Dark Side of the Ring 2x8

1. In 30 years, I have never seen more exciting matches.

2. Down for the count, one, two, three!

3. In 1990, the Universal Wrestling Federation

4. appeared out of nowhere,

5. ready to make a major impact on the wrestling world.

6. The UWF was a dream.

7. We have the finest talent anywhere in the world.

8. The UWF brought together a roster of all-time greats and future stars.

9. It was an ambitious dream of an outsider,

10. a man named Herb Abrams.

11. The purpose is to have wrestling go back to basics,

12. the way wrestling used to be.

13. I really believed that I was stepping into something new and cutting edge

14. with Herb Abrams and the UWF.

15. UWF! Number one, baby! Number one!

16. While his lofty vision put the UWF on a path to success,

17. Herb's dream became everyone else's nightmare.

18. I am going to get you once and for all!

19. From the get-go, the show was a joke.

20. The money wasn't legit.

21. Herb had squandered millions of dollars.

22. All hell broke loose.

23. Herb was like a ball of fire, just looking for oxygen.

24. SWAT teams are gonna be knocking down the door here.

25. I couldn't even fathom it.

26. I heard that he was covered in Vaseline and cocaine. It was crazy.

27. You start at the bottom. Work your way up.

28. Herb started at the top and worked his way down.

29. Now, for the first time ever,

30. the true story behind the monumental downfall

31. of Herb Abrams.

32. You can't get any darker than the story of the UWF

33. and Herb Abrams. You can't.

34. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF dominated professional wrestling.

35. Powered by the vision and expertise of Vince McMahon,

36. no other organization came close to its mainstream popularity.

37. But in 1990, an unknown wrestling fanatic came from out of nowhere

38. to attempt to slay the WWF monster.

39. I mean, I see him so clearly in my mind, like it was yesterday

40. and I cannot talk about Herb without smiling.

41. I am Mick Foley. I am sometimes known as The Hardcore Legend.

42. Look out! All the way to hell! Good God almighty! They've killed him!

43. Herb was a little guy with a big personality.

44. His enthusiasm was contagious.

45. I believe I was at one of John Arezzi's Weekend of Champions.

46. John was one of the first guys who put together wrestling weekends.

47. I'm John Arezzi. I've been in and out of the pro wrestling business,

48. really, since the early 1970s.

49. There was a gentleman looking to start a wrestling promotion

50. and he was a little eccentric.

51. He had really big aspirations.

52. He wanted to launch at the Wrestling Fan Convention.

53. He mentioned money in the organization.

54. When he mentioned names, like Bruno Sammartino,

55. to me, that was legitimacy.

56. For most of the 20th century, Bruno Sammartino was the face

57. of professional wrestling, and one of its first true icons.

58. I called Bruno to verify it. He said he was getting involved with Herb,

59. so, I certainly gave him the time of day

60. and welcomed him to my wrestling fan convention.

61. The Wrestling Fans' Fantasy Weekend event

62. is one of the first fan conventions of its kind and a convenient arena

63. for Herb to approach talent looking for new opportunities.

64. There was a lot of the guys from the northeast,

65. the Cactus Jacks, Sunny Beaches

66. and Herb made a point to introduce himself to almost everybody there.

67. He was looking for talent at the convention. He was recruiting.

68. My name's Rick Allen,

69. formerly known as Sunny Beach in the wrestling world.

70. He was looking to do big things and he goes,

71. "Sunny, we're gonna make it big one day.

72. Just be there for the ride."

73. I didn't aspire to become a professional wrestler.

74. He saw something in me that I didn't even see.

75. He's a hell of a wrestler, this guy.

76. The brand name is "Wild Thing" Stevie Ray.

77. He said, "Stevie, my boy, I'm gonna turn you into a big star."

78. I can't wait to be around this guy.

79. Herb had never wrestled.

80. He had never really experienced anything in the wrestling

81. other than really being a fan.

82. My name's B. Brian Blair. I've been wrestling for a long time.

83. I knew Herb Abrams from the very beginning.

84. He asked me if I wanted to come work for him.

85. I thought, well, you know, this is a great way back to kind of the WWE

86. without the pressure of wrestling 67 days in a row

87. and it was perfect for me.

