WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Welcome back to the deep dive. Look, I want to 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.120 start today with a premise that, well, it might 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.339 sound a little crazy to you. OK, lay it on me. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.259 So we usually give credit for the invention of 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:14.259 reality TV to Hollywood producers in the early 00:00:14.259 --> 00:00:17.179 2000s, right? Yeah, like Survivor. Exactly. Survivor, 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:19.699 the real world, that whole era. But if you look 00:00:19.699 --> 00:00:22.519 at the stack of research we have for today, the 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:26.170 biographies, old newsletters, the archives, There's 00:00:26.170 --> 00:00:29.129 a very strong argument that the true architect 00:00:29.129 --> 00:00:31.789 of blurring the line between script and reality 00:00:31.789 --> 00:00:35.689 wasn't a TV executive in LA at all. No, not even 00:00:35.689 --> 00:00:37.789 close. It was a guy from Lexington, Tennessee, 00:00:38.070 --> 00:00:41.439 working in a wrestling ring in the 1980s. And 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:43.359 we aren't talking about Hulk Hogan today. We're 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.719 not talking about The Rock. We are taking a deep 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:47.600 dive into the mind of a man named Eddie Gilbert. 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:49.640 Yeah, hot stuff, Eddie Gilbert. And it is, I 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:51.960 mean, it's a fascinating case study because to 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:53.899 the casual observer, he might just look like 00:00:53.899 --> 00:00:56.439 a mid -card wrestler from the territory days. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.020 But when you really dig into the source material 00:00:59.020 --> 00:01:02.539 like we did, you realize he was a master manipulator. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.560 He was a psychological genius who wanted you 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.120 to believe the show was real so badly that he 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.989 was willing to do almost anything And the mission 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.010 for this deep dive is really to figure out how 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:17.650 he did it. How does a guy who was told he would 00:01:17.650 --> 00:01:20.450 never walk or wrestle again reinvent himself 00:01:20.450 --> 00:01:23.769 into one of the most brilliant and honestly dangerous 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:26.230 minds in the business. And perhaps more importantly, 00:01:26.510 --> 00:01:28.969 how that obsession with, you know, working the 00:01:28.969 --> 00:01:32.310 audience eventually consumed him. So let's unpack 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:34.930 this, because with Eddie Gilbert, you can't just 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:37.590 start with his debut. You really have to go back 00:01:37.590 --> 00:01:40.250 to when he was a literal child. The sources mentioned 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:42.129 that by the second grade, this kid wasn't just 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:44.969 a fan. He was obsessed. Obsessed is exactly the 00:01:44.969 --> 00:01:47.230 right word. Most seven year olds are, I don't 00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:49.390 know, drawing stick figures or playing with trucks. 00:01:49.769 --> 00:01:51.870 Eddie Gilbert was writing articles. In second 00:01:51.870 --> 00:01:55.079 grade. Yeah, he was taking photographs for wrestling 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:58.140 magazines. He was trying to get his name in print, 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.319 trying to get backstage credentials. He was effectively 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:03.659 acting like a 30 -year -old journalist before 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:06.420 he even hit puberty. That is just wild. He wanted 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:07.879 to be in the business before he could even tie 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:11.120 his own shoes properly. Exactly. And that singular 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.629 focus really defined his entire life. There is 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:17.930 this incredible detail in the lore, and it's 00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:20.830 widely accepted as fact in the biographies about 00:02:20.830 --> 00:02:22.849 his high school graduation. Oh, I read this part. 00:02:23.629 --> 00:02:25.530 Right. So think about your own graduation. It's 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:28.370 a big deal, right? The family, the photos, the 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.969 gown. Oh, yeah. Huge milestone. Well, rumor has 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:33.689 it Eddie skipped his. He skipped his own graduation. 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:36.789 He allegedly got in his car and drove to the 00:02:36.789 --> 00:02:39.689 Mid -South Coliseum in Memphis to wrestle in 00:02:39.689 --> 00:02:42.289 the first round of an undercard match. Wow. And 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:45.919 here's the kicker. He lost. Oh, man. Yeah, he 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.979 missed one of the biggest nights of a teenager's 00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:50.860 life to go earn like five bucks and lose a fake 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:53.479 fight in front of a half empty arena. I mean, 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:56.159 that is a special kind of dedication or madness. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:59.539 It's definitely both. and it sets the stage perfectly. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.419 He started his career officially in 1977 as Tommy 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.520 Gilbert Jr., which was honoring his father, the 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.159 legend Tommy Gilbert. And at first, he played 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:11.439 the role perfectly. He was the baby face, right? 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:13.759 The good guy. The quintessential baby face. Clean 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.240 cut, polite, technical wrestler. He won tag team 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.400 titles with his dad. He was the guy you'd bring 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:21.659 home to meet your parents. He even went to the 00:03:21.659 --> 00:03:25.680 WWF, what is now WWE, in 1982 and was touted 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.189 as the protege of the champ. So picture this. 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:32.689 He's on this trajectory to be this wholesome, 00:03:32.930 --> 00:03:35.210 athletic star. He's doing everything right. But 00:03:35.210 --> 00:03:38.629 then, 1983 happens. Yeah. This is the turning 00:03:38.629 --> 00:03:40.409 point. Honestly, if you take one thing away from 00:03:40.409 --> 00:03:42.909 this deep dive today, it's that you cannot understand 00:03:42.909 --> 00:03:45.490 Eddie Gilbert without understanding the 1983 00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:47.530 car crash. Because this wasn't a fender bender. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.340 No, not at all. It was catastrophic. He suffered 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:52.460 severe trauma. We're talking injuries to his 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:55.259 neck, his back, his chest, his arms. He was broken. 00:03:55.340 --> 00:03:57.599 Geez. The doctors looked at this 22 -year -old 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.800 kid and said, it's over. You are done. You will 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.099 never wrestle again. For a guy who skipped his 00:04:03.099 --> 00:04:06.099 high school graduation to be in the ring, hearing 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:08.620 you'll never wrestle again must have been an 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.580 absolute death sentence. It was an identity crisis. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:15.520 And the physical aftermath was just brutal. He 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.120 required extensive plastic surgery to repair 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.180 the damage to his face and upper body. Actually, 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:23.139 here is a detail that always sticks with me. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:25.759 You know the look he became famous for later? 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:29.019 The flashy suits and the full beard. Yeah, the 00:04:29.019 --> 00:04:31.480 classic hot stuff look. He didn't grow that beard 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:33.879 because it was trendy. He grew it specifically 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:36.540 to hide the scars on his face from the plastic 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:39.040 surgery. Wow. Yeah, he was literally wearing 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.160 the trauma of that accident on his face for the 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:43.060 rest of his career. But he didn't say retired. 00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:45.230 And this is where we get the first glimpse of 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:48.410 his genius and his recklessness, really. He returns 00:04:48.410 --> 00:04:51.470 to the ring in August 1983, which is only months 00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:53.990 after this near -fatal crash. Which is medically 00:04:53.990 --> 00:04:57.189 insane, by the way. Completely. But what fascinates 00:04:57.189 --> 00:04:59.889 me is how he handled it creatively. Because most 00:04:59.889 --> 00:05:02.529 people would try to hide the injury, right? Pretend 00:05:02.529 --> 00:05:04.810 they are 100 % healthy so they don't look weak 00:05:04.810 --> 00:05:07.129 to the opponent. Right. That's the instinct. 00:05:07.250 --> 00:05:11.009 Protect yourself. But Gilbert went the exact 00:05:11.009 --> 00:05:14.610 opposite way. He exploited it. He goes on TV. 00:05:14.910 --> 00:05:17.670 And at first, he plays the sympathy card. He 00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:20.509 claims Bob Backlund inspired his recovery. But 00:05:20.509 --> 00:05:23.170 then, they work an angle, a storyline with a 00:05:23.170 --> 00:05:26.430 wrestler named the Masked Superstar. This is 00:05:26.430 --> 00:05:28.129 where it gets really uncomfortable to watch. 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:31.589 It does. The Masked Superstar executes multiple 00:05:31.589 --> 00:05:33.930 neckbreakers on Eddie. Neckbreakers. On a guy 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:35.829 who literally just had his neck reconstructed. 00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:38.470 Exactly. And the audience knows about the crash. 