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00:10I love what I do, and I'm the best mother in the world doing it today.
00:17Glass.
00:19Light bulbs.
00:23Barbed wire.
00:26These are not things that are meant for the human body.
00:31Beyond the fantasy world of larger-than-life heroes and villains lies the brutal and unforgiving
00:38underworld of deathmatch wrestling, and its undisputed king, Nick Gage.
00:45What we're going to do is we're going to light these pixies up.
00:53This isn't a children's TV show on Saturday morning.
00:58When that bell rings, it's real than Nick Gage.
01:00This is going to be a fight.
01:02For the uninitiated, stepping into Gage's domain is an invitation to an arena of pain where blood will be spilled.
01:12Oh, my God!
01:13He just smilfed David Arquette!
01:15He's starting to bug out a little bit, and that's how you got cut in the throat.
01:20I told you not to f***ing cut me.
01:23I'm an actor, so I was in over my head.
01:26But for Gage, his most intense battle was fought outside the ring as the harsh consequences of his lifestyle bled
01:34out into real life.
01:36He's cut.
01:37Bad, bad, bad, bad.
01:39Leaving him at rock bottom.
01:41Painkillers, Percocet, Oxycontin, all those things.
01:44What do you mean, Nicky rounds a bank?
01:46Why would you do something like that?
01:48You're killing yourself.
01:49Cut that f***ing camera.
01:51Cut the camera.
01:52Gage is in the house.
01:53Gage is going to do what he wants.
01:54And anytime you want to f***ing fight me, you can.
02:14Deathmatch Wrestling is a live-action horror movie.
02:20Raised on the blood-soaked matches of their heroes, its participants strive to outdo icons of the past by escalating
02:29their brutality to new, life-threatening heights.
02:35All to satisfy a bloodthirsty crowd.
02:38The king of ultraviolence, Nick f***ing camp.
02:45You gotta love this s***, man.
02:49Cause guess what?
02:50That s*** hurts.
02:53And that s*** burns.
02:57And that s*** might say, why the f*** am I doing this s*** right now?
03:02Cause it ain't the payday.
03:05My name is Nick Gage.
03:07I'm the greatest deathmatch wrestler in the world.
03:09I'm a leader of a gang called Murder, Death, Kill Gang.
03:12I represent Eastern Block Hate Club.
03:15So that's who I am, man.
03:16So for you personally, why deathmatch wrestling?
03:20I'm probably a little, a little, a little crazy in the head.
03:24My pain tolerance is high.
03:27No pain!
03:28I also want to show other wrestlers that this style of wrestling is all right, man.
03:35And it can be done.
03:36And there is a fan base.
03:37And it's awesome.
03:38Man, man, man, man.
03:41Some deathmatch wrestlers are some of the best storytellers, the best in the world at connecting with an audience.
03:47Nick Gage being one of them.
03:48My name is Jon Moxley, and I am a professional wrestler.
03:54Jon Moxley!
03:58Jon Moxley is no stranger to ultraviolence.
04:02No!
04:03Good God!
04:04Before reaching world championship status in the mainstream, Moxley cut his teeth on the
04:10indie deathmatch scene where he routinely crossed paths with Nick Gage.
04:16Who he is in the ring when he walks out, and that music hits, and he comes out like,
04:20Yeah!
04:21Nick Gage!
04:22High-fiving, getting all pumped up.
04:24Yeah!
04:25Getting all excited.
04:26That's how he is all the time.
04:28The first one-on-one encounter, he pulls a pizza cutter.
04:32And now he's got a pizza cutter!
04:34I'm thinking, you know, give me a nice working.
04:37I'll do a little poking twist.
04:39It's all an illusion.
04:41Not so much.
04:44Oh, oh, look at this.
04:46Oh, look at this.
04:48He gives me a pizza cutter.
04:49The crowd goes, oh, yeah, kill him.
04:52Cut his head off.
04:54So he gets excited.
04:55Nick Gage will do whatever it takes to be CCW world champion once again.
05:02CCW!
05:02CCW!
05:02I don't want to just tackle you and start having a real fight here.
05:05I'm trying to keep this match on track.
05:07We got a good story.
05:08The crowd's into this.
05:09They say, please don't pizza cut the out of my face so much.
05:11And this crowd is eating it up.
05:13And now he's excited, and I just feel the excited energy, and I'm like, oh, God, no, no.
05:18And then he takes the pizza cutter and puts it in my mouth.
05:21I like to hit it across my mouth.
05:23Oh, God.
05:24Nick Gage is getting carried away.
05:27It's over by Luis.
05:28And I'm like, that mother cut my tongue out.
05:32Look at Mox's face.
05:34All right.
05:35My tongue's still attached.
05:37Oh, good.
05:38And we continue to match, and the intensity is off the charts.
05:41Oh, what a headbutt right to the sternum.
05:46Once you go out there, you get into it.
05:48You feel that Nick Gage intensity.