88. With the exhilaration of an obsessive fan,

89. Herb officially launches the UWF at the convention,

90. with a press conference laying out

91. his grand plans for global domination.

92. It was really designed to introduce his vision

93. and announce some of the performers

94. that would be associated with him, but it turned into a circus.

95. There was an angle between Dan Spivey and B. Brian Blair.

96. - Tables were torn, glasses thrown. - And look at this!

97. He introduced as his booker Black Jack Mulligan

98. who at the time was incarcerated.

99. He mentioned he was using Bruiser Brody as one of his top stars,

100. but Bruiser Brody had been murdered a year ago.

101. It was far-fetched, but it wasn't

102. because the entire wrestling business is far-fetched.

103. His belief in his own words made people around him want to believe

104. and when he tells you, "This is going to be

105. one of the greatest wrestling promotions,"

106. I thought this is the man who's going to mix Hollywood

107. and sports entertainment in a way not even Mr. McMahon had done.

108. Exploding out of the convention,

109. Herb's pure force of personality

110. has bought him a roster of eager wrestlers,

111. each with the high expectations of a man who is a complete mystery.

112. I didn't know a whole lot about who Herb Abrams was.

113. I knew that he was a businessman of some kind.

114. He was working with the stock market.

115. He told me he was in clothing.

116. I have no idea what Herb Abrams did. I really don't know.

117. Herb owned clothing companies in New York City

118. called I'm A Big Girl Now.

119. It was these beautiful dresses that you wouldn't have thought

120. would have been for these oversized women.

121. My name is Lenny Duge.

122. I worked at NBC for 24 years

123. as Head of Post Production and Quality Control.

124. I always wanted to get involved with professional wrestling.

125. When you're a fan, you have that deep desire

126. to want to be on the inside.

127. Herb Abrams was my best friend. We were kindred spirits.

128. Herb was in a pair of jeans, cowboy boots.

129. He was going from the minute I met him.

130. He let me in so quickly because he didn't have a me.

131. He didn't have someone that could do what I did.

132. He believed so much in what he was doing and in what he was selling.

133. Herb Abrams' greatest dream comes to life on October 1st 1990,

134. when the UWF Fury Hour debuts on cable television.

135. There's excitement in the air throughout this crowd.

136. This is the premiere of the UWF.

137. We were in Reseda, California. It was a nice setup.

138. - It was a small venue, sold out. - We believed in Herb's vision.

139. I didn't know where it might take us, but I resolved to enjoy it.

140. between these two guys. This is Cactus Jack

141. and I would rather hurt a man than love a woman.

142. He had guys that had recently parted with WWF

143. and so, they were fresh and hot on the television.

144. Herb Abrams had what I thought was more star power than WWE.

145. Guys like Paul Orndorff, who'd drawn a lot of money.

146. Then he has Steve Dr. Death Williams. Captain Lou Albano.

147. Danny Spivey and then Bob Orton.

148. It brought instant credibility to the UWF,

149. having these big names on board.

150. It's coming, wrestling fans, the Orndorff Pile Driver! Boom!

151. Taking a hands-off approach,

152. Herb empowers his talent with creative freedoms

153. they'd never had before.

154. It was a lot looser in Herb Abrams' territory than in Vince's.

155. You walk liked you did in the army.

156. I went from feeling I had handcuffs on

157. to feeling like I had total freedom.

158. I thought it was something special and I'd got in on the ground floor.

159. I knew that I was heading for stardom, you know.

160. I knew that Herb was gonna give me that big push.

161. Everybody was happy and things were good.

162. With his dream of becoming a big-time promoter within reach,

163. Herb seeks to align with the one man

164. who can fast track his success in the wrestling world.

165. Herb met with Vince McMahon and said to him,

166. "You want the East Coast and the Central and it's all yours.

167. What about if I promote the West Coast for you?"

168. And Vince McMahon blew him off.

169. Rejected by wrestling's king, Herb's attitude towards the WWF

170. evolves into a desire for utter domination.

171. In order to compete, he looks to expand the UWF roster.

172. Do you think they'd let us? You shut up! I'm talking!

173. I am a manger, for God sake!

174. I am the man who has to bring them to glory!

175. I'm Marty Yesberg from Gaffney, South Carolina.

176. And back in the '80s, I was branded The Colonel

177. by Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant.

