Wrestlers (2023) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[Matt] Welcome back!
Kentucky Sports Radio.
You know one of our favorite places to go
every year is the Poke Sallet Festival,
and this year, we're bringing
OVW to Harlan, Kentucky.
If you live close to Harlan County,
you gotta make the trip.
It's gonna be wild.
And for the first time in her life, Ryan,
my mom is coming to watch wrestling.
[country music playing]
[man] Over and under. Good job, good job.
[man 2] Couple of games. Something new.
[country music continues]
This is Poke Sallet. It's a festival
that happens every single year.
And wrestling is about to happen.
So I'm very excited.
[laughs]
[man 3] Drag it to me.
[man 4] Poke sallet is
an indigenous mountain weed.
If it's not prepared correctly,
it can be poisonous.
A festival was created around this weed,
and it's one
of my favorite times of the year.
You're not the one who tried to fight me?
[woman] The OVW superstars asked me
why we ate a salad that would kill us
and then celebrate it.
And I told them, "We celebrate
because our mama made it right."
'Cause you have to make it right,
or it will kill you.
[country music continues]
[woman 2] This is the poke.
It's a good, hearty meal.
A lot of country folk ate it.
You know, that's what
we was raised on when I was growing up.
Let me put some corn bread in there.
Poke sallet is like a mystery weed.
It comes up on the mountains,
like, where coal mines are at
or where they done logging.
There won't be a stalk of poke nowhere.
They come through there
with a bulldozer or something
and disturb the ground, and the next year,
you got poke coming up everywhere.
I mean, it's amazing.
- [man] Can I get a picture with you?
- Yes.
- What's up?
- Can we hop in?
- Of course. Who's taking it?
- People love UK sports in Harlan County.
- We listen to you every day.
- Thank you, brother.
It's God, family, UK sports.
It's probably, like, that order.
So Matt is one of the shining stars
from our region.
Enjoy yourselves tonight, fellas.
This is Shera. This is my mom.
Shera, hello.
[Matt] Harlan's close to where I grew up.
It's one of the poorest counties
in the United States of America.
Jada, this is my mom.
[Matt] When coal was running,
there may not have been
a bigger coal mining town in the world.
The coal industry's basically gone away,
and Harlan has really become
a rundown place.
That's why I wanna take OVW to Harlan
because I really want to help
that area that is forgotten.
She's never seen wrestling before.
I don't know anything about it.
I love the state of Kentucky.
I love the people in it.
It's the 49th-ranked state in everything.
God bless Mississippi.
Most of the rest of the country,
when you think of Kentucky,
you think of rednecks
and this hillbilly world.
But it is a place that is unlike
anywhere else in the United States.
- [Al] Are we getting close?
- [Maria] The boys are ready.
[Matt] That's why I'm attracted to OVW,
to be honest.
I like the idea of people dismiss it,
but I'm gonna show you
that it's better than you think it is.
- [announcer] Are you feeling good, Harlan?
- [crowd cheering]
[Matt] I want to do things
that make this state look good.
And I want there to be
a pro wrestling company
that is definitively Kentucky
that people wanna watch around the world.
[announcer] Are you ready
for some professional wrestling action?
[Matt] I want the world to see Kentucky
and love this place like I do.
That's what I want.
[boy yelling in excitement]
["Roll with the Changes" playing]
I am willin' ♪
To make the break
That we are on the brink of ♪
Growing up in a small town
has its perks and its downfalls,
but I seriously wouldn't wanna grow up
any other place besides Harlan County.
I mean, it's home.
[Haley, voice slowed] Shut up!
If you're tired of the same ♪
[crowd chanting] Funnel cake!
- [Leila shouts]
- [crowd shouting]
I'll be here when you are ready ♪
To roll with the changes ♪
Yeah ♪
- [fans yelling]
- [bell ringing]
Over the last 30 years, Harlan County
has lost half its population.
[Granny] In the '60s, every building
in this town had something in it.
It was booming.
I knew it had to happen ♪
Felt the tables turnin' ♪
Got me through my darkest hour ♪
[Granny] Businesses closed.
People have lost their jobs.
Coal mines have shut down.
It's caused a lot of people to leave here.
And even the young people,
when they get out of school, they're gone.
There's nothing here for 'em.
So if you're tired ♪
[Mr. Pectacular yelling triumphantly]
My husband was in the mining business,
and my son was in mining, all their lives.
[Dan] My dad worked in the mines.
We're proud of that heritage,
but we recognize that as coal declines,
we have to learn to do different things.
[all chant] USA!
[crowd chanting and shouting]
[crowd cheering]
- Keep on rollin'
- Oh yeah ♪
[crowd chanting] OVW!
Keep on rollin' ♪
- Keep on rollin'
- Oh yeah ♪
- Keep on rollin'
- Oh, now roll with the changes ♪
- Oh, babe
- Keep on rollin' ♪
- Oh, babe
- Keep on rollin' ♪
Oh, you got to learn
To roll with the changes ♪
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] The National
Heavyweight Champion,
Mahabali Shera!
[crowd cheering]
[electric guitar riffing over soundtrack]
[music ends]
[machinery hissing]
[elevator thuds and echoes]
[bell ringing]
[woman] Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
- [Cash Flo] And Monday.
- [woman] In town, Thursday.
Friday is, I wanna say, Woodford County.