05:50The 30 people in the crowd are going, ah, Kelly.
05:52And you're just like, ah.
05:53But it's like, this is what you live for.
05:56I don't give a shit how much money I make.
05:58I don't give a shit how much of a star I am.
06:00I don't give a about any of that.
06:02I do this for that feeling.
06:10I love the feeling of being in a locker room with half of my board gone, smoking a cigarette,
06:15drinking a beer.
06:16And that is the feeling that is so addictive.
06:18It keeps you coming back.
06:19I think that's probably what keeps Nick Gage coming back, too.
06:23Oh, yeah.
06:23And one of the finals is going to be with Nick Gage.
06:26For nearly a decade, Gage built a reputation on a fearless appetite for violence.
06:31But he would be put to the ultimate test on the most ruthlessly unforgiving stage,
06:37the tournament of death.
06:40Every year, fans descend on backyard farmlands to witness a multi-round endurance test of violence.
06:50Where wrestlers must survive several gruesome matches over the course of a single day.
06:57The tournament of death takes place in Delaware.
06:59Out on this field, kind of like Woodstock for deathmatch wrestling.
07:03Fans out there parking their vans, getting drunk, smoking weed.
07:07You know, we need a place where we can have blood and glass and fire
07:10and cops aren't going to break up the party.
07:13It's quite the scene.
07:16In the finals of the tournament, Gage is to face Thumbtack Jack in a fight that would redefine the meaning
07:23of deathmatch wrestling.
07:25Nothing could prepare the crowd for the real-life horror show that was about to unfold.
07:30Okay.
07:32This is f***ing insane.
07:34I was right there for this.
07:36My name is Brett Lauderdale.
07:38I'm the owner and promoter of Game Changer Wrestling.
07:41Definitely been through it all with him.
07:44Good and bad.
07:45You know, very good and very bad.
07:49At this time in 2009, I was full-time referee for CZW.
07:54You know, I was in the ring.
07:58This was a really significant match because Nick Gage was peaking in popularity at this time.
08:03He was as popular as he had ever been in his career.
08:05And Thumbtack Jack, I mean, he was an import from Germany.
08:09You know, he was an international deathmatch star.
08:11So it was really a clash at that time of, like, the two most popular deathmatch wrestlers.
08:16They imported some f***ing deuce bank from f***ing Germany.
08:21They're talking all this s*** about Thumbtack Jack.
08:23He's tough as hell and all that s***.
08:25And I'm thinking, man, this is my f***ing house.
08:28This is my backyard.
08:29And I'm gonna smash this m***h.
08:30You know what?
08:33He looks like a f***ing pussy, man.
08:38200 light tube deathmatch.
08:39Entire ring surrounded by vertical light tubes stuck in between the ropes.
08:44Complete pit of glass.
08:51I remember him getting whipped into the ropes, which were, of course, surrounded by tubes.
08:56I remember that.
08:59And at first it didn't look anything like out of the ordinary.
09:03Thumbtack Jack.
09:05But one of the video guys, they all reacted immediately.
09:12What happened was the light tube, when I hit it, the top of it snapped.
09:17So the bottom of it's sticking there.
09:19And I just hit it the wrong way, and then bang, got me.
09:25Looks down, lifts his arm, and just...
09:31This is buckets of blood.
09:33I'm like, ah, f***, I'm f***ed up.
09:34I know my body.
09:36Sliced my arteries.
09:37He's cut.
09:38Bad, bad, bad, bad.
09:40But we've got Nick Gage who's been seriously, seriously injured.
09:43Thumbtack Jack.
09:45Frustrated at this turn of events.
09:47John! John!
09:48A guy like Nick Gage, to just get up and walk off like that, you know it had to be
09:53serious.
09:55The nurse lady, he wanted her to tape him up, so he could go back to the ring.
10:00Tape that f***ing s*** up.
10:01I'm not losing to this dude.
10:03Get that s*** up, y'all.
10:04Lay down first.
10:05Get that s*** up.
10:05Put a bunch of towels in there and tape it up.
10:07No!
10:08I got one move, man.
10:09No.
10:10No.
10:10This is your last move, man.
10:11Can I act like I'm trying to go out there and you guys bring me back now?
10:16For Nick, it's not registering, you know.
10:18Like, I'm gonna prove how tough I am by going back out to the ring and finishing this match,
10:21even if it means I have to die out there.
10:23Let me go out there.
10:24No.
10:25Nicky, no.
10:25Get the s*** on cavern that I f***ing want to go out there, smart mark.
10:29I know.
10:29I understand.
10:30Put the s*** on cavern.
10:31Nick, I understand.
10:42I was in the back, you know, of course getting bandaged up and s*** like that.
10:45Cut that s*** camera.
10:47Cut the camera.
10:48Then they're like, well, they're trying to get the ambulance on the s*** property, but
10:51the ambulance can't get on the property, so we need a helicopter.