178. In the dressing room, we kept hearing about this mark out in California,

179. who had tons of money

180. and was putting together a TV show called The UWF.

181. He flew us all out to California.

182. He set me up in this two-bedroom estate hotel,

183. Beverly Hills.

184. It was all that and a bag of chips and we wasn't working for him.

185. Understand, we was just going to meet him. You know, I'm like, wow.

186. That night, he knocks on the door

187. and he has two high-end call girls.

188. We're not talking about South Carolina snaggletooth call girls.

189. We're talking about Hollywood honeys.

190. He brings these girls into my suite that I thought was my suite.

191. I'm drooling all over myself 'cause I'm thinking,

192. I don't even get to see women like this much less, you know,

193. have this delivered to my room.

194. And in the process, he broke out a little mirror.

195. And he had his nose candy with him.

196. The only thing I can think of is, you know,

197. SWAT teams will be knock down the door here in a minute

198. and we got two high-price hookers and cocaine everywhere.

199. I didn't know how to get out. I truly wanted out of that room.

200. I'm in California. I'm on his dime.

201. I can't call the police. Hell, the room's in my name!

202. So, I kind of just sat over in the corner

203. and, you know, I mean, it was like a live pornography session

204. and it was a very long night.

205. This is my pride and joy.

206. This is the original Television Championship belt

207. for Sports Channel. It says UWF on both sides

208. and when you hold it like this, it was, fuck you to Vince McMahon,

209. that's what the FU was standing for.

210. When he would hold it up, Herb would hold it up,

211. he knew that he was telling Vince McMahon to have himself.

212. Herb's vision for the UWF was to put the WWF out of business.

213. I mean, he was that cocky.

214. Herb was doing everything in power to intentionally needle McMahon

215. and to piss him off.

216. He wanted to squash Vince.

217. He wouldn't even be happy with peaceful coexistence.

218. I think he just wanted to put the guy down.

219. With rival WWF far out of view, Herb Abrams takes the opportunity

220. to launch his first attack,

221. bringing in one of Vince McMahon's most prized attractions.

222. Herb calls me and he's so excited. He goes,

223. "Lenny, get here as fast as you can.

224. I'm not gonna tell you who's sitting here, but this is the best thing."

225. Now, when I came out here before, I said I had a surprise.

226. Something special.

227. Something that only Universal Wrestling Federation can handle.

228. The 12th wonder of the world, here he is, Andre the Giant!

229. Yes, this is true. Andre the Giant has signed

230. a long-term contract with the Universal Wrestling Federation.

231. He's not in his prime anymore, as everybody knows.

232. - He will be wrestling, John. - He will be wrestling?

233. They had Andre the Giant.

234. Andre the Giant had come in.

235. It was just colossal to have him walk down to the ring.

236. Even though we maybe had 200, 300 people in the audience,

237. they were all standing and they knew that we had it.

238. Right now I want to ask you one thing. What does UWF mean?

239. And after Andre made that appearance for UWF,

240. Vince McMahon called him and brought him back.

241. The 8th wonder of the world. Andre the Giant!

242. This is going to be very, very interesting.

243. The embarrassment of losing Andre the Giant

244. is an enormous blow to Herb's plan for dominance.

245. Without McMahon's riches, Herb responds

246. by throwing every gimmick in the book to gain the attention of fans.

247. Herb would think of things on the fly, change things on the fly.

248. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a disgrace!

249. I'm reversing the decision!

250. As long as it entertained Herb, he thought it entertained the world.

251. The Viking is back. I'm gonna hurt every pencil-neck every pipsqueak.

252. I want a cage match!

253. Give me a strap match! No holds barred.

254. I don't think he had the knowledge to really take it to the next level.

255. He went for a southside flip and he missed.

256. If you don't understand the psychology and how each guy works,

257. what their strengths and weaknesses are,

258. how to put them together, who they worked best with,

259. then you are never going to be successful.

260. Running out of ideas,

261. Herb turns to yet another new strategy to invigorate the UWF.

262. - What made you come to this... - Who is this Smurf asking questions?

263. I beg your pardon! I beg your pardon!

264. I said, who is this Smurf asking questions?

265. It's interesting what happens to a promotion

266. when the boss becomes the star of the show.

