Dark Side of the Ring 5x8

1. You want a piece of me, little girl?

2. Well, come and get it, because you're looking at a

3. woman that invented mean!

4. Sherri Martel was a chameleon,

5. a performer who broke new ground for women

6. in the wrestling business...

7. an in-ring natural that made it all look effortless.

8. She was an ace.

9. Sensational Sherri was a top-line ringer.

10. You look at the 80s,

11. and you look at Sherri's role and

12. some of the biggest story lines, the biggest moments,

13. the biggest Pay Per Views...

14. my god, she was a huge star.

15. Inside the ring and outside the ring,

16. and on the microphone, and on camera,

17. she was perfect.

18. She was really the only great female manager

19. of modern times.

20. You, Hulk Hogan, are the one

21. that has a failing career!

22. Whatever the gimmick,

23. she would do whatever it needed.

24. Everybody in the business knew that.

25. But few knew of the sacrifices that Sherri's

26. total commitment to becoming a star demanded...

27. Her demons took over.

28. She said she didn't want to be a caged bird.

29. And the high costs of her trailblazing success.

30. She worked hard, man. She paid a price, too.

31. I knew she was in pain. But, you don't work,

32. you don't get paid.

33. It pushed her the wrong way.

34. No punches pulled! No nothing!

35. It became more obvious that she was having issues.

36. If you can't get your act together,

37. you need to step off team Harlem Heat.

38. There were skeletons throughout her whole life.

39. Some people can get over it, and some people can't.

40. Luna Vachon! Picking Sherri up!

41. And she planted Sensational Sherri,

42. right out here on the outside!

43. Sherri was tough physically,

44. but also she was tough somewhat mentally.

45. She could take some of the abuses she got from the fans

46. or from the other wrestlers, and that's why the guys

47. liked working with her- she was all in.

48. I'm Jim Cornette.

49. For almost 40 years, I've done everything in

50. pro wrestling, especially managing.

51. And Sherri Martel was the first person I ever managed.

52. That I have signed up, and I would like to introduce,

53. Miss Sherri Martel.

54. I've had people ask me, "How did you decide to take

55. Sherri Martel as a client?" Well, I didn't.

56. Can I make an investment, or can I make an investment?

57. In 1982, both of us were just getting started.

58. Sherri was just a rookie wrestler,

59. and we were kind of thrown together just because the

60. promoter knew that I needed some kind of practice.

61. So, we looked at each other and said,

62. "You're greener than goose shit and I'm even worse,

63. how can this possibly go wrong?"

64. We bonded from that moment.

65. Money talks and you know what walks.

66. She wasn't the over-the-top personality that you would

67. see from Sherri Martel 5 years later or 10 years later,

68. but at that point, nobody knew she was

69. gonna be not only one of the...

70. great female wrestlers of the next generation,

71. but also one of the most high profile managers in wrestling.

72. She was just a girl who wanted to be a wrestler

73. at that point.

74. You didn't know how far she was gonna go.

75. I know you all want me, but you can't have me.

76. Sherri was a diva before the divas were divas.

77. Once she got in that ring, different person.

78. Minute she got out of that ring...

79. A sweetheart.

80. I'm Kathy Fitzpatrick,

81. and Sherri Martel was my best friend.

82. We kind of had the same kind of childhood.

83. She didn't know her dad.

84. Her mom would take her to wrestling shows,

85. and she liked it.

86. I met Sherri Martel in 1974.

87. I'd say at the time she was probably 17,

88. and I was 18,

89. and I was a referee for Mid-South Wrestling.

90. And, she was a fan.

91. I remember Sherri being in the front row

92. watching the shows.

93. One night in Lafayette, Louisiana,

94. we met, we talked...

95. and, it moved forward very fast.

96. Aurelian Smith is my legal name.

97. Jake "The Snake" Roberts is how most people might know me.

98. What's going through that evil mind?

99. He did it!

100. Sherri and I spent some raw time together.

101. We were on-again, off-again for about 4 or 5 years.

102. Just her walking into a room, she was a star.

103. I mean, that's just how captivating she was,

104. and she was beautiful, but she wasn't your typical,

105. oh, dainty, pretty girl.