And Monday is in Carroll County,
at the fair.
I won't have to leave early
if the shows are later.
[whimsical music playing]
[Matt] Welcome back.
It is Kentucky Sports Radio.
A little reminder to everybody,
OVW Summer Tour.
We're going to county fairs.
Hopefully, we'll go to one,
for those listening, close to you.
I hope you all will come to one of them.
[Eric] We're going for a ride.
Get a little cardio.
[Matt] We gotta have people
show up and come to these events.
Our wrestlers have gotta
put on a good show for 'em.
[croaks] Argh!
- [beautician] Look.
- That one was a good one.
[squeals]
[Matt] But it is a big deal
for the company and a big deal for me.
A lot on the line
this summer with our tour.
[man] Matt! Good scramble today.
- Did you play?
- [man] We turned a golf cart over.
- You turned a golf cart over?
- [man] I didn't.
[Matt] Wow, well, I'm glad you had fun.
- It's good to see you.
- [man] Really nice to meet you.
- [Matt] All right, to a great first date.
- Cheers.
Hopefully, the first of many.
So, do you think it's weird
that I do wrestling?
- No, there's a lot of money in wrestling.
- [laughs] Not mine!
[Norma] Full disclosure
- I fucking love Ric Flair.
- [Matt whoops]
I think he's the funniest person alive.
Like, I always thought he was hilarious.
- [Matt] I'll bring you to a show.
- [Norma] Okay.
We have a show
in Lexington in a few weeks.
- Okay.
- We'll go to that.
Or I wanna bring you
to the arena in Louisville
because you gotta see it
in its natural home.
Okay. I
- You don't seem excited about that.
- [Norma] No, I'm excited.
- [Matt] All right.
- [Norma] Very excited.
[Matt] Sir, are you from Whitley?
What's your last name?
- [man] Boline.
- You're Roddy Boline! You're the guy.
I fought with this guy on Twitter.
- [Roddy] And I lost.
- And he did lose, objectively.
People are always messing with me.
'Cause they listen to me on the radio,
they think they can say things to me
that you wouldn't say to a stranger,
but they don't consider me a stranger.
That happens all the time.
People will say the worst stuff to me,
terrible stuff, and I shouldn't respond.
No, you should.
But I think I respond because I wanna go,
"Why are you like this?
I know you're not like this."
I almost wanna understand
why people are being mean.
- You know? I wanna say, "Why are you"
- A rabbit hole you'll never get out of.
You seem to have, like,
a more cynical approach to life.
[Norma laughs]
Maybe there's a good balance between me,
thinking everybody has good motive
I don't think that I'm cynical.
I think that I'm very practical.
All right.
Look at that cake.
[man] The front seven,
mainly the linebackers,
but even the defensive line,
they're gonna be incredible.
So, if that secondary can be good,
that defense could be really good.
Matt's hanging on
to every word I'm saying.
I was like,
"Does he not know about our defense?"
You were leaned in and staring in my eyes.
Can I tell you something
I've noticed about you when you do listen?
- Yeah.
- When I talk, I look at you.
You mouth words that you think I'll say.
You don't even know you do that.
Now you've blown my mind.
You're gonna throw me off.
- [man] I feel like a ventriloquist.
- [Matt] I didn't realize.
All right, well,
I guess I don't listen.
I talk a lot.
502-571-1080.
We are here in Lexington
at the KSBar & Grille.
We open at 11. Come out.
This is Kentucky Sports Radio.
I own KSBar & Grille. It's a sports bar.
- Thank you.
- Nice to see you. Glad you're a listener.
We thought it'd be a great place
for our listeners to come together
and watch games.
It's a cool place that I'm proud of.
I want you to name a country
in either North, Central,
or South America,
and whoever's the last one left
will win $500.
North America.
Say that again?
North America.
- What'd you say?
- North America is not a country.
- [customers laughing]
- My bad.
- [man] Good seeing you.
- Good seeing you.
I always wanna challenge myself.
I have a radio show, a restaurant.
I feel like you do something,
you conquer it,
and you wanna move on to the next thing.
I was a lawyer. I was good at law,
and then I got bored with it.
Then I did a website,
and it became successful,
and I got bored with it.
And then we got, honestly, to OVW.
Of all the things, that's been the hardest
to make succeed the way I'm used to.
But on everything but money,
OVW is doing awesome.
[Matt cheers] Yeah!
Outside of WWE and AEW,
the best wrestling in America
is taking place right here.
I don't think people know.
We gotta figure out how we let 'em know.
And that's what
this summer is really about.
[announcer] You ready to have a good time?
[crowd cheering]
All right, everybody, I hope you brought
your clogging shoes. Here we go.
[shouts and growls]
[jaunty music playing]
[screams] Yeah!
Well, I'm rollin'
In my sweet baby's arms ♪
- [woman] Boo!
- [fans] Boo!
I can't think of anywhere else
I'd rather not be
than Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
It is an absolute dump.
Well, I'm rollin'
In my sweet baby's arms ♪
[Matt] OVW Summer Tour,
this year, we have 33 stops.
We're gonna put these shows on
in breweries, downtowns, county fairs.
It's going to be massive.
Well, I ain't gonna work
Down on the railroad ♪
We got moved out of our building
for a baby pageant, yes.
Never seen a baby pageant.
Do they have an evening gown competition?