10:55Here comes the s*** helicopter landing down.
11:00And I get in the helicopter and that's the last thing I remember.
11:12The nurse that said, you flatlined when you were in there and the doctors brought you back because you lost
11:17too much blood.
11:18Nicky died and was legally dead for seven minutes.
11:25He died at a tournament of death.
11:28It's supposed to be a turn of phrase.
11:30You're not actually supposed to die.
11:31And he did.
11:32It just cements and solidifies Nick Gage's spot as a folk hero.
11:41It was probably a boost to his whole character and his allure that you can't kill him.
11:48He says to this day, like, that he's willing and ready to die in the ring if that's what it
11:53comes to.
11:54And I mean, can you doubt him after that?
11:57Was there any part of you that thought that this could be it for you?
12:00No, no way.
12:00No, I don't go out like that, man.
12:02I'm going to do this so I can't do it no more.
12:03I already made my mind up.
12:09I've been wanting to do this since I was probably nine years old, man.
12:14Grew up in National Park, New Jersey, born and raised.
12:16I represent that shit to this day.
12:20National Park, New Jersey is a low income, probably middle class, you know, in the 80s and stuff like that.
12:26I was raised by a single mother, Patty Dukes.
12:29Pat Wilson, man.
12:30I love her.
12:31This is my mom, man.
12:33Patty Dukes.
12:34Mom Dukes.
12:35The whole town called her Patty or Mom Dukes.
12:38Beautiful lady.
12:39I just wanted to show everybody that I was raised the right way, you know what I mean?
12:42Oh, my gosh.
12:43His mom was everything to him.
12:46Everything.
12:46Everything.
12:47My name is Sandra Culbertson, and we went to the same high school.
12:52Been with him for 20 plus years now.
12:55His mom was literally breaking up our debt.
12:58It could be the worst day possible.
13:00She'll just come walking in the back.
13:01Hey, guys.
13:02I got your food.
13:03Let's eat.
13:04And she was just a very, very happy person.
13:07Very happy.
13:08And loved Nick.
13:09Loved Nick to death.
13:11My mom had breast cancer, so we did the walk every year.
13:15For the breast cancer walk in Philadelphia, man.
13:17Because I just love her.
13:18And I just wanted to, you know, it's your mom, man.
13:22You appreciate her.
13:24I had a brother, Chris.
13:26We'd just go around, you know, being crazy.
13:28Play football.
13:29Play baseball.
13:30We were always the guys who, like, get in the fight and the football.
13:34Oh, there goes the Wilson brothers again in their fist fighting.
13:39My dad was a big wrestling fan, so, you know, that's where it comes from.
13:42We would spend, like, weekends at his house, and he's watching the Saturday Night Maid event.
13:47We don't have to turn it on.
13:48Dad's got it on already.
13:50You know what I mean?
13:51And sometimes I think he regrets that shit, you know, when he was alive.
13:54Because, man, we tore his house up.
13:57Yeah.
14:01We had a backyard company called Hardcore Backyard Wrestling.
14:07We would videotape our matches and shit like that.
14:11One time we took barbed wire from a farm that we bought, and we'd wrap barbed wire around the poles,
14:17and we'd have a no-rope barbed wire match on the trampoline.
14:23And so what's influencing you guys to, like, use barbed wire in that way?
14:28Um, probably Japanese death matches we started figuring out.
14:32Cactus and Jack King!
14:37Once I seen Terry Funk and Cactus Jack doing her thing.
14:44The blood, the violence, the way they told the story.
14:47We separate the men from the old bastards!
14:52It was on, man.
14:53I'm like, we got to do this.
14:54This is what I want to do, man.
14:56This is awesome.
14:57Then we started getting into ECW.
14:59The love of good!
15:02ECW's the reason why I f***ing love doing this shit today.
15:05Out of that came CCW.
15:08And Somersault said, Clyde!
15:10And now we're taking it to a whole nother level of craziness that's never been seen in the United States
15:15before.
15:16Every single CCW tournament of death.
15:19Driven by their passion for the hardcore style of ECW, the Wilson brothers brought their backyard wrestling roots into upstart
15:27promotion combat zone wrestling as Nick Gage and Justice Payne.
15:35Justice Payne!
15:38ECW was so offended by it.
15:41Oh, these guys might get hurt.
15:45Light tubes are too dangerous?
15:47Get the f*** out of here.
15:48They're just mad if a new generation came along who's tougher and f***ing crazier than they are.
15:54I love it.
15:55It's a very dangerous situation in there.
15:57When he's in the ring, I'm literally right there.
15:59I'm always in the front.
16:00I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna kill him.
16:03I'm right there in the front.
16:04I'm just one of the fans.
16:09Oh, man, it's gotta be at least, at least a hundred thousand of them.
16:13When he told me he was gonna get lit on fire, I told him not to do it.
16:17I think he just told me he wasn't gonna do it so that I wouldn't be, like, freaking out.
