#Dark Side of the Ring

[sensational-stormbringer]

funniest possible way to descrive yourself and your rival brawling in the dressing room

[torturedfolkloredepartment]

EVERYONE BE QUIET not only is dark side of the ring coming out on 25 of this month but SO IS A NEW WICKED BOOK CALLED “ELPHIE”

[wrestlingarsenal]

Saturday Scissor Series

The recent Dark Side of the Ring episode featuring Chris Colt (Season 5, Episode 6) mentions his participation in gay porn after his wrestling career ended. I got the sense he must've made numerous adult videos, but I found a website explaining that he really only appeared in two such films, both for the same company (Palm Drive Video) and both having a wrestling theme:

Uncut: Pro-Wrestler Chris Colt 

Sex Aggression: Jack Husky's First Night at Chris Colt's Wrestling Academy

Today's Scissor clip is from the second video, which I was able to find on a porn website. In the clip, we see Colt, shirtless in jeans, giving his trainee a prolonged Headscissor and torturing his nipples.

So it seems Chris Colt was not only a pioneer and innovator in mainstream wrestling, but also as an early producer of Wrestle-Porn on video. His Sex Aggression film came out in 1990 at a time when home VCRs were still fairly new and very little explicitly gay wrestling content was being filmed. (I found an early BG video called "Live at Phantom 1" filmed in 1988, which had to be one of the first wrestle-porn videos, but that was a public show so I doubt it involved actual sex as depicted in Colt's avant garde films.)

According to the article describing his porn work, Colt was aware that many guys get off on wrestling and would even pay for private sessions with pro wrestlers, so there was clearly a market for wrestleporn for at-home viewing. Colt also wanted his videos to expose the hypocrisy of the homophobic, closeted fanbase by outting pro wrestling -- by pointing out that it's, of course, super gay. Colt knew that lots of wrestling fans will pay for matches if you make them just a bit more homoerotic than the televised version.

[wrestlinghistorywithkay]

NWA Wrestler , Magnum TA , poses with WCCW Wrestler , Kerry Von Erich , at Starclash ‘ 85

[demoralizedreprobate]

Marty banned from multiple countries Jannetty. thank you dark side of the ring for blessing me with this clip of MJ driving into a hotel fountain.

[rowinablx]

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler had ten seconds to prepare to announce Owen Hart's death. Ten. Seconds.

Kevin Dunn, you can fucking rot.

Rip Owen, you deserved better 💔

[itsexclusive]

The inevitable dark side of the ring episode about Vince Mcmahon will be God tier. They wouldn't be able to cover his shenanigans in an episode or two, they would need to dedicate an entire season to his fuckery.

[84reedsy]

In your opinion what is the saddest episode of Darkside of the Ring?

Oh, anon, by FAR the Von Erichs.

The sheer tragedy within one family is nearly incomprehensible. Thinking of what Kevin and his parents have experienced just feels like a nightmare. I felt that "helpless" feeling the most during that episode. I haven't seen all of them, but none are really too light-hearted.

I have a few queued up to watch soon when I recover from Scott's legends doc 😂😭

[mysharona1987]

Re: WWE. Watching the Benoit Dark Side of the Ring episode. I do think Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were soulmates.

Oh, not in a romantic way.

Soulmates aren’t always about romance. Both Eddie and Chris were straight men. No one has suggested otherwise.

But it’s clear they kept each other going. Chris fell apart once Eddie died.

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[torturedfolkloredepartment]

I was vaguely aware of wrestling like 10 years ago and do kinda remember seth rollins and the shield from that time. so this is a v good time to get into wrestling. and thank the lord that nowadays the wwe puts a bunch of their stuff on youtube.

oh if you have recs, i am v much open to that

Fair fair

And yes! Im so glad the wwe has videos now that we can watch!

A few things of recommendation

Starting with part one of The Shield history

Next is Mox/dean book

I would also really suggest looking up aew (all elite wrestling)

And a show called “dark side of the ring “

[wrestlingarsenal]

So I've been diving deep into the wrestling career of the Heel known as Chris Colt -- searching for his rare 1970s matches on YouTube, and falling in love with him as one does with gay wrestling icons.

My obsession was kicked off by a recent episode of "Dark Side of the Ring" which aired on Vice earlier this year. I recently streamed it and couldn't help noticing Colt's blatant homoerotic energy, which was perhaps not clocked by most str8 fans at the time.