We'd better have a bigger house than this.
If the babies outdraw us,
I'm gonna be rather upset.
[cheering]
[announcer] Cash Flo!
[cheers raucously] Yeah!
Somerset, Kentucky! Thank you for coming.
We will see you next time!
["Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" playing]
[Matt] OVW's doing five shows this week.
Monday in Somerset. Tuesday in Jasper.
Thursday is our regular show.
Friday, we're doing a show in Louisville.
Weather's nice.
[man] Beautiful day for some wrestling.
- [cheering]
- [announcer] Here is your winner.
OVW Rush Division Champion
[engine revving ahead]
[Doug] Why does everybody
drive like an asshole?
I'm testing something. UK versus U of L.
I'm tired of these
Louisville wrestlers talking trash.
It is time for the Cats
and the Kentucky players
and wrestlers to show 'em who's boss.
["Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" continues]
- [Amon] There.
- [commentator] All right.
- You be quiet!
- [fan booing]
Boo!
Boo! Spell "boo." Spell it!
That's what I thought.
[women whooping]
- [saxophone fades out]
- [applause]
Yeehaw!
[applause]
[man] Hey, Mom.
Yeah, I was just calling. I just finished
with my match. I got to wrestle tonight.
Yeah, it went really well.
[Al] So I literally just found out
one of the boys was up in the parking lot
snorting a Lortab in his car,
and a cop drove by
and saw him, and they are
They just arrested him
and put him in the back.
And they're taking him downtown. So, um
How the
I know. I know.
Well, he he's done.
- He's done. He's gone.
- We're not bringing him back.
I will do my best to fix it.
[Maria] I'm not sure
what the entire situation was,
but I know we were in the locker room,
and I had one of the refs run in
and tell me that one of our boys
was being arrested.
The good news is, we're not gonna
have to pay anything to bond him out.
So at least he gets to go home today.
Don't you smoke in my car
I'll beat the shit out of you.
- [Jake] Fuck.
- [Maria] This is brand-new.
I will beat your ass. [laughs]
[Jake] How pissed is Al?
[Maria] Not Al so much as Matt.
[Jake] Man.
[Maria] Matt's, uh, not happy.
[Jake] Shit, like it's never happened
in the entertainment business!
Person got fucking busted
[Al] It takes everybody
in the locker room to build business,
and it takes one person to kill it.
Part of it is these people have never been
in a real professional environment.
[Jake] Think they'll fire me
over this shit?
[Maria] Yes.
[Al] Most of them are kids.
They don't understand the concept
that it's adult time, and in adult time,
when you break the rules,
it now, unfortunately,
affects everybody else.
- [Jake crying]
- [Maria] I know. I know.
- [Jake crying]
- Shh It's gonna be fine.
[Jake gasping for breath and crying]
[Maria] Listen
It's gonna be fine.
It's just a little time off, okay?
- [Jake] It's not a fucking vacation.
- Just just listen to me.
A little vacation.
We gotta let shit settle down, okay?
You know AI's one of the boys.
He has everybody's back.
I know Al will, but fucking
Matt's the one bitching.
I know. That's the reason he's gonna
have to do things he's gonna have to do.
- [Jake] Yeah.
- Okay.
[Al] You're dealing with eclectic,
eccentric, artistic people.
They have their own demons
and motivations.
I try to protect them from themselves.
But sometimes
you can't protect people from themselves.
I'm gonna fix it. That's what I do.
I take shit and I make shoe polish.
That's literally the mantra
of this fucking place.
"Here's a pile of shit."
"Let's see you if you can
buff up your shoes with this one."
Fuck me.
[man] Right way to go.
[man 2] Yeah, but for him to portray
Rudy Ray Moore? He was dead on.
- [man 3] Good to see you. Doing all right?
- [man 4] Yeah.
- [man 5] Drunk dude.
- I didn't forget you.
Fucking woman.
[Eric groaning]
Everybody in here, that y'all know of?
[Al] I'm no longer a wrestler.
I'm not part of the locker room.
There are certain things
I can't control, I can't dictate.
The locker room has to.
They have to take care of themselves.
And you need guys like Cash
to be in that position,
to be seen as a leader.
First thing, guys, is, look,
we're halfway through this tour.
We're learning to work with each other.
We're getting experience.
So I wanna commend you guys on that.
But that does bring me
to some other things.
Look, nobody is bigger
than the company as a whole. Okay?
We're not gonna call out names,
but we do see when you guys aren't doing
what you're supposed to be doing.
Setting up the ring,
tearing down the ring. Okay?
All that is being noticed.
That's not cool.
Some of us are working really hard
to make this shit work,
and to sit back
and watch you guys do nothing,
it gets aggravating. I ain't gonna lie.
It really takes down the morale.
We're all supposed to be in this together.
You know, because there are
a lot of young guys in the squad,
I do feel like they look up to me.
Regardless of everything that's going on,
you still have to be professional,
and you have to be an adult.
I'm trying to help teach
some of these younger guys
that they need to hold
each other accountable for their actions.
I don't really wanna be
the one to have to do that,
but I got voted
head of the island, for whatever reason.
You know, I take my job seriously.
This is our house,
and it directly reflects on us,
so please, do what you're supposed to do.
OVW is the Little Engine That Could.
[man] It needs to be something
[Cash Flo] It's starting to rise,
like the cream. It's starting to come up.
