Dark Side of the Ring turned its focus to Nick Gage in episode two of season three.
Here are some thoughts on what stood out from the episode, which followed the two-part season debut on the story of Brian Pillman:
– The producers did a great job with the intro. If casual fans didn’t know about Nick Gage or deathmatch wrestling, the visuals told the tale. It hooked you from the start. One of the great lines early in the documentary was that you’re “never gonna accuse these dudes of doing it for money.”
– Jon Moxley was one of the few interview subjects in the documentary. That made sense considering that this episode profiled Gage, who is able to tell his own story. But Moxley added lots of good stuff, including recalling the pizza cutter incident, joking about Gage not wearing a mask for a bank robbery, and more. The most quotable moment from Moxley was his belief Vince McMahon would love someone like Gage because of the reaction he draws from the crowd. Vince promoting a deathmatch star sure would be something!
– The most brutal scene was the incident at the Tournament of Death in Delaware. GCW owner Brett Lauderdale set the stage for Gage’s match with THUMBTACK JACK (what a name), and what a story it was. It’s wild that they had the footage of Gage bleeding out and yelling for them to tape him up so he could finish the match. Of course, that didn’t happen, and again, visuals are everything. The helicopter flying in to take him to the hospital due to there being no road access furthered the uniqueness of the atmosphere. And then there was Moxley discussing Gage flatlining for seven minutes on the way to the hospital.
– Gage shared the details of all the tragedies in his personal life, and it was an important insight into his mental state throughout his career. There was his mother losing her battle with breast cancer and Gage stating he didn’t care about anything after that. There was his brother, Justice Pain, passing away after jumping off the bridge that sits directly behind Gage’s house in Philadelphia. The bank robbery, getting hooked on painkillers and drugs, and being homeless also added to the struggles.
– One of the biggest questions that came out of this documentary: Where would Gage be without both Lauderdale and Sondra, Gage’s girlfriend? Sondra made it clear that despite his issues, she will always stick with him no matter what. Lauderdale, even with the frustrations, has seemingly been there for Gage when he’s needed him. Without that support system, who knows how things would’ve unfolded for Gage.
– And then there was the David Arquette match. The fact that the Dark Side of the Ring producers got Arquette to speak on it was a huge get for telling the full story. I’m not sure how Arquette didn’t realize what he was getting himself into by agreeing to do a deathmatch with Gage. That’s a head-scratcher. Another interesting tidbit was the noticeable motivation behind Arquette’s wrestling ventures. Those motivations seemed to lean towards proving wrestling fans wrong after the backlash to him winning the WCW title.
– Perhaps the most obvious takeaway from this documentary was the connection Gage has built with his fans. He discussed getting loads of fan mail while he was in jail. The video footage of fan reaction to his entrances and such also proved the point. No matter your opinion on deathmatch wrestling, Gage has excelled at getting fans to buy into what he’s doing. That’s not an easy thing to do.
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