00:05:38.509 --> 00:05:41.269 It was in the news. So when they see Eddie taking 00:05:41.269 --> 00:05:43.459 these moves and then... taking a final one on 00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:45.259 the concrete floor and getting stretchered out. 00:05:45.579 --> 00:05:48.279 The fear in that building isn't fake. It's real. 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.160 He used his own real -life excruciating pain 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:53.480 to manipulate the audience. He established a 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:55.259 pattern right there. It was like he was saying, 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:57.560 I will put my actual life at risk to make you 00:05:57.560 --> 00:05:59.720 believe in the show. It blurs the line immediately. 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.120 Is he hurt? Yes. Is it part of the show? Yes. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.839 And that ambiguity is where Eddie Gilbert lived 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.160 for the rest of his life. That moment really 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.300 seems to kill off Tommy Gilbert Jr., the nice 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:12.230 guy. He realizes that playing nice isn't going 00:06:12.230 --> 00:06:14.810 to get him to the top. Precisely. He shifts gears 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:18.670 entirely. He goes to the CWA in Memphis and later 00:06:18.670 --> 00:06:21.110 the UWF, the Universal Wrestling Federation, 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:24.430 and he becomes hot stuff. He turns heel. He becomes 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:28.370 arrogant, loud, flashy. He starts managing a 00:06:28.370 --> 00:06:30.769 stable called Hot Stuff International. Think. 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:33.509 I love looking at the roster of that stable in 00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:36.009 the archives. Because if you look at who he was 00:06:36.009 --> 00:06:38.550 managing before they were megastars, it's actually 00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:40.980 insane. He had a young Sting. Blade Runner Sting 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:43.439 at the time, yeah. And the Ultimate Warrior. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:46.500 Blade Runner Rock. Can you imagine? Eddie Gilbert, 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.519 who wasn't exactly a giant, standing in the middle, 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:51.639 barking orders at Sting and the Ultimate Warrior. 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:53.860 It's a great visual, but it makes perfect sense. 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:57.259 Eddie was the brain. He was the mouthpiece. He 00:06:57.259 --> 00:06:59.100 saw the potential in these guys before anyone 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.139 else did, and he was teaching them how to be 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:03.120 stars. He was teaching them how to get heat, 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:05.540 how to make the crowd genuinely hate them, which 00:07:05.540 --> 00:07:08.660 in wrestling equals money. But his genius wasn't 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.860 just on the microphone. By the late 80s, Eddie 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:14.279 Gilbert wasn't just performing. He was booking 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:16.860 the territory. And for those listening who might 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:19.459 not know the term, booking basically means writing 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:21.639 the show, right? Yes. The Booker is the head 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:24.360 writer, the director, and the casting agent all 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:27.740 rolled into one. They decide who wins, who loses, 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:30.579 and what the overarching dramatic arc is. And 00:07:30.579 --> 00:07:33.259 he was incredibly good at it. He was. In fact, 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:35.500 the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him best 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:38.629 Booker of 1988. That is a highly prestigious 00:07:38.629 --> 00:07:41.170 award in the industry. He was praised for his 00:07:41.170 --> 00:07:43.529 creativity, particularly his work in the Continental 00:07:43.529 --> 00:07:46.189 Wrestling Federation. But his style, it wasn't 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.550 polished, was it? It wasn't the clean, family 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:51.029 -friendly sports entertainment you saw on Saturday 00:07:51.029 --> 00:07:54.209 mornings with the WWF. Far from it. Gilbert favored 00:07:54.209 --> 00:07:57.230 chaos. He understood that violence, real violence, 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:00.189 is messy. It's unpredictable. So he booked shows 00:08:00.189 --> 00:08:02.189 that felt like they were literally falling apart. 00:08:02.449 --> 00:08:04.310 The perfect example of this is the Battle of 00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:07.430 New Orleans in late 1987. Oh, this story is legendary. 