267. Welcome back to another night of The Fury Hour.

268. I'm Herb Abrams. We've got a powerful show...

269. He was writing the checks, so Herb could do anything.

270. It was Herb's world and we were living in it.

271. You think about it! You think about it!

272. You're the one that wanted it and now you've got it!

273. All I saw was money, TV.

274. I was open to anything to get the exposure that I was after.

275. He saw a way to get heat and actually be on camera

276. and have a feud between The Colonel and the owner of the organization.

277. What's Herb doing? Herb took him down!

278. Herb Abrams may have a new career, folks!

279. As long as he was part of it, he would keep me around.

280. Herb Abrams hit him on the head with that cane and another one!

281. Colonel, no one has ever done something like this to me!

282. I am going to get you, once and for all!

283. Herb attempts to get one over McMahon

284. by emulating one of WWF's most lucrative ventures, merchandizing.

285. Everybody's buzzing over the UWF merchandise!

286. Call the UWF PowerLine now.

287. Introducing the UWF Superstars cookies.

288. We've got the Steve Ray "Wild Thing" cookie.

289. The Steve Williams cookie. And coming soon, the Herbie cookie.

290. Herbie cookies. Herbie! Let me repeat that for you, Herbie cookies.

291. He also wanted the ice cream bar, but the cookies, they were great.

292. Now, let's not forget the B. Brian Blair cookie. It's honey-flavored.

293. Herb's in desperate need of a power play

294. when his television contract starts slipping away.

295. The battle crowning the Sports Channel Television Champion!

296. Pay Per View. $14.95. The UWF Beach Brawl.

297. Call your cable operator today!

298. When Herb was putting out a pay-per-view,

299. it seemed like a breakthrough moment.

300. It was proven by the WWF. It was proven by WCW.

301. The majority of their income was through their pay-per-view events.

302. Herb stepping into that arena, maybe he was expecting to roll the dice,

303. get lucky and then finance the whole operation.

304. High expectations for the UWF's inaugural pay-per-view

305. weigh heavily on Herb.

306. Instead of holding the Beach Brawl in a largely-populated area,

307. Herb lands on Palmetto, Florida,

308. over an hour away from the closest major city.

309. Palmetto Manatee Civic Center was a nice venue.

310. WWF does TV tapings out of there.

311. That's why Herb picked that place.

312. Herb said he had every newspaper. He had every radio station.

313. Everyone was gonna give it a push.

314. We're real excited about the Beach Brawl

315. and I would highly suggest that people call

316. to secure Beach Brawl right in their living room

317. because it will be just that, a brawl at the beach.

318. Hopefully, millions of fans watch the show.

319. I go and I look at this building and I know

320. there's no way in hell we can sell this building out.

321. Building was a mince.

322. Building was bigger than any building I had ever seen in my entire life.

323. And I knew damn well that we didn't sell this building out.

324. Somebody screwed up.

325. With the UWF's first pay-per-view event just days away,

326. promoter Herb Abrams indulges in Florida's nightlife scene,

327. letting it get the better of him.

328. People that work hard, play hard. That was Herb Abrams.

329. What was his drug of choice, would you say?

330. Obviously, it was cocaine.

331. There were more drugs back in the late '80s, early '90s

332. than in the history of pro wrestling.

333. There was just debauchery.

334. They stayed up around the clock, partying.

335. It was like one big party for some of the guys.

336. When I got to Florida, he was in his hotel room and he had been partying.

337. I found Herb to be in really, really bad shape and I said to him,

338. "Straighten yourself out. We've got this goddamn pay-per-view to do.

339. You're gonna kill yourself the way you're doing this."

340. "You know, Len, it's the stress I'm under."

341. I said, "When we're finished with this,

342. we got to get you into the rehab.

343. If you don't go into rehab, I can't do this with you."

344. Herb's distractions from the Beach Brawl comes to a head

345. as he arrives to find thousands of empty seats at the arena.

346. They had to cut the auditorium lights down to do the TV show,

347. so nobody'd know there was nobody there.

348. That's pay-per-view. That was a paid-per-view.

349. When I saw small the audience was, I said to Herb, "How can this be?"

350. And he said, "Somebody screwed up."

351. He tried to keep upbeat. He did the ring announcing

352. but I think that hurt him.