106. She was, "I'll kick your —-ing ass

107. in your face girl."

108. Was I in love with her?

109. I was in love with something.

110. There was that connection.

111. Both of us wanting something that seemed

112. so far out of reality.

113. It seemed like we would never get to the big show

114. or to the, to the WWE, or even Mid-South.

115. He's out for blood, he's not out to wrestle!

116. Sherri Martel wanted to be a wrestling star,

117. from the get-go.

118. In those days, there were no training programs

119. that were advertised.

120. You had to just hang around until somebody was willing to

121. take a chance on you if you wanted to be

122. involved in wrestling.

123. Grizzly Smith at the time was a road agent and

124. a matchmaker for Mid-South Wrestling.

125. And, if he would see prospective talent,

126. he would take an interest in 'em.

127. Dreaming of being a wrestling star,

128. but with no avenue to begin her training, by 1976,

129. Sherri is living and working in New Orleans.

130. She was gorgeous,

131. had a good sense of humour, and...

132. Just, we got along.

133. I'm Leroy Gonzales,

134. and I'm the ex-husband of Sherri Martel.

135. June of 1976.

136. I was in training at a restaurant,

137. and she was sitting in a booth and complained about

138. a roach in the booth.

139. I just looked up at her, and said, "Wow,

140. wish I'd 'a been that roach."

141. So, she says, later on,

142. she says, "Why don't you come and meet me and

143. have a drink?"

144. She was working across the street.

145. I didn't know where I was going, really,

146. and so when I walked in, I realized

147. it was a... club.

148. And, she was on stage.

149. After her dance was over, she came and sat down,

150. we got to talking, and she just...

151. swept me off my feet.

152. She was wanting to get out of that business.

153. And, I bought a trailer and...

154. she moved in with me.

155. One day I come in from work,

156. got on a knee and asked her to marry me.

157. But she'd go out with her girlfriends.

158. And, party, yes.

159. Just about any drug.

160. Marijuana, uppers, Mollies.

161. Downers, Quaaludes, cocaine.

162. We got into some

163. pretty heated discussions about it, and...

164. Yeah, it just never stopped.

165. At that time, she wanted to have a family.

166. And, we had Jarred in

167. July of 1978.

168. You wanted a child, now we have one.

169. Time to put your big girl pants on and

170. take care of the child.

171. Couldn't take it.

172. When she told me she was going to pursue a career

173. in wrestling, I laughed at her.

174. I had no idea.

175. She left when the baby was like 3 months old.

176. And I know it hurt, it bothered her.

177. But, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

178. Sherri moves to Memphis where she again finds work as

179. an exotic dancer while continuing her search for

180. a way to break into the wrestling business.

181. In those days, there was always some independent,

182. or what we call "outlaw wrestlers"

183. around a major wrestling city.

184. There you go, outlaw wrestler.

185. Here, let me slap you and see if you're tough-

186. and what the —- is that?

187. I would've been interested to see if she slapped him back

188. if he could handle it.

189. Great. Ask my sister...

190. Rockin' Robin.

191. The first time I met Sherri was,

192. when she would come in town, often she would stay

193. actually at my father's house.

194. I'm Rockin' Robin, and I defeated Sherri Martel

195. from the WWF Women's World Title.

196. History made here, new ladies' champion!

197. Rockin' Robin!

198. Like a lot of the other girls, if they were in town,

199. I would go and hang out with 'em.

200. I guess try to make 'em more comfortable.

201. My father, Grizz, he had a...

202. liking, you know, very much for younger girls.

203. I mean, he was a no-good son of a bitch, man.

204. Actually, she was a little old for his wheelhouse.

205. I would go to the matches and watch her wrestle.

206. Sherri could be strictly business,

207. even at that young of an age.

208. She had those rough ages,

209. but that's what made her Sherri.

210. After Grizzly saw, "Well, we've given her the basics,

211. she needs to go to work with Moolah

212. to continue her career."

213. The Fabulous Moolah!

214. The Fabulous Moolah was not only the world women's

215. champion wrestler for 30- something years, but also,

216. she booked all the women wrestlers to the various

217. territories around the United States,

218. so if you were an aspiring female wrestler,

219. you almost had to- not only be trained by Moolah,

220. but then stick with Moolah and work as part of her troupe.

