WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 OK, so picture this. You're standing at the foot 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:06.000 of a massive mountain. You've got the right gear. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:07.960 You've done all the training. And you have the 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.619 absolute perfect partner. Right. You start climbing. 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.679 And you're both moving at the exact same speed. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:15.900 You're matching each other step for step. But 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:18.800 then right about halfway up, an avalanche hits. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.760 Just total chaos. Which you can't plan for. Exactly. 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:25.800 And when the snow finally clears, your partner 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.559 is on a helicopter heading straight to the summit 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.160 to plant a flag, and you are all the way back 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:33.219 down at base camp. Just sort of dusting yourself 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:35.679 off, wondering what on earth just happened. That 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:38.140 is honestly, that's a terrifying image, but it 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:41.420 is a surprisingly accurate metaphor for the professional 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.280 wrestling business. It really is. And we love 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.200 to talk about the people on the helicopter, right? 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.420 The household names, the ones on the lunchboxes, 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:50.240 the video games. selling out the massive stadiums. 00:00:50.299 --> 00:00:51.880 The ones that get the documentaries made about 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.179 them. Exactly. But for this deep dive, we are 00:00:55.179 --> 00:00:57.679 doing something totally different. We want to 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.659 look at the guy who got left at base camp. We're 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:03.479 diving into the career of a professional wrestler 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:07.000 named Air Paris. Real name, Frank Paris. And 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:08.540 I'm really glad we're digging into the sources 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:10.659 on this one, because usually history is written 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:12.459 by the winners. Right. And in wrestling, that 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:14.959 means the global champions. Yeah. But the industry 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:16.980 is actually built entirely on the backs of guys 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:20.349 like Air Paris. He is, in a lot of ways, the 00:01:20.349 --> 00:01:23.189 ultimate what -if story. And the what -if here 00:01:23.189 --> 00:01:26.230 isn't just some vague, abstract, philosophical 00:01:26.230 --> 00:01:29.689 question. It's incredibly specific. Because Air 00:01:29.689 --> 00:01:31.969 Paris wasn't just some random wrestler working 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:35.230 in a gym somewhere. For a very critical blink 00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:37.329 -and -you -missed -it window of time, he was 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:40.030 the tag team partner of AJ Styles. Which adds 00:01:40.030 --> 00:01:42.609 a whole other layer of tragedy or maybe irony 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:44.890 to the whole story. For you listening who might 00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:47.129 not follow wrestling super closely, AJ Styles 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:50.329 is... arguably one of the top five performers 00:01:50.329 --> 00:01:52.530 of the entire 21st century. Yeah, he's a global 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:54.370 icon. He's been the world champion literally 00:01:54.370 --> 00:01:58.750 everywhere. WWE, Japan, TNA. And in early 2001, 00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:01.230 he and Air Paris were on the exact same line 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:03.709 on the graph. They were absolute equals. So that's 00:02:03.709 --> 00:02:05.750 our mission today. We aren't just going to read 00:02:05.750 --> 00:02:08.270 down a Wikipedia page of match results. We want 00:02:08.270 --> 00:02:10.650 to understand the alchemy of success in this 00:02:10.650 --> 00:02:13.909 business. Why does one person become a billionaire's 00:02:13.909 --> 00:02:16.349 favorite and the other becomes a regional hero? 00:02:16.770 --> 00:02:20.870 Like, is it luck? Is it politics? Or is it really 00:02:20.870 --> 00:02:23.669 just timing? It's usually a very messy combination 00:02:23.669 --> 00:02:25.930 of all three of those things. Plus just a little 00:02:25.930 --> 00:02:28.110 bit of magic. Let's test that theory out. We 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:30.409 have to start where every single wrestler starts. 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.479 The absolute bottom. And in this case, the bottom 00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:36.479 is Somerville, Georgia in 1979. That's where 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.539 Frank Parris was born. Fast forward to April 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:42.879 20th, 1996, and he makes his professional debut. 