History Series / DarkSideOfTheRing

** Wrestling/ChrisAdams' bad temper always kept putting him in serious trouble, even serving time for assaulting a flight attendant and a co-pilot on the same flight and then destroying his second marriage for viciously beating his wife after a petty argument. This played a mayor factor on the decline of his career and the closing of his own wrestling school. After ripping one of his peers' wig off in a GWF match causing profuse bleeding and having a mayor career setback at WCW playing second fiddle to many young stars, Chris was fired after being arrested for DUI.

** Right off the bat and after a successful career on AWA, Wrestling/SherriMartel went to win WWF's Women's Championship defeating Wrestling/TheFabulousMoolah, the woman who dismissed the former from her own training camp for being too free-spirited and that happened to be World Women's Champion for almost three decades.

** In a situation that could have be avoided, broke and with his career over, Chris Adams was introduced to "Booray" Partnell, a fan who ended up acting as his caretaker, only for Chris to accidentally kill his then girlfriend at Booray's home by overdose and then brutally assault the latter on a separate occasion, forcing Partnell to defend himself with a pistol he promptly used against the former, killing him at only 46 years old.
** With her career demolished due a raging drug abuse and estranged from her son for a new relationship to a man only seeking advantage of her now defunct celebrity, Sherri Martel was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame some years after her forced retirement. After confessing to a close friend she was about to be given a most required back surgery and [[MyGreatestSecondChance a chance as female performers trainer]], Sherri Martel collapsed while sitting in a rocking chair at her mom's home porch. After a police investigation the autopsy revealed she died from an accidental overdose at 49.

* FunctionalAddict: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Sherri Martel suffered of recreational drug issues since a very young age, severely enough even before she went professional[[note]]Extended but not limited to booze, weed, coke, uppers, downers, quaaludes, muscle relaxers and somas[[/note]]. Remembered as one of the most gifted female performers and managers ever, this wasn't always the case. As Rockin' Robin recalles, on one of their matches, Sherri threw an errant kick to Robin's throat that left the latter unable to breath. Sherri realized what had happened and went on to apologize to her in the locker rooms. This can be seen as an isolated incident, nevertheless shows how Martel's problem just went so subtly out of control that even she couldn't notice it. To the point her own son can't remember a single incident when he saw her ''sober'' and the reason she was ousted from WWF and WCW was she came as positive on a drug test too many.

** Expressed by many on ''The Life & Legends of Harley Race'', his history is this trope personified and not only professionally speaking. Brought up into a very rough childhood and going into competition from a very young age.
** With a dream to accomplish and a carefree way of life, a former stripper that had to desert her family went to become one of the most revered female performers and personalities in the business' history, "Sensational" Sherri Martel.

* JekyllAndHyde: Expressed by many during ''Chris Adams, The Gentleman and The Demon'' about the aforementioned performer. Whenever he [[YouWontLikeMeWhenImAngry loose his temper]], he was willing to straight out hurt people for real fearing no consequences. After Gino Hernandez's demise, his problems with alcohol and drug use worsened, so his temper too.

** As her former husband Leroy Gonzalez recalled, Sensational Sherri craved for a career on wrestling more than anything, so to fulfill her goals she had to desert her recently formed family when their son Jarred was just about three months old. Also interviewed, Jarred stated she kept him away from the business as the best choice on his behalf. She kept as close to him as she could but he's nevertheless still resented about how the whole matter turned out to be.

*** By the time he was talking about his terrible accident, he recalled with a smirk how Wrestling/SherriMartel went to pay him a visit while recovering, when she had a glance of his condition was so horrified that screamed at top of her lungs and started to cry.

* BingeMontage: Several across the show, but those ones on ''The Mysterious Death of Gorgeous Gino'', ''Cocaine & Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story'', ''The Last Ride of The Road Warriors'', ''In the Shadow of Grizzly Smith'', ''The Plane Ride from Hell'', ''The Steroid Trials'', ''Breaking the Cycle: The Graham Dynasty'', ''The Tragic Fall of Adrian Adonis'' and ''Chris Adams, The Gentleman and The Demon'' wound-up as UrExample.

* FunctionalAddict: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Sherri Martel had a raging recreational drug issue since a very young age, severe enough even before she went professional. Remembered as one of the most gifted female performers and managers ever, this wasn't always her case according to Rockin' Robin. On one of their matches, Sherri threw an errant kick to Robin's throat that left the latter unable to breath. Sherri realized what had happened and went on to apologize to her in the locker rooms. This can be seen as an isolated incident, nevertheless shows how Martel's problem just went so subtly out of control that even she couldn't notice it.