221. And, one of the most adhered to rules was that you

222. have to give Moolah her booking kickback...

223. or else wise you're in serious trouble.

224. It was almost like a military school type of

225. operation for lady wrestlers.

226. Moolah had a lot of rules- there were curfews.

227. The girls had to be in at certain times and,

228. Moolah said at the time, "She was just into that night

229. clubbing, and darlin', that was just too much for me."

230. And Moolah asked her to depart the compound.

231. Once Sherri got away from Moolah,

232. she was able to create more of her own personality and

233. get over on her own merits rather than somebody else

234. telling the promoter how to use her.

235. In the months after Sherri leaves her husband and

236. infant son behind to pursue wrestling,

237. Leroy struggles to put their family back together.

238. I was trying to get her to come back home.

239. I hired a private investigator to follow her,

240. and I found out where she was at, and...

241. some of the things that she was up to.

242. I was making a night deposit at the bank and,

243. three big guys walked up to me.

244. And, point blank told me, "Hey, leave Sherri alone.

245. She belongs to us."

246. Had no idea if they were just friends of Sherri,

247. if it had anything with the wrestling association.

248. When they said, "She belongs to us,"

249. well, I- she belongs to wrestling.

250. I left her alone after that.

251. After stints in Japan and Mid-South Wrestling,

252. by the mid 1980s, Sherri Martel is working

253. as a wrestler and manager in the AWA,

254. a regional promotion based in Minneapolis.

255. No!

256. Verne Gagne and the AWA, that's one guy that had never

257. had a relationship with The Fabulous Moolah.

258. That was good for Sherri because he could book

259. any girl or anybody else he wanted to book.

260. Now we know who's a better woman!

261. I told you she was crazy!

262. There were never a lot of lady wrestlers in the AWA,

263. but the ones that they picked and that they did use

264. were very accomplished.

265. And Sherri was physical, and she could dish it out.

266. Beating her over the head with that belt!

267. Sherri knew the business.

268. And, her psychology was on point.

269. Agh!

270. Her timing was incredible.

271. Hey guys, WWE Hall of Famer,

272. known as Alundra Blayze and Madusa.

273. From Robbinsdale, Minnesota, Madusa Miceli!

274. I looked up to her a lot, and kind of trying to emulate

275. what she did and how strong she was,

276. even though she was caving inside in so many ways.

277. I went over to her house, and I remember her

278. saying that her son was away.

279. Having a child in this business was

280. frowned upon for women.

281. So, her son, I felt,

282. was purposely not to the forefront...

283. for she was really trying to do something with her career.

284. I'm Jarred Gonzales.

285. I think he has cancer.

286. Even though he's never said it straight out to me.

287. From what I understand, he lost part of his tongue,

288. due to cancer.

289. Sherri had him, but Pat raised him.

290. Jarred was 3 years old when

291. we told him who his mother is.

292. We started making arrangements

293. for Jarred to fly out and meet her.

294. Supposed to be for a week,

295. and he ended up maybe two days.

296. She'd send him back.

297. It was very difficult for women to even

298. have a relationship, let alone have a child.

299. And, I feel that it really took a toll on women,

300. mentally, because we were trying to...

301. push the envelope harder than we...

302. needed to, to prove a point, to take us seriously.

303. Basically, it's a whole thing in the business, you just,

304. you know, do what you're told and do your job.

305. And hopefully, maybe...

306. you got escalated.

307. And Sherri Martel!

308. She shows me a lot of confidence. I like that.

309. Two of the biggest stars that had worked in the AWA

310. that had since gone to the WWF working for Vince McMahon

311. were Jesse Ventura and Curt Hennig.

312. That's right, McMahon, for once in your life

313. you're right, and I just might let you keep your job.

314. Their word carried a lot of weight with Vince,

315. and they both put good words in for Sherri.

316. As soon as Sherri arrives in the WWF,

317. she is pitted against her former mentor.

318. Fabulous Moolah, reigning women's champion

319. for quite some time, I might add.

320. About 1987, Moolah has had the women's world title for

321. most of 30 years, and she's in her mid-50s.