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:45.500 He was just a teenager. And you have to remember, 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:48.719 1996 is a very specific time in wrestling. The 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:50.780 independent scene was not the polished product 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:53.219 it is today. It was gritty. It was rough. It 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:55.979 was. And he debuts with a very, well, a very 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:58.699 specific ring name. Kid Ego. Oh, you just have 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:01.439 to love the 90s indie scene. The name Kid Ego 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:03.599 implies so much, doesn't it? It really does. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.159 He's young, he's probably playing a very cocky, 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:08.439 arrogant character, and he probably has just 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:11.099 terrible neon colored gear. Well, the results 00:03:11.099 --> 00:03:13.500 seem to back up his rookie status pretty clearly. 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:17.740 His debut match is a tag team match. It's Kid 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:22.319 Ego and a guy named, I love this, Mark Payne. 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:26.550 P -A -I -N. Mark. That is incredible. That sounds 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:29.250 like a name randomly generated by a video game. 00:03:29.310 --> 00:03:31.689 And they lose. They lose to a team consisting 00:03:31.689 --> 00:03:34.610 of Dusty Dotson. And wait for it, Nasty Critter. 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:36.969 Wait, Nasty Critter. Nasty Critter. That is in 00:03:36.969 --> 00:03:38.969 the historical record. See, those names just 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:41.569 paint such a vivid picture for you. This is the 00:03:41.569 --> 00:03:43.949 southern independent circuit in the mid -90s. 00:03:44.229 --> 00:03:46.169 It's low budget, the lighting in the building 00:03:46.169 --> 00:03:48.250 is probably awful, and the ring almost certainly 00:03:48.250 --> 00:03:50.229 squeaks when you hit the ropes. Oh, absolutely. 00:03:50.409 --> 00:03:52.610 And losing your first match is practically mandatory. 00:03:52.830 --> 00:03:54.710 In wrestling culture, you have to pay your dues. 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:57.550 You do not walk in winning. You walk in staring 00:03:57.550 --> 00:03:59.569 at the ceiling lights so you can learn some humility. 00:03:59.889 --> 00:04:01.689 Well, he definitely learned humility. A week 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:04.750 later, he makes his singles debut, loses to Mike 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:07.490 Golden, and he didn't actually get his hand raised 00:04:07.490 --> 00:04:09.870 in victory until about two months later against 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:12.830 a guy named Kenny D. So that's two full months 00:04:12.830 --> 00:04:15.150 of losing every single time he went out to the 00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:18.509 ring. That grind right there is the filter. Most 00:04:18.509 --> 00:04:20.649 normal people quit during those first two months. 00:04:21.009 --> 00:04:23.290 It physically hurts. You're driving four hours 00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:25.790 in a cramped car to make maybe 10 bucks, and 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:28.009 you're losing every night. If you stick around 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:30.050 through that, it means you actually love the 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:32.889 business. He clearly loved it, but he also realized 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:35.089 he needed to evolve. The source material notes 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:37.750 he took a three -year hiatus not long after this. 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:40.449 Maybe to train more, maybe life just got in the 00:04:40.449 --> 00:04:42.970 way. But when he finally comes back in 1999, 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:46.790 the kid ego persona is dead. he returns as Air 00:04:46.790 --> 00:04:50.230 Paris. And that name change signals a massive 00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:52.790 shift in his in -ring style. Calling yourself 00:04:52.790 --> 00:04:54.670 Air Paris tells the audience immediately look 00:04:54.670 --> 00:04:57.930 up, this guy's gonna fly. This is the era where 00:04:57.930 --> 00:04:59.790 the cruiserweight style was really taking off 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:02.689 globally. Fast pace, high risk, lots of flips 00:05:02.689 --> 00:05:04.769 and dives. And he lands in a promotion called 00:05:04.769 --> 00:05:07.870 NWA Wildside, which was based in Georgia. Just 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:10.009 how important was this specific place for the 00:05:10.009 --> 00:05:14.240 industry? crucial, absolutely crucial. NWA Wild 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.019 Side was essentially the laboratory for the future 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:19.120 of professional wrestling. It wasn't the big 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:20.800 leagues. I mean, they were still running shows 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.220 in a literal warehouse. But it was the exact 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:26.860 place where the big leagues looked for new talent. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.199 To scouting ground. Exactly. It was a hotbed 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.319 for young, athletic guys who were figuring out 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:34.920 the modern, fast -paced style that we see everywhere 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:36.959 today. Well, Paris was definitely in the mix 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:39.079 there. But looking at his championship history 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.279 in Wild Side, there is a really frustrating pattern. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:44.420 It's almost spooky when you look at the dates. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.389 Let me guess. The stripped title pattern. Yes. 00:05:47.709 --> 00:05:50.670 It is maddening. May 1999, he wins the Junior 00:05:50.670 --> 00:05:53.189 Heavyweight Championship. Huge milestone. He's 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:56.069 the guy. But October comes around, he gets injured, 00:05:56.209 --> 00:05:58.490 he can't defend the belt in 30 days, so the promotion 00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:01.050 strips him of the title. That's the double -edged 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:03.009 sword of that high -flying cruiserweight style. 00:06:03.209 --> 00:06:05.050 You get the crowd on their feet, you do the crazy 00:06:05.050 --> 00:06:07.949 dives, but you absolutely destroy your own body 00:06:07.949 --> 00:06:11.069 in the process. But he doesn't give up. He actually 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:13.370 fights his way back and wins it again in November. 00:06:14.290 --> 00:06:17.250 So redemption art complete, right, wrong. May 00:06:17.250 --> 00:06:20.629 2000, he is stripped again. It's like the universe 00:06:20.629 --> 00:06:23.029 was telling him, you can hold this, but do not 00:06:23.029 --> 00:06:25.209 get comfortable. It creates a very specific narrative 00:06:25.209 --> 00:06:27.689 around a performer when that happens. You become 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:29.550 the hard luck guy. The guy who has all the athletic 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:32.029 tools in the world, but just cannot catch a break. 00:06:33.250 --> 00:06:35.769 The snake -bitten champion. Speaking of breaks, 00:06:35.970 --> 00:06:38.939 both good and bad. There is one specific night 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:41.040 in Wild Side that honestly reads like a scene 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.360 from a movie. And this establishes the relationship 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:45.800 that really defines his entire career. January 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.759 6th, 2001. The television title match. Exactly. 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:52.480 Air Paris defeats Eddie Golden. He wins the NWA 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.420 Wild Side Television Championship. The crowd 00:06:54.420 --> 00:06:57.079 goes wild. He's the champ. And he loses it. That 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.579 exact same night. That exact same night. To who? 00:06:59.860 --> 00:07:03.019 To his future partner, AJ Styles. That is just 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:05.060 brutal. I mean, try to imagine the emotional 00:07:05.060 --> 00:07:07.639 whiplash of that. You win the belt. You're celebrating. 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:10.139 You're probably in the back looking for a marker 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:12.519 to write your name on the strap before you even 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.939 leave the building. Styles takes it off you. 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:17.819 It is harsh, but it's also just good wrestling 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:20.660 business. Doing that established that these two 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:23.139 were the undisputed top dogs in that territory. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:25.360 They were trading wins. They were constantly 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:27.800 pushing each other to be faster, to be sharper. 00:07:28.019 --> 00:07:31.000 Iron sharpens iron. Exactly. They were the standouts. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:34.500 And frankly, that chemistry they had, that fierce 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:37.500 rivalry, is exactly why they ended up getting 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:39.199 the call to the big leagues. And this is the 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:41.279 part of our deep dive where the stakes change 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.439 completely. We are officially leaving the high 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.560 school gyms and the squeaky warehouse rings. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:49.100 We are talking about world championship wrestling, 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:52.560 WCW. The only company that ever truly threatened 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:54.959 the dominance of WWE. But we need to set the 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:57.699 scene for you listening. This is late 2000, early 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:01.339 2001. If you were backstage at WCW at this exact 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:06.270 point in history, what is the vibe? absolute 00:08:06.270 --> 00:08:09.350 frantic desperation. They are losing money hand 00:08:09.350 --> 00:08:11.569 over fist. The creative direction of the shows 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:13.970 is a complete mess. The old established stars 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:16.230 like Hulk Hogan and Rick Slayer are getting older 00:08:16.230 --> 00:08:19.029 and they are way too expensive. The company desperately 00:08:19.029 --> 00:08:21.449 needed something fresh. They needed spark. Right. 