With the physique of an Adonis and endless charisma, Tony Atlas made his mark as one of wrestling’s first Black stars but racism, addiction and ego kept Mr. USA from the top.
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00:00They were keeping them all together a different thing.
00:02I remember seeing black wrestlers get tarred and feathered.
00:05A lot of questionable racist behavior.
00:10Tony Atlas made little black kids all over the world feel like, man, I can do that too.
00:16I am going to whoop on you and get paid for it.
00:19There were very few black wrestlers.
00:21There was a lot of time I wrestled in an area where I'm the only black guy.
00:25They saw money.
00:26They didn't see color.
00:27Hey, wait a minute.
00:29Holy shit, look at this guy.
00:31Get in the way.
00:32Get in the way.
00:33Tony Atlas, Mr. USA.
00:35Climbing the ladder of success very, very rapidly in the World Wrestling Federation.
00:39Rising to heights few black wrestlers of his era had ever reached,
00:43Tony Atlas began to unravel the weight of fame's pressures and pitfalls.
00:48I got trouble here and I got trouble there and I got trouble coming your way.
00:53Sick, drugs, and rascal.
00:55It was a party every night at the hotel room.
00:58There were a lot of temptations and there were a lot of different choices out there to make.
01:04I never bought drugs in my life.
01:05It was always given to me.
01:06It was in the dressing room for God's sake.
01:09There's a lot of things about Tony Atlas I wonder whether it's legend or fact.
01:14Is it true or not?
01:15Tony's battle with addiction cost him significant opportunities, leaving him with no place to call home.
01:23Here's a guy that would make hundreds of thousands of dollars and he's living on the street.
01:28It's not how much you make, it's how much you save.
01:31I was some homeless guy that smelled like something died, no place to live, no nothing.
01:37I became a suicidal.
01:38I didn't want to live no more.
01:40I wanted to die.
01:41All right, so we're going to watch this and you just tell us whatever you think about it, feel about it.
01:58Mr. USA, Tony Atlas.
02:03And he looked fantastic.
02:05Looks like he was chiseled from granite.
02:07Man, he was jacked.
02:08What a well-put-together human.
02:11His opponent weighing 320 pounds, the incredible Hulk Hogan.
02:18What's he doing?
02:19Unbelievable.
02:20Nice, that Hulk Hogan.
02:22So, you press-slammed Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden?
02:25Yeah.
02:26Oh, look at that.
02:28Oh, that's that.
02:29Check it out.
02:31Check it out, Hulk.
02:32Check it out.
02:33And how did the fans react?
02:35That was grinding it out a bit.
02:38The cable groove.
02:43Hulk Hogan's, what, 330 pounds at the time, 6'4".
02:47And press him over your head.
02:52Hulk Hogan, I could hear him now cussing up the storm.
02:58Damn.
03:00Tony wanted the press, the biggest guy in the company, because it was telling everybody in the audience,
03:06look how strong I am.
03:09The main event guy, Madison Square Garden, to go to, you know, living on a park bench.
03:22Sometimes people have to go through hitting bottom before they realize how good they really had it.
03:29I was born in Virginia.
03:34My mother was a devoted Christian.
03:37She'd only been with one man her whole life, and that was my father.
03:42My dad never worked.
03:43My mother worked.
03:44All of her dedication went directly to raising her kids.
03:48One time, we were walking down the street, and this guy slapped my mother on the butt.
03:54My mom turned around.
03:55She hit him with one punch and knocked him out.
03:58Laid him out right there.
03:59My mother said, I got to teach you kids how to protect yourself, because I ain't always going to be here for you.
04:04That was something she said all the time.
04:06Because when I was young, you had to know how to use your hands.
04:10All through life, like when you go back to my childhood, I was in anywhere between 50 to 100 fights.
04:15Anywhere in there, easily.
04:16So I had a reputation that if you fight me today and I don't win, you're going to see me again tomorrow.
04:23Most of the influence in the black neighborhood when I was a child was bad influence.
04:28We looked up to drug dealers.
04:29We looked up to street fighters.
04:31We walked to school, and there was a fist fight every other day.
04:35I didn't care who you were.
04:36I was fighting anybody.