16:22And so when it happened and I saw the fire coming out, I'm like, oh, no, here we go.
16:31I saw him get lit on fire.
16:33And I think someone told him, like, stop, drop, and roll.
16:36So I stopped, drop, and roll.
16:38Get this, that s*** don't even f***ing work.
16:41I was still on fire and then they put me out.
16:45And then finally he took off his shirt and it finally went out.
16:51After that, I went into the back.
16:53I never do that.
16:54It's one thing I don't do.
16:55I do not run into the back.
16:56I'll wait to the end of the show.
16:57But this is one thing I did go in the back for.
17:00Isn't that cute, Kelly?
17:01Is he getting ice?
17:01Is he getting ice back?
17:03He said he was okay, but I knew he wasn't.
17:05It burns.
17:07It's like bubbling and s***.
17:08It's s***.
17:09It's like guilt s***.
17:10That heat was tough.
17:11I finished that match.
17:18How do you think he was dealing with all of the pain and injury?
17:25Well, he was definitely not going to physical therapy or exploring yoga opportunities.
17:38I was popping heavy f***ing, you know, prescription pills, man.
17:42I was popping perks and s*** like that.
17:47I'm Nicky, so I go into a f***ing doctor's office.
17:51Oh, give me 30 f***ing rocks sets.
17:55Then they would deal my teeth.
17:56It's crazy.
17:57And like, I've never been a druggie guy ever.
18:00And then like, you know, when you don't have one, you're like, whoa, what the f*** is that?
18:06At some point, OxyContin got hard to get because it's very expensive.
18:12He can walk down the street and get heroin for $10 a bag and get all the same effects and
18:20get more of it.
18:21How much of his income would you say would go to drugs?
18:23All of it.
18:25Definitely all of it.
18:26You know, I looked at him like a guy who was in trouble and he had no choice.
18:29And now he's been in this really bad situation.
18:32It is what it is.
18:33I mean, he was an addict.
18:34That was basically his life.
18:41And here we go, fans.
18:43Our main event tonight.
18:44As Nick Gage descends deeper into addiction, his career and his relationship with his brother Chris begins to deteriorate.
18:52Face to face in the ring, Chris's anger and frustration is about to erupt.
18:57Let's just put it this way, man.
18:58I went out there and I wasn't on top of my game.
19:02And I just didn't remember how to do stuff.
19:06Okay.
19:08I guess my brother was a little upset in the ring.
19:11So he said, wake the up.
19:14And literally slapped me like a bitch.
19:16Current champion, Justice Bank.
19:18So I'm like, damn, man.
19:20What the ?
19:21The softball.
19:22Justice Peyton.
19:23That hard left.
19:25The head of his brother.
19:26The match started and a few minutes later, Chris just grabbed him and put him in his finisher, the pain
19:33thriller.
19:33The pain thriller.
19:34The pain thriller.
19:34Oh.
19:36You've got to be kidding me.
19:38What?
19:40Pretty much dislocated, almost broke my shoulder.
19:43I was very, very upset about that.
19:45That was very weird.
19:47It was like at the beginning of the match.
19:49Like, aren't you going to have a match before you start working towards the finishing sequence?
19:53Come on.
19:54Come on.
19:54Come on.
19:59Come on.
20:01After falling out with his brother, it seems Nick has reached rock bottom.
20:05But things get even worse when his mother loses her battle with breast cancer.
20:11And how did that affect you?
20:13Oh, not good, you know.
20:22Now that my mom died, I didn't give a , man.
20:24I didn't really care.
20:25And then I was starting to, you know, starting to get into that shit.
20:30You know?
20:31Bad combination, bro.
20:33You know?
20:35Over the next few years, Nick spirals further into desperation and finds himself on the verge of homelessness.
20:42So at this time, I pretty much didn't have no friends or family no more.
20:46You know?
20:47My mom passed away.
20:48My dad passed away.
20:49I didn't talk to my brother.
20:51I didn't talk to nobody, man.
20:53So I'm in the hood and I move in with a girl's mom.
21:00And I'm doing nothing, man.
21:01I'm sitting on the couch doing nothing, man.
21:04And then one day she freaked out and kicked us both out in the cold air.
21:11At that point in time, we weren't really into going to work, having money and paying bills and stuff like
21:16that.
21:17We didn't care.
21:17We did not care at that point.
21:19We did not care.
21:22I was going out of town.
21:24And for some reason, my trip got cut short.
21:27You know, I walked up to my door and my door was like unhinged open.
21:31And I was like, you know, is there somebody here?
21:35I saw two people sleeping on the floor.
21:38And I was like, oh, my God, that's Nick and his girlfriend.
21:43And, I mean, I was pissed.
21:45him, man.
21:46Kicked me out of his house.
21:47It was 10 degrees out.
21:49So now I'm angry and upset and I need money and I got nowhere to go.
21:56So that leads to, you know, the day of.