322. And at that point, a change had to be made,

323. and Vince McMahon was the one to be able to

324. pay Moolah what she required to do that,

325. and they put the belt on Sherri Martel.

326. Moolah well in control of this one.

327. Slams her back in...

328. Oh, look at that!

329. Sherri hooked her, takes her over...

330. - Oh, it's unreal!

331. History's been made here!

332. As a wrestler, that was the peak of Sherri's career.

333. I alone- me, myself, and I-

334. beat The Fabulous Moolah.

335. I pinned her- 1, 2, 3. Right?

336. - That says a lot, the best- - Okay, I'm not finished yet.

337. Rockin' Robin, you can rock and rock and rock around the

338. block all night long, but there'll never come a day

339. in your life to where you can defeat me.

340. They put me on a dark match with Sherri,

341. and then the next thing I know, I'm working in the WWF.

342. Oh, drove her down into the canvas.

343. What a display of strength there.

344. We were wrestling, we were working every night.

345. And, we were on the road with Hulk Hogan and Jake.

346. Randy Savage, and we were at a different arena

347. every single night, on a plane every single day.

348. In those days, we were doing 7 days a week...

349. every week.

350. There were no days off. Are you kidding me?

351. The women were out there working their tails off.

352. But Sherri probably worked harder than she needed to.

353. She wanted to be a part of the show.

354. A big part.

355. Pat and I, which was my ex-wife,

356. would turn it on and watch wrestling.

357. Jarred was jumping up and down,

358. his mom was on TV.

359. I never even liked it.

360. Took her away.

361. But then again, that was her choice.

362. Sherri was emotionally...

363. wrecked.

364. There was a lot of pain and anger there,

365. probably from her leaving the people behind.

366. But she was close - lipped about all that.

367. And she knew how to keep her nose to the ground and grind.

368. In those days, the female wrestlers were an attraction.

369. They were a special thing to put on the card so,

370. if any of the female wrestlers wanted to be taken seriously,

371. they had to be accepted in the locker room,

372. and then the guys would have greater appreciation

373. for their work in the ring.

374. And, all the guys liked Sherri.

375. She was one of the boys.

376. And that was the ultimate compliment in those days that

377. any of the male wrestlers could give one of the girls

378. is, "You're just like us.

379. You're tough, you're a partier,

380. you're stiff in the ring. We accept you."

381. I think she probably could have drank or, you know,

382. snorted them under the table.

383. Absolutely.

384. Whatever Sherri did, she did to the max.

385. Sherri loved her pot.

386. And so, when you get the mix of cocaine, and marijuana,

387. and then drinking, I mean, I don't know how they

388. kept going for two or three nights.

389. There were nights I wrestled Sherri and

390. she was going on 48 hours.

391. She was never late for a match though.

392. She always showed up.

393. I think it was like an outdoor show.

394. I keep looking at her and, you know how when

395. somebody just kind of looks right past you?

396. And, I'm like, I don't know if she even sees me.

397. I was down on all fours on the mat.

398. And, she threw a kick and

399. it caught me right on the throat.

400. It was full force.

401. I couldn't breathe.

402. I just remember thinking, oh, my god, this is it.

403. I'm gonna die at a state fair

404. in the middle of a wrestling ring.

405. Intoxicated but still performing in the ring,

406. Sherri Martel has kicked Rockin' Robin in the throat,

407. leaving her struggling for breath.

408. Finally, I was able to get that big breath.

409. Then we got back to the dressing room.

410. And, she just grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug,

411. and she knew that it was bad.

412. She did like pot, it was no big deal.

413. But, if there was anything else that really impaired you

414. to do your job in the ring...

415. you know, that's when it becomes a problem.

416. They don't call me the Sensational Sherri

417. for nothing, and in a moment,

418. I'm gonna show you exactly how sensational I am.

419. By 1990, Sherri Martel is a dominant force in the WWF

420. as one of its premier female wrestlers,

421. but that is about to change.

422. Vince McMahon was never fully sold on the idea of-

423. back in those days- of an entire women's division.

424. I think he just decided to wrap it up.

425. He still had Sherri Martel there and,

426. Sherri was able to exhibit the fact that she could do a

427. promo and she was this wild, over-the-top personality...