04:39Now, my dad, he was a gambler who liked to hustle money, so he took me down to scrap a corner and wait for the railroad men to come in.
04:46And when they get drunk, he would tell them, I bet you can't whoop that boy there.
04:51I don't fight any grown men.
04:53And he said, if you lose this fight, boy, you're going to get it worse when you get home.
04:58But I grew quick.
04:59By the time I was 12, I was already over 6 feet at 12.
05:03But the only weighed like 110 pounds.
05:09I was like a stick.
05:12And so one day, I was walking with this girl.
05:14I helped her carry her books.
05:16I liked her.
05:18Really, I liked her shoes.
05:19She had tennis shoes on.
05:20So I heard this voice behind me say, I'm going to push you.
05:24All of a sudden, I fell head first.
05:27I got the dent in my head right here.
05:29The whole world turned red because all the blood ran down to my face.
05:36My grandmother kept running out.
05:38Pull off.
05:38Pull off.
05:39Come here, boy.
05:40My scar was split completely in half.
05:43We had no phone.
05:44She couldn't call the ambulance.
05:46She couldn't call the police.
05:47No way of contacting anybody.
05:49My grandmother said, I want you to pray.
05:53So I got down on my knees.
05:55And this is what I said.
05:56I want to be strong like Samson.
05:58Built like Hercules.
06:00And have a lot of money.
06:02And everything that I asked for in that prayer, God gave to me.
06:07I blew it later, but still, he gave to me.
06:11Do you think that you suffered brain trauma from that incident?
06:14Yeah.
06:15Yeah.
06:15Have you been ever medically diagnosed?
06:17No.
06:19No.
06:19But I do know it was something wrong with me.
06:22That I was not like regular kids.
06:25And I think it has something to do with the shoes.
06:27The reason I'm so submissive to women in sneakers and stuff like that.
06:31Because all that was on at the same time.
06:33I don't understand.
06:34What do you mean?
06:35I buy shoes for the girls to step on that.
06:40Well, they got me into that.
06:43Oh, my goodness.
06:44That one.
06:46Fan one.
06:47Yep.
06:47That's a nice pair of shoes right there.
06:48Now, what makes it good?
06:50Well, if they're family looking, they look like something should be on a woman's feet.
06:55I got stepped on in malls and gyms and houses, hotel, elevator.
07:00I got it done everywhere.
07:02A couple dozen times I was with him.
07:04I seen him just buy shoes and have him walk on his face and never talk to him again.
07:08I was as shocked as the girl was.
07:11People knew nothing about fantasies.
07:14Fantasies and all this stuff was underground.
07:16So they thought because of my wrestling, they thought it was part of my training.
07:21He'd take a girl to matches and have him walk on his face.
07:23I'd give a woman $50 just to step on me.
07:26Plus, I'd buy the shoes for them.
07:28They didn't have to pay for the shoes.
07:30I thought it was a little bit out of the ordinary.
07:32You know, but then, you know, everybody has their little quirks, right?
07:38You know, things that make them feel good.
07:41As Popeye said, I am what I am.
07:43You know, he's not the only foot guy in the world.
07:46Well, they say, like, I suck toes, which I don't.
07:50They say I like high heels, which I don't.
07:53They say that I whack off, which I don't.
07:57They try to make it into a sexual thing.
08:00Well, for me, my shoe feather keeps me calm.
08:04I got more control of it now than I did then.
08:08Get a sniff on it, Tom.
08:10Hey, now we're talking.
08:12I was into what's called dominatrix.
08:14So the dominatrix become your master.
08:18You would call a slave.
08:20I can't use that term now because I'm black and black people get mad,
08:23but that's what it was.
08:24So they dominate you.
08:26See, I went to a person once had to explain it to me
08:29that was into all this psychology stuff.
08:31And I had this rage in me.
08:34You know, ever since I was a kid, I'd fight anybody.
08:37I'd beat up anybody.
08:38I could lift anything.
08:39Nobody could beat me.
08:40So I had to learn more control.
08:44So I ended up going to the YMCA.
08:47I've never been to the gym in my life.
08:49I was 15 years old when I first started lifting weights.
08:54Hey, hello.