You know, I have put a lot into OVW, but
I haven't been able to get this place
exactly where I see it being able to go.
We running these shows
back-to-back-to-back.
- Wash your gear.
- Yeah. Wash your gear and your ass.
[Al] Have respect for each other.
Wash your gear.
So I wonder each day what I can do
to help make this place better.
[woman] What can I do?
[tap running]
[tap stops]
- Want me to wet a big towel?
- [Jake] I dunno.
- [woman] And put it on you?
- [Jake] I'm burning.
[shower running]
[Jake retches]
[woman] Have you ate anything?
I tried this morning.
A bite of egg and a little bit of sausage.
[Jake moans]
[woman] Wanna get something
on your stomach?
- I just dry heave now.
- [woman] You have nothing on your stomach.
[sighs deeply]
[Heather] This is really tough,
watching him go through this.
Um
It's been an ongoing battle for a while.
Here.
We got pregnant
shortly after we got together.
We got told that we was having twins.
All Jake wanted was a little boy.
Our 20-week ultrasound
is when we found out
our son had anencephaly,
and usually, kids don't survive that.
We dealt with that for the rest
of the 20 weeks of my pregnancy,
went to the hospital, um
We brought one kid home.
That really put him in a spiral.
Everybody copes differently,
and this just happens to be
the way he copes.
- [dog barking]
- Come here, Bay.
You wanna go for a walk? Yeah?
- Come on.
- [Heather] Go for a walk?
Here yo go again. Yeah. How are you doing?
[Heather] When he told me he was detoxing
and getting rid of all this,
I knew then not only
is he gonna feel emotional pain,
but he's going to be feeling the pain
he's been numbing from this wrestling.
[Jake groans and belches]
[Heather] He comes home with a body beat,
bruised, black, brown, purple.
His body hurts,
and I think that's another reason
why he takes the pills and stuff.
It's good to see you too, boy.
The doctor that looked at us
told us if he continued to do this,
he'd probably be in a wheelchair
by the age of 40.
Yeah, you ready to go back in?
Let's go.
[telephone ringing]
[Al] Hello?
Hey, Al, it's Jake.
[Al] Hey, Jake. How are you, man?
Man, I've felt a lot better before,
but I'm going through
some serious withdrawals.
I mean, I ain't gonna lie.
I've had an issue
way before I was even in OVW.
I mean, it got bad about five years ago
when I lost my son and
[Al] Yeah.
[Jake] I should have
came to you the week before,
when you mentioned
something about it at the meeting
Yeah.
Sometimes, Jake,
you gotta get to rock bottom,
and then there's
no place else to go but up.
Exactly. Maria said the comeback
will always be better than the comedown.
You just gotta make sure
you still come back and stay up.
[Al] Ninety to 98%
of the talent, the wrestlers,
if they weren't in the wrestling business,
like, they wouldn't fit in normal society.
A lot of them, honestly, would probably
have been in jail or be homeless.
Because their brains just don't work
the way everybody else's does.
[sentimental music playing]
[Cash Flo] Wrestling
is an adrenaline sport.
[crowd cheering]
There is nothing like 500,
a thousand fans
hollering and screaming your name.
[crowd cheering]
Adrenaline is the worst drug,
and when you come through that curtain,
they don't make syringes big enough
for the amount of adrenaline that comes.
Once you come off of it, you feel it.
Once the beatings on your body stop,
you feel it.
It is an addicting drug.
[Leila] It's the hardest thing I've done
in my life, mentally, physically.
We were struggling,
but at least we're doing it together.
I don't know how I would
do that on my own.
Sleeping in my car by myself and
I know it's gonna be worth it.
- Everybody's time will come, you know.
- [Leila] Mm-hmm.
- [sentimental music plays]
- [fans cheer]
[man] A lot of times,
you don't get opportunities like this.
You gotta take advantage of it.
I mean, OVW gave me an opportunity,
and I moved down over here.
I do have two kids of my own
who I miss a lot right now
'cause it's already going on
Damn, I didn't wanna do this. [sniffs]
It's going on three months,
having not seen them.
And it hurts.
My son, who I love so much, is 15.
He's playing high school football.
And my little girl is just eight,
who I miss so much 'cause daddy's girl.
[man] Wrestling was paying bills.
Now it ain't.
[Maria] Wrestling used to pay the bills.
Now it don't.
- Now I'm here with you.
- [Maria] Now he's here with me.
We love wrestling.
Man, to certain people, this is a hobby.
I've been doing this shit for 18 years.
It's my life.
I don't know anything else
other than wrestle.
[Ryan] In wrestling, we use
the term "shoot" as in "real."
So my real job, you know,
my side hustle outside of wrestling,
would be making these meal preps
and things for people.
[woman] So I have the bang bang chicken.
The ham and cheddar wrap.
Yogurt. Yup. And a bang bang chicken.
[woman] Selling my house is worrying
'cause that really is my last safety net.
You know, so far,
I've had a bunch of assets
and things I could sell
when I needed a little extra money.
But now that's really the big one.
So that means, if this doesn't work,
I can't just go back home
and continue living there.
I would have to start
from the ground up again.
[Crixus] Is that a fucking lion?
[Shera] What do you think?
Which one is gonna win this fight?
I like them both, to be honest with you.
- But I think him.