22:11I need the money, man, and I'm freezing and everybody's kicking me out.
22:15So let me go get mine.
22:18So I'm walking down the street and I see this bank.
22:21And I look around and I'm like, ah, and I left.
22:25I pussied out.
22:28So I'm walking down the street like, motherfucker, man.
22:30You pussy, man.
22:32So I showed up at the next bank and I went right in that bitch, man.
22:36I wrote the note, handed it to her.
22:39I have a gun.
22:40Give me all your money.
22:46Hurry the up.
22:48I had to lose my temper a little, you know, just take it too long.
22:53She handed me the money and I ran all the way to my boy's house, man.
23:01My front door opened.
23:03He just walked into my kitchen and dropped a bunch of money on my kitchen counter.
23:08And I was like, you know, what is that?
23:13He said to me, I just robbed a drug dealer.
23:15And then I looked at the money and we're talking brand new, crisp $20 bills.
23:20And I said, did you just rob a bank?
23:23So I'm at home and I get a call.
23:27Man, you got to check your email, man.
23:29You just got, you got to look at it.
23:31And I get on a computer and I open this email.
23:33And it's a picture of him like at the bank lobby.
23:36And it's Nick Gage, clear as day.
23:46I don't even think I realized the camera was there.
23:48I think I was just looking up for some reason, man.
23:50But I looked right in that bitch.
23:53This was a spur of the moment thing, as you can see.
23:56They didn't even have a mask on.
23:58Nick Gage always comes to the ring with a handkerchief on his face.
24:03Like he's going to rob a train.
24:04And the time that he chooses to not wear the mask is when he actually robs a bank.
24:12They actually found out on the newspaper.
24:15And his face is on the front of the page.
24:17And I'm like, what?
24:19I just didn't know what to say.
24:21And I'm like, what happened?
24:23And he told me.
24:25And I just, I was with him though.
24:27I didn't leave him.
24:28I didn't turn him in.
24:29I was just with him.
24:30Whatever he does, I'm with him.
24:32After the robberies, I'm like, we got to get out of here.
24:35So we went to Atlantic City.
24:37My only objective is to spend this money.
24:47On the run from the law, Nick Gage and his girlfriend, Sondra, head to Atlantic City.
24:53Without an end goal in sight, they enter a casino with one objective.
24:58I'm thinking, you're going to prison, but at least ball out for like a week.
25:05This was a tough situation for me because I'm not going to be a snitch and I'm not going to
25:09rat him out.
25:10But I told him, when you're ready to turn yourself in, let me know.
25:13And you know, I spoke to him every day and it was, all right, are you ready?
25:17No?
25:18All right.
25:18I'll talk to you tomorrow.
25:20That went on every day for, I don't know, eight, nine days.
25:22And then he called me and he said, I'm done, I'm ready.
25:28I drove to Atlantic City and I picked him up.
25:31I took him to Burger King and he got his favorite, he got a Whopper.
25:37And then it was, I guess this is it.
25:39I drank a 40 and I smoked a couple blunts and walked in and turned myself in.
25:47In the state Supreme Court of Camden, New Jersey, Nick pleads guilty to second degree bank robbery
25:53and is sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison.
26:01They took me up to 3 North Sea, which is a murder block, gang block and a gun block.
26:10So they put me in there, right?
26:12And they just go, go find a bed.
26:16Go find a bed, right?
26:18It's harder than you think, man.
26:21Chris never visited me at all.
26:23No phone calls, no nothing.
26:26I visited him regularly from day one until the day he walked out.
26:30I honestly felt like he was like a brother to me.
26:33But Chris looked down on him.
26:35He thought it was shameful, you know?
26:37He's a f***ing criminal, you know?
26:39My brother's a criminal.
26:40He got himself into this mess and he can get himself out of it.
26:45So I'm just trying to get everything together.
26:47All of a sudden I started getting non-stop f***ing fat, man.
26:52From fans that don't know me from a f***ing lick.
26:56Keep your head up, man.
26:57You'll get out soon, man.
26:58Stay focused.
27:00And I realized, man, people love me, man.
27:03And it's not just a couple people.
27:04It's like a masses of people.
27:06They really sent a letter.
27:08It's no joke.
27:09That's what happened.
27:10That's what kept him pushing.
27:11It was really amazing how many people really looked up to him.
27:16This is just a stack that came out of one box of letters, you know, that he had gotten and
27:20saved.
27:21I don't think he realized the impact that he had on people.
27:25There were three things I wanted to do.
27:27I wanted to come out and show everybody, look, I changed my body, I changed my mind, I changed my
27:31soul.
27:32And then I wanted to put f***ing death match wrestling back on the map, man.
27:37And I started training, training hard.
27:41I mean, he went from eating Burger King Whoppers to exercising hardcore twice a day, every day.
27:47On March 31st, 2015, just over four years into his sentence, Nick Gage is released on parole.
27:56That whole night I didn't sleep.