353. Brian, I'm gonna go with the Doc.

354. Herb Abrams going with Steve "Dr. Death" Williams.

355. He was running in and out of the bathroom,

356. so, obviously, he was doing a lot of cocaine.

357. It was the worst pay-per-view, I think, in history.

358. He got like a 0.01, you know, buy rate.

359. That equates to maybe 100... It's either 100 or 1,000 people.

360. It was a financial loss, a tremendous financial loss. Nobody was happy.

361. All the guys were talking, you know, between themselves.

362. They thought it might be the end of the promotion.

363. I was a glass-half-full guy. I saw those empty seats

364. and thought that it was a way to do cool stuff.

365. It was really clear that most of his best intentions

366. were not going to come to fruition.

367. With the event of financial disaster and checks for the talent

368. starting to bounce, UWF wrestlers confront Herb face-to-face.

369. I go knock on his hotel door, so I can get my money.

370. And the door opens and there's these two naked girls.

371. So, not like I hadn't seen a naked girl before,

372. but this was a little unusual

373. and then I see Herb on the bed. He's naked and he's laughing.

374. I look over and he's got two big piles of cocaine on each night stand.

375. It's forever etched in my mind.

376. So he tells those girls to leave and as they're getting dressed,

377. Herb writes 'em a check for $2,000 each.

378. I thought, golly, $2,000. You know, this guy's crazy.

379. Blowing money on cocaine and hookers.

380. I mean, how long is this promotion gonna last?

381. I had a guy tell me one day, "You know this is a runaway train?"

382. I said, "No, bro, this is a train wreck

383. and all they're trying to do now is figure out if there's any survivors."

384. Herb Abrams' connections in the wrestling world start to dry up.

385. Many of the wrestlers stiffed on pay are refusing to work

386. while Herb's vices are taking hold.

387. I kept in contact with Herb even when I did not work for Herb.

388. You could see the wear and tear on his face.

389. Between the drugs and the failing promotion,

390. it was really taking a toll on Herb.

391. I don't think he was keeping up with money.

392. I don't think it mattered to him, as long as the party continues.

393. In Spartanburg, South Carolina, he pulled a fast one.

394. So, the day of the show arrives.

395. TV crew gets there about twelve o'clock. Herb's there.

396. And they said, "We need to get a check from you for tonight's show."

397. Herb says, "Let me get everything set up and I'll cut you a check."

398. So, we get up to about 4:30.

399. TV crew came back and said, "Mr. Abrams,

400. if you don't give us some money, we're packing up and leaving."

401. Herb says, "Okay. Let's go up to the office."

402. They call Herb's bank,

403. "Mr. Abrams has multi-millions of dollars in this bank account."

404. Confirms it.

405. TV crews look at each other. They said,

406. "You definitely got the money."

407. He had two bank accounts. He had one that was filthy rich

408. and then he had the other bank account

409. that he cut his check on that had no money in it.

410. Herb worked something out where they accepted a check.

411. And I told them, "Don't accept a check

412. if you don't want to." And they accepted a check.

413. All hell broke loose.

414. Some of the guys that had worked that show

415. threatened to throw Herb off the fifth-floor balcony

416. and that's when reality hit me upside the head. I was hiding out.

417. I had people calling my phone. I mean, they were wanting to kill me

418. for being associated with the company.

419. As UWF leader, Herb Abrams, is now forced

420. to promote shows in smaller towns,

421. his party lifestyle grows more intense

422. and his grasp on reality begins to slip.

423. He would get in this paranoia state where he would swear

424. that there was someone with a bug in his hotel room.

425. I seen him paranoid several times and I'd ask, "What's wrong?"

426. He'd like to look around and say, "I think they're outside."

427. I said, "Who?" He goes, "They're watching us."

428. He would never tell me who it was.

429. I don't know who he felt recorded him,

430. whether it be the police, or hookers, whether it be the pimps.

431. I'm thinking, no one's spying on you, Herb. It's the drugs talking.

432. He would go through the furniture and look for microphones or cameras.

433. He'd tear the furniture to bits.

434. For some reason, he had a fascination with cushions.

435. If there was a zipper, he'd open them up

436. and he'd just start ripping through them.