As with most wrestlers featured on "Dark Side," Colt's life story is filled with trauma, addiction, violence, and a sad ending. However, he was also really sexy, and gay, and clearly loved everything about pro wrestling. All of today's images are from the Dark Side of the Ring, Season 5, Episode #6, "Chris Colt: Welcome to My Nightmare."

His persona and his wrestling performances really captured my fancy. Like other 70's Heels using the Gay Master persona, he mixed queer hip-swiveling with aggressive brutality and eye make-up. He was a violent, sissified dick-tease, just how I like them. He liked to bite and scratch his opponents like a sassy bitch. His costumes were colorful and always super queer, and oftentimes either he, or his opponent, or both would end up bloody-faced.

His many innovations added entertainment value to pro wrestling which we still enjoy today. He was the first to adopt flamboyant Rock n Roll fashion, and first to use Entrance Music (in his case, Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare.") He was one of the first to jump off the top rope onto a prone opponent. And most of all, he knew the audience wanted MORE than just the same old holds and finishers -- they wanted to see sex in the ring (as much as the law would allow.)

He was also gay IRL and didn't seem to care who figured that out (which was rare, and rather trail-breaking, during the homophobic 1970s.) And I'm sure he got bullied and blacklisted and possibly beaten because he happened to like men.

Check out the documentary and let me know if you feel the urge, like I did, to hug Chris Colt and tell him it'll be OK. You can hopefully find it if you have the Vice Channel on your cablevision. I know it's also available for streaming from Amazon Prime Video for like $2.99:

[wrestlinghistorywithkay]

Sherri Martel : The Life A Sensational Woman

Since I have a Women’s Wrestling theme going on here on my blog for Women’s History Month , I wanted to write a biography on a legendary woman who went from wrestler to manager , Sherri Martel.

‘Sensational/Sister ’ Sherri Martel ( Sherri Russell-Schrull) a wrestler and a manager. She was born on February 8, 1959 in Birmingham, Alabama. As a child , Sherri’s mother took her and her sister to wrestling shows in Mississippi. However , her mother would ask them if they wanted to go watch wrestling or go ice skating , therefore , Sherri and her sister would choose wrestling . This would spark her interest into wanting to get into the wrestling business. Therefore , in 1974, Sherri would approach Grizzly Smith, the father of Jake ‘ The Snake ’ Roberts , asking him for advice on how to become a pro wrestler. He would tell her to come back to him in 1980, when she was older . She would soon become a mother to a son , Jared, and marry her second husband . Thus , after divorcing her husband, she would be interested in becoming a wrestler again.

Martel would travel to Memphis , Tennessee to train under ‘ Mr. Personality’ Butch Moore , nevertheless, she thought that she needed to further her wrestling training and went to train under veteran wrestler , The Fabulous Moolah. She would start her career under the name , Sherri Martine , thus , after training under Moolah , Moolah would give her the name , Sherri Martel. She would also be sent to Japan by Moolah to wrestle in 1981. Moolah would also state that Sherri loved to party , which led her to expel her from her wrestling school. Martel would make her way back to Memphis and gain a manager , James E. Cornette ( Jim Cornette) . During a battle royal , she would be injured and sidelined from the ring temporarily. She would find herself working as a manager for Tom Pritchard and Pat Rose as well as working for them as a wrestler.

In 1985, Martel would debut in the American Wrestling Association, with the help of Larry Zbyszko. She would also become AWA World Women’s Champion after defeating Candi Devine at ‘ SuperClash ’. Devine would be her main rival in the promotion. Thus , after vacating the championship, she would be a manager for Buddy Rose and Doug Somers . She would lead them to winning the AWA World Championship, and they would feud with The Midnight Rockers , Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty . Martel would manage Michaels in the future in the WWF/E. Two years later , in 1987 , Martel would debut in the World Wrestling Federation , due to former AWA talent , Jesse ‘ The Body ’ Ventura , telling WWF Chairman and Owner , Vince McMahon , about her . She would change her name again , to Sensational Sherri. Her debut match would be on July 24,1987 would be for the WWF Women’s Championship against her former trainer , The Fabulous Moolah. Sherri would become victorious, and the new WWF Women’s Champion. She would be the champion for a year and three months , before losing it to Rockin’ Robin in the Fall of 1988 in Paris , France. She would also lead a team at the 1987 ‘ Survivor Series ’ Pay-Per-View. In 1990, the WWF would disband the women’s division , leaving Sherri to transition from a role as a wrestler to a full time manager .

