</i>

190
00:09:56,721 --> 00:09:59,682
We just finally
changed the writing

191
00:09:59,765 --> 00:10:02,727
to where it wasn't
for a 12-year-old demographic.

192
00:10:02,810 --> 00:10:06,230
It got into that
18-to-34-year-old-male demographic.

193
00:10:06,897 --> 00:10:09,859
Once that door was opened,
I marched right through it,

194
00:10:09,942 --> 00:10:11,235
because it was working.

195
00:10:11,319 --> 00:10:14,238
It was all about filling up
those arenas and stadiums,

196
00:10:14,322 --> 00:10:19,452
and, you know, it was like we could do
whatever we had to do to be the best.

197
00:10:26,459 --> 00:10:30,087
The biggest star of the Attitude Era
by far was Stone Cold Steve Austin.

198
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,216
Anytime you stick your head
in the ring with Steve Austin,

199
00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:37,136
bottom line is I'm gonna kick your ass.
Straight simple.

200
00:10:38,179 --> 00:10:40,473
He was something
that we weren't used to seeing,

201
00:10:40,556 --> 00:10:45,853
this kind of foul-mouthed, roughneck,
blue collar, Southern badass.

202
00:10:46,687 --> 00:10:49,440
When I first got into
the business of professional wrestling,

203
00:10:49,523 --> 00:10:54,278
I never had any designs
on being as successful as I would be,

204
00:10:54,362 --> 00:10:56,739
because I didn't know how far

205
00:10:57,406 --> 00:11:00,242
some ragamuffin
from Victoria, Texas, could take it.

206
00:11:01,035 --> 00:11:02,578
<i>Introducing first...</i>

207
00:11:02,662 --> 00:11:04,914
Prior to WWE,
Steve Austin was a wrestler

208
00:11:04,997 --> 00:11:06,707
{\an8}in WCW.

209
00:11:06,791 --> 00:11:08,501
{\an8}But he got fired from WCW,

210
00:11:09,543 --> 00:11:11,087
so he winds up in ECW,

211
00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:15,383
sort of the punk rock-indy federation
in the pro wrestling world.

212
00:11:16,592 --> 00:11:19,095
And walking into that federation,

213
00:11:19,178 --> 00:11:21,639
man, it was an eye-opener
and a hell of a scene.

214
00:11:22,306 --> 00:11:24,475
<i>This is extreme!</i>

215
00:11:24,558 --> 00:11:27,812
This is the ECW arena!

216
00:11:27,895 --> 00:11:30,314
ECW
was the necessary disruption

217
00:11:30,398 --> 00:11:33,818
of the pro wrestling/sports entertainment
industry.

218
00:11:34,985 --> 00:11:37,613
No rules, no regulations.

219
00:11:37,697 --> 00:11:40,783
A testosterone and adrenaline-driven,

220
00:11:40,866 --> 00:11:45,705
no-holds-barred,
this-can't-possibly-be-legal,

221
00:11:45,788 --> 00:11:48,040
what-the-fuck-am-I-watching atmosphere.

222
00:11:48,874 --> 00:11:50,251
It was a mosh pit.

223
00:11:51,001 --> 00:11:55,423
ECW was a wild-ass
renegade-type promotion

224
00:11:55,506 --> 00:11:58,384
that attracted a niche, uh, audience,

225
00:11:59,093 --> 00:12:02,555
and it was... very unusual.

226
00:12:04,306 --> 00:12:08,853
I greatly appreciated the promotion
and the promoter behind it.

227
00:12:08,936 --> 00:12:13,190
There ain't a mofo organization
in the world today

228
00:12:13,274 --> 00:12:16,277
like ECW!

229
00:12:17,403 --> 00:12:19,905
Vince always saw everyone else

230
00:12:19,989 --> 00:12:25,786
{\an8}as a feeder system
to the major leagues of WWE.

231
00:12:26,787 --> 00:12:29,582
So I knew
we didn't have Steve for a long time,

232
00:12:30,291 --> 00:12:32,334
but we were gonna make it quality time

233
00:12:32,418 --> 00:12:35,588
for every moment that he was in ECW.

234
00:12:37,465 --> 00:12:39,925
We achieved
a lot of success in a short time,

235
00:12:40,009 --> 00:12:43,554
and finally,
Vince took, uh, serious notice of me,

236
00:12:43,637 --> 00:12:46,432
and that's when I would go to WWE.

237
00:12:46,515 --> 00:12:49,894
{\an8}<i>Stone Cold Steve Austin.
I love it, McMahon.</i>

238
00:12:49,977 --> 00:12:51,937
{\an8}So I turned into
Stone Cold Steve Austin,

239
00:12:52,021 --> 00:12:57,276
and I became this
just trash-talking SOB from south Texas.

240
00:12:57,359 --> 00:12:58,652
It became very entertaining,

241
00:12:58,736 --> 00:13:02,031
and people started disliking me,
and we started gaining traction.

242
00:13:02,615 --> 00:13:03,866
Now, at that time,

243
00:13:05,201 --> 00:13:07,703
everybody knows
that Triple H was supposed to win

244
00:13:07,787 --> 00:13:09,705
that King of the Ring pay-per-view.

245
00:13:11,248 --> 00:13:14,752
But then Triple H got punished
because of what happened in the Garden.

246
00:13:15,544 --> 00:13:16,796
I hear a voice behind me.

247
00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:19,048
It's Vince. He goes,
"Hey, Steve, you got a second?"

248
00:13:19,131 --> 00:13:21,759
I'm like,
"Yeah. I guess so. You're the boss."

249
00:13:21,842 --> 00:13:25,387
He says, "Wanna let you know in two weeks,
you're gonna win King of the Ring."

250
00:13:25,471 --> 00:13:27,181
<i>...the King of the Ring tournament...</i>

251
00:13:27,264 --> 00:13:30,726
We get to the pay-per-view,
I'm wrestling Marc Mero first.

252
00:13:30,810 --> 00:13:34,814
We do a move, he kicks me in the mouth,
you know, busts my lip wide open.

253
00:13:34,897 --> 00:13:38,317
I've gotta go to the hospital immediately
and get 14 stitches.

254
00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,445
Soon as I come back from the ambulance,
Michael Hayes comes up to me and goes,

255
00:13:41,529 --> 00:13:44,573
"Hey, man, you got
Jack "The Snake" Roberts in the final,

256
00:13:44,657 --> 00:13:46,951
and Jake just cut
a religious promo on you."

257
00:13:47,034 --> 00:13:50,454
The power above
is reaching down and lifting me up.

258
00:13:50,538 --> 00:13:52,957
And immediately I thought of Austin 3:16,

259
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,376
because back in the day,
you'd watch football games,

260
00:13:55,459 --> 00:13:57,795
they would put John 3:16 signs
in the end zone.

261
00:13:58,754 --> 00:14:00,923
I go out there, work the match with Jake.

262
00:14:01,006 --> 00:14:02,132
You're pathetic!

263
00:14:02,216 --> 00:14:04,218
<i>There it is!</i>

264
00:14:04,301 --> 00:14:06,554
<i>One, two, and he got him!</i>

265
00:14:08,556 --> 00:14:10,057
<i>Stone Cold Steve Austin...</i>

266
00:14:10,140 --> 00:14:12,643
I go up to the microphone
and I just went out there

267
00:14:12,726 --> 00:14:14,186
and started running Jake down.

268
00:14:14,895 --> 00:14:19,483
You sit there, and you thump your Bible,
and you say your prayers,

269
00:14:19,567 --> 00:14:21,652
and it didn't get you anywhere.

270
00:14:22,945 --> 00:14:26,740
Talk about your Psalms,
talk about John 3:16.

271
00:14:27,491 --> 00:14:31,203
Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass.

272
00:14:32,997 --> 00:14:35,207
When Steve said that, I went,

273
00:14:35,291 --> 00:14:37,543
"Oh my God.
Tell me he didn't just do that."

274
00:14:37,626 --> 00:14:40,754
"That may not play too well
you know, in the Bible Belt."

275
00:14:40,838 --> 00:14:42,756
Piss off.

276
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,925
And then I kept talking
and kept talking,

277
00:14:45,009 --> 00:14:48,262
and I could hear Vince in the background
'cause he was doing commentary,

278
00:14:48,345 --> 00:14:50,389
and I said,
"Oh man, I need a button on this promo."

279
00:14:50,472 --> 00:14:52,975
And so just out of the blue I said,

280
00:14:53,058 --> 00:14:56,812
"And that's the bottom line,
'cause Stone Cold said so."

281
00:14:56,896 --> 00:14:58,689
It was brilliant.

282
00:14:58,772 --> 00:15:00,441
It changed who he was

283
00:15:00,524 --> 00:15:02,735
and the perception
of who he was as a character.

284
00:15:02,818 --> 00:15:07,781
The next night, everywhere you looked
were Austin 3:16 signs.

285
00:15:08,407 --> 00:15:12,786
Austin 3:16 took over, and it was insane.