08:55Welcome.
08:55Come on in, guys.
08:56Well, I know y'all gentlemen noticed I got a lot of stuff spread out here on the table.
09:01Because these items here are items for before there was a Tony Atlas.
09:09Now, this is Muscle Development Magazine.
09:12I never competed in bodybuilding before, but what ended up happening,
09:16I did a 350-pound press at age 19.
09:22That was the beginning of my bodybuilding and powerlifting.
09:27I saw Tony the first time at the YMCA.
09:38My name is David Crockett.
09:39I am part of the Crockett Wrestling family that started Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling,
09:45World Championship Wrestling, TBS.
09:48That's us.
09:50In Charlotte, the only place you had to exercise or lift weights was the YMCA.
09:57A lot of the wrestlers, George Scott, Sandy Scott, Johnny Heideman, you name it,
10:02they all were down there working out.
10:04And they said, hey, we've got this young man that we think we can do something with.
10:09They take me to the office.
10:12There were some mats there.
10:13And I said, you know, put him through the paces just to see, you know, if he knew anything.
10:18Which he didn't.
10:19But he definitely had potential.
10:23They said, we're going to pay you $150 a week to trade.
10:29We took an investment in Tony.
10:32Other people, we did not see it worth buying stock in them.
10:38So was there jealousy?
10:39Oh, yes.
10:40And it was very hard for him.
10:43Very hard.
10:43But he was like a sponge.
10:45You know, he'd learn.
10:47Now, George Scott said, well, Tony, I guess tomorrow we have to teach you how to work.
10:53I said, George, I don't want to work.
10:55I want to be a wrestler.
10:56He said, no, Tony, you know what I'm saying?
10:58I said, I don't want to work.
10:59I said, I don't want to be a worker.
11:01I want to be a wrestler.
11:02I learned it ain't up to me to win or lose.
11:05It's up to some promoter.
11:06It was hard to swallow, me being for so many years as a weightlifter, a bodybuilder.
11:13I was in legitimate sports.
11:15Now I'm in a sport where I got to let people whoop me that can't whoop me.
11:20It was the most disappointing day of my life.
11:27I was 20 years old when I finished high school.
11:30A lot of kids could not afford to do senior pitching.
11:32So this here became my senior pitcher.
11:35And then look at my arms.
11:37Tony Atlas was one of the biggest and one of the strongest.
11:41So I completely identified with it.
11:44I'm Mark Henry.
11:45Some might say the strongest man that ever lived.
11:49And Tony Atlas was my manager.
11:52Ever present Tony Atlas.
11:54Tony was a heavyweight that didn't look like a heavyweight.
11:59You could see every vein and muscle.
12:02He wasn't just the guy that had show muscles.
12:05Tony had go muscles.
12:06Down.
12:07I was a champion in three sports simultaneously.
12:11I was a champion in bodybuilding.
12:13I was a champion in powerlifting.
12:15You know, 22-inch arms, 24-inch waist, 28-inch thighs, lats, traps, shoulders.
12:26He was built.
12:27And it just wasn't cosmetics because he had the strength to back it.
12:31Elbows locked.
12:32Elbows locked and he did it.
12:33He did it.
12:33505 pounds.
12:35Hi, I'm Ricky the Dragon Steamboat.
12:372009 WWE Hall of Famer.
12:40NWA World Champion.
12:42Weighing 237 pounds.
12:45Ricky Steamboat.
12:47There will only be one winner.
12:49Thanks for being here.
12:50So, maybe people don't know this, but at some point you and Tony were both competing in bodybuilding competitions, right?
12:57We have competed on the same stage, but I won Mr. Southern States and he won Mr. USA.
13:06Mr. USA.
13:07Mr. USA.
13:09Mr. USA.
13:10My 50-some-odd-plus years in this business, I've seen bodybuilders come and go, you're big, you're strong, and all this stuff, that doesn't make you a great wrestler.
13:29Hey, I'm Gerald Briscoe, WWE Hall of Famer, but you might know me better as Jerry Briscoe.
13:35Gerald Briscoe.
13:37Tony was a bodybuilder that was a wrestler.
13:43Look at the agility of this man, Tony Atlas.