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:10.529 It really is. It involves Chris Adams, Terry 00:08:10.529 --> 00:08:13.790 Taylor, and Sting. Gilbert booked a match that 00:08:13.790 --> 00:08:16.329 just dissolved. It spilled out of the ring, went 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:18.430 into the stands, and ended up in the concession 00:08:18.430 --> 00:08:21.009 area. We're talking about a food fight. A very 00:08:21.009 --> 00:08:23.149 dangerous food fight. They were throwing beer 00:08:23.149 --> 00:08:26.569 kegs, steel chairs, trash cans, tables. Even 00:08:26.569 --> 00:08:29.569 the popcorn machine wasn't safe. It was absolute 00:08:29.569 --> 00:08:31.769 bedlam. And the reason it worked so well was 00:08:31.769 --> 00:08:33.649 that it didn't look choreographed. It looked 00:08:33.649 --> 00:08:35.870 like a riot. It looked like the promotion had 00:08:35.870 --> 00:08:38.289 completely lost control of the fighters and security 00:08:38.289 --> 00:08:40.370 couldn't do anything about it. That's the hot 00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:42.549 stuff signature. Making you feel like you're 00:08:42.549 --> 00:08:44.600 watching something forbidden. But if you want 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:46.519 to talk about truly manipulating the audience, 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:49.259 about really tricking people, we have to talk 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:51.700 about the feud with Jerry the King Lawler. This 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:56.159 is the peak. This is 1990 in the USWA. Now, context 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:59.210 is key here. In Memphis, Tennessee, Jerry Lawler 00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:02.649 is not just a wrestler. He is a god. He is royalty. 00:09:03.029 --> 00:09:05.009 Like the mayor and the star quarterback combined. 00:09:05.450 --> 00:09:07.830 Exactly. And Eddie Gilbert knew that to get real 00:09:07.830 --> 00:09:10.549 heat, to get the crowd to genuinely despise him, 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:13.710 he had to do something unthinkable. So he scripts 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:16.649 a firing angle. Yeah. He and his brother Doug 00:09:16.649 --> 00:09:19.710 Gilbert get fired on air. Standard wrestling 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:22.950 trope. The disgruntled ex -employees. But they 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:25.710 took it 10 steps further. They filmed a segment 00:09:25.710 --> 00:09:28.350 where they are driving a car and they run over 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:30.990 Jerry Lawler. A hit and run on television. A 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:33.720 vehicular assault and they flee the scene. Now, 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.100 today, if you saw that on TV, you'd check Twitter, 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:37.700 you'd see the behind -the -scenes photos, and 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:41.360 you'd know it was a skit. But in 1990? In 1990, 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:43.700 in Memphis, people bought it. They bought it 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:46.000 hook, line, and sinker. They didn't just boo 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.120 the TV screen. They panicked. Home viewers were 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.000 watching this, and they believed they had just 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.340 witnessed a murder attempt on their local hero. 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.399 They started calling the police. The actual police? 00:09:56.500 --> 00:09:59.539 Yes. The local police switchboards lit up. People 00:09:59.539 --> 00:10:01.460 were screaming, Jerry Lawler has been hit by 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:04.289 a car. Eddie Gilber— He's driving a Chevy. Go 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:06.769 get him. The police were literally getting ready 00:10:06.769 --> 00:10:09.250 to go arrest Eddie Gilbert for attempted vehicular 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:12.389 homicide. That is unbelievable. It got so bad 00:10:12.389 --> 00:10:15.009 that Lawler, who was supposed to be selling the 00:10:15.009 --> 00:10:17.570 injury in the hospital, had to immediately go 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:20.049 on live television. He had to break character, 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:22.370 show his face, and basically say, I'm alive. 00:10:22.509 --> 00:10:25.129 I'm OK. Please stop calling the cops. That is 00:10:25.129 --> 00:10:27.429 the ultimate magician's trick. Eddie Gilbert 00:10:27.429 --> 00:10:30.190 convinced an entire city that he had committed 00:10:30.190 --> 00:10:33.019 a felony. It speaks to the sociological impact 00:10:33.019 --> 00:10:35.139 of his work. He understood that if you present 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:38.100 violence in a rough, unpolished way, people revert 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.659 to believing it's real. He was playing with fire, 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:43.039 quite literally. He wanted that reaction. He 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:44.659 wanted the police involved because that meant 00:10:44.659 --> 00:10:47.200 he had done his job perfectly. It's fascinating 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:51.000 because he spent so much energy protecting the 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.200 business, protecting K -Fabe. The idea that wrestling 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.980 is real. He went to these extreme lengths. But 00:10:55.980 --> 00:10:59.639 then... only a few years later in 1994, he does 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:01.759 something that completely contradicts all of 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:03.840 that. This is a pivotal moment that often gets 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.399 overlooked in wrestling history. In 1994, he 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.000 sits down for a filmed interview titled Looking 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.399 for Mr. Gilbert. And this wasn't hot stuff shuttling 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:14.860 at the camera, right? No, he sat down as himself. 