00:08:21.629 --> 00:08:24.589 They needed cheap, hungry, exciting talent to 00:08:24.589 --> 00:08:26.870 revitalize their cruiserweight division. They 00:08:26.870 --> 00:08:28.589 were basically throwing spaghetti at the wall 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:30.990 to see what stuck. So Paris signs a developmental 00:08:30.990 --> 00:08:33.789 deal with them in 2000 and then The real call 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:37.590 comes. He debuts on national television. WCW 00:08:37.590 --> 00:08:41.450 Thunder, February 14th, 2001, Valentine's Day. 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:44.370 And who do the Bookers pair him with? It had 00:08:44.370 --> 00:08:46.750 to be AJ Styles. It makes perfect sense. They 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:48.509 already know each other's movesets perfectly. 00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:50.470 They trust each other not to drop each other 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:53.169 on their heads on live TV. So they debut against 00:08:53.169 --> 00:08:56.549 Evan Karagias and Jamie Noble. Now, they do lose 00:08:56.549 --> 00:08:58.899 that first match, but... Reading the old reports 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:00.500 and looking at the dirt sheets from the time, 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:02.539 it sounds like they made a massive impression. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.379 They looked like they belonged on that stage. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.019 And you have to understand, making an impression 00:09:07.019 --> 00:09:09.639 in WCW at that specific time was incredibly hard 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:12.019 because backstage, nobody was paying attention 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:13.580 to the young guys. The political environment 00:09:13.580 --> 00:09:16.840 was toxic. Right. But Paris and Stiles were flying 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:20.779 around that ring with this sheer urgency. They 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:23.919 knew they had a tiny microscopic window to get 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.019 noticed before the whole ship went down. And 00:09:26.019 --> 00:09:28.679 they absolutely smashed that window. Just a week 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.580 later, on the very next episode of Thunder, they 00:09:31.580 --> 00:09:34.059 get a massive win. They beat a team called the 00:09:34.059 --> 00:09:36.019 Boogie Knights. Which I know sounds funny now, 00:09:36.019 --> 00:09:38.440 the Boogie Knights. But that was Disco Inferno 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:40.960 and Alex Wright. And they were deeply established 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:43.399 television veterans. They were former champions. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:45.639 They're local indie guys. No, these were made 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.330 men. So for two rookies to come in and... beat 00:09:48.330 --> 00:09:51.029 them clean in the middle of the ring. That was 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:53.529 the office saying, we see money in these kids. 00:09:53.710 --> 00:09:55.570 We are going to push them. They were climbing 00:09:55.570 --> 00:09:58.750 the ladder so fast. By March 5th, they make it 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:01.990 to WCW Nitro. That is the flagship show, the 00:10:01.990 --> 00:10:05.129 one that aired live on TNT. And they're put in 00:10:05.129 --> 00:10:07.710 a major tournament for the brand new Cruiserweight 00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:10.429 tag team titles. Now they lost in the quarterfinals 00:10:10.429 --> 00:10:12.710 of that tournament to Elik Skipper and Kid Romeo. 00:10:13.250 --> 00:10:15.860 But honestly, Just being included in the bracket 00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:17.779 was a huge statement. They were being positioned 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:19.480 to the foundational future of that division. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.580 And then comes the moment that makes this entire 00:10:21.580 --> 00:10:24.899 story so tragic. The moment where the real what 00:10:24.899 --> 00:10:30.340 if of Air Paris begins. March 21st, 2001. WCW 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:33.360 Thunder. They get repackaged. The corporate glow 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.419 up. Yes. They get a cool new team name. They 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:40.980 are now officially Air Raid. AJ Styles is even 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:43.259 renamed to Air Styles. So you have Air Paris 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:45.340 and Air Styles. They come out in matching flight 00:10:45.340 --> 00:10:47.279 jackets. They have this whole Top Gun aesthetic 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:49.740 going on. They looked incredibly cool. It worked 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:51.600 perfectly. They looked like stars. They had the 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.320 gimmick. They had the athletic ability. They 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:55.100 had the coordinated gear. They were completely 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:57.179 ready to take over the world. And that specific 00:10:57.179 --> 00:11:00.279 episode of Thunder, it was the last one ever. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.860 History is so cool. Just days later. WCW is bought 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:07.419 by the WWF, which is now WWE. The entire company 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:10.240 effectively ceases to exist overnight. Just think 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:12.360 about that timing. Really sit with that for a 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.539 second. You get your brand new name, you pay 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:16.799 for your expensive custom gear, you get your 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:19.539 push on national television, and literally days 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:22.200 later, the multi -billion dollar company you 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.980 work for is sold for scrap. So now we enter the 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:28.860 survival portion of the timeline. The WWS picks 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:31.759 up select contracts from the WCW roster. They 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:34.279 take the big stars, the Booker T's, the Diamond 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:36.840 Dallas Pages, and they take a few promising prospects. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:41.580 Did the phone ring for Air Paris? No, it didn't. 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:43.740 And here's the real kicker. It didn't ring for 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:46.879 AJ Styles either. Not for the WWF. They were 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:49.600 both left completely in limbo. That is the part 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:51.740 that people always forget. Styles didn't go straight 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:53.759 to WWE to become a superstar. They were both 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.100 cut loose at the exact same time. Exactly. The 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:57.740 floor just completely dropped out from under 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:00.340 both of them. One minute you're air raid on national 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:03.179 TV with matching jackets. The next you're completely 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:05.139 unemployed and the company you worked for is 00:12:05.139 --> 00:12:07.019 just gone. So they both have to go back to the 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:08.700 independent circuit. But this is where the paths 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.259 finally diverge. This is the avalanche moment 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:12.840 we talked about at the start of the deep dive. 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:16.129 Right. Styles eventually finds his way to a new 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:19.090 startup promotion called TNA Wrestling. He essentially 00:12:19.090 --> 00:12:21.690 becomes the face of that entire company. He travels 00:12:21.690 --> 00:12:24.029 to Japan. He becomes an international legend. 00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:27.049 Paris returns to the Georgia scene. He goes back 00:12:27.049 --> 00:12:31.190 to the grind, NWA Wild Side, Music City Wrestling. 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:33.629 He's back in the armories and the high school 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:36.649 gyms. That has to be a heavy mental load to carry 00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:38.649 to go from the catering tables and the massive 00:12:38.649 --> 00:12:41.289 TV trucks back to setting up the folding chairs 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:43.590 yourself. It is incredibly difficult. You've 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:45.389 tasted the steak and now you're back to eating 00:12:45.389 --> 00:12:48.289 Bologna sandwiches. A lot of guys just cannot 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:50.389 handle that ego blow. They just quit. I look 00:12:50.389 --> 00:12:52.049 in the mirror and say, I made it. I lost it. 00:12:52.250 --> 00:12:55.009 I am done. Well, Paris didn't quit immediately. 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:57.759 But he did step away for a bit. The source material 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.679 notes he officially retired in December 2005. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.440 But, like any true wrestler, retirement is a 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.659 very loose term. It's more of a suggestion. The 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:10.539 itch always comes back. There is simply no cure 00:13:10.539 --> 00:13:12.820 for the professional wrestling bug. That's the 00:13:12.820 --> 00:13:15.639 truth. So he returns in 2008 for a promotion 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:19.120 called Nahquire Ring Champions. But this time 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.100 around... He's wearing a totally different hat. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.340 He isn't just wrestling anymore. He's booking. 