286
00:15:13,746 --> 00:15:17,249
When the Monday Night Wars started,
and we kept losing in the ratings,

287
00:15:17,333 --> 00:15:20,753
for a while, we understood it
because they had a really hot show.

288
00:15:20,836 --> 00:15:24,882
It was really fresh, and they had a lot
of great talent and some cool storylines,

289
00:15:24,965 --> 00:15:26,800
but as we started to ramp up,

290
00:15:27,384 --> 00:15:29,011
we really thought we had a better show.

291
00:15:29,094 --> 00:15:31,305
We're like,
"Man, what is up with these ratings?"

292
00:15:31,388 --> 00:15:34,391
"Someone's gotta be paying somebody off.
We got a better show than they do."

293
00:15:34,475 --> 00:15:37,811
At that point in time,
I remember Vince was like,

294
00:15:37,895 --> 00:15:40,147
"We need to do something here."

295
00:15:40,230 --> 00:15:43,233
"We need a way
to get a lot of eyeballs on us

296
00:15:43,317 --> 00:15:46,987
and do something in a really big way
for WrestleMania."

297
00:15:47,071 --> 00:15:48,989
And that's what we did.

298
00:15:49,073 --> 00:15:52,785
{\an8}At this time,
I would like to introduce to you

299
00:15:52,868 --> 00:15:55,746
a man who is simply

300
00:15:56,580 --> 00:16:00,084
the baddest man on the planet!

301
00:16:00,167 --> 00:16:01,585
Ladies and gentlemen,

302
00:16:02,169 --> 00:16:07,007
"Iron" Mike Tyson!

303
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:10,970
{\an8}I get a phone call.

304
00:16:11,053 --> 00:16:13,222
{\an8}"You're never gonna believe
what they're doing next."

305
00:16:13,305 --> 00:16:15,140
I'm thinking, "Yeah, whatever."

306
00:16:15,224 --> 00:16:18,602
I was so ahead of him at that point,
I was like, "Whatever." I was arrogant.

307
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,272
He goes, "They're bringing in Mike Tyson."

308
00:16:22,356 --> 00:16:24,817
I got uncocky real fast.

309
00:16:25,693 --> 00:16:28,237
The idea for bringing in
Mike Tyson came from Vince<i>,</i>

310
00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,198
and Shane McMahon was heavily involved.

311
00:16:31,991 --> 00:16:33,784
We wanted a big personality,

312
00:16:33,867 --> 00:16:37,121
you know, someone extremely identifiable,
to be a part of WrestleMania,

313
00:16:37,204 --> 00:16:40,207
and there was at that time
no one bigger than Tyson.

314
00:16:40,290 --> 00:16:43,752
I believe he had gotten out of jail
about three years earlier.

315
00:16:43,836 --> 00:16:47,047
Knowing Mike Tyson's
baggage during the '90s,

316
00:16:47,131 --> 00:16:50,509
was it risky for WWE
to so fully invest in him?

317
00:16:50,592 --> 00:16:55,097
He hadn't been arrested for rape yet,
though, when we did that.

318
00:16:55,180 --> 00:16:57,266
- Right? He had?
- Yeah, he had.

319
00:16:59,685 --> 00:17:02,604
You know, Mike is not perhaps
universally approved of now,

320
00:17:02,688 --> 00:17:05,983
but he certainly... His public image
is certainly in a better place than it was

321
00:17:06,066 --> 00:17:07,067
at that point.

322
00:17:11,613 --> 00:17:14,658
Wrestling at that level
is about generating heat.

323
00:17:16,535 --> 00:17:18,662
Heat is what sells tickets.

324
00:17:19,538 --> 00:17:20,789
<i>Here we go!</i>

325
00:17:20,873 --> 00:17:23,333
And heat doesn't have to be positive.

326
00:17:23,417 --> 00:17:24,543
Heat can be negative.

327
00:17:24,626 --> 00:17:27,504
Specifically,
I would like to thank Mike Tyson

328
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:30,924
for being the media magnet that he is.

329
00:17:32,176 --> 00:17:35,220
Tyson being on pay-per-view
was a big deal.

330
00:17:35,971 --> 00:17:38,974
Mike would be the special guest referee

331
00:17:39,058 --> 00:17:42,311
between Stone Cold Steve Austin
versus Shawn Michaels.

332
00:17:42,394 --> 00:17:45,314
It's Mike Tyson, you know, like,
one of the biggest names in sports.

333
00:17:45,397 --> 00:17:49,359
And by then, you had to be blind
not to see Steve Austin was takin' off.

334
00:17:49,443 --> 00:17:53,322
Mike, I'll tell you this,
if you get in my face at WrestleMania,

335
00:17:53,405 --> 00:17:54,907
I'll knock your damn lights out,

336
00:17:54,990 --> 00:17:57,868
and you won't want to get
back in the ring ever again.

337
00:17:57,951 --> 00:17:59,369
And that's the bottom line.

338
00:18:02,414 --> 00:18:05,584
At that point,
I thought that WCW, while still ahead,

339
00:18:05,667 --> 00:18:08,212
it's going to get very, very competitive.

340
00:18:08,295 --> 00:18:10,214
<i>It don't get no bigger than this.</i>

341
00:18:10,297 --> 00:18:13,050
<i>This is what our business is all about.</i>

342
00:18:13,133 --> 00:18:15,344
<i>It's about earning the opportunity</i>

343
00:18:15,427 --> 00:18:17,721
<i>to wrestle in the main event
at a WrestleMania.</i>

344
00:18:18,472 --> 00:18:20,224
- <i>Look out!</i>
<i>- Over!</i>

345
00:18:20,307 --> 00:18:21,892
<i>Look out!</i>

346
00:18:21,975 --> 00:18:24,019
<i>Look out, Mo! By God...</i>

347
00:18:24,103 --> 00:18:27,523
In WrestleMania 14,
uh, Shawn had a real bad back,

348
00:18:27,606 --> 00:18:29,608
and so that match was very forgettable.

349
00:18:29,691 --> 00:18:32,194
<i>Michaels going for another kick. Austin...</i>

350
00:18:32,277 --> 00:18:34,780
<i>He got it! The stunner!</i>

351
00:18:34,863 --> 00:18:37,324
<i>Mike Tyson in!</i>

352
00:18:37,407 --> 00:18:39,284
<i>Austin is the champion...</i>

353
00:18:39,368 --> 00:18:41,870
The match wasn't good.
It wasn't anything to brag about.

354
00:18:41,954 --> 00:18:44,498
I remember afterwards,
I looked over at Vince and he goes,

355
00:18:44,581 --> 00:18:48,877
"Eh, Steve, don't worry about it.
From here forward, it starts."

356
00:18:49,837 --> 00:18:51,380
I would like to congratulate,

357
00:18:51,463 --> 00:18:55,008
uh, the new
World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

358
00:18:55,092 --> 00:18:57,970
who has an attitude, no doubt about that.

359
00:18:58,053 --> 00:19:03,725
Not one necessarily that all of us
here in the WWE necessarily appreciate.

360
00:19:04,601 --> 00:19:08,772
The Mr. McMahon character,
at least in my mind, became a real thing

361
00:19:08,856 --> 00:19:12,776
after the Mike Tyson storyline
played itself out.

362
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,363
Hey, Vince, are you...
Are you turning into a bad guy?

363
00:19:17,614 --> 00:19:19,241
I've always been a good guy.

364
00:19:19,324 --> 00:19:20,826
Oh, but they're booing you now.

365
00:19:20,909 --> 00:19:22,411
I'll always be a good guy.

366
00:19:22,494 --> 00:19:23,829
Oh, okay.

367
00:19:23,912 --> 00:19:26,957
<i>The owner of WWE,
Vince McMahon, makes his way to the ring.</i>

368
00:19:28,041 --> 00:19:31,170
{\an8}<i>Quite honestly,
not the most rousing ovation.</i>

369
00:19:31,837 --> 00:19:35,716
At that point in time,
a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin

370
00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:40,429
would ignite and would start
a battle between those two

371
00:19:40,512 --> 00:19:43,307
that would change
the course of the business.

372
00:19:43,390 --> 00:19:46,643
Nobody, especially Vince McMahon,

373
00:19:46,727 --> 00:19:50,063
tells Stone Cold Steve Austin what to do,

374
00:19:50,147 --> 00:19:51,607
and that's the bottom line.

375
00:19:52,816 --> 00:19:58,989
But all of that based on
blurring the lines of reality and fiction.

376
00:20:01,658 --> 00:20:06,663
You got to understand the power
that a Vince McMahon has, the control...

377
00:20:06,747 --> 00:20:10,375
You've got the eccentric
billionaire boss Vince McMahon,

378
00:20:10,459 --> 00:20:14,213
and then you've got the anti-system
Stone Cold Steve Austin,

379
00:20:14,296 --> 00:20:16,924
and they were perfect for each other.

380
00:20:17,007 --> 00:20:19,259
I will fire your ass!