13:46They wanted me to be a main event.
13:47They didn't want me on bottom.
13:49They wanted me on top because, you know, by then I had best body in wrestling.
13:53The first year of my career, I was a champion.
13:56With his chiseled physique and natural talent in the ring, Georgia Championship Wrestling wastes little time crowning Tony their television champion.
14:05You know, when you got this butt, you gotta keep it.
14:09Yeah, I mean, big guy, good looking.
14:14I mean, he was a freak of nature.
14:17Hello, my name's Tommy Wildfire Rich, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion when wrestling was wrestling.
14:24If you see Tommy, you're gonna see me.
14:27If you want to fight Tommy, you gotta fight me.
14:29If you want to make love to Tommy, you gotta love me, too.
14:32A few months, they started pushing us as a tag team.
14:35Yeah, that's me and Wildfire Tommy Rich.
14:38That's when we were young whippersnappers right there.
14:40Me and Tommy enjoyed the championship wrestling.
14:42Black and white would fight all night.
14:46And the people just loved it.
14:48I mean, it was, you know, salt and pepper.
14:50And now I'm talking about back in 78, I think, when I started in there.
14:55It's the black and white thing, you know, it was a different world back then.
15:00And, you know, some of them little towns didn't like black folks there.
15:05Today, it'll be called racism.
15:10My day, it was called average.
15:17You gotta realize that the territory only kept one black in every territory.
15:22So, if I walk in a dress room and a black guy is sitting in that dress room, he was all the matter to my enemy.
15:28But that was life for people of color.
15:31I got called nigger so many times in professional wrestling that one time, a guy walked up and said, hey, he told me I didn't know who he was talking to.
15:39There were very few wrestlers that didn't use the term nigger.
15:42Tommy Rich didn't.
15:43It was just in the world at that time.
15:46It was not, you know, they all used the term.
15:49They all did it.
15:51And you never said stopper.
15:54No.
15:55Why not?
15:55I was making money.
15:58My mom helped me with this.
15:59She said, you pick your battles.
16:01As long as I was making money, I didn't care.
16:06I made $100,000 my first year.
16:08And that was my smallest year.
16:10I didn't know what it was like to work your way from the bottom.
16:12I didn't know what that was like.
16:14It was given to me too quickly.
16:17Too much, too soon.
16:18I was not supposed to be in that position that soon.
16:22Because mentally, I was not ready for it.
16:24What did you start spending the money on?
16:26I gave it away.
16:29I gave my friends money.
16:31In fact, when I took a girl out on a date, I would take her shopping first.
16:35I said, you've got to get something to wear.
16:37I said, well, you've got to have a piece of jewelry.
16:39And the boys were all big spending.
16:42They told me when I first started, there's two ways to be, live like a king or be rich.
16:48You choose.
16:49I live like a king.
16:50He'd never seen that much money before.
16:54And it happens to a lot of athletes.
16:56They don't know how to deal with it.
16:58And they spend it like there's no tomorrow.
17:01You know, he goes to the bar, starts buying drinks.
17:04Man, it's like piranhas when they come in.
17:06And, you know, everybody's his friend then.
17:09He was like a Ric Flair with his money where he'd make five grand and the next day he'd be broke.
17:16You find a lot of guys that all of a sudden start to make it big.
17:20And the next thing you know, they're buying watches and cars.
17:22He went out and bought 1976 Lincoln Continental.
17:27You got to party with these big guys, you got to spend the money.
17:31And unfortunately, the parasites in our business jumped on to Tony.
17:36And now they're becoming Tony's friends because he's got all this money.
17:40And he's going to these bars.
17:42And he's spending all this money.
17:44Hey, Tony, buy me a drink.
17:46You know, buy me dinner tonight.
17:48Let's go out and have some fun, right?
17:49And you go to a club and the next thing you know, you got a $300 bar tab.
17:54And guess what?
17:56The friend that was with you is gone.
18:00The girls would come up to you.
18:05And they'd say, you want to go to the room?
18:07Most of them, I would take three women up to the room.
18:10Party, drink, smoke.
18:12Every night was an orgy.
18:14I wanted to fit in.
18:16And drugs was in the dressing room, for God's sake.