27:57I was so excited.
27:58We went, like, an hour before he actually came out.
28:01So we're, like, looking and looking and looking.
28:03And finally I see his big old head walking through, like, the thing.
28:06As soon as he opens up that door, I just took off running.
28:09And it was just one of the happiest days.
28:13Finally they give you release papers.
28:15And then finally you go through them gates.
28:17And then, you know, you got your girl coming running up.
28:19Boom.
28:21And Lauderdale was there.
28:22And, you know, and s***, man.
28:23It was awesome.
28:24Take your s*** off.
28:26Take it off.
28:27Jesus Christ.
28:29Take that stuff off, man.
28:31We threw that stuff all in the trash can and everything.
28:33And brought him to his other clothes.
28:35Put him back on.
28:36It was cool.
28:37It was cool.
28:38The king is f***ing home.
28:43I just spent four and a half years of f***ing hell.
28:48And you know what?
28:49I was f***ing okay with it.
28:52While Nick Gage returns to raucous crowds all over the country,
28:57Brett Lauderdale becomes the owner of Game Changer Wrestling.
29:00His goal is to launch Nick to headliner status.
29:03And as a tribute to him,
29:05Brett's first ever event would be a death match tournament,
29:08appropriately dubbed the Nick Gage Invitational.
29:13The day before the Nick Gage Invitational,
29:17I don't know, I want to say maybe around 2.30 or 3 p.m.,
29:19I called his phone and somebody close to him answered
29:23and was crying, saying they got him, they took him.
29:26And they f***ing took him and put him in the car and he's gone.
29:38He was doing really good for a while.
29:41And then, you know, he definitely fell into some bad habits again.
29:50You can't, you know, you can't run away from them problems.
29:53They're just, they're just folly.
29:57They brought me in for the drug test and then I tried to falsify urine.
30:01And they caught me, you know?
30:03Did he tell you what happened?
30:04Yeah, he did.
30:05Okay.
30:06Yeah, he told us that he got caught with using someone else's.
30:08Right.
30:09Yeah.
30:11That's part of it.
30:13I think there was more to it than just having a jar of somebody else's piss.
30:18He may or may not have also tried to use some sort of device.
30:22I don't know.
30:23And they caught him.
30:24And that was it.
30:29How do you react to this?
30:31You know, I was angry.
30:32Like, you f***ing stupid mother f***er.
30:34Like, you had everything here and you couldn't keep it together, you know?
30:37And you're in jail right now.
30:40After being a free man for only a few months,
30:43a parole violation sends Nick back to prison for almost another two years.
30:48Welcome to Game Changer Wrestling!
30:50While Nick serves his sentence,
30:52Game Changer Wrestling grows to become the premier promotion for Deathmatch Wrestling.
30:57Determined to give Nick yet another chance,
31:00Brett Lauderdale continues to make plans for his return.
31:05The second time, I think I was way more confident that he was going to stay out this time.
31:10What's going on, Nick?
31:11What's up, man?
31:12And also, it helped that GCW was, like, a thing now.
31:15Like, we were among the industry leaders.
31:17So, not only did he have a home to come back to,
31:20but he was right back on the big stage.
31:26His popularity grew while he was gone.
31:28Like, there was no forgetting about Nick Gage.
31:31Fans were righting me for seven years.
31:33I was locked up.
31:33Just keep your head up.
31:34So, I wanted to come out and, you know, my gang be together, man.
31:39So, I came up with the Murder That Kill Gang.
31:43Murder That Kill Gang, that is my fans.
31:46It means something to my heart, you know what I'm saying?
31:51I didn't realize how popular I was.
31:54Man, there's MDK everywhere, man.
31:56It's like, MDK Australia, MDK Europe, MDK.
32:00Man, whole 50-state MDK, man.
32:03MDK.
32:04MDK.
32:06MDK.
32:07MDK!
32:07MDK!
32:07While the MDK gang continues to grow worldwide,
32:12Bret is arranging one of the most bizarre death matches in wrestling history.
32:16How did this match with David Arquette come about?
32:18Ah, the match with David Arquette.
32:20I knew you were going to answer this one.
32:28I'm David Arquette, former WCW champion.
32:33You can't take that away from me.
32:34I'm sorry.
32:35Arquette pairs off with Bischoff in the ring.
32:38During WCW's decline in the year 2000,
32:42while promoting the movie Ready to Rumble,
32:44David Arquette won the Heavyweight Championship
32:47in a moment that will forever live in wrestling infamy.
32:50He's over towards Arquette.
32:51One, two, three.
32:52What?
32:55What started as a rating stunt would cause wrestling fans
32:59to hold a grudge against Arquette for nearly two decades.
33:03Guess what the world?
33:04He can't believe it.
33:06They won't get it.
33:07Not the world right.
33:09Most of the audience hated it.
33:11They really thought it was disrespectful to the belt.
33:14Wrestling was something that was unfinished for me.