As a manager in the WWF , Sherri would become the new manager for ‘ Macho Man ’ Randy Savage , who recently turned Heel against Miss Elizabeth and Hulk Hogan. This happened in 1989. The two would feud with Hogan and Elizabeth throughout the year. At ‘ Summerslam ’ , Miss Elizabeth would get her revenge on Sherri when she knocked her out with her own purse , and would help Hogan , and Brutus ‘ The Barber ’ Beefcake cut her hair after Hogan and Beefcake were victorious against Randy Savage and Zeus. Sherri would also be known as ‘ Queen Sherri ’ after Savage won the ‘ King of The Ring ’ tournament. The duo would part ways at WrestleMania 7 in 1991 , after Savage would lose a ‘ retirement match ’ against his rival , The Ultimate Warrior. The stipulation for that match was for the loser to ‘ retire ’. Sherri would attack Savage after the match , with Miss Elizabeth coming from the audience to save him . During the show , she would come to the aide of ‘ The Million Dollar Man ’ Ted DiBiase , as he attacked Roddy Piper . She would be his manager until 1992. She would manage Shawn Michaels in 1992 and would be the center of attention for his match against ‘ The Model ’ Rick Martel at ‘ Summerslam ’ in 1992 . Both men would be fighting over her in a Heel vs Heel match , which is considered taboo. The match ended a double count out after Martel and Michaels would come to her aide after she fainted. Thus, before a match , Michaels’ former tag team partner , Marty Jannetty, would attempt to hit him with a mirror. Michaels would put Sherri in front of him and let her be hit with it . She would be off WWF programming until the 1993 Royal Rumble . After this storyline , she would manage Tatanka . She would be released from the WWF in 1993 due to failed drug tests and her decision to take cosmetology courses.

She would reunite with Randy Savage in the USWA in 1993 as well as have a brief run in Jim Cornette’s promotion , Smoky Mountain Wrestling . She would have matches with him , and partner with Tracy Smothers in a rivalry against Brian Lee and Tammy Sytch ( also known as Sunny ). She would also manage Shane Douglas in 1993 in ECW. In 1994, she would be signed to World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) , under the name , Sensuous Sherri. She stated that her goal as a manager would be to find a man who would bring her the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. She would manage Ric Flair and Harlem Heat ( Booker T and Stevie Ray ). Therefore , she would lead Harlem Heat to seven reigns as WCW World Tag Team Championship reigns . She would make a return to ECW in late 1994 as she was managing her team in WCW . She would also make three WCW TV appearances in 2000s. She would have matches with Madusa ( Alundra Blayze ) and Mona ( Molly Holly ).

Sherri would continue to make appearances on the Independent Wrestling Circuit before making an appearance on WWE TV in 2005 as a part of the storyline involving her former client , Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. She would sing Michaels’ theme song with Angle . In 2006, she would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by her former client , Ted DiBiase , in 2006. The same year , she would tape a vignette for TNA Wrestling to offer her services as a manager to Bobby Roode. This would be her last TV appearance.

Sensational Sherri died on June 15,2007 at the age of 49. On April 23,2024 , an episode of the fifth season of the popular Vice TV series , ‘ Dark Side of The Ring ’ , would do an episode about her .

Sherri would be the first woman to hold both the AWA World Women’s Championship and the WWF/E Women’s Championship. She was also the original singer of Shawn Michaels’ theme song , ‘ Sexy Boy ’. She would also be the face behind , Peggy Sue , a groupie/biggest fan of The Honky Tonk Man . With blonde hair , sunglasses, 1950s poodle skirt and makeup , it was hard to tell that Peggy Sue was Sherri. She would also make her way to the ring dancing . During Honky Tonk Man’s matches , she could be seen standing ringside alongside his manager , Jimmy Hart. She was also one of the first women to take a bump from a male wrestler.

My Final Thoughts:

Sensational Sherri had one hell of a storied career. She was a history maker and a trailblazer. This biography was a lot of fun to write and research. I also learned a lot more about her than I already knew . - Kay

[thedukeofdormont]

[leclercstroll]

rewatching the dark side of the ring episode with nick gage and seeing all the czw matches i’ve watched and horrified me as a child but made me love moxley

[littletroubledgrrrl]

Since Sam is the son of the infamous Grizzly Smith, watching Grizzly's "Dark Side of the Ring" episode there was a great picture of Sam Houston in that episode I would love to post.

While that episode is on Dailymotion, when I try to upload that episode on gifrun to make a gif of Sam's photo, the video doesn't show up and my computer freezes!

And while that "Dark Side of the Ring" episode is on Internet Archive and gifrun does take videos from that website, Internet Archive isn't working right now!

And Grizzly's "Dark Side of the Ring" episode is not on Youtube.