- [Shera] I think this one will win.
- What is the name?
- Colby Covi
- Kobe?
- Colby.
- Kobe.
- Colby.
- Kobe.
- Colby.
C-O-L-B-Y.
- Colby.
- Colby.
Okay. I still don't get it.
I can barely understand you.
- My English is second language.
- [Crixus] It's mine too.
[both laugh]
[Crixus] I'm probably
his only friend here.
He gave it all up to be here.
And start.
It's a hard life anyway,
but when you're coming
from a different country, I know that.
And you've got nothing,
and you sacrifice a lot,
relationships and everything else,
to be able to be available for this life.
You know, it's got to have
a payoff somewhere.
Passion. That really is
what drives this business.
And what drives these people
is that absolute passion
to sacrifice their bodies.
And you've got to appreciate and respect
the sacrifice
that these people are making,
especially on this level.
I mean, nobody's
gonna get rich doing this. It's hard.
[sentimental music playing]
[electric guitar music playing]
[music grows louder]
[guitar squealing]
[Cash Flo] Okay.
I see a few people out here.
A few more people come
When are you gonna get
one of these shirts?
Twenty bucks.
- What you want?
- What you got?
[Cash Flo] I got T-shirts,
fidget spinners, wristbands, pictures.
- [man] Gonna sign it for me?
- [Cash Flo] Absolutely.
- [man 2] Extra large.
- [man] Extra large.
Let me see
if I've got another extra large.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to Hillview Softball Field.
Friday night. Y'all ready
for some wrestling coming up?
Before the show,
check out some of the OVW superstars
we have over here.
Bankroll.
Dimes and Hillview's own, Cash Flo.
- [man] I thought this place'd be crowded.
- It may be.
- [man] The weather scared people off.
- Yeah, the weather does.
[announcer] Are you ready for more action?
The following contest is a tag team match.
Introducing the team of the Nephilim,
D'mone Solavino and Amon!
And their opponents.
They are the team
of Big Money Dimes and Cash Flo.
Come on, Cash!
[announcer] They are Bankroll!
I do a lot of work
in the background for Cash.
I work on the T-shirt business.
Um, I created his website.
I've worked on his social media.
I wash his gear. [laughs]
[sentimental music playing]
I was a nurse for about ten years.
All he did was wrestling.
He took care of the kids when I was
at work, and I made the money.
Right now, he wrestles,
and that is what provides for our family.
We chose to do what we had to do,
creatively, to make our family survive,
and to let him work on his dream.
Wrestling is our life.
[Cash Flo] I got moonshine down there.
- [Angela] What kind you got left?
- I got apple pie.
And then I got 180 proof right here.
[Angela] Oh God.
- [Cash Flo] Do you want moonshine?
- [Angela] I cannot have some, no.
- [Cash Flo] Sure?
- Ask your wife with liver disease.
- [Cash Flo] Whatever.
- [Angela laughs]
[Cash Flo] It's just a liver.
You can get another one.
I go by Cash Flo,
without a "W."
[whimsical piano music playing]
[Cash Flo] That name stuck with me
as I was going through
the young guy grits.
I was kind of the guy
that really didn't question a whole lot.
I was ready to break into the business.
I was ready to do what I had to do
to get where I needed to be
within professional wrestling.
[announcer] There he is. Cash Flo looks
broke as a fucking clock radio from 1985.
[Cash Flo] Cash flow represents
the whole reason that I'm here.
I wanna make a living wrestling.
I want money.
- [commentator] Cash going for an amazing
- [commentator 2] Holy shit!
[commentator] Dear Lord!
Let's see if he can pull this off.
Oh! He missed!
[Cash Flo] I can't tell you some stuff
I've done when it comes to deathmatches.
Essentially, a deathmatch
is just another gimmick match.
They use light tubes.
They use mouse traps, cactuses,
gusset plates.
They just get a bit more extreme.
[man] Stay back.
[Cash Flo groaning]
[Cash Flo] It wasn't until about six
or seven years ago that I decided to say,
"Maybe I ought to pull that back.
That's really starting to hurt."
Any guys I broke in the business with,
there's none of 'em left.
[interviewer] You once told me
that the lifestyle of a typical wrestler
can be hard on family life.
[Cash Flo] It absolutely is.
You have to be ready to go
at the drop of a hat. Okay?
You have to be ready for long hours. Okay?
You have to be ready to miss
birthdays and Christmas dinners
and family functions.
You have to be ready
when an opportunity arises
'cause you never know
how many opportunities
you're gonna get
in professional wrestling.
The same night
that I had to run this wrestling show, um,
I was having my son.
When the labor was done,
my wife was resting up.
She had her meds. She was in bed.
I said, "Honey, I'm gonna run
this wrestling show. I'll be back."
So I left.
[sentimental music playing]
It was just a little rinky-dink show,
but it was really important at that time.
And I told him, "Go."
It comes with a lot of sacrifice.
When my kids were smaller,
there was a lot of weekends
through the summer where Dad had to go,
and we were
just kind of doing our own thing.
It can be tough.
[Cash Flo] Over the course of time,
we have come to understand
the way each other are,
and we can be like this,
as opposed to always being like this.
But you have to be compromising.
You have to be understanding.
You have to be able to see things
through the other person's eyes.
'Cause if not, then they're not for you,
and it's not gonna work anyway.