18:18I didn't go out looking for it.
18:20He's in the dressing room.
18:22You know, whether it's a pain pill, Valium, or Xanax, or a little Coke, whatever it was,
18:28you know, we all participated a little bit.
18:31They called our group the bad boys because we was in trouble every week.
18:35I'm referee Nick Patrick.
18:36You probably remember me as the NWO ref.
18:39I also was a referee for WWE.
18:41Nick Patrick for Crying On Love!
18:43We were just, every week, somebody doing something stupid.
18:46And just drinking.
18:47And we had doctors writing out whatever we wanted and smoking and just snorting and whatever.
18:52We were just as, why it's a miracle we survived.
18:56But anyway, we got tired of Tommy never driving and just finally said, we are not your chauffeur
19:02any longer, which was a horrible mistake.
19:05And I've been drinking and I was driving.
19:09I just rented Lincoln.
19:11Got on the interstate and went down the road probably two miles.
19:14We were like really close back to our hotel and the car started flipping.
19:24The car flipped upside down three times.
19:28So I'm in the car unconscious.
19:30I don't know what's going on.
19:33I was almost dead.
19:39A cicaded journey down the freeway ends in disaster,
19:43leaving Tony Atlas and his fellow wrestlers wrecked in a horrifying accident.
19:49The roof of the car was crunched down on my side.
19:51I guess it come down and hit me and drove my head down and knocked me out.
19:55And I had a broken neck.
19:57Tony, you know, I mean, he was in the hospital for about three or four days
20:01and then come out and still couldn't wrestle.
20:04Was that accident a wake-up call for the lifestyle?
20:08It was the business.
20:09We went on as normal.
20:11Nothing ever stopped.
20:13I feel bad for Tony.
20:14I wish that he did have people around him that was like,
20:18hey, man, you had enough.
20:20Come on, go get some rest.
20:21You don't know how to get in the car.
20:23Though he struggles with life on the road,
20:26Tony shines brighter than ever in the ring,
20:28stepping into the spotlight of the famed World Wrestling Federation.
20:32Tony Atlas, you signed to face a number of individuals and I can tell you one thing the fans certainly delighted about it.
20:41If you all don't know that, I'd like to show you all a few of my sketches.
20:43I'd like to show you all a few of my sketches.
20:44Gorgeous.
20:45Yeah, I'm working on that.
20:47His arms are almost as big as yours, Tony.
20:49I believe so.
20:51If there was ever a talent that was built for New York,
20:56it was Tony Atlas.
20:58Take a look at that.
21:00Tony wasn't getting booked mid-card.
21:04Tony was getting booked main event.
21:05You know, and when they did, what happened, man, the business started exploding
21:13and the chance and reaction that Tony was getting was second to none.
21:18Tony Atlas, undefeated in the World Wrestling Federation.
21:22As one of the WWF's biggest stars,
21:26Tony joins forces with future Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson
21:30to form a history-making tag team.
21:33It was brand new where you had two African-Americans
21:37getting that rocket ship attached to both of these young men.
21:43Rocky was already the established star
21:45and then Tony was still the up-and-coming star.
21:49The two of them together with the power and the look that they had,
21:53it was magic for both of them.
21:55You see, back then, all this stuff was new for black athletes.
22:00One time for later!
22:02He's a new champion!
22:04But we are the first black tag team champions of the world ever!
22:10Now, that was great.
22:12My problem was, me and Rocket didn't get along
22:14because Rocket was a top wrestler.
22:16I was a top wrestler.
22:18I'm the only one who could take his spot.
22:20Tony, I'm sure you're so happy.
22:22You've got tears in your eyes.
22:23It wasn't that he hated me or disliked me.
22:27As you know, Rocket's older than me.
22:29And this was Rocket's first break in the WWF.
22:34Think about it.
22:35I made in one week what took Rocket Johnson 10 years to make.
22:40There was a lot of jealousy that came into play with that.
22:43So, after a while, it started souring and it turned into a bitter relationship.
22:48And that's sad because those two guys in the beginning, they were equal.
22:52And then all of a sudden, Rocky noticed that Tony was getting the bigger push.
22:57You did it, Tony!