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:25.559 And for those listening who don't know the terminology, 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:28.379 the booker is the head writer. They are the person 00:13:28.379 --> 00:13:31.059 who decides the storylines, who wins, who loses, 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:34.539 and how the drama unfolds. The fact that he was 00:13:34.539 --> 00:13:37.120 given that role shows Paris really had a mind 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.879 for the business. He wasn't just a stunt man 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:42.259 doing flips. He deeply understood narrative and 00:13:42.259 --> 00:13:44.269 crowd psychology. And the narrative he wrote 00:13:44.269 --> 00:13:47.529 for himself was so juicy. There's this one specific 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:49.730 angle in Nadawa that I absolutely love because 00:13:49.730 --> 00:13:52.419 it's pure soap opera. So the commissioner of 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:54.879 the promotion, a guy named Ted Guinness, gives 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.419 Air Paris a golden ticket. It's a guaranteed 00:13:57.419 --> 00:13:59.679 match for any championship he wants at any time. 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:01.620 The classic wrestling trope. It's the money in 00:14:01.620 --> 00:14:03.860 the bank idea. You hold the ultimate power over 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:06.440 the roster. Right. So later on, Paris gets attacked 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:09.039 by a villainous tag team called the Exotic Ones, 00:14:09.299 --> 00:14:11.899 Simon Sermon and Rick Michaels. And because of 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:14.259 that attack, Paris has to team up with the cruiserweight 00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:17.200 champion Chris Gans to fight them off in a tag 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.360 match. OK, so he's teaming with the champion. 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:22.200 The classic enemy of my enemy is my friend's 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:24.419 setup. Exactly. They wrestle the match, they 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:27.100 win, the bell rings. But immediately after the 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:30.679 bell, Paris turns on him. He viciously attacks 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.360 his own partner, Chris Gantz. The classic heel 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.679 turn. He cashes in his golden ticket right there 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.879 on the spot, beats up the guy he just tagged 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:40.379 with, and steals the Cruiserweight Championship. 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:42.940 That is just brilliant booking. It shows how 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:46.039 much he had evolved as a performer. In WCW, he 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:48.639 was the plucky, high -flying baby face, the good 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.940 guy who smiles and high -fives the fans in the 00:14:50.940 --> 00:14:54.679 front row. Here, he is becoming a villain. He's 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.379 manipulating the rules. He's showing real theatrical 00:14:57.379 --> 00:14:59.820 range. It gets even more dramatic when he moves 00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:01.820 to Perkz International Championship Wrestling 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:04.980 a little later, around 2009. He starts off there 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:07.759 as a bad guy. But then he wrestles a match against 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.039 the Steiner brothers. Rick and Scott Steiner, 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:12.700 absolute legends of the industry. That is wrestling 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:15.200 royalty right there. He loses to the Steiner's, 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:16.960 but after the match is over, he shakes their 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.179 hands in the middle of the ring. He shows respect 00:15:19.179 --> 00:15:22.500 to the veterans and the crowd absolutely goes 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:25.340 nuts for it. Boom. He is a good guy again. That 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:28.139 mechanic is called the rub. When legendary guys 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:29.899 like the Steiners shake your hand in front of 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:32.080 a crowd, they are effectively transferring a 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.500 bit of their own credibility to you. They are 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:36.980 wordlessly telling the audience, this kid is 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:39.740 okay. You have our permission to cheer for him. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:43.080 But the feud that really dominated this specific 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:45.820 era for him was with Bobby Hayes and David Young. 