381
00:20:19,343 --> 00:20:21,053
- <i>Good God!</i>
<i>- Whoa!</i>

382
00:20:21,136 --> 00:20:24,890
It was about a guy who was trying
to keep me down and control me,

383
00:20:24,973 --> 00:20:27,059
and it was about me
trying to buck the system.

384
00:20:27,142 --> 00:20:28,143
You stupid bastards.

385
00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:31,271
You ain't got the balls
to fire Stone Cold Steve Austin.

386
00:20:32,022 --> 00:20:33,815
Any other era, I'm a heel

387
00:20:33,899 --> 00:20:36,068
because of what I'm doing,
the trash I'm talking.

388
00:20:36,151 --> 00:20:38,487
You're pathetic.
You're completely pathetic...

389
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:41,073
But I was the guy
that brought the gray area

390
00:20:41,156 --> 00:20:42,950
to the business of professional wrestling,

391
00:20:43,033 --> 00:20:45,702
which is usually a black-and-white
type thing as far as love and hate.

392
00:20:48,163 --> 00:20:51,625
See, in my day,
there was a good guy and a bad guy.

393
00:20:52,668 --> 00:20:56,880
Vince Jr. made it the bad and the worse.

394
00:20:56,964 --> 00:21:00,008
There were no more good guys in wrestling.

395
00:21:00,092 --> 00:21:02,844
Society at that time
had taken a rougher edge.

396
00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:06,306
Society at that time had more attitude.

397
00:21:06,390 --> 00:21:11,603
That forced you to create characters that
fit into that gray area in the middle.

398
00:21:12,229 --> 00:21:14,940
The fans did not want to see
good guys no more.

399
00:21:15,023 --> 00:21:17,901
Nobody wanna see a good guy,
even in the movies.

400
00:21:19,278 --> 00:21:23,323
Look at the video games
and the wrestling business.

401
00:21:23,407 --> 00:21:26,785
We cater to what is in front of us.

402
00:21:27,828 --> 00:21:29,621
You tap into that.

403
00:21:29,705 --> 00:21:31,164
That's big money.

404
00:21:31,248 --> 00:21:34,668
So Vince said,
"Hey, give me some of that money."

405
00:21:34,751 --> 00:21:38,005
We don't always set trends,
you know, we try to follow them.

406
00:21:38,755 --> 00:21:41,800
And back in those days, it was Wild West.

407
00:21:42,384 --> 00:21:46,680
<i>Stone Cold Steve Austin,
who is as crude as he is mean.</i>

408
00:21:46,763 --> 00:21:49,224
<i>He's just about
the biggest thing in wrestling,</i>

409
00:21:49,308 --> 00:21:51,643
<i>worshiped by his fans.</i>

410
00:21:51,727 --> 00:21:53,979
He feels like smashing a beer bottle,
he does it.

411
00:21:54,062 --> 00:21:56,106
Feels like throwing up his middle finger,
he does it.

412
00:21:56,690 --> 00:21:58,191
<i>Oh no!</i>

413
00:21:58,775 --> 00:22:03,947
Some part of us really loves
watching the bad guys get over.

414
00:22:04,031 --> 00:22:08,452
Maybe the part of us that doesn't like
the fact that we have to behave ourselves.

415
00:22:08,535 --> 00:22:10,704
You can't go around shoving people.

416
00:22:10,787 --> 00:22:13,332
You can't go around insulting people.

417
00:22:13,415 --> 00:22:17,002
<i>And Stone Cold
hammering away on the boss!</i>

418
00:22:17,085 --> 00:22:20,005
People live vicariously
through those kinds of storylines

419
00:22:20,088 --> 00:22:22,716
and would love
to punch their boss in the mouth.

420
00:22:22,799 --> 00:22:26,136
You know, I got a chance
to literally and figuratively do that

421
00:22:26,219 --> 00:22:28,013
almost every Monday night on <i>Raw.</i>

422
00:22:28,096 --> 00:22:31,808
<i>Oh boy, look out!
Austin downs McMahon again!</i>

423
00:22:34,353 --> 00:22:36,563
I think the fans
responded strongly

424
00:22:36,646 --> 00:22:39,024
because he's such a strong character.

425
00:22:39,107 --> 00:22:41,568
He's just so over-the-top.
He's larger than life.

426
00:22:41,651 --> 00:22:44,029
He's easy to hate,
and he's also easy to love,

427
00:22:44,112 --> 00:22:45,489
but he's very easy to hate.

428
00:22:46,948 --> 00:22:49,576
{\an8}Mr. McMahon, he's at the top.

429
00:22:49,659 --> 00:22:52,621
{\an8}So, any and everybody
that's not at the top

430
00:22:52,704 --> 00:22:54,373
hates the guy at the top.

431
00:22:54,456 --> 00:22:57,000
<i>He's got
an entire collection of Corvettes.</i>

432
00:22:57,084 --> 00:23:01,421
Vince walks by with his custom suits
and his flaunting and everything.

433
00:23:02,589 --> 00:23:04,549
What's to like?

434
00:23:04,633 --> 00:23:06,426
He's easy to hate.

435
00:23:06,510 --> 00:23:07,928
Get that mic out of my face!

436
00:23:08,011 --> 00:23:11,473
It's my mic. I own that mic!
I own that camera! Cut it off!

437
00:23:11,556 --> 00:23:15,268
And he became the most hated character
in the history of the business.

438
00:23:15,352 --> 00:23:21,983
Asshole! Asshole!
Asshole! Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!

439
00:23:22,067 --> 00:23:26,863
Mr. McMahon, of course, is a character
derived from, uh, Vince McMahon,

440
00:23:26,947 --> 00:23:29,825
and is a character of someone
I could relate to when I was growing up.

441
00:23:31,201 --> 00:23:33,912
Because when I was growing up,
I was, like, dirt poor.

442
00:23:34,704 --> 00:23:37,999
Coming from that environment,
I don't like rich people,

443
00:23:38,083 --> 00:23:41,044
because I was around some people
who thought they were better than me

444
00:23:41,128 --> 00:23:43,380
because they had "more money."

445
00:23:43,964 --> 00:23:47,008
So it felt like
you weren't anybody at all.

446
00:23:47,092 --> 00:23:48,135
You were a nobody.

447
00:23:49,010 --> 00:23:51,847
And you learn certain things.

448
00:23:52,639 --> 00:23:56,268
In those days,
I could fight, and loved to fight.

449
00:23:56,351 --> 00:23:59,396
If you could do that well,
now you're somebody.

450
00:24:00,313 --> 00:24:03,400
I was good at fighting,
but they would say,

451
00:24:03,483 --> 00:24:04,943
"You didn't fight fair!"

452
00:24:05,485 --> 00:24:06,695
You cheated!"

453
00:24:08,780 --> 00:24:10,782
"Yeah? I won."

454
00:24:10,866 --> 00:24:12,742
What the hell's the matter with you?

455
00:24:12,826 --> 00:24:15,620
And so,
with my character, Mr. McMahon,

456
00:24:15,704 --> 00:24:20,125
I can play someone who intimidates,
because that was the way I grew up.

457
00:24:20,208 --> 00:24:22,377
That was the way
I thought rich people were.

458
00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:23,920
They'd try to intimidate you.

459
00:24:24,004 --> 00:24:25,422
You're gonna get it.

460
00:24:25,505 --> 00:24:27,924
I know how to be an arrogant person

461
00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:31,470
that just throws his weight around
and a bully. That sort of stuff.

462
00:24:31,553 --> 00:24:36,224
It's not my fault that I happen to be
a self-made billionaire!

463
00:24:36,308 --> 00:24:38,602
It was easy for me
to get into that character,

464
00:24:38,685 --> 00:24:42,230
because I knew
all the things that I disliked.

465
00:24:42,314 --> 00:24:44,608
Some people are rich.

466
00:24:44,691 --> 00:24:46,485
And you're not.

467
00:24:48,278 --> 00:24:50,655
He knows
how to manipulate a crowd

468
00:24:50,739 --> 00:24:53,533
as well or better
than anybody that's ever done it.

469
00:24:54,868 --> 00:24:56,995
Hell, I'm a real Texan now!

470
00:24:57,078 --> 00:24:59,247
I loved heat, as they call it.

471
00:24:59,331 --> 00:25:01,666
When you go out
and manipulate the audience

472
00:25:01,750 --> 00:25:03,627
and, you know,
they boo the hell out of you,

473
00:25:03,710 --> 00:25:06,505
you really want
to get that heat and feel it.

474
00:25:06,588 --> 00:25:09,007
You're not afraid of it.
It's like, go embrace it.

475
00:25:09,591 --> 00:25:11,343
This is what I think of Texas.

476
00:25:14,304 --> 00:25:15,889
Such a great feeling.

477
00:25:16,515 --> 00:25:18,433
Vince was a master
at making people care

478
00:25:18,517 --> 00:25:20,519
or making people hate him or feel emotion.

479
00:25:20,602 --> 00:25:23,271
Emotions are when you sell tickets.

480
00:25:23,355 --> 00:25:24,439
It's emotion.

481
00:25:24,523 --> 00:25:28,068
If you mash that button
so that you get emotion from people,

482
00:25:28,151 --> 00:25:29,986
they forget where they are.