428. and Vince figured, "Heck with women's wrestling.

429. I'm gonna put her in the corner of one of my

430. main event male stars, and make her

431. more money than she's ever made."

432. Because that's the thing- you could be the

433. world women's champion wrestler and make 'enh',

434. or you could be the manager for a main event male star

435. in the WWF and make a fortune!

436. I think Vince McMahon probably saw the

437. same thing everybody else saw, which is...

438. a very gifted, athletic, physical woman that was

439. very attractive, the camera loved her,

440. and there's not a microphone she couldn't own.

441. My name's Eric Bischoff, former president of

442. World Championship Wrestling.

443. Hello, everybody!

444. Grew up as a young man, a fan of Sherri Martel,

445. and had the opportunity to work with her in the 90s.

446. He likes what he sees...

447. Back when Sherri was at her peak and managing,

448. the producer would say to you,

449. "Okay, you're gonna be doing this and this,

450. you're gonna be doing it on this night,

451. you're gonna be in the ring with these two."

452. That's it! Boom. Ready, set, go!

453. I look in there, what do I see?

454. I see Hulk Hogan laying flat on his back!

455. She would figure out a way to tweak her personality,

456. and her appearance, and the way she dressed,

457. the way she acted, to kind of more closely fit the guy

458. she was with while still being, at the root of it, herself.

459. And indeed, we have a new Macho king, Randy Savage,

460. accompanied of course by Queen Sherri!

461. If you go back and you look at the wrestling world and

462. what the product was during the peak of Sherri's career,

463. I think she had a ridiculously powerful

464. impact on it.

465. I had no idea that she was really gonna do it that well.

466. Oh, yeah!

467. As time went on, she just became...

468. very famous.

469. Please welcome Sensational Sherri.

470. Jarred would fly out and go and meet her and...

471. a bunch of the wrestlers.

472. Sherri was completely different than what

473. any other female had presented as in the WWF

474. up 'til that point in time.

475. Introducing first the manager...

476. Elizabeth!

477. Miss Elizabeth was brought in with Randy Savage because

478. she was his real-life wife,

479. and you had Sable and you had Sunny.

480. But they weren't trained wrestlers.

481. Sherri was.

482. Sherri wasn't afraid to get in there and mix it up,

483. and do what needed to be done in the finish to get the

484. people on the edge of their seat.

485. She didn't care if she was wearing a $5000 ball gown,

486. she's gonna be down on the floor,

487. choking the guy that her wrestler is opposing.

488. Ultimate Warrior with Sensational Queen Sherri!

489. Down they go!

490. She was always taking bumps, crazy bumps, big bumps,

491. tall bumps, concrete bumps, right?

492. In a woman's frame, there's a little less sometimes, right?

493. And, she was banged up.

494. I'm sure she had injuries.

495. How bad is the question.

496. I'm sure she took meds.

497. Somas are a muscle relaxer...

498. that many of the wrestlers began to rely on and,

499. it began to become a problem in wrestling

500. in the late 80s and into the 90s like...

501. number of other substances did.

502. It was like candy, it was ready available,

503. and they took the Somas, they took the Vicodins,

504. they took whatever the hell else they took.

505. Sometimes you had doctors that

506. wrote these prescriptions out.

507. It was crazy. I saw it firsthand!

508. But you can believe in the WWF and the

509. new testing policies and procedures.

510. When the WWE first started drug testing,

511. it was because of the steroid scandal that

512. Vince McMahon got himself into,

513. along with Hulk Hogan and a few of the guys that

514. were really over-the-top on the steroids.

515. But they were testing for all kinds of street drugs and

516. illegal drugs as well.

517. And, Sherri failed a number of times for marijuana.

518. In any wrestling promotion since the dawn of time,

519. if you showed up high and screwed something up

520. you got fired. Nobody got sent to rehab.

521. Everybody got sent packing.

522. Fired from the WWF in 1993,

523. Sherri Martel needs to figure out her

524. next move to stay working in the industry

525. that she loves.

526. Of all the things I've ever been so excited about

527. in my life, it's coming to the parade of champions.