00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:48.720 And reading about it, it sounds brutal. There's 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:51.759 a specific moment in April 2010. Paris is in 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.340 a tag team match, and his partner is, wait for 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:57.080 it, Kevin Nash. Big sexy. See, this is the wild 00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:59.580 thing about the indies in the late 2000s. You 00:15:59.580 --> 00:16:02.240 have these local stalwarts like Paris suddenly 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.539 mixing it up with absolute global superstars 00:16:04.539 --> 00:16:06.519 like Kevin Nash, who are just passing through 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.029 town for a weekend payday. It creates such a 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:11.509 weird visual in your head. You have Kevin Nash, 00:16:11.730 --> 00:16:14.529 who is nearly seven feet tall, and Air Paris, 00:16:14.850 --> 00:16:16.470 the cruiserweight. Anyway, they win the match. 00:16:17.169 --> 00:16:20.629 But after the bell, Hayes and Young attack Paris. 00:16:20.730 --> 00:16:23.429 They hit him with a piledriver. And then, just 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:26.129 to make absolutely sure, they piledrive him again. 00:16:26.429 --> 00:16:29.309 That is the classic injury angle. It's how you 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:31.309 write a character off the television show for 00:16:31.309 --> 00:16:34.139 a few months. Maybe Paris needed time off to 00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:36.539 heal up some real nagging injuries or maybe he 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:38.519 just had personal commitments. So you have the 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:40.679 bad guys break his neck in the storyline so he 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.000 can disappear and make a huge triumphant return 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:45.220 down the line. And he does. He comes back in 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:47.379 June, still selling the lingering effects of 00:16:47.379 --> 00:16:49.679 the injury to help a guy named Chris Harris win 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:52.960 the title. It's really great long term storytelling. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:55.639 But amidst all this gritty indie drama, there 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:57.919 was one reunion that really jumps off the page 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.159 in the sources, the one that brings our whole 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:01.950 story full circle. I know exactly the date you're 00:17:01.950 --> 00:17:05.390 gonna say? March 6, 2010. Perks International. 00:17:05.829 --> 00:17:08.569 Air Paris versus AJ Styles. We really have to 00:17:08.569 --> 00:17:10.789 pause and look at this. Think about the context 00:17:10.789 --> 00:17:14.650 of the larger wrestling world here. In 2010, 00:17:15.609 --> 00:17:18.109 AJ Styles isn't just doing okay for himself. 00:17:18.569 --> 00:17:21.480 He is the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:24.420 is arguably the single best in -ring wrestler 00:17:24.420 --> 00:17:27.579 on the planet at that exact moment. He is at 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:30.119 the absolute peak of his physical and creative 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.380 powers. And yet he comes all the way back to 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:35.420 this smaller promotion in Georgia just to wrestle 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:38.400 his old partner. It speaks volumes about the 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.779 mutual respect they had for each other. Styles 00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:42.839 certainly did not have to do that. He was main 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:45.220 eventing massive pay -per -views on cable television. 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:47.900 But he came back to stand across the ring from 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:49.539 the guy who was right there at the start with 00:17:49.539 --> 00:17:52.299 him. The match actually ended in a no contest, 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:54.559 which I have to assume was booked that way to 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.900 protect both of their reputations. Of course. 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:59.119 You can't have your visiting world champion lose 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.500 to a local star, but you also don't want the 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:03.700 hometown hero to look weak in front of his fans. 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:06.819 But the actual result of the match doesn't matter 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:08.920 at all. It's about the image, the collision of 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.240 these two incredibly divergent timelines. The 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:13.299 guy who conquered the world and the guy who held 00:18:13.299 --> 00:18:16.039 down the fort at home. And I think it is so important 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:19.019 that we don't frame Paris's career as a failure. 