483
00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:31,780
They're not at a movie theater
or an arena.

484
00:25:31,863 --> 00:25:34,282
They're right there looking at you.
It's one-on-one.

485
00:25:35,242 --> 00:25:36,660
That's when you know you have them.

486
00:25:36,743 --> 00:25:39,788
- <i>Revel in it, Mr. McMahon.</i>
- I remember where I was...

487
00:25:39,871 --> 00:25:44,000
Performing is easy.
Being yourself is the more difficult part.

488
00:25:45,210 --> 00:25:48,505
And what similarities
do you share with Mr. McMahon?

489
00:25:49,172 --> 00:25:50,632
The character Mr. McMahon with me?

490
00:25:50,715 --> 00:25:52,968
- Yeah.
- None whatsoever.

491
00:25:53,969 --> 00:25:57,055
Mr. McMahon
is an extension of Vince McMahon,

492
00:25:57,138 --> 00:25:59,099
but blown way out of proportion.

493
00:25:59,683 --> 00:26:03,186
The difference between
Mr. McMahon and Vince McMahon...

494
00:26:04,104 --> 00:26:06,356
Probably not that much.

495
00:26:06,439 --> 00:26:09,442
Exactly the same person.

496
00:26:09,526 --> 00:26:11,069
It's not a far stretch.

497
00:26:11,152 --> 00:26:15,407
The character of Mr. McMahon
is really just Vince.

498
00:26:15,490 --> 00:26:18,577
He'll tell you different.
No, Mr. McMahon is Vince.

499
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:24,249
A lot of the promos and the diatribes
that have been cut on other people,

500
00:26:24,332 --> 00:26:27,919
I've had actually cut on me in real life.

501
00:26:28,003 --> 00:26:32,215
"Ah, I'd never say that." I said,
"Yeah, you would. You said it to me."

502
00:26:32,299 --> 00:26:35,093
Bruce claimed
that he's been on the receiving end

503
00:26:35,176 --> 00:26:37,262
of the Mr. McMahon in real life.

504
00:26:39,389 --> 00:26:42,434
I'm very,
very passionate about our business,

505
00:26:42,517 --> 00:26:46,271
and sometimes
that passion is a bit effusive.

506
00:26:46,354 --> 00:26:49,274
So, I probably can get
out of bounds a little bit.

507
00:26:49,357 --> 00:26:52,819
The Mr. McMahon character
is pretty close to Vince the man,

508
00:26:52,902 --> 00:26:55,363
but, obviously, highly exaggerated.

509
00:26:56,114 --> 00:26:58,533
The best characters in wrestling

510
00:26:58,617 --> 00:27:02,078
are guys at their core
with the volume turned up.

511
00:27:02,162 --> 00:27:04,956
What you saw from me as Stone Cold
was me with the volume turned up,

512
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,583
same with Vince.

513
00:27:07,584 --> 00:27:11,254
Much of great fiction is that funny line

514
00:27:12,297 --> 00:27:15,008
between reality and storytelling.

515
00:27:15,091 --> 00:27:20,263
Vince loved blurring that line
between fact and fiction.

516
00:27:20,347 --> 00:27:22,807
A lot of people
have confused through the years

517
00:27:22,891 --> 00:27:25,810
who my character was on television
and who I am.

518
00:27:25,894 --> 00:27:29,731
It used to bug the hell out of me.
"I'm not that guy."

519
00:27:29,814 --> 00:27:33,026
And then I realized,
"It doesn't matter what you want, Vince."

520
00:27:33,109 --> 00:27:35,070
"It doesn't matter
how you wanna be perceived."

521
00:27:35,654 --> 00:27:37,864
"It's the way you are being perceived."

522
00:27:37,947 --> 00:27:39,658
Perception is reality.

523
00:27:39,741 --> 00:27:42,285
You can't change
the way people think about you.

524
00:27:42,869 --> 00:27:44,162
<i>The double bird!</i>

525
00:27:44,245 --> 00:27:47,666
<i>Pure hatred
driving Mr. McMahon!</i>

526
00:27:47,749 --> 00:27:51,586
Austin-McMahon,
that dynamic was just ridiculously good.

527
00:27:51,670 --> 00:27:53,630
You could make a great argument

528
00:27:53,713 --> 00:27:55,507
it's the greatest feud
in wrestling history.

529
00:27:57,217 --> 00:27:59,177
The rise
of Stone Cold Steve Austin

530
00:27:59,260 --> 00:28:01,388
and Stone Cold versus Mr. McMahon

531
00:28:01,471 --> 00:28:05,141
is what generated
the huge amount of ratings for WWE

532
00:28:05,225 --> 00:28:09,312
that essentially ended the 83 weeks
of WCW beating them in the ratings,

533
00:28:09,896 --> 00:28:14,442
and, ultimately, like a tsunami,
overtook the wrestling business, period.

534
00:28:14,526 --> 00:28:16,403
It was the hottest thing in the world.

535
00:28:16,903 --> 00:28:19,614
I say this, knowing it'll sound
like I'm putting myself over

536
00:28:19,698 --> 00:28:24,077
and being an arrogant prick,
but Vince took our formula,

537
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,454
decided he was going to do it,

538
00:28:26,538 --> 00:28:28,581
only he was going to do it better.

539
00:28:29,457 --> 00:28:30,417
And he did.

540
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:34,963
There were so many things that we did
in WCW that WWE eventually replicated.

541
00:28:35,547 --> 00:28:39,926
D-X was nothing more
than a derivative of the nWo.

542
00:28:40,009 --> 00:28:44,973
The Mr. McMahon character
was a derivative of evil Eric Bischoff,

543
00:28:45,056 --> 00:28:46,683
was the evil boss.

544
00:28:46,766 --> 00:28:50,603
Come on, Vince. You gotta admit
you ripped me off on that one.

545
00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:52,689
Now, granted, you did it better.

546
00:28:52,772 --> 00:28:55,316
But, come on, who did it first?

547
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,863
If Eric Bischoff thinks that
he played the heel character before I did...

548
00:29:01,239 --> 00:29:04,951
Okay. If that were the case,
he sure as hell didn't play it as well.

549
00:29:05,034 --> 00:29:06,786
So, good for him.

550
00:29:08,246 --> 00:29:10,790
WWE was going to win inevitably.

551
00:29:10,874 --> 00:29:13,418
Vince McMahon, being the competitor he is,

552
00:29:14,043 --> 00:29:15,879
the fighter that he is,

553
00:29:15,962 --> 00:29:18,339
would have done whatever he had to do

554
00:29:18,423 --> 00:29:20,216
to ultimately win that fight.

555
00:29:21,217 --> 00:29:22,719
And I was coming up short.

556
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,055
{\an8}I was not focused on creative.

557
00:29:26,139 --> 00:29:29,017
The nWo angle was a couple years old now.

558
00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:31,102
It wasn't fresh anymore.

559
00:29:32,061 --> 00:29:33,897
Things that were going on in WWE

560
00:29:33,980 --> 00:29:39,235
with Mr. McMahon, and Steve Austin,
and others was new, was fresh,

561
00:29:39,819 --> 00:29:43,573
which caused the audience to shift over
and check out what they were doing.

562
00:29:44,491 --> 00:29:47,118
Eric's big mistake was thinking,

563
00:29:47,202 --> 00:29:48,328
"Because I'm ahead,

564
00:29:48,411 --> 00:29:51,331
all I gotta do is go with these guys,
and I'll always be ahead."

565
00:29:51,414 --> 00:29:55,168
In wrestling, everyone's got a shelf life,
and you always have to make new stars.

566
00:29:55,251 --> 00:29:58,171
And Vince was trying
to make new stars because he had to.

567
00:29:58,254 --> 00:30:02,425
And that's the bottom line,
'cause Stone Cold said so.

568
00:30:02,509 --> 00:30:03,760
Said so!

569
00:30:03,843 --> 00:30:05,053
Vince got very lucky.

570
00:30:05,136 --> 00:30:08,097
Austin was an incredible,
incredible, incredible success.

571
00:30:08,181 --> 00:30:10,225
And then Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson comes.

572
00:30:10,308 --> 00:30:12,560
<i>Do you smell
what The Rock is cooking?</i>

573
00:30:16,439 --> 00:30:17,816
<i>Ladies and gentlemen...</i>

574
00:30:17,899 --> 00:30:21,277
<i>Great to welcome to the show
one of the fastest risers to the top</i>

575
00:30:21,361 --> 00:30:24,239
{\an8}<i>in the history of wrestling, The Rock.
Let's start off with your history.</i>

576
00:30:24,322 --> 00:30:27,534
{\an8}<i>When you broke in, you were packaged
as a part of a wrestling legacy...</i>

577
00:30:27,617 --> 00:30:29,953
{\an8}My grandfather
was High Chief Peter Maivia.

578
00:30:30,036 --> 00:30:30,995
{\an8}He was,

579
00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:35,291
in many ways, responsible
for putting the island of Samoa

580
00:30:35,375 --> 00:30:37,627
and Samoan athletes on the map.