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:18.950 Thomas Edward Gilbert Jr. And he spoke openly 00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:21.429 about the machinations of the business. He talked 00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:23.529 about booking, about the politics, about how 00:11:23.529 --> 00:11:25.970 the matches were put together, who decided the 00:11:25.970 --> 00:11:37.179 finishes. This must have been treason. It was 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:39.840 taboo, strictly forbidden. You did not pull back 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.039 the curtain. You certainly didn't sell a videotape 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:44.299 explaining how you tripped everyone. But Gilbert 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:48.139 did. This interview is considered the first professional 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:50.860 wrestling shoot interview. So he basically invented 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:54.299 the genre of content we consume today, the inside 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:56.940 baseball of wrestling. He did. He paved the way 00:11:56.940 --> 00:11:59.500 for a massive industry of shoot videos and behind 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:01.620 the scenes content. He was the first one to realize 00:12:01.620 --> 00:12:03.000 that there was an audience who wanted to know 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.299 how the magic trick was done. So he went from 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:07.879 being the master of the illusion, the guy who 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:10.059 made you call the cops, to the first one to sell 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:11.860 you the blueprints. It's such a contradiction, 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.480 but it fits him perfectly. She was always ahead 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.259 of the curve. And speaking of being ahead of 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:18.659 the curve, we really have to talk about ECW. 00:12:18.830 --> 00:12:22.090 Yes, absolutely. Now, most people hear ECW and 00:12:22.090 --> 00:12:24.029 they immediately think of Paul Heyman. They think 00:12:24.029 --> 00:12:26.490 of the extreme violence, the barbed wire, the 00:12:26.490 --> 00:12:28.870 counterculture movement of the late 90s. Right. 00:12:29.129 --> 00:12:31.409 But before it was extreme championship wrestling, 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:33.629 it was Eastern championship wrestling. And in 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:37.299 1993, the head booker was Eddie Gilbert. He was 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:39.200 running the show. He wasn't just running it. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.120 At one point, he owned 49 % of the company. He 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:45.159 was the creative force. He brought his chaotic, 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:48.519 brawling, Battle of New Orleans style straight 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:52.019 to Philadelphia. So the DNA of ECW, that gritty, 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:54.259 dangerous feel that actually started with Gilbert. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:57.710 Absolutely. Gilbert laid the groundwork. He eventually 00:12:57.710 --> 00:12:59.769 passed the torch and the booking position to 00:12:59.769 --> 00:13:03.750 Paul Heyman in September 1993. And Heyman, being 00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:06.129 a genius in his own right, took what Gilbert 00:13:06.129 --> 00:13:08.950 started and dialed it up to 11. He renamed it 00:13:08.950 --> 00:13:11.190 Extreme Championship Wrestling. But if you look 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:13.929 at the genesis of that third major brand, Eddie 00:13:13.929 --> 00:13:16.389 Gilbert's fingerprints are all over the foundation. 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.519 It seems like everywhere you look in wrestling 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:21.100 history from that era, Eddie Gilbert was there, 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:23.519 starting fires that other people would eventually 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:27.360 tend to. But sadly, his own flame burned out 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.379 incredibly fast. It did. His personal life was 00:13:30.379 --> 00:13:33.179 just as fast paced as his booking. He had high 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:35.700 profile marriages to valets like Missy Hyatt 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.500 and Medusa. He was living the gimmick 24 -7. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.700 He didn't seem to have an off switch. And then 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:44.429 we get to February 18th, 1995. Isla Verde, Puerto 00:13:44.429 --> 00:13:47.370 Rico. Eddie Yilbert is found dead in his apartment. 