437. He ripped them out and when it was ripped out, he'd go to the next one.

438. All the feathers were all over the room. He wanted everything.

439. That paranoia thing,

440. it concerned me because there was some truth behind some of that.

441. He would go over to the door and the peephole.

442. He would look through the peephole like this right here.

443. Now, you got to understand, here's this five-foot tall,

444. little naked Jewish fella with cowboy boots.

445. One thing he didn't take off was his cowboy boots.

446. And he's going, "Shh. Shh."

447. I said, "What's wrong, Herb?" "They're coming. They're coming.

448. You can hear them. They're coming. Shh."

449. What are you thinking around this time?

450. Yeah, they're probably coming.

451. Herb's problems escalate further

452. when he tries to put one over on the wrong people.

453. Here he is. He's with this girl who he's supposed to pay up.

454. He's doing this I'll-give-you-a-check thing.

455. No, you're supposed to give me cash. She's not falling for it. Boom!

456. Door breaks down. Thugs there. Herb's eyes pop out.

457. He goes and throws himself through a window.

458. I get a phone call from him in California,

459. running through a neighborhood naked

460. and he's like, "What do I do?

461. And I said, "Make yourself visible. I don't care.

462. Make people see you. Get arrested. Go to jail."

463. That probably wouldn't have been a smart thing.

464. She probably had contacts in there as well, but anyway...

465. Herb's excessive lifestyle has finally reached its limit

466. and his activities in wrestling cease.

467. Any comeback for the UWF seems near impossible.

468. Meanwhile, his old rival Vince McMahon

469. stages one of his flamboyant events yet.

470. The spectacle of WrestleMania IX shows Las Vegas casinos

471. that wrestling can be a huge draw.

472. For Herb, it opens the door to a golden opportunity

473. in the city of second chances,

474. his first event in over a year, the Black Jack Brawl.

475. What better way to showcase your product

476. than in one of the preeminent locations in Las Vegas,

477. or in the world for that matter?

478. For Herb to pull off the MGM grand, it's a wager city, a betting city.

479. So, obviously, he got somebody to take the bet.

480. That was his deal. That's what he did.

481. He would go for the biggest freaking bite he could get and he'd take it.

482. He was spending an enormous amount of money

483. on the talent he was bringing in for it.

484. It was a loaded show with big names and it just seemed like a party.

485. The night before the show, Herb brings me up to his penthouse suite.

486. When I saw the suite, I believed that MGM was gonna be packed.

487. I was thinking 17,000 people packed to the rafters.

488. I mean, this overlooked the whole city.

489. And Herb goes, "Wait until you see this.

490. People are going to lose their minds."

491. He proceeds to pull out a pair of yellow ostrich-skin cowboy boots

492. that have UWF burnished into the leather.

493. The fact that he thought people would lose their minds

494. over a pair of cowboy boots was an indicator that there were issues.

495. Making their way into the luxurious MGM Grand,

496. UWF talent discover once again

497. that Herb's reach is leagues beyond his grasp.

498. It was a gorgeous arena. That night, it was a gorgeous, empty arena.

499. It was sad to wrestle in front of a couple hundred people again.

500. My first match was in Clarksburg, West Virginia and we had 300 people,

501. but we were at the Clarksburg Armory.

502. He didn't seem bothered by what was going on,

503. almost like it was part of the grand plan.

504. Like those 300 people are gonna be checking out my ostrich skin boots.

505. He was a bundle of energy running about.

506. He was involved in everything.

507. It really was an embarrassment

508. and, you know, he was really outrageous during that show.

509. He might have been coked up throughout that entire show.

510. He takes the microphone and he screams into it,

511. "Let's hear it for the Jews!"

512. I mean, in front of the crowd. It was kind of hilarious. It was sad.

513. All in the same way. It was kind of weird.

514. He was acting very strangely. His mannerisms were different.

515. The showdown will take place!

516. Steve "Dr. Death" Williams puts the title on the line

517. against "Malicious" Sid Vicious!

518. I'm happy to have you as champion, but I'm glad you got busted up.

519. Herb's not making many friends tonight.

520. He was twitching and jumping and such, so they all knew he was high.

521. On that night, I had a chance to wrestle my idol, Jimmy Snuka.

522. And when Jimmy Snuka and I start heading into the stands,

523. you know, 16,700 empty seats, I remember Brian Blair going,

524. "What are you doing?"