581
00:30:37,710 --> 00:30:40,755
<i>From the isle of Samoa,</i>

582
00:30:40,839 --> 00:30:45,093
<i>High Chief Peter Maivia!</i>

583
00:30:45,885 --> 00:30:49,514
My grandfather
wrestled for Vince McMahon Sr.,

584
00:30:49,597 --> 00:30:51,975
and then in the '80s, my dad came along,

585
00:30:52,559 --> 00:30:54,394
Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson,

586
00:30:54,477 --> 00:30:58,690
{\an8}and, along with Tony Atlas,
became the first Black tag team champions.

587
00:30:59,566 --> 00:31:02,026
The Rock,
everything he do is just like his father.

588
00:31:02,110 --> 00:31:04,487
Walk like his father,
dress like his father.

589
00:31:04,571 --> 00:31:06,906
You didn't know better,
you'd think that was Rocky Johnson.

590
00:31:07,490 --> 00:31:11,786
I remember meeting
Vince McMahon Jr. when I was 11 years old.

591
00:31:11,870 --> 00:31:13,413
Looked down at me, "Good to meet you,"

592
00:31:13,496 --> 00:31:15,540
gave me a firm handshake,
and looked me in the eye.

593
00:31:15,623 --> 00:31:17,166
I'll never forget it.

594
00:31:17,250 --> 00:31:19,043
<i>Here we go with a newcomer</i>

595
00:31:19,127 --> 00:31:23,256
<i>who's really made a name for himself
as of late, talking about Rocky Maivia.</i>

596
00:31:23,339 --> 00:31:26,634
When he came in,
we really promoted him

597
00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:29,721
as this third-generation guy
that you're gonna love.

598
00:31:29,804 --> 00:31:31,806
<i>This guy
is gonna be phenomenal.</i>

599
00:31:31,890 --> 00:31:34,309
<i>The first
third-generation superstar ever.</i>

600
00:31:34,392 --> 00:31:36,394
We shoved him down their throats.

601
00:31:37,979 --> 00:31:39,898
<i>Uh-oh.
You hear the chant of...</i>

602
00:31:39,981 --> 00:31:42,817
- Rocky sucks!
- "Rocky sucks."

603
00:31:42,901 --> 00:31:44,319
Rocky sucks!

604
00:31:44,402 --> 00:31:46,154
They hated him.

605
00:31:48,239 --> 00:31:51,910
A lot of our audience, I think,
thought that this person was just, like,

606
00:31:51,993 --> 00:31:53,453
handed this opportunity,

607
00:31:54,037 --> 00:31:57,582
and no matter how hard
Dwayne worked in the ring,

608
00:31:57,665 --> 00:31:59,834
initially, people start booing him.

609
00:31:59,918 --> 00:32:03,671
<i>I'm sick of hearing about
Rocky Maivia's old man. Who cares?</i>

610
00:32:03,755 --> 00:32:05,673
Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!

611
00:32:05,757 --> 00:32:09,677
The fans hated The Rock
because WWE told us to love The Rock.

612
00:32:09,761 --> 00:32:12,805
And it took The Rock turning heel

613
00:32:12,889 --> 00:32:15,224
and acknowledging
that the fans were booing him

614
00:32:15,308 --> 00:32:17,477
for the fans to start to love him.

615
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,521
<i>We are the Nation of Domination!</i>

616
00:32:22,482 --> 00:32:27,070
The Nation of Domination
was a faction that was based on pride

617
00:32:27,153 --> 00:32:31,157
in being of color
and not being held down by the man.

618
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,745
<i>The newest member of
the Nation of Domination, Rocky Maivia!</i>

619
00:32:35,828 --> 00:32:38,081
I talked to Vince, and I said,

620
00:32:38,164 --> 00:32:40,667
"I would just love
the opportunity to speak

621
00:32:40,750 --> 00:32:42,710
on why I'm joining the Nation,"

622
00:32:43,628 --> 00:32:46,172
and he said, "You got it."

623
00:32:47,340 --> 00:32:49,175
I got three words.

624
00:32:50,051 --> 00:32:52,553
"Die, Rocky, die."

625
00:32:53,346 --> 00:32:56,391
That's the gratitude I get
from you pieces of crap.

626
00:32:56,474 --> 00:32:59,978
I said, "It's not a Black or white thing.
It's a respect thing."

627
00:33:00,061 --> 00:33:01,646
"It's about me kicking your ass thing."

628
00:33:01,729 --> 00:33:06,150
This isn't about the color of my skin.
This is about respect.

629
00:33:08,027 --> 00:33:10,446
Sometimes in our lives,
we find these moments

630
00:33:10,530 --> 00:33:13,116
where there's a shift and a click,

631
00:33:13,199 --> 00:33:17,704
and you go, "Man, there is
some real power behind that."

632
00:33:17,787 --> 00:33:23,084
Well, Rocky Maivia's a lot of things,
but "sucks" isn't one of 'em.

633
00:33:23,167 --> 00:33:27,672
And boom, just like that, within a month,
I became the hottest heel in the company.

634
00:33:27,755 --> 00:33:32,385
- ...if you smell what The Rock is cookin'.
- ...what The Rock is cookin'.

635
00:33:35,179 --> 00:33:37,849
I remember having a conversation
with Vince and him saying,

636
00:33:37,932 --> 00:33:40,560
"I'm gonna make you WWE Champion."

637
00:33:40,643 --> 00:33:42,145
<i>Sharpshooter!</i>

638
00:33:42,228 --> 00:33:43,604
<i>That's a sharpshooter!</i>

639
00:33:43,688 --> 00:33:45,023
<i>Sharpshooter!</i>

640
00:33:45,106 --> 00:33:47,442
<i>Ref's gonna ring the bell!</i>

641
00:33:49,444 --> 00:33:52,280
I said,
"You know, this is a really big deal."

642
00:33:52,363 --> 00:33:55,033
I said, "I'm first WWE champion of color."

643
00:33:55,116 --> 00:33:58,161
He said, "I know."
And he goes, "But I don't see that."

644
00:34:00,496 --> 00:34:04,333
Vince, and I know this for sure,
he was always about,

645
00:34:04,417 --> 00:34:08,713
"I don't care what color you are.
You could be black and green and purple."

646
00:34:08,796 --> 00:34:11,257
"You could be a unicorn
for all I give a shit."

647
00:34:11,340 --> 00:34:14,802
"As long as you are drawing money,
you will be champion."

648
00:34:17,722 --> 00:34:22,894
It ain't got nothing to do with color.
It's not racism, it's business.

649
00:34:24,479 --> 00:34:27,148
He don't see Black. He don't see white.

650
00:34:27,231 --> 00:34:28,357
He sees only green.

651
00:34:32,111 --> 00:34:35,865
For people who knew WWE
at that time, the Attitude Era,

652
00:34:35,948 --> 00:34:37,533
it was a unique and special time,

653
00:34:37,617 --> 00:34:41,704
because it truly was
whatever you can imagine,

654
00:34:41,788 --> 00:34:42,830
we can do.

655
00:34:43,831 --> 00:34:44,749
And we did.

656
00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:51,255
<i>Someone help!
Oh my gosh! Oh my God!</i>

657
00:34:51,339 --> 00:34:52,548
<i>Oh!</i>

658
00:34:53,466 --> 00:34:56,511
- <i>Look out!</i>
<i>- See what just happened!</i>

659
00:34:56,594 --> 00:35:00,098
The Attitude Era.
Man, it was a movement.

660
00:35:00,181 --> 00:35:03,810
Everywhere you went, you saw Austin 3:16,

661
00:35:03,893 --> 00:35:05,812
you saw DX.

662
00:35:05,895 --> 00:35:07,313
- Suck it, man.
- Right!

663
00:35:07,396 --> 00:35:09,732
You saw The Rock.

664
00:35:09,816 --> 00:35:11,776
Everybody was in on it.

665
00:35:11,859 --> 00:35:15,530
They were so popular.
Their merchandise was everywhere.

666
00:35:15,613 --> 00:35:18,616
The influence was all over the culture.

667
00:35:18,699 --> 00:35:22,245
We're gonna have WWE superstars
right here in the house.

668
00:35:22,328 --> 00:35:25,373
<i>Ladies and gentlemen,
The Rock!</i>

669
00:35:25,456 --> 00:35:27,041
You invited The Rock

670
00:35:27,125 --> 00:35:30,294
{\an8}to speak
at the Republican National Convention?

671
00:35:31,546 --> 00:35:34,465
Please welcome
the one, the only, Triple H.

672
00:35:35,299 --> 00:35:37,176
For a lot of us
in the Attitude Era,

673
00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:38,970
we went from being like,

674
00:35:39,053 --> 00:35:42,223
"Yeah, I'm a dude on TV
that people recognize occasionally,"

675
00:35:42,306 --> 00:35:44,684
to, "You can't go anywhere."

676
00:35:44,767 --> 00:35:47,812
It was getting out of control.