* BigFun: The way each and every interviewee remembers Herb Abrams, Chris Kanyon, Johnny K-9, The Junkyard Dog, Adrian Adonis and John Tenta in their respective episodes.

** The Grahams were also notorious for their penchant to wear the red mask full-time. To the point that Nicole Gossett (Eddie's granddaughter) remembers how Mike, her dad, started up every Monday morning smelling like a rubbing alcohol bottle left open and having his head wrapped up in blood soaked bandages.

* CooldownHug: Chavo and Sandra gives one to David Benoit when he is breaking down towards the end of his interview.

** Expressed by many on ''The Life & Legends of Harley Race''. Brought up into a very rough childhood and going into competition from a very young age, Race's history is this trope personified. And not only professionally speaking.

*** [[Wrestling/TheNastyBoys Brian Knobbs]] had this precise reaction when heard Brutus considered himself as good as an actor as Creator/MelGibson for playing mostly forgettable gimmicks during the his WCW stint.
* YouKilledMyFather: After ''miraculously'' survive to a life-threatening fever for staph infection, Mike Von Erich wasn't the same anymore, as if nothing was left of him after the terrible ordeal.

* BingeMontage: Several across the show, but those ones on ''The Mysterious Death of Gorgeous Gino'', ''Cocaine & Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story'', ''The Plane Ride from Hell'', ''The Steroid Trials'', ''Breaking the Cycle: The Graham Dynasty'' and ''The Tragic Fall of Adrian Adonis'' wound-up as UrExample.

* WorldsBestWarrior: Jerry Briscoe and Ed Sharkey talked very highly about Harley Race's fighting abilities on and off the squared circle.

* AxCrazy : Several SanitySlippage examples can be found but one highlighted amongst the rest, that of Dr. Jerry Graham (the man Eddie got his wrestling name after and his {{kayfabe}} brother working together as a tag team). Dr. Jerry was a full-time alcoholic who had his kicks maiming fellow wrestlers and civilians alike, fearing no man nor consequences. He was so distraught over his mother's death that he stormed the hospital she was lying in with a 12 gauge shotgun, a .380 ACP pistol and an 8-inch blade hunting knife to steal her dead body ''only'' for personal burial.

* CheapHeat: One of the greatest examples in the business' history. "The crushing of Damien". According to Jake Roberts, originally it was meant to be done behind The Snake's back. So he advised Tenta for "Shock value" to get it done ''while he was watching and unable to do nothing to stop it'. This added to Jake's Oscar-grade performance and the subsequent "Damien-burgers" promo shot Earthquake's already meteoric push to a whole new level.

** According to his own niece, great-nephew and his fellow TagTeam parter Bill Armstrong, Chris Colt was born and raised in a loving environment where he got everything he needed, all of the sudden his father started to drink copiously every weekend, there more often. When he was ten, he found his mother once sitting in a couch with blood pouring from her face for his father had pummeled her with his pistol. Chris attempted to find safety for both and his sister inside the family's car when his dad started to threaten and then shoot at them. With his sister at the wheel, they were able to escape.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Said almost verbatim by Jim Cornette about Chris Colt, a performer he called himself a fan of and as "The best wrestler nobody ever saw." Working predominantly on territories with small venues and due his flamboyant and dangerous way of life, he also passed away relatively young.

* ArchnemesisDad: New Jack's and Jake Roberts' fathers rose up high above as glaring examples of infamy.

* TheOldestProfession: Confirmed by his ex-wife and [[Characters/WCWFemaleTalent Missy Hyatt]] who got him discovered and offered a try-out to be a pro wrestler, Buff Bagwell turned into a male stripper and then a women's escort after his wrestling career was over as a solution for his financial problems.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: After finding success within the industry, "The Fabulous Freebirds" indulge themselves in a truly [[TheRockStar RockStar]] fantasy, with all the debauchery and issues with the law it comes with.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsBV1WZgjFQ&t=2m36s In the latter,]] Mike Hartsfield further clarifies that Vic only wound up landing in the ring because, when he hit the ropes on his way down, hit them with his legs, causing him to swing around; had he landed on his butt, he would've kept going down to the floor.