00:13:47.649 --> 00:13:50.769 It's tragic. He was so young. He's 33 years old. 00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:53.799 33. That is heartbreaking. It was a massive heart 00:13:53.799 --> 00:13:56.919 attack. He died in his sleep. But here is the 00:13:56.919 --> 00:13:58.879 tragic connection that brings us all the way 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:00.899 back to the beginning of the discussion. A car 00:14:00.899 --> 00:14:04.539 accident. Yes. His father, Tommy Gilbert, stated 00:14:04.539 --> 00:14:06.840 later that the chest and heart muscle injuries 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:09.620 Eddie suffered in that 1983 crash contributed 00:14:09.620 --> 00:14:12.080 to his heart condition. The physical trauma never 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.700 really went away. There wasn't just the physical 00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:17.580 trauma. It was how he managed it, right? Exactly. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.360 Chronic pain. Remember, he was told he would 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:23.960 never wrestle again. But he wrestled for 12 more 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:26.759 years. To do that, to get through the night, 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.379 the allegations are that he relied heavily on 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:32.000 painkillers. So the very thing that created his 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.679 hot stuff persona, that accident, that refusal 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.299 to quit it, was slowly killing him the entire 00:14:37.299 --> 00:14:39.700 time. It's the ultimate tragedy of his life. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.360 He spent his career convincing the world that 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:45.220 the fake violence in the ring was real. But in 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.879 the end, the real violence of his past, that 00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:50.799 car crash, caught up with him. It's a heavy realization. 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:52.580 He gave everything to the business. I mean, his 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:54.200 last match, and I actually had to double check 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.220 this in the source notes because it sounded completely 00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:59.860 fake. His last match was against a bear. It's 00:14:59.860 --> 00:15:02.419 true, a wrestling bear. It just shows the carnival 00:15:02.419 --> 00:15:04.639 nature of the business he was in. He worked right 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.279 up until the very end, entertaining the crowd 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:08.700 no matter what it took. Despite the tragedy, 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.639 his legacy is absolutely cemented. He's in the 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:14.299 Hardcore Hall of Fame. He was just inducted into 00:15:14.299 --> 00:15:16.659 the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame in the Class 00:15:16.659 --> 00:15:19.600 of 2024. People are still starting his tapes. 00:15:19.899 --> 00:15:21.980 And they really should be because he understood 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:23.940 the psychology of the audience better than almost 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:27.120 anyone. He was a bridge. He bridged the gap between 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.460 the old school territorial wrestling of the 70s 00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:34.639 and the modern edgy crash TV era of the 90s. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.639 He taught the next generation how to talk, how 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:40.320 to walk and how to riot. And he taught us that 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.960 sometimes The most captivating stories are the 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:44.919 ones where you truly can't tell what is real 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.659 and what is scripted. Exactly. He was the boy 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:50.179 who cried wolf, but he made the wolf look so 00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:52.840 convincing that we all ran for cover. It really 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:56.120 makes you think we live in an era now of constant 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:59.139 information. We have the Internet, social media, 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:01.840 dirt sheets, Reddit. We think we know everything 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.899 about everyone. We're a very cynical audience 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:05.919 now. So here is the question I want to leave 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.399 you with today. Couldn't Eddie Gilbert exist 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.019 now? Could a magician like him actually fool 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:13.820 us today? Or was he the last of a dying breed 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:16.299 who could truly make us call the police because 00:16:16.299 --> 00:16:18.460 we believed the show was real? That's the big 00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:20.299 question. I'd like to think there's still room 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:22.419 for magic, but I haven't seen anyone do it quite 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:25.919 like Eddie since. A true original. Thanks for 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:27.700 listening to this deep dive into the chaotic 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:29.519 life of Eddie Gilbert. We'll catch you on the 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:29.820 next one.