528. It's the same year that she had been let go from the WWF.

529. I brought her down to Knoxville for

530. Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

531. Sherri Martel giving it to Tammy Fitch!

532. She was the same old Sherri, and came in and

533. did a wonderful job for us.

534. But there was one night after one of the shows,

535. I could tell that she was slowing down a little bit,

536. and I was like, "Sherri?" "Oh, I'm okay." I said,

537. "Ah, having a cruise on 'Lake Have-A-Soma', I see."

538. If you're heavily Soma'd,

539. not only are you zombified, mentally,

540. but you're whole body's out of control.

541. She always had bad back pain.

542. And, she sometimes took a little too much.

543. And it was for the pain.

544. It wasn't for any other reason,

545. it was for the pain.

546. It wasn't just to pop a pill.

547. She was medicating on her own,

548. which had gotten out of hand.

549. That never works out well in the end, does it?

550. Despite her ongoing issues with pain medication,

551. Sherri returns to the national spotlight with

552. WWF rival, World Championship Wrestling.

553. I am here for a reason, and that is to find a man

554. that can fulfill all of my needs.

555. I didn't ask Sherri why she was let go from WWE-

556. if she quit, or was fired.

557. I didn't know, I didn't ask, and I didn't care.

558. I hired her back in '93 because

559. she was a great talent.

560. To be led to the ring by Sister Sherri!

561. Wow!

562. From Harlem, New York!

563. Sherri and Harlem Heat- Booker and Stevie Ray-

564. they looked great together and, they had not had

565. a major spot anywhere before in a big time promotion or

566. on a major television show so, she kind of gave them

567. credibility that they wouldn't have had because

568. everybody knew who Sherri was.

569. Sherri...

570. send him headfirst!

571. Sherri's passion and dedication to her career

572. comes at the cost of never

573. having enough time

574. for her son, Jarred.

575. She seemed a little more lost.

576. And, uncertain.

577. She was let go because she was no longer good on camera.

578. She would show up under the influence of something,

579. I'm guessing it was prescription drugs.

580. Didn't matter to me, she was under something,

581. and it was affecting her ability to perform.

582. You can't fire me 'cause I quit right now!

583. Whoa! Wait a minute, is that official?

584. I don't know what took place between Sherri and Eric.

585. Maybe she was taking too many Somas.

586. Maybe she wasn't herself. Maybe she wasn't...

587. performing in the ring like she was supposed to.

588. However, if that was true, and he acted and said,

589. "I'm just gonna get rid of her," then that should've

590. been done two-fold on a handful of —-ing-

591. excuse me- a handful of men.

592. But it wasn't.

593. After WCW, there was no place to go.

594. At that point in time, Sherri was in her 40s.

595. And, younger girls had come along,

596. so I think it probably was the worst thing to happen

597. at that point in time that she lost that spot.

598. I'd heard it over the grapevine that

599. she was deep into the oxys.

600. And they were controlling her life.

601. You medicate.

602. "---- it, I lost my job, I'm just gonna get —-ed up."

603. It's not like there's 20 wrestling companies

604. that you can go to.

605. Sherri spent probably 5 years... up there.

606. And that's a great accomplishment,

607. but it's never enough.

608. It's never enough.

609. As her wrestling career nears its end,

610. Sherri Martel marries her new boyfriend, Robert Schrull.

611. She had gotten married in 1997,

612. which was during her WCW run.

613. And, sometimes, when a civilian marries a celebrity,

614. that civilian thinks that celebrity is always

615. gonna be a celebrity.

616. And, unfortunately, after the WCW run,

617. Sherri was off television, out of the business, and...

618. just a normal person.

619. Sherri didn't do normal well.

620. She was still in a lot of pain.

621. Sadly, I think if she had another outlet...

622. and had gotten whatever she needed- from what I

623. understand, it was a surgery, but she couldn't afford it.

624. I don't think she would've ever gotten hooked on pills.

625. At some point when you get addicted to

626. prescription pills or anything else,

627. you're taking it because you have to,

628. whether you're injured or not,

629. 'cause you're addicted.

630. But I don't think that her husband was any

631. benefit to her in that particular situation.

632. In 2006,

633. after several years away from the wrestling business,

634. Sherri becomes the second woman to be

635. inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

636. Sherri! Sherri!

637. You know, the amazing thing about this business is

638. I had the ability to walk beside some of the

639. most wonderful people in the world.