* PointOfDeparture:

* ForWantOfANail: A ''seven hour weather delay'' led to heavy drinking from the WWE wrestlers waiting to return to the United States from Europe. The flight ''to'' Europe went off without incident, and the consensus from the interviewed subjects (Referee Mike Chioda and [[Characters/{{ECW}} Justin Credible]] especially) was that the long wait while stuck on the tarmac was the catalyst for what happened.

** After Wrestling/HarleyRace rebuffed Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's offer to make him jump ship to [=WWF=], the latter attacked the seasoned veteran who payed the courtesy by sweeping the floor clean with the promoter's sorry rear end.

** Wrestling/HarleyRace's former wife told first hand how a fun loving guy and good father he was despite of his feared reputation as the toughest guy in industry.

** Harley Race in-ring career was finished by Hulk Hogan, the man he was looking for to settle a score with a few years prior by accident. After a spot where he had to perform his flying headbutt to a table outside the ring, the iron bar sustaining the table´s frame caused a bowel rupture required several surgeries to be corrected.

** Possibly the major attack against this very trope was provided by Wrestling/Harley Race as consultant on 1998's TV special ''Exposed! Pro Wrestling's greatest secrets''.

** Not just that, Wrestling/Harley Race also innovated wrestling with maneuvers as his patented flying headbutt and running knee. After his long standing career was over, he became this to many newcomers to the business.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Vince [=McMahon=] attempted to make Harley Race jump the ship to [=WWF=] for a hefty sum, Race cleaned his mustache with Vince's check and let him know that [[IGaveMyWord he promissed]] to surrend the title to Ric Flair at the event.

* TheSpartanWay: Proving that GoodOldWays not always are ''that'' good, Wrestling/HarleyRace's history shows this in spades. His family was so poor he had to leave home at fourteen because they couldn't support him anymore, so he ended up working on a farm owned by the legendary Stanislaus and Wladek Zbysko, they offered him wrestling lessons in exchange of his hard work. Then he went to work as ''Carny attraction'' having shoots[[note]]Real fights[[/note]] against anybody for 3-4 bucks a match.

* WrestlingDoesntPay: PlayedForLaughs. Wrestling/HarleyRace's first job in the business was as driver and assistant for Happy Humphrey, a well known 700 lbs. performer back in TheFifties. One of Race's main chores was to help Humphrey to ''take a bath'', consisting in swab him with a mop soaked in soap as the large performer lied naked on the ground.

** Harley Race started his professional career as Larry "The Ax" Hennig partner.

** Wrestling/HarleyRace career was saved by promoter Gus Karras, who stopped the doctors willing to amputate his leg after the car accident that killed Race's wife.

** In a reel played on his episode, Wrestling/HarleyRace told about a couple of rods in his back, artificial hip, four screws on his left leg and two bracers in his left forearm. Despite of all of this, the man kept on competing for a long time. His career could has been very early cut short due a near-fatal accident that left him as a young widower. Then the doctors told him they most likely had to amputate his left leg and he would never be able to walk again.
* TheDeterminator: This can be said about Wrestling/HarleyRace and the legacy he left in the industry, not only he had his first professional match before he could even learn to drive a car, but he honed his skills and sharpened his teeth with ''the toughest among the tough'' back in his day. As told by Jim Cornette, in a land of tough guys, he was "The King", a man simply impossible to be hurt.

** After Wrestling/HarleyRace rebuffed Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's offer to make him jump ship to [=WWF=], the promoter attacked the seasoned veteran who pay him the courtesy by sweeping the floor clean with the former's sorry rear end.

*** After his confrontation with Vince [=McMahon=], Harley discovered the [=WWF=] was having an incoming event in Kansas City, ''Harley's hometown'', so he proceeded to storm the place Hulk Hogan was with a gun, since he couldn't find the World Heavyweight Champion, Race had to settle up with ''set the ring ablaze''.

** Wrestling/HarleyRace stood up for a woman being mistreated by her man not knowing the latter had a friend with a knife right behind Harley who proceed to stab him three times in the back. As told by Trevor Murdoch, once Harley had his wounds treated, he found out where the guy lived and passed by on his car, spraying the place with a ''machine gun''.

** Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake was more famous for being part of Tag Teams included those with Hulk Hogan and Wrestling/GregValentine

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The reason why Abdullah had to do everything in his grasp to protect his spot and own brand, even having to BecomeTheMask performing acts like eating a raw chicken and beef liver on camera as stated by former manager Hugo Savinovich and Mick Foley.