525. I said, "It's Herb's show. We can do whatever we want."

526. They're way up there!

527. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a double disqualification!

528. The downside is that check did not clear.

529. He wrote me a check. It bounced.

530. It was a failure and, you know, that's got to hurt.

531. He had the weight of the world on his shoulder.

532. I would never have wanted to be Herb Abrams in his position.

533. When he came back, he told me how successful it was.

534. "I had the MGM, Len." "Yeah, you drew 200 people

535. and it was a total clusterfuck."

536. And he says, "Yeah, but I had the MGM."

537. Emotionally and physically defeated by his failure in Las Vegas,

538. Herb's dreams of a wrestling triumph may finally be over.

539. The lifestyle took a toll on Herb.

540. He didn't have the spunk that he had, that electricity,

541. constant, constant spark that made the room glow.

542. You know, it was like he aged ten years in two years.

543. It was such a big deal that he left LA for good.

544. He came back to New York.

545. I thought he was really cleaning himself up.

546. So, I get a phone call from Herb and he goes,

547. "Len, big things are happening."

548. I go, "Are you sure you're straight?"

549. He goes, "Len, I'm perfectly straight."

550. On July 17th 1996,

551. a longtime friend visits Herb at his office in New York City.

552. This is the last-known recording of Herb Abrams.

553. Hey! Kirby!

554. - You want to look around here first? - Yeah.

555. You know, I can't keep the house together myself

556. 'cause it's just too much work.

557. - Are you happy? - Very happy. I've never been happier.

558. - Okay. - Never been happier.

559. Can we film this, or is this supposed to be...?

560. Well, you need to get a release from me.

561. Herb appears to have turned a corner on his sobriety,

562. but his friends are left in the dark as he suddenly disappears.

563. '96, when I was working in the offices with him,

564. sometimes, he'd come in all hung over.

565. Sometimes he wouldn't come in.

566. Sometimes you wouldn't see him for a couple days.

567. So, that was just Herb being Herb.

568. I was working at NBC. I got a call from Stacy, my wife.

569. She said, "Lenny, I have some really bad news.

570. Sunny Beach called and Herb's passed away.

571. Herb's dead. Sunny's crying on the phone."

572. So, I call Sunny Beach and I go, "What is going on?"

573. Nobody knew what happened

574. and then his mother called me up and it was just a blur after that.

575. I must have cried for like two hours.

576. And it was just the hardest thing to call those men

577. and then to hear them all start to cry.

578. These super gargantuan, strong men that you saw fly across the ring,

579. all cry over Herb dying and me not being able to almost talk.

580. On July 23rd 1996,

581. officers respond to an unbelievable scene at the office of Herb Abrams.

582. Details are sparse and those closest to Herb would hear varying accounts

583. of the disturbing events as they unfolded.

584. It was like how someone would say if they walked into his hotel room

585. and saw him, you know, naked. That's a real shock to some people.

586. To me, that was part of his process of what he was going through.

587. The night that he passed away, he was partying.

588. He had a couple of escorts with him.

589. When I heard that he had done so much cocaine that he was whacked

590. and he'd found a baseball bat and started tearing up

591. the room that he was in and just went absolutely berserk.

592. I heard that he was covered in either oil or Vaseline and cocaine.

593. It was crazy and he was chasing hookers with this baseball bat.

594. Somebody told me escorts tried to rob him.

595. That's why he grabbed the bat. That's a sight to see.

596. I call Sunny Beach and I go, "What is going on?"

597. And he says, "Exactly what it says in the tabloids,

598. that Herb was running around naked,

599. smashing a baseball bat on the walls in the office,

600. chasing a couple of hookers with coke all over his body."

601. He had baby oil all over him.

602. I heard somebody called the police on him.

603. There was rumors he got sodomized by police with their batons.

604. I heard that and I'm going, "What the hell?"

605. I guess one of the girls ran out and shut the door.

606. I think he ran into it and that's how he passed away.

607. When the police showed up, I heard he had a massive coronary and died.

608. And what I'm told is that he took his clothes off in the jail

609. and he had a seizure and it killed him.