677
00:35:48,521 --> 00:35:50,523
They're making way more money now
than they did then,

678
00:35:50,606 --> 00:35:53,317
but as far as actual real popularity,
that was the peak.

679
00:35:53,901 --> 00:35:56,904
<i>It's the entertainment
phenomenon of the '90s.</i>

680
00:35:56,988 --> 00:35:59,407
<i>A billion-dollar industry worldwide,</i>

681
00:35:59,490 --> 00:36:01,784
<i>a TV-ratings smash,</i>

682
00:36:01,868 --> 00:36:05,872
<i>a sport, of sorts,
that draws more teenage male viewers</i>

683
00:36:05,955 --> 00:36:07,498
<i>than Monday Night Football</i>

684
00:36:07,582 --> 00:36:09,417
<i>or World Series Baseball.</i>

685
00:36:20,970 --> 00:36:24,724
People who remember that period,
that is a very fond memory,

686
00:36:24,807 --> 00:36:28,060
because wrestling really was
huge mainstream at that time.

687
00:36:28,144 --> 00:36:30,229
From a pure marketability standpoint,

688
00:36:30,313 --> 00:36:33,733
the product they were putting on was,
was awesome. It connected.

689
00:36:33,816 --> 00:36:36,569
Um, from a moral standpoint,
morals are morals,

690
00:36:36,652 --> 00:36:38,571
but it rubbed some people the wrong way.

691
00:36:38,654 --> 00:36:40,990
<i>One true thing
about professional wrestling,</i>

692
00:36:41,073 --> 00:36:42,867
<i>millions of fans are pouring in.</i>

693
00:36:42,950 --> 00:36:44,911
<i>But this business has serious questions,</i>

694
00:36:44,994 --> 00:36:48,164
<i>some involving violence
and sexually explicit content.</i>

695
00:36:48,247 --> 00:36:51,334
<i>Promoters would have you
believe that it's family entertainment.</i>

696
00:36:51,417 --> 00:36:55,504
<i>But if you've never been to a show
or never seen one on TV, watch one.</i>

697
00:36:55,588 --> 00:36:56,839
<i>You're in for a shock.</i>

698
00:36:57,590 --> 00:37:00,801
As performers, you're going
for whatever the biggest reaction is,

699
00:37:00,885 --> 00:37:04,847
and you're seeing these things
get bigger reactions than anything else.

700
00:37:04,931 --> 00:37:08,768
So you're going down that road of,
"I'm going to be edgy."

701
00:37:08,851 --> 00:37:11,187
I got two words for ya.

702
00:37:11,270 --> 00:37:13,189
"Suck it!" Yeah!

703
00:37:13,272 --> 00:37:15,316
It was a lot of fun
and a lot of freedom,

704
00:37:16,317 --> 00:37:20,863
but there's a lot of stuff online that
you can watch, where I go, like, "Oh..."

705
00:37:21,447 --> 00:37:23,950
"How did we ever
get away with that stuff?"

706
00:37:24,033 --> 00:37:26,744
You can take your pick
of either one of these hoes.

707
00:37:26,827 --> 00:37:31,582
<i>Critics say WWE
blows away the envelope of good taste.</i>

708
00:37:31,666 --> 00:37:34,669
<i>Perhaps no one
has been more critical of McMahon</i>

709
00:37:34,752 --> 00:37:38,214
<i>than</i> New York Post <i>columnist
Phil Mushnick.</i>

710
00:37:38,297 --> 00:37:40,299
They knew that they could
get away with everything.

711
00:37:41,092 --> 00:37:42,843
Not anything, everything.

712
00:37:43,636 --> 00:37:46,514
And they pushed it.
They pushed that for all it was worth.

713
00:37:47,098 --> 00:37:49,976
We're gonna go low,
and then we're gonna go lower,

714
00:37:50,559 --> 00:37:51,894
{\an8}and then we're gonna go lower.

715
00:37:53,604 --> 00:37:56,357
{\an8}This was maybe a standard deviation

716
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,484
beyond what we were doing before,

717
00:37:58,567 --> 00:38:02,321
um, but it was still family-friendly.

718
00:38:02,405 --> 00:38:03,781
No one got killed.

719
00:38:03,864 --> 00:38:06,409
<i>The Rock
is inside that casket!</i>

720
00:38:06,492 --> 00:38:08,160
There was, you know, no rape.

721
00:38:08,244 --> 00:38:10,997
Come on out, you rapist!

722
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,333
No use of knives or guns
or anything like that.

723
00:38:15,418 --> 00:38:18,796
<i>Witness a recent
simulated castration scene.</i>

724
00:38:18,879 --> 00:38:21,340
So, it's still family-friendly,

725
00:38:21,424 --> 00:38:23,759
maybe for more of an adult family,

726
00:38:23,843 --> 00:38:25,803
not for young kids.

727
00:38:25,886 --> 00:38:30,057
They were doing the double-talk.
They'd say, "We're not marketing to kids,"

728
00:38:30,141 --> 00:38:32,685
when, in fact, their audience was kids.

729
00:38:32,768 --> 00:38:34,061
And so some people would go,

730
00:38:34,145 --> 00:38:37,481
"You've got a responsibility
to not be such a bad influence on kids."

731
00:38:37,565 --> 00:38:40,276
"We're not marketing to kids anymore.
That's what we used to do."

732
00:38:40,359 --> 00:38:41,569
All right, whatever.

733
00:38:41,652 --> 00:38:46,532
I think it was primarily
aimed at young males.

734
00:38:46,615 --> 00:38:48,868
Action figures, dolls.

735
00:38:48,951 --> 00:38:51,454
{\an8}These aren't being
bought by and enjoyed by adults.

736
00:38:51,537 --> 00:38:53,122
{\an8}These are for 8-year-olds, 10-year-olds.

737
00:38:53,205 --> 00:38:57,335
Frankly, the Attitude Era,
the kids embraced it.

738
00:38:57,418 --> 00:38:59,462
-Suck it!
-Suck it!

739
00:38:59,545 --> 00:39:02,673
They were seeing something
maybe they weren't supposed to see.

740
00:39:02,757 --> 00:39:08,512
So, the Attitude Era,
in many ways, probably attracted kids.

741
00:39:08,596 --> 00:39:12,516
Would I have let my kids watch it?
Yeah, I probably would have.

742
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,643
{\an8}It's a monster, is really what it is.

743
00:39:14,727 --> 00:39:17,063
{\an8}It's a nationwide monster
that's gotta be stopped.

744
00:39:17,146 --> 00:39:19,690
{\an8}The principal is entitled to his opinion.

745
00:39:20,775 --> 00:39:22,026
{\an8}I'm entitled to mine.

746
00:39:22,109 --> 00:39:25,112
We wholeheartedly
would want parents and everyone

747
00:39:25,196 --> 00:39:27,573
to exercise their freedom of choice.

748
00:39:27,656 --> 00:39:30,034
Damn it, it is America.
Go live in your world.

749
00:39:30,117 --> 00:39:33,704
Don't like us, click us off.
Don't watch us.

750
00:39:35,289 --> 00:39:41,879
Look, I... I was the one
certainly leading the charge in that,

751
00:39:41,962 --> 00:39:45,383
"Don't tell us to raise your children.
You need to raise them yourself."

752
00:39:45,466 --> 00:39:47,385
"If they're influenced by TV,
that's your fault."

753
00:39:47,468 --> 00:39:50,679
Now, having a daughter, uh, I...

754
00:39:50,763 --> 00:39:54,475
Look, there are times
we probably could have been less...

755
00:39:54,558 --> 00:39:57,728
less objectionable towards our women.

756
00:39:58,729 --> 00:40:03,651
It is time to stop your grinnin'
and drop your linen.

757
00:40:04,652 --> 00:40:06,153
<i>Oh my!</i>

758
00:40:06,237 --> 00:40:10,783
We continued to consistently
go over the line in terms of taste.

759
00:40:10,866 --> 00:40:13,035
Uh, there were
a lot of questionable things.

760
00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:17,706
You look pretty good on your knees, Chyna.
It almost looks like a natural position.

761
00:40:18,457 --> 00:40:21,710
It was exploitive of women
like you wouldn't believe,

762
00:40:21,794 --> 00:40:23,963
but that's what was selling,
and the audience was guys.

763
00:40:24,046 --> 00:40:26,340
Teenage guys seeing women like that,

764
00:40:26,424 --> 00:40:29,510
from a pure marketing standpoint,
it was, uh, very, very successful.

765
00:40:29,593 --> 00:40:33,222
The Attitude Era women
weren't really considered wrestlers.

766
00:40:34,432 --> 00:40:37,393
{\an8}Eye candy.
That's kind of what they were at the time.

767
00:40:40,604 --> 00:40:44,233
{\an8}Sable was
the pioneer WWE diva, so to speak.

768
00:40:44,316 --> 00:40:47,236
She knew exactly what her role was.