640. This was her time to shine.

641. And, she spoke from the heart.

642. And then I met a man named Eric Bischoff.

643. And we all know where he's at now, right?

644. Whoo! Outta here!

645. Woo!

646. Oh, no! He's here!

647. Damn, I thought you were gone.

648. Ha-ha!

649. My son, Jarred, my husband, Robert.

650. My best friend, Kathy Fitzpatrick.

651. I love you, baby. Dreams do come true.

652. She didn't look at it as a, as a great occasion

653. because that meant, you know, it's all over.

654. That's one of the hardest things in the world for

655. a lot of people is to find your, your place in life,

656. when all you've ever known is wrestling and

657. all that goes with it.

658. That's where a big part of the struggle can be.

659. Although it seems her career might be over,

660. Sherri spends the next year optimistic for her future

661. in the business.

662. I was on the phone with her.

663. She was in the best mood ever.

664. She was sitting on the front porch with her mom,

665. drinking sweet tea,

666. playing with the puppy they just got.

667. And said to me, "I have something-

668. some news to tell you, but I don't want to jinx it."

669. From what I had heard,

670. they were going to bring Sherri back.

671. Get her her operation, get her back fixed,

672. and they were gonna have her train the women.

673. I know she wanted to go back to the WWE.

674. Whether they were receptive or not to giving it to her,

675. I don't know, and I guess we won't ever

676. find out at this point.

677. I believe her

678. sister or somebody called me.

679. And that's when I got in my vehicle and drove

680. to Alabama, so I could be there.

681. Empty...

682. Empty.

683. Sherri's sudden death at age 49 causes local

684. Alabama police to open an investigation.

685. It just seemed so... ironic

686. that she was so happy, the night before.

687. And 10 o'clock the next morning I get this phone call.

688. Following a brief investigation,

689. Sherri Martel's death is ruled an accidental overdose.

690. I knew she could go to extremes...

691. but I guess I did not know that it was just an ongoing,

692. life threatening problem. It floored me.

693. Regrettably, the addiction struggles that plagued

694. Sherri's life are also on display at the funeral.

695. I know we had a few people there that were probably

696. coked out of their mind and drugged out and whatnot.

697. I think Jake was so out of his frickin' mind...

698. Oh, my god.

699. And I think he was leaning over the casket.

700. He was just out of it.

701. I remember Stevie Ray being there, Booker T.

702. But other than that, I can't remember anything about it.

703. I mean, I was at my very lowest right then.

704. They asked me to have a few words, and I did.

705. And I remember looking at her, saying,

706. "How dare you leave me behind."

707. —-ing right, I was angry,

708. 'cause I thought we were friends for, forever.

709. Not counting dying.

710. We were just like...

711. we both came up hard.

712. And, we both had to fight, and scratch,

713. and claw for everything.

714. She was one of my loves, man.

715. You know, she was somebody that I identified with,

716. and somebody that I cherished.

717. I honoured our friendship.

718. I honoured her.

719. Always will.

720. Sherri was my best friend.

721. I don't think anybody could ever take that

722. friendship away from us.

723. Even if she's gone, I know she's with me.

724. I don't think you can think about women in wrestling and

725. not put Sherri Martel at the very top of your list.

726. A lot of the fans loved and respected her.

727. Maybe some of them didn't respect her enough because

728. they didn't know the work that it took,

729. and the perseverance and the dedication

730. it took for her to get there.

731. This is a picture that Sherri gave to me at a fan fest like

732. 20 years ago or whatever, she signed to me, it says,

733. "To Jimmy Cornette, Remember always I was your first.

734. Loving you forever, Sherri Martel."

735. And boy, she looked good.

736. Everybody in the business had a high opinion of,

737. of Sherri and her talent.

738. Never held anything against her except for the fact that

739. she left.

740. Jarred, to me, he's special.

741. And I do what I can to keep him going.

742. Sure.

743. That's my life.

744. He's my everything.

745. She used to tell me all the time,

746. "I would never find someone as good as you

747. to take care of my son."

748. She was awesome, she really was.

749. She, she chose her career, you know.