[sentimental music continues]
[Angela] There's times
when I get sick and tired of it.
There's times I want my husband at home,
and I don't want anybody texting
or interrupting and things like that.
There's times when I think,
"I've been on this road with him
for 23 years. I deserve my time."
But then I have to remember
that's what lights him up.
[boy] Come on, Cash. Put the hurt on him.
- [Amon groaning]
- [crowd yells] Oh!
[Angela] That's his passion,
and if I don't allow that
to just flow in and out of our life,
then I don't get the full him.
[crowd cheering]
[Angela] That's only part of him.
I want him in his full authenticity
and everything he's charismatic about.
That's what makes him so beautiful.
[crowd chanting] Cash Flo!
[Cash Flo] Wrestling has given me freedom.
The freedom to be who I am
and explore who I am along with my family.
It looks like Hillview
came to see some wrestling.
- [fan whooping]
- [crowd clapping]
[Cash Flo] I feel very blessed because,
with this new influx of resources,
and Matt and Craig
investing their time and money,
it's kind of elevated all of us.
OVW, any time we step foot in this ring,
we're going all out.
[cheering]
[Cash Flo] I wanna start feeling the fire.
I want that momentum to keep going.
I don't see a reason why we can't do that.
We're starting to get
the formula down as a group.
And I feel like OVW,
it's getting there.
[applause]
[Cash Flo] Thank you,
each and every one of you, for coming out.
Don't forget, he's got
good pork chops at the concession stand.
- [man yells] Yeah! Oh yeah!
- [man 2] Yes, they do!
- Ladies and gentlemen, Cash Flo!
- [crowd cheering]
[Matt] There's a lot to discuss.
Were you at the Bullitt County show?
- [Al] I
- At the baseball field?
[Al] No, I was not.
[Matt] Very small crowd.
I thought, "All right, let's see
what happens if we just use the OVW name."
And we had, like, 40 tickets.
Financially, we're still not to the point
where we can
just set up somewhere and sell tickets.
We've got to have a local partner.
All right, so let's go back to Harlan.
Reverend Ronnie
got a lot of people upset with the skit.
I think this is the perfect opportunity
to save some souls tonight.
Amen! What do y'all think?
[scattered cheering]
[Matt] I grew up close to there.
As I watched, I was sitting with my mom,
and I could see it on her face
that she was like,
"I don't know if we should be doing this."
The gyrating at the end
is probably what upset people.
[Reverend yells] Oh!
[Matt] Um All right,
so let's talk Day Chaser.
It's a tequila-based drink in a can.
They're doing advertising
with me on the radio.
While we were there,
I tried to sell OVW and say, "Come on."
They were all in, and then
he heard about the guy getting arrested.
So he called me and said,
"Look, I don't want to have a brand
associated with a wrestler in trouble."
It's an example, though, of how
one person's actions affected the company.
Yeah, unfortunately.
It's an ongoing struggle.
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
are you having fun tonight?
[fans cheering]
[announcer] We got the Morgan & Morgan
Summer Tour happening.
Saint Paul's Festival.
[Matt] Hey, Kaitland. Talk to me.
I don't know. I'm just really stressed out
because I just moved to Nashville.
- And I'm not sure
- Did you sign a lease?
- I'm staying with my friend right now.
- Okay.
You're not gonna have
a better opportunity than this.
[Reverend] Matt?
- Yes?
- [Reverend] I still get paid for today?
No, 'cause you're out here.
- I am right here in front of you.
- You decided to come on your own.
It wasn't 'cause of you.
We have to do this 'cause it's a church.
One of the people at the church
heard about what happened in Harlan
and asked us not to bring you.
You booked me.
- I did not book you.
- And then Or whoever, somebody booked.
OVW booked me.
That's a mistake from whoever.
But I did not book you.
- It was taken away, and I'm like, "What?"
- But you didn't have a show tonight.
You don't think I can get work?
We were told,
"You need to clear your schedule
for this whole three months."
And even though the company themselves
are making money off of it,
we are not making enough money
to even pay for our gas.
I got issue with that.
- You should get a payday for it.
- I probably should. I don't You know.
[Maria] They cost you a booking.
If I can get paid for last month,
my full rate, I'll be excited about that.
It's hard to complain about
not getting paid today.
I didn't get paid
for all my dates last month.
- Good luck tonight.
- Thank you.
Talk to her about it. I want her to
She's got a lot of potential.
But she's gotta be here.
I know you like her, so try to help her.
- [Leila] Okay.
- Thank you.
[Leila] I've been sent here
to convince you to move.
- I can't just move again. I have to
- [Leila] No, I know.
- Unless he wants to pay my bills.
- [Leila] Yeah.
It's hard 'cause I'm doing this by myself.
[Leila] I know, and money's an issue.
Money's an issue for all of us.
[Maria] Dumb motherfucker's
not in wrestling, fucking calling shots.
This just fucking pulls my brain in half.
[Haley] He's gonna get beat up
one of these days. Just so you know.
[Maria] I'll bury this motherfucker
every chance I get, I swear to God.
[man]and kicking the crap
and kicking
the crap out of people like you.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah!
[Maria] When someone asks,
"You staying for the show?"
and he says,
"No, I don't watch the product,"
gets in his car, and drives away
Do you know how disrespectful that is?