769
00:40:48,487 --> 00:40:50,322
People know her as Sexy Sable,

770
00:40:51,115 --> 00:40:54,076
but she was also
athletically contributing to the show,

771
00:40:54,660 --> 00:40:57,079
which I think is overlooked,
because it wasn't normal,

772
00:40:57,163 --> 00:40:59,665
it wasn't acceptable,
it wasn't what the women did.

773
00:41:01,041 --> 00:41:03,961
You know, at the time, late '90s,
you had Jerry Springer.

774
00:41:04,044 --> 00:41:08,841
{\an8}<i>Just when you thought
you'd seen it all, the bad get badder.</i>

775
00:41:08,924 --> 00:41:11,260
You had trainwreck television
that was happening.

776
00:41:11,343 --> 00:41:12,761
Howard Stern was huge.

777
00:41:12,845 --> 00:41:15,097
I wanna bang Bonnie, Jill, and Brandy.

778
00:41:15,181 --> 00:41:17,892
The Attitude Era was a reflection
of what was going on in the world.

779
00:41:19,602 --> 00:41:20,895
I've got to question...

780
00:41:20,978 --> 00:41:24,398
Society at that time
was a lot sexier,

781
00:41:24,482 --> 00:41:26,484
and we were reflecting that in every way.

782
00:41:27,067 --> 00:41:28,402
Some of the things...

783
00:41:28,486 --> 00:41:29,570
Eh...

784
00:41:29,653 --> 00:41:34,992
Bra-and-panty matches, I'm not sure
that, uh, that would be suggested today.

785
00:41:35,576 --> 00:41:38,496
At that time,
that was what was on television.

786
00:41:39,788 --> 00:41:41,999
Vince McMahon is part of his time.

787
00:41:42,583 --> 00:41:46,086
The difference is
that he's in a distinctive position,

788
00:41:46,170 --> 00:41:48,839
where he reinforces those tendencies,

789
00:41:48,923 --> 00:41:53,761
rather than challenging or changing
or transforming them into something else.

790
00:41:54,845 --> 00:41:56,263
We more or less followed

791
00:41:56,347 --> 00:41:58,766
what was going on
in the entertainment business.

792
00:41:58,849 --> 00:42:01,602
A lot of times, the highest quarter-hour,

793
00:42:01,685 --> 00:42:05,189
the highest rating
in that segment were women.

794
00:42:06,148 --> 00:42:09,652
Much higher than some of the great matches
and things of that nature.

795
00:42:11,028 --> 00:42:12,738
We felt like we needed to be edgy,

796
00:42:12,821 --> 00:42:15,241
'cause that's what
television was at that time.

797
00:42:15,324 --> 00:42:17,826
And this is live TV,

798
00:42:17,910 --> 00:42:21,497
and there ain't a damn thing
Vince can do about this.

799
00:42:23,290 --> 00:42:26,961
We'd always want
to serve our audience, so we did,

800
00:42:27,044 --> 00:42:30,881
and, of course, took it
maybe a little too far in some cases.

801
00:42:40,307 --> 00:42:42,977
You can look back at it now
and say how crazy it was,

802
00:42:43,060 --> 00:42:45,980
You can look back and say,
"God, you should have never done that,"

803
00:42:46,063 --> 00:42:49,316
or, "That was so inappropriate," or, um...

804
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:50,442
It was.

805
00:42:50,526 --> 00:42:51,652
And, uh...

806
00:42:52,778 --> 00:42:55,948
Who's worse, the guy that did it
or the people that loved it? I don't know.

807
00:42:57,616 --> 00:42:59,868
<i>Welcome to the</i> War Zone, <i>everybody!
I'm Jim Ross.</i>

808
00:42:59,952 --> 00:43:03,289
<i>I've been joined by James T. Gordon
here at ringside.</i>

809
00:43:03,372 --> 00:43:07,585
<i>The owner of World Wrestling Entertainment
is on his way...</i>

810
00:43:07,668 --> 00:43:09,378
Owen Hart,

811
00:43:09,461 --> 00:43:15,593
I am ordering you
to appear in this ring right now.

812
00:43:17,344 --> 00:43:19,221
<i>There he is, right there.</i>

813
00:43:19,305 --> 00:43:21,181
<i>He's coming, but are we gonna see</i>

814
00:43:21,265 --> 00:43:23,058
<i>reporting for duty or for a fight?</i>

815
00:43:23,142 --> 00:43:24,727
After the problems I had

816
00:43:24,810 --> 00:43:26,228
with Bret Hart, I met with Owen.

817
00:43:26,312 --> 00:43:30,274
I said, "Do you want to stay with us,
or do you wanna leave with Bret?"

818
00:43:30,357 --> 00:43:32,693
He said, "Well, I'd like to stay."

819
00:43:32,776 --> 00:43:37,197
It's time for me to do what I have to do,

820
00:43:37,281 --> 00:43:42,661
and that is remain right here
in World Wrestling Entertainment!

821
00:43:42,745 --> 00:43:48,208
When I went to WCW and Owen stayed,
nothing was the same anymore.

822
00:43:48,292 --> 00:43:50,252
He thought I was mad at him.

823
00:43:50,878 --> 00:43:53,672
If anything, I had great sympathy for Owen

824
00:43:53,756 --> 00:43:57,509
and felt badly that he was in
the predicament that he was in.

825
00:43:57,593 --> 00:44:00,429
Owen had nothing to do
with either me or Vince,

826
00:44:00,512 --> 00:44:02,139
but he was gonna pay for it,

827
00:44:03,057 --> 00:44:06,477
and they kind of humiliated his character

828
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:10,898
as often as they could
for quite a while to get at me.

829
00:44:11,732 --> 00:44:16,487
The hypothesis that we would do
something against Owen because Bret left

830
00:44:16,570 --> 00:44:18,739
only speaks to Bret's ego.

831
00:44:18,822 --> 00:44:20,699
Really, Bret?
You know, why would we do that?

832
00:44:20,783 --> 00:44:22,576
We don't care about you. You left.

833
00:44:22,660 --> 00:44:24,453
We're trying to make Owen a star.

834
00:44:24,536 --> 00:44:26,538
<i>What? What is this?</i>

835
00:44:26,622 --> 00:44:28,999
So they ended up
doing a storyline with him,

836
00:44:29,083 --> 00:44:31,418
where they said,
"You're gonna be the Blue Blazer again,

837
00:44:31,502 --> 00:44:34,546
and you're gonna be
this sort of clumsy oaf hero."

838
00:44:35,673 --> 00:44:37,591
May 23rd, '99.

839
00:44:39,677 --> 00:44:41,220
Can you talk about that day?

840
00:44:42,054 --> 00:44:43,180
That was Owen.

841
00:44:51,605 --> 00:44:55,526
{\an8}<i>Folks, let's take you now
to an interview conducted earlier tonight,</i>

842
00:44:55,609 --> 00:44:57,695
{\an8}<i>and we got big problems out here.</i>

843
00:44:57,778 --> 00:44:59,613
{\an8}Blue Blazer, you got a big match tonight...

844
00:44:59,697 --> 00:45:03,575
{\an8}We were live
in a pre-taped interview of Owen.

845
00:45:03,659 --> 00:45:05,911
{\an8}We were going to drop Owen down,

846
00:45:05,994 --> 00:45:09,248
kind of like rappelling
from the top of the ceiling.

847
00:45:09,832 --> 00:45:11,667
Owen was to fly, so to speak,

848
00:45:11,750 --> 00:45:15,713
as we've done before,
from the rafters of the building.

849
00:45:16,296 --> 00:45:18,382
{\an8}I'm watching
the pre-tape interview,

850
00:45:18,465 --> 00:45:20,426
{\an8}and I hear someone say,

851
00:45:20,509 --> 00:45:22,386
"Owen's in the ring."

852
00:45:23,137 --> 00:45:25,764
I went, "What the hell is he doing?"

853
00:45:25,848 --> 00:45:29,768
I was on a flight,
and I could feel something.

854
00:45:30,394 --> 00:45:32,271
Something overcame me,

855
00:45:32,354 --> 00:45:36,608
and I can remember going,
"Something bad happened. I can feel it."

856
00:45:36,692 --> 00:45:39,153
Ladies and gentlemen,
when you're doing live television,

857
00:45:39,236 --> 00:45:43,657
a lot of things can happen,
and sometimes they are not good.

858
00:45:43,741 --> 00:45:46,785
Uh, the Blue Blazer,
as we know is Owen Hart,

859
00:45:46,869 --> 00:45:51,415
was going to make a very spectacular,
superhero-like entrance from the rafters,

860
00:45:51,498 --> 00:45:53,959
and something went terribly wrong here.

861
00:45:54,793 --> 00:45:59,465
Thank God, for the audience,
that we were in a blackout.

862
00:45:59,548 --> 00:46:03,093
So they didn't really see it. Thank God.

863
00:46:03,886 --> 00:46:07,514
When the lights came up,
they saw Owen in the ring

864
00:46:07,598 --> 00:46:09,850
and medical personnel were working on him.

865
00:46:09,933 --> 00:46:13,187
We wondered whether or not,
"Could Owen be alive?"

866
00:46:13,270 --> 00:46:14,146
Uh...