33:18A true wrestling fan at heart,
33:20Arquette was determined to earn the respect of fans
33:23and spent years preparing for his return to the ring.
33:27When I came back, they said,
33:29you wouldn't wrestle Nick Gage.
33:30And I didn't know who Nick Gage was.
33:33And I looked him up.
33:35I thought this is kind of the perfect place
33:37to prove at least that I'm tough enough.
33:39I just didn't really want to be a joke anymore.
33:42Arquette made it clear that not only was he down to wrestle Nick,
33:45he was down to have a death match.
33:47Are you sure he wants to do a death match?
33:49You know, does he know what it is?
33:52And he said, yeah.
33:53So I said, all right.
33:54So we went out to LA, you know, the day before the show.
33:57We went out, all had steaks on Arquette.
34:00We met at Musso and Frank's.
34:03I'm from Los Angeles, so I wanted to have proper lunch
34:06at the oldest restaurant in Hollywood.
34:08I said, listen, this shit is not fake.
34:11This shit is real, that glass is real.
34:13You're gonna bleed.
34:15Are you sure you want to do this?
34:16I knew it was real glass.
34:18I knew it was dangerous.
34:20I'm crazier than the next person.
34:22So I was into it.
34:23But I clearly said at that steak dinner, don't cut me.
34:27I'm an actor, so don't cut me.
34:29I know I'll bleed, but don't cut me.
34:31So I was like, all right, no problem, man.
34:33But you gotta know, man, this is what I do, okay?
34:37And I'm not gonna go soft on you.
34:39My other guys are nervous because it's David Arquette
34:41and he's an actor.
34:43I'm just thinking, like, I'm gonna whoop his ass.
34:48From Hollywood, California,
34:55David Arquette!
35:08You know, I was supposed to hit him a couple times, like, badly.
35:14Oh, my God.
35:18And then he was like, then I'll hit you for real.
35:22Oh, my God!
35:24He just snuffed David Arquette!
35:26This is supposed to be a go all out.
35:28Like, him freaking out,
35:30knocking me to the outside and just diving through the ropes.
35:33Beautiful!
35:34All that shit's him, man.
35:36That wasn't no playing out shit.
35:37This guy's willing to do anything!
35:40Holy shit!
35:41He started, like, laying in a little and I'm like,
35:44you know what?
35:44I'm about to take it to the next level.
35:47Oh, no, Gage!
35:49Shot color!
35:51Nick Gage!
35:52Going for blood!
35:54Oh, no!
35:55Oh, my God!
35:56Pizza cutter!
35:58Demanding the audience film this!
35:59There was a pizza cutter involved.
36:02I was like, you won't even feel.
36:03And I was like, this asshole.
36:06What the are you doing, Nick Gage?
36:08But I'm like, I'm feeling like my forehead's cut clean open.
36:13They put it in my mouth, too.
36:15Nick Gage, no!
36:17At this point, I'm not having the trust that you need in a wrestling ring.
36:21So, kind of like building up to being pissed.
36:25David Arquette, probably thinking about his spa,
36:29his private air-conditioned garage.
36:31I got a piece of a light tube, right?
36:34I smash it over its head.
36:37Oh!
36:38He's starting to bug out a little bit.
36:39Oh, my God!
36:40No, no, no!
36:42He stabbed him in his neck.
36:43I was like, oh, shit.
36:44Did I just kill David Arquette?
36:53I'm going to kill David Arquette.
36:53Everybody's just like, oh, shit, we're going to watch a guy die.
36:57Arquette trying to keep the blood in it looks like holy shit!
37:00I've been doing this so long that I looked at his neck
37:03and there was nothing squirt, and he was fine.
37:04He had a little bit of a cut and a leak,
37:06and I was like, oh, he's all right.
37:07Let's keep going.
37:11When I kept through that chair, I was thinking like,
37:13He just f***ed up, and Nick's about to beat the s*** out of David Arquette for real.
37:18I hit him with a judo throw, and I sat him down, and I said,
37:21stay down, or I'm going to f***ing hurt you.
37:24Here we go!
37:27Gage! Gage just got him!
37:32Holy s***!
37:33He did good, man, until he started being a f***ing crybaby.
37:36He ran in the f***ing Luke Perry's car and got out of there,
37:39and I haven't talked to him since.
37:40How were you feeling after the fight yesterday?
37:43Interesting.
37:44You look in pretty good shape.
37:47The next day, they got me a TMZ, and I was still pissed
37:51because things went out of control.
37:53I was in over my head.
37:55I shouldn't have been there in the first place,
37:57but until you're in a death match, you don't know what a crazy death match is.
38:01Is the leader of the MDK gang...
38:04Nick's gruesome win over Arquette went viral,
38:07becoming one of the most talked-about events in wrestling that year.
38:11As Nick travels the country, his diehard fan base continues to grow,
38:16and his personal and professional life were finally trending in the right direction,
38:21until tragedy struck again on a cold January morning.