It's disrespectful as fuck.
[woman] Where are you going?
I'm leaving.
It's time to I've had enough.
I get anxious.
If there's one word that will describe
what the wrestling business is about,
it's about respect.
And all of us feel
quite disrespected by Matt Jones.
Matt gave himself a bad rep
from talking down to people.
[Al] These guys, this is their life.
They don't work for you.
We work together.
If you're using the approach that,
"Hey, you work for me,"
it don't that don't fly.
There used to be rules.
The best I can compare it to,
as crazy as it may sound, is like the mob.
Wrestling is a business amongst gentlemen.
A handshake means everything.
If you give me your word
you're gonna take care of me,
it means you're gonna take care of me.
And if you break your fucking words,
I break your balls!
Between the three of us,
we still haven't seen any type of money.
I apologize, but we'll It's coming.
You're not gonna not get it.
You will get it, and you'll get it soon.
[wrestler] I know that. Just
Matt came in like,
"Hey, cancel all your dates. You have to!"
It wasn't like he gave a choice.
It was like, "If you wanna be here at OVW,
you have to cancel."
I'll do everything to make sure
you get squared away. All right?
- And very soon.
- [wrestler] I trust you.
I brought it to you.
This is what we do for a living.
It's all we do, only wrestle.
I get it. I've been you.
I've been where you're at. I understand.
This fucking waiting
to get paid shit sucks.
These motherfuckers
got more money than us.
Man, they be owning bars and shit.
I'm over here working at a bar and grill.
I'm getting my little bullshit-ass bread.
Come on now.
This is not a situation of us
trying to keep money from people.
- [Maria] I understand
- We don't have money.
But the moment we have money,
it doesn't go to the people,
because I know about what happened
with the Mercer County check.
To be honest, I say this with respect,
it's none of your business.
- [Maria] That's what was told
- What was told to you is wrong.
- That's part of the problem.
- [Maria] We're all adults.
- Please stop yelling at me.
- This makes it hard to deal with you.
We're paying people.
Used to be, like, five people got paid.
Now everybody gets something.
But it is very frustrating to have been
the people that change this company,
so that people could get paid,
and get punished for it.
It frustrates me to no end
that they used to not pay the wrestlers,
and we do, and we're the bad guys.
Do they not remember how it was?
The thing nobody talks about
is the previous ownership
didn't give them anything.
Right? They didn't get any money.
[Al] Hello?
Hi, Craig. How are you?
I'm aware of the situation
with he and Stu today
because Matt called me,
and then Stu texted me.
I asked, you know,
"Was Matt aggressive or nasty in any way?"
And he said, "Oh yeah,
he yelled at me and called me an ass."
I remember calling him when you guys
first came on board, and I said,
"Matt, you cannot speak
to these people the way you do
because, ultimately, somebody's
going to probably physically assault you."
One of the things
that could probably help him a lot
is limit his interaction
with some of these people.
Let's face it,
he's not good at doing that.
Matt's his own worst enemy.
[Amon] Yeah, I wouldn't call it a fight.
I thought we should get the card,
or a list of people that'd be on the show,
earlier in the week.
We have a Facebook group, so I posted,
"I know Matt said that we would get
the card on Monday. It's Wednesday."
"Just wondering, where's the card?"
He posted and said,
"We'll get it to you as soon as we can."
"We've been really busy.
If you need more, you can call me."
So I call him, and it was just,
"Stu, I can't believe your attitude.
You tell us that nobody's doing any work."
I was like,
"Whoa, I didn't say any of that."
He's used to,
"I'm Matt Jones. Bow down to me."
It just very much seems like
he goes from a zero to an 11 in a flash.
Well, he was loaded and ready.
I called him back.
He goes, "What do you need?"
I was like, "That's where we're starting?"
- Amon, damn it!
- "That's where we're starting?"
You say hi. He's like,
"What the fuck? What do you mean?"
- "Just calling to tell you I hate you."
- [laughs] Right, yeah.
"I needed to follow up on this.
You're a jerk."
I said, "I just wanted to bring
something else to your attention."
He's like, "What?"
He had said on the air
that he just got out of the hospital
due to a panic attack
or an anxiety attack, one of the two.
So I said, "I heard that
you just got out of the hospital recently,
and I just wanted you to know,
if you ever need resources or anything,
then I'm well connected."
"I can get you help for that."
He said, "That is the shittiest thing
you could have ever said to me,
to bring up my health."
And it ended with him saying,
"I am done speaking to you."
"If you need anything,
you can go to Nick or Al."
The real issue, though,
is that he's stressed out of his mind.
For sure.
[Amon] That's what
I tried to talk with him about.
- He takes his stress out on everybody.
- Yes, that is, like, a heart attack.
That is a heart attack waiting to happen.
A ticking time bomb.
[thunder rolling]
[Matt] All right.
The next week is a very busy week.
Courtesy Acura in Lexington
has a chance to be a big show.
I think Will Levis will be there for us
as well, the Kentucky quarterback.
- [man] Great.
- [Matt] We're doing Wayne County tomorrow.
- Yes.
- [Matt] Are they paid?
[man] No, we get the check
when we get there, and 30 cheeseburgers.
- We got those last time.
- [man] Maybe 50.
They did 30 last year, 50 this year.
[Matt] They're good cheeseburgers, now,
not gonna lie.