610. Nobody knew if he was robbed, or beat up with a baseball bat.

611. There was all kinds of stories going around. Nobody knew the true story.

612. Still, we don't know. I wasn't there. Never believe everything you hear.

613. Chasing hookers around and, you know,

614. all greased up and died in the back of a police car.

615. The one thing I know is that Herb Abrams left this world

616. doing what he loved... cocaine and hookers.

617. The wild and conflicting circumstances

618. surrounding Herb Abrams' death overshadow his already extreme life

619. and reach urban legend status within the wrestling world.

620. It kind of became folklore.

621. Everywhere we go, you get a Herb story

622. and some are better than others. Some are true.

623. Some you don't know what to believe.

624. When they told me he died,

625. I said, "No, he's faked his death. He's left. He's left the country."

626. And I hate to talk ill of the dead if he's dead

627. but I had a promotion that was down in Union, South Carolina

628. that ran under UWF

629. and this promoter swore to me that the night of his show,

630. this little fella...

631. came to the show in blue jeans and cowboy boots

632. and asked him what the name of the organization was.

633. And he swore.

634. He said, "I'm telling you. That Herb Abrams showed up at my show."

635. Because it said UWF, this person gave them the riot act

636. that he would sue them

637. and it was as if Herb was legitimately alive.

638. And I said to Marty, "Herb's dead."

639. I question.

640. Herb Abrams couldn't keep quiet for 30 years.

641. Maybe he went under witness protect... I don't know.

642. He would find a way to resurface.

643. No. I find it completely unfeasible that Herb Abrams is alive

644. and not seeking the limelight somewhere.

645. I know that if he was still alive, he would have come and found me.

646. He would have let me know that he was alive.

647. He would have done everything he could to send a message somehow.

648. He wouldn't have stayed away 30 years.

649. He wouldn't have stayed away 30 years.

650. Herb, we miss you. Wish you were still here with us.

651. You know, could have been a great thing.

652. What's that?

653. You know, the UWF and just what he was doing

654. if he would have had a little more backing, a little more support,

655. I think it could have went a long way.

656. And now I'm visiting Herb in a cemetery.

657. "We deal, we cope and we go on."

658. I actually inherited Herb's dog after he passed away.

659. - What was the dog's name? - Cokey.

660. It was snow white the dog and it was laying in the coke.

661. Herb called it Cokey.

662. Herb loved that dog to death.

663. Herb's style was always

664. to be a generous guy, picked up the tab for everything.

665. But again that's easy to do with other people's money.

666. If it was his hard-earned money, he would still do the same.

667. He always tried to prove himself, always wanted to be liked,

668. or always wanted to be somebody to be respected.

669. But we all respected him and liked him.

670. How did you feel after he passed?

671. It was a loss of someone who...

672. someone who believed in me.

673. And...

674. I have to say that he truly brought life.

675. He brought it out of me.

676. Without their falling leader, the UWF faded out of existence

677. and into the memories of those who fought to bring it to the top.

678. Herb should be remembered as a person who tried

679. to do something special in wrestling.

680. I think Herb Abrams is this bizarre character

681. who wanted to become a major player in the pro wrestling business

682. and he was never able to succeed because he got in his own way,

683. from his personal demons to the way he ran his business.

684. The worst thing that Herb Abrams did,

685. whether you hear he was involved with hookers,

686. or coke, or this, or not paying people,

687. the worst thing that Herb ever did to me was die.

688. It's haunted me for the entire time of these 30 years.

689. The only reason that I've ever talked about...

690. It's the first time I've ever let the secret of the UWF out.

691. And you have it, the best that I could give it to you today.

692. He had the enthusiasm and I think the courage to try to live out his dream.

693. He was such a diehard fan. That was his downfall.

694. He would love the negative that's on the internet. He would love it all.

695. - Why is that? - Because he was Herb Abrams.

696. He was a thing unto himself.

697. I believe this is the way Herb would want it.

698. Like maybe he got in death what he didn't have in life

699. and that is he became a legend.

700. Last question. If he was alive today, what do you think he'd be doing?

701. Time.

702. Yeah, there's no way Herb's gonna keep his taxes.

703. I just think he'd be behind bars.

704. He would have hurt no one except himself and I'd be visiting him

705. and we'd be toasting with a glass of milk and Herbie cookies.