867
00:46:14,229 --> 00:46:15,355
Surely he could be.

868
00:46:15,439 --> 00:46:17,316
Jerry Lawler back joining me here.

869
00:46:17,399 --> 00:46:21,153
King, I was just reiterating to the fans
this is not a part of the show.

870
00:46:21,236 --> 00:46:25,073
Uh, we're here to entertain and have fun,
but this is neither.

871
00:46:25,783 --> 00:46:29,787
No. It's, uh... It's...
It doesn't look good at all.

872
00:46:30,370 --> 00:46:34,792
Jerry Lawler came back and says,
"Bruce, I... I think he's dead."

873
00:46:36,168 --> 00:46:38,670
I'm like... "No."

874
00:46:39,755 --> 00:46:41,131
You know, I was like...

875
00:46:42,341 --> 00:46:43,926
"How do you even say that?"

876
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:49,097
The policeman that
was next to me, pulled me off to the side,

877
00:46:49,181 --> 00:46:53,227
and Vince was there, and he let us know
they pronounced him dead.

878
00:46:53,310 --> 00:46:58,857
I have the... unfortunate responsibility

879
00:46:59,691 --> 00:47:01,902
to let everyone know
that Owen Hart has died.

880
00:47:03,278 --> 00:47:08,116
Owen Hart has tragically died
from that accident... here tonight.

881
00:47:10,619 --> 00:47:14,039
The decision that, uh,
basically, I had to make,

882
00:47:14,122 --> 00:47:15,958
was whether or not the show goes on.

883
00:47:16,750 --> 00:47:19,336
The live audience
didn't really see what happened.

884
00:47:19,419 --> 00:47:22,297
Had they seen, no question,
you have to shut the show down.

885
00:47:22,965 --> 00:47:24,758
He didn't announce
to the live house

886
00:47:24,842 --> 00:47:27,261
'cause he just didn't think
that was the right thing to do.

887
00:47:28,178 --> 00:47:30,806
Those people came to see a show.

888
00:47:30,889 --> 00:47:32,850
They didn't come to see somebody die.

889
00:47:33,433 --> 00:47:35,561
And, me as a businessman, it's like,

890
00:47:35,644 --> 00:47:38,438
"Okay, let's continue on.
Let's continue the show."

891
00:47:38,522 --> 00:47:43,068
First off, Owen Hart,
I'm praying for you, buddy.

892
00:47:43,151 --> 00:47:44,570
And I am too.

893
00:47:45,737 --> 00:47:49,032
Val Venis, you've been chasing
these puppies around.

894
00:47:49,116 --> 00:47:50,659
Well, pal, I got news for you.

895
00:47:50,742 --> 00:47:53,537
Those are my puppies,
and they always have been.

896
00:47:53,620 --> 00:47:55,622
They never should have continued the show.

897
00:47:56,623 --> 00:47:59,501
You know,
one of your buddies just died.

898
00:47:59,585 --> 00:48:02,129
Like, literally just died in this ring,

899
00:48:02,212 --> 00:48:06,508
and his blood is right there,
and we're going out there wrestling,

900
00:48:06,592 --> 00:48:09,469
trying to perform for this audience
that doesn't even know it,

901
00:48:09,553 --> 00:48:10,971
while we're brokenhearted.

902
00:48:12,431 --> 00:48:14,600
What you do,
your business, is entertainment,

903
00:48:14,683 --> 00:48:17,185
and you allowed
the entertainment to continue

904
00:48:17,269 --> 00:48:19,021
with the blood of Owen Hart
still in the ring.

905
00:48:19,104 --> 00:48:21,064
I'm not sure
that's not disrespectful to Owen Hart.

906
00:48:21,982 --> 00:48:23,942
There were a lot
of negative comments, actually,

907
00:48:24,026 --> 00:48:26,194
as to whether or not
the show should have continued.

908
00:48:26,278 --> 00:48:29,364
{\an8}I actually know firsthand
from the wrestlers involved

909
00:48:29,448 --> 00:48:32,034
{\an8}that they wheeled my dead brother past...

910
00:48:32,659 --> 00:48:35,787
{\an8}right past all the wrestlers
and actually pushed wrestlers out the door

911
00:48:35,871 --> 00:48:38,457
{\an8}and said, "Go, go, go. You're on."

912
00:48:38,540 --> 00:48:42,419
Naturally, Bret's gonna feel like,
you know, like a brother should.

913
00:48:42,502 --> 00:48:46,590
He had every right to say
anything negative about our company.

914
00:48:46,673 --> 00:48:50,260
{\an8}I think if Vince McMahon had dropped
Shane McMahon from the ceiling,

915
00:48:50,344 --> 00:48:51,970
{\an8}uh, and he splatted on the mat,

916
00:48:52,054 --> 00:48:54,848
{\an8}I don't think he would've scraped him off
and set the next match up.

917
00:48:54,932 --> 00:48:58,268
Had it been me, not just my son,

918
00:48:58,352 --> 00:49:01,480
had it been me who was
"splatted on the mat," as Bret said,

919
00:49:01,563 --> 00:49:03,440
I would want the show to go on.

920
00:49:03,523 --> 00:49:07,444
So get me out of there, you know,
and let the show go on.

921
00:49:07,527 --> 00:49:11,114
I'd do it with me,
and to this day, I would.

922
00:49:16,495 --> 00:49:19,331
It really was very hard
for me to take at that time

923
00:49:19,414 --> 00:49:21,833
because I kept thinking that maybe it was...

924
00:49:22,501 --> 00:49:25,337
Maybe they murdered him to get back at me.

925
00:49:29,549 --> 00:49:32,719
At 10:01 a.m. this morning,

926
00:49:32,803 --> 00:49:36,473
my legal counsel
filed a wrongful death lawsuit

927
00:49:36,556 --> 00:49:38,183
for my husband's death.

928
00:49:38,266 --> 00:49:42,688
In terms of Owen, we settled
a lawsuit basically with his wife,

929
00:49:42,771 --> 00:49:46,274
and then we find out,
which we thought all along,

930
00:49:46,358 --> 00:49:48,026
it wasn't our fault.

931
00:49:48,610 --> 00:49:52,280
{\an8}Unfortunately, the apparatus
they were using was defective,

932
00:49:52,364 --> 00:49:54,658
{\an8}and the manufacturer
knew it was defective,

933
00:49:54,741 --> 00:49:56,785
and then we sued the manufacturer.

934
00:49:57,369 --> 00:50:02,791
They investigated Vince and WWE
for a long time.

935
00:50:02,874 --> 00:50:06,545
A policeman from Kansas City's,
uh, police department called me,

936
00:50:06,628 --> 00:50:08,755
and he goes, "I promised you I'd call you,

937
00:50:08,839 --> 00:50:11,091
and I'm calling to tell you
there's nothing criminal here."

938
00:50:11,174 --> 00:50:13,343
"This was just a horrible accident."

939
00:50:13,927 --> 00:50:19,099
And for me, when I heard that,
it was like, "Okay, it's an accident."

940
00:50:19,182 --> 00:50:23,520
I basically, I think
in my heart of hearts, forgave Vince.

941
00:50:24,730 --> 00:50:27,816
I had plenty of reasons
to have issues with Vince,

942
00:50:27,899 --> 00:50:32,154
but they were on a professional level
and not a personal level.

943
00:50:36,700 --> 00:50:39,745
Do you think there will be
any changes in wrestling because of this?

944
00:50:39,828 --> 00:50:42,456
{\an8}I certainly hope so. We're not

945
00:50:42,539 --> 00:50:45,292
so dead against the wrestling business,

946
00:50:45,375 --> 00:50:48,670
but we are disappointed
in the drastic turn

947
00:50:48,754 --> 00:50:50,881
that wrestling's taken
in the last two years,

948
00:50:50,964 --> 00:50:54,176
and it's a shame that the fans
have sort of become wild dogs

949
00:50:54,259 --> 00:50:57,596
that sort of want more
and more and more all the time.

950
00:50:58,180 --> 00:51:01,391
At that point,
we're all pushing the envelope.

951
00:51:02,392 --> 00:51:04,436
- <i>Look out!</i>
<i>- Oh my...</i>

952
00:51:04,519 --> 00:51:06,813
Everybody's willing
to do whatever it takes.

953
00:51:07,564 --> 00:51:09,608
No one's saying,
"I don't want to do that,"

954
00:51:09,691 --> 00:51:11,026
or, "That's too dangerous."

955
00:51:11,109 --> 00:51:12,235
<i>Oh my...</i>

956
00:51:12,319 --> 00:51:16,823
...but at some point, enough is enough.

957
00:51:16,907 --> 00:51:18,950
<i>He's burning! Put him out!</i>

958
00:51:19,034 --> 00:51:21,703
We want to give
our fans what they want.

959
00:51:21,787 --> 00:51:24,331
We're probably pushing it
as far as we can right now,

960
00:51:24,414 --> 00:51:28,502
but who knows as it relates to the future?

961
00:51:38,470 --> 00:51:42,432
<i>Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit...</i>