It'll be a great event.
[Matt] It's got potential
to be really good.
- We'll see.
- [Al] A spectacle.
Last for me, I wanna talk about
something that happened last week
and my frustration with it.
Uh, the issue about the cards going up.
You may have seen
that Amon posted on the Facebook page
just a lot of responses to me
about why they weren't done
and saying he knew
how to run the business better.
I ended up having
a phone conversation with him
that was not
a positive conversation at all.
Whatever. I got frustrated at him.
I didn't raise my voice.
But I was very direct,
as some of you have seen me be.
And at one point,
he interrupted me and said,
"You know, Matt, I heard on the radio
that you have anxiety and panic attacks,
and it put you in the hospital."
"Well, maybe now I know why."
And I'm not sure the last time
I've had somebody be that rude to me,
about something that had me
in the hospital for eight or nine days.
He then went further, and I finished
the conversation with him by saying,
"As far as I'm concerned,
when it comes to you and I,
I want you to be in OVW
if Al believes that it's positive,
but you and I are
not communicating again."
I talked to Al that night.
Al made a point that I think is correct.
He basically said, "Look,
these guys are gonna pick at you."
"Let me handle it. Let Nick handle it.
You don't kind of get in the mud."
I'm going to take
that advice going forward.
I think it's positive advice.
In this situation,
I'm just gonna let it be.
But if somebody
speaks to me like that again,
I know that may be what wrestling is,
but I'm not dealing with that again.
I am not gonna tolerate
just blatant disrespect.
I'm certainly not gonna do it
when I'm one of a couple people
paying the bills.
I just want you all to know,
if he had said that about any of you all,
any of you,
I would not think that was acceptable.
And I was just frustrated,
I'm gonna be quite frank with you,
that it feels like
that can kind of be said to me
and I just have to take it.
People have hurt my feelings
a lot more than that. Whatever.
And I think what frustrated me about it
is that he felt like he could just do it,
and there was no repercussion.
There was a part of me that felt like
I was kind of left out on an island there.
So I just wanted to say that. But
If somebody speaks to me like that again,
I'm not gonna pay for him to be here.
That's the best way I can put it.
[Doug] When it comes to
dealing with these guys, this is a
Like I said, you guys
are coming into a whole different world
that you've never experienced before.
When it comes to dealing with these guys,
things like that
are gonna happen somewhere.
Some less, not as bad.
This guy right here
Before you even, maybe, jump
or pull the trigger,
maybe have a conversation with Al
to lead you down that path a little bit.
[Adam] Are you okay?
Do you need to take a break?
Let's get some water.
I don't know what to do. Jeff, wanna help?
Do you know, Jeff? He's having a seizure.
- [Jeff] Matt, take a deep breath.
- [Matt whimpering]
- [Al] Relax.
- [Bryan] Water?
[Al] Try to breathe.
- Matt? Take nice deep breaths.
- [Bryan] Water?
[Al] Let me get him out.
Let's get a water for him.
[Jeff] Let's get some water.
- [Doug] Ice on the back and throat.
- [Jeff] An ice pack.
- [Doug] Got an ice pack, Al?
- [Al] I don't think we do. Let me look.
[Matt whimpering]
[Jeff] Something cold.
[Al] Yep, just get a bottle of water out
and stick it on him. Right there.
[Matt whimpering and grunting]
[Jeff] There you go.
[Al] Nothing in here.
[Bryan] Use these.
I'll get the other side.
- You go ahead.
- [Al] Here's something.
- Do that.
- [Bryan] Something cold.
[Al] See if there's ice packs
or anything in here.
Matt, can you hear me? Matt, it's Jeff.
- [Bryan] Here you go.
- Matt, can you hear me? Can you hear me?
- [Al] You okay?
- [Bryan] I'll put ice in here.
I'm checking his pulse.
- [Doug] Get a paper towel.
- Matt?
Matt? Can you hear me?
- [Al] You okay?
- Do you see me?
- [Matt] Hmm.
- Do you know who I am?
Okay.
Can you take a deep breath?
Take a deep breath.
Good.
Do you know where you are?
[Matt croaks] I still remember where I am.
Hmm?
[Matt speaks incoherently]
Did you call? Did you call?
Okay.
I want him to get checked out.
- [Matt] Who, me?
- Yeah.
- [Matt moans] No.
- You all right?
- You okay?
- [Matt groans incoherently] Yeah, no
It's all right. You just
kind of weren't with us for a minute.
[Matt] No, I just had
[mumbles and groans]
- You okay?
- [Matt mumbles] Fine. Don't get anybody.
All right.
[Matt croaks] I'm gonna head back.
- Why don't you let me drive you home?
- [Matt] I'm fine.
You don't need to drive me home,
but thank you.
You got it.
[Matt] Somebody take this mic off me.
[Doug] Be careful.
There's water there, Matt. Don't slip.
[Matt coughing]
- He cannot drive home.
- [man] I got you. Stay there.
Can you take mine off too?
Do I still have mine?
[man] You all right, bud?
- Matt, you have to let me drive you home.
- [Matt] I'm good.
Matt, you cannot drive.
[Matt] I've dealt with this
a lot longer than you.
- [Jeff] I understand that, but
- [sound cuts off]
[melancholy music playing]
[ambulance siren beeping]
[melancholy music continues]
[inaudible conversation]