00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:22.259 We keep naturally comparing him to Styles because 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:24.180 of the air raid connection. But when you actually 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.960 look at the raw stats, the guy had a seriously 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:28.740 impressive run. Let's run through the hardware 00:18:28.740 --> 00:18:31.440 real quick. He was the NWA North American tag 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.299 team champion twice, once with Castee O 'Reilly 00:18:34.299 --> 00:18:36.500 and once with Big Bully Douglas. He was also 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:39.460 a two -time NWA Wild Side junior heavyweight 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:42.940 champion. And this is the big one for me. In 00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:46.660 2001, during that peak WCW run, Pro Wrestling 00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:49.519 Illustrated ranked him number 195 of the top 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:52.140 500 wrestlers in the entire world. Being ranked 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:54.579 in the top 200 wrestlers on Earth, that is legitimate 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:57.039 validation. That means you are an elite athlete. 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:59.240 Absolutely. He was world class. The difference 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:01.900 between number 195 and number one often isn't 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.420 raw talent. It's just the roll of the dice. It's 00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:06.960 avoiding that one catastrophic knee injury. It's 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:08.720 having the right person in the front office happen 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.039 to like your look. It's whether the billion dollar 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.019 company you work for gets bought out on a Tuesday 00:19:13.019 --> 00:19:15.299 or a Friday. And it seems like there really is 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:18.190 no bitterness there between them. Air Paris actually 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:22.089 contributed to AJ Styles' autobiography, Phenomenal, 00:19:22.170 --> 00:19:25.069 which came out in 2013. They are linked forever 00:19:25.069 --> 00:19:27.730 in the history books. You simply cannot tell 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:30.549 the origin story of AJ Styles without talking 00:19:30.549 --> 00:19:32.990 about Air Paris. And in a broader way, you can't 00:19:32.990 --> 00:19:36.450 tell the story of the chaotic death of WCW without 00:19:36.450 --> 00:19:38.589 talking about air raid. That's the thing that 00:19:38.589 --> 00:19:40.369 really sticks with me after reading all of this. 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:43.589 They were quite literally the last hope for that 00:19:43.589 --> 00:19:45.910 division. They represented a future that we never 00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:48.910 got to see happen. Just think about it. If WCW 00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:51.250 manages to stay in business for just six more 00:19:51.250 --> 00:19:54.210 months, do Air Paris and Air Styles become the 00:19:54.210 --> 00:19:57.109 greatest tag team of the 2000s? Do they stay 00:19:57.109 --> 00:20:00.069 together for five years? Do they eventually headline 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:02.630 Starrcade against each other? It's a fascinating 00:20:02.630 --> 00:20:04.849 thought experiment. The multiverse of professional 00:20:04.849 --> 00:20:07.150 wrestling. It really challenges our fundamental 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:10.299 understanding of success. We love to think of 00:20:10.299 --> 00:20:13.740 these industries as pure meritocracies. Hard 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:16.799 work equals fame and fortune. And sure, you have 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:18.400 to do the grueling work just to get your foot 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.119 in the door. But once you are finally in the 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:25.190 room, it is pure chaos. It's who buys the company, 00:20:25.410 --> 00:20:27.609 who tears a quad muscle, and whose phone happens 00:20:27.609 --> 00:20:30.190 to ring. Air Paris is the ultimate reminder that 00:20:30.190 --> 00:20:32.670 for every single superstar you see on the poster, 00:20:32.750 --> 00:20:34.930 there is someone just as talented, who worked 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:37.410 just as hard, who simply took a different path. 00:20:37.609 --> 00:20:39.490 And frankly, if you have a subscription to a 00:20:39.490 --> 00:20:41.329 wrestling network, or if you can just find the 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:43.990 old clips online, you owe it to yourself to go 00:20:43.990 --> 00:20:46.549 watch that final episode of Thunder. Watch Air 00:20:46.549 --> 00:20:48.549 Raid come out in those matching jackets. It's 00:20:48.549 --> 00:20:50.650 like peering into a timeline that got deleted. 00:20:51.069 --> 00:20:53.599 It's wrestling history frozen in amber. History, 00:20:53.900 --> 00:20:57.279 Frozen and Amber, I really love that. Air Paris 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.579 might not be headlining WrestleMania, but his 00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:02.559 footprint is permanently there, right alongside 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.160 the biggest names in the business. Leaving you 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.240 with a reminder that sometimes the difference 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:09.160 between the base camp and the summit is just 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.779 an avalanche you didn't see coming. That does 00:21:11.779 --> 00:21:13.420 it for this deep dive. Thanks for listening. 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:14.079 Always a pleasure.