38:30When we found out about his brother,
38:33he was actually leaving to go somewhere.
38:36I forget where it was.
38:37And he called me up.
38:38He was very, like, frantic on the phone.
38:41I'm like, what are you... what's going on?
38:43And I was heading into work, and he told me,
38:44and I'm like, what do you mean?
38:59Hey, listen, I'm going to tell you the truth.
39:01I swear to God, I didn't feel like wrestling.
39:03I didn't feel like coming here, doing this shit, talking to the people.
39:07I didn't feel like doing it.
39:08When I got here, I got in front of all you crazy bull****s.
39:13I swear to God, that made me forget about the situation,
39:16and it made me forget about what my brother did to himself.
39:19So I want to say thank you to you people.
39:29My brother jumped off the bridge, the Walt Whitman Bridge,
39:33if you guys ain't familiar with that bridge.
39:38You know, he just left a note saying, sorry, that's it.
39:44My understanding is he stole a car,
39:47and the cops threw the lights on,
39:49and before they could get to him, he ran and jumped off.
39:53That was it.
39:55Just, it's really upsetting,
39:56because Chris always had his stuff together.
39:59Like, he had the car, he had the wife,
40:01he had the kids, he had the job.
40:02I've known Chris for so many years.
40:05I never thought Chris would have done it.
40:07It was, uh, it was shocking, actually.
40:11For years, Nick was the one who was in trouble.
40:14And then, as the years progressed,
40:17they totally flipped positions.
40:18There was serious mental health issues,
40:21serious substance abuse problems,
40:23um, to the point of the family leaving.
40:28And Nick would tell me crazy things.
40:31He would be insisting that there was somebody coming for him,
40:34the cops are coming, the FBI is coming,
40:36and serious shit like that.
40:37That was the first time that I had ever really felt that,
40:41you know, sensed that kind of emotion and feelings from Nick,
40:43that, like, this really did affect him, you know?
40:46Yeah, I think deep down and in reality,
40:48probably some regret.
40:54The bridge he jumped off of is behind my house.
40:57So as soon as I come out of my house,
40:59I see the bridge every day that my brother's jumped off of.
41:02So I kind of say a prayer for him,
41:04just asking, you know,
41:05what's up, Chris, and shit like that.
41:07Just like, damn, man,
41:08everybody that you grew up with in your household is gone,
41:13and it's just you rocking it.
41:15Just going to keep moving forward, man,
41:17make them proud.
41:18It's the only thing I can do.
41:20Do you think that Nick's story is one of redemption?
41:24Who's to say what redemption is?
41:26Like, what's the finish line for Nick Gage?
41:29When is this all a success?
41:30I mean, you could say right now it's a success,
41:32but, I mean, he's got to finish it out now
41:36for the rest of his life.
41:37In the traditional sense, I mean, you know,
41:39in the traditional addict sense,
41:41like, every day is like a battle, you know?
41:44And some people aren't always up for that battle
41:46every single day.
41:52Time's ticking, you know?
41:55I already know in my mind
41:57that I'm going to go out young.
42:00Do I have a death wish or not like that?
42:03No.
42:03But I feel like I'm going to die sooner than later.
42:06I believe that.
42:09But you're cool with that?
42:11Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely cool with that, man.
42:12You know?
42:14Just, I'd rather die a good way
42:16than a bad way, you know what I mean?
42:18Right.
42:18Yeah.
42:25But I'll tell you what,
42:26I'm 40 years old,
42:27and I'm still going hard, man.
42:35He's not going to stop.
42:37And I'm not saying he should,
42:38because he's got the number one talent you need.
42:41It's not biceps, it's not abs,
42:43it's the ability to connect.
42:45Vince McMahon would kill
42:47to have one person
42:49with that connection with the audience
42:51that Nick Gage has.
42:52I kind of think his story
42:53is just kind of getting started.
42:55If I didn't have him,
42:56I don't know where I would be right now.
42:58I really do not know.
43:00He is my everything.
43:01He really, really is.
43:02He's my best friend, so.
43:03He gets on my nerves,
43:04don't get me wrong,
43:05but he's,
43:06he's all right.
43:07He's an all right guy,
43:08I'll tell you that much.
43:09He's all right.
43:10And he's going to keep going,
43:11he's going to keep going
43:12until, I guess,
43:13until he turns like 60,
43:15maybe he can't go anymore,
43:16I don't know.
43:17But...
43:20them fans are awesome, man.
43:23And I think I represent
43:24for like some of them people
43:26out there who's gotten in trouble,
43:28who went through some things
43:29and then trying to bounce back.
43:31Well, look at Gage,
43:32he bounced back like that.
43:34All that shit keeps me going
43:35and I'm proud of it.
43:38And that's the MDK gang, man.
43:40This is for his brother,
43:43Nick Gage with the Pain Thriller.
43:45One, two, three!
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