22:58You did it, Tony!
22:59Rocket Johnson tried to get me far a thousand a time.
23:02They were kind of toxic together.
23:05You know, Rocky would play Tony and get him in trouble.
23:10They would have very vocal arguments in the dressing room
23:14to the point where you'd get a little concerned, how far is this going to go?
23:18And a lot of times you had a road agent stepping in to kind of calm them down.
23:23Then they'd go out and they'd have one of the best matches you've ever seen.
23:26Trouble Piper now!
23:27Just double that pick!
23:29What was really concerning was one that would follow over.
23:32I mean, you want to clear a bar out, but in a hurry,
23:34you get these two gigantic men arguing with each other,
23:37cussing each other out.
23:39You're going to clear a spot for them.
23:42The new World Stag Team champion, Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas!
23:46But here's the kick in the britching.
23:49After we won the belt, they did very little with us.
23:51Look at that!
23:52Five months later, we lost the belt.
23:56God, let's get three!
23:58I didn't know we were going to lose that night.
24:00Vince never told me nothing about it.
24:02Only Adamson, only did you tell me the world is not ready for a black champion.
24:08I think Tony dealt with a lot of racism, not only through the fan, but backstage too, with the guys.
24:16The foundation of the business was owned by whites.
24:20You know, like, your representation was based off biases, and some of them were based off ignorance.
24:27You had guys that was mumma of the KKK, like Dick Murdoch.
24:31You open his bag and see a KKK freaking suit in his bag.
24:34I didn't know this then.
24:37Well, one time, Dick Murdoch was in a dress room, and he was giving out these flowers.
24:43And they said, Tony, I got some friends that want to meet you.
24:46I said, oh, thank you, Mr. Murdoch.
24:48You know, I'm trying to be respectful.
24:49So I said, yeah, I said, can Tommy go?
24:52Oh, yeah, Tommy can go.
24:54So we pulled up into this dirt road, and up on the hill was a guy in the hood, the Klang outfit, with a shotgun.
25:02Tommy said, get down, T.
25:04And she said, it happened ever since I got brain damage as a kid.
25:13So anyway, Dick Murdoch gave me this flower.
25:16So me and Tommy, we driving, and Tommy have not looked at the paper yet.
25:21She said, let me see that damn flower you got there, Tommy.
25:25Hot damn tea, this is for the KKK.
25:29So I lay down in the seat.
25:31Tommy's on the car around.
25:33I said, how do you see me?
25:34He said, oh, that's a KKK.
25:36Didn't you read the 13?
25:38I said, yeah, I looked at him.
25:39He's hiding there.
25:40Murdoch just started to damn Klang meeting.
25:43So we get by the dressing room, and the guys are having a laugh.
25:47They say, we didn't really think you were gold.
25:49Yeah, he was definitely taking advantage of him.
25:52Tony never looked for the bad in someone.
25:56You know, even after the first couple of stabs in his back, didn't quite understand it.
26:00Maybe didn't quite feel it.
26:02But then, you know, you get stuck enough times, you go, what in the hell is going on here?
26:08Years of racism, exploitation, and locker room jealousy pushed Tony to numb the pain with his vices.
26:16He told me he would go do drugs, or he would go get so sloppy drunk that he couldn't even think about nothing but him being intoxicated.
26:27That's a horrible existence.
26:31Then I started going to the locker room to intimidate.
26:34And that's when everything started spiraling down.
26:38And the success, and the money, and the fame started going to my head.
26:42I had a Coke .357 magnet, and I started shooting at the ceiling with it.
26:50I destroyed my own career by wanting revenge.
26:53I figured I would hurt others as much as I was hurt when I was a kid.
26:57He became a different person.
26:59He was like Tony Atlas.
27:01Not the Tony Atlas I first saw at the YMCA.
27:06He's going to be in trouble now.
27:08All these wrestlers that he's beating, he's on top of the world and self-destructs.
27:13I mean, it was like sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but it's sex, drugs, and wrestling.
27:19Of course, back then, we was all doing it.
27:22I was stupid.
27:24Even though I had all this fame and everything, I was not a happy person.
27:29I walked out over a pair of shoes.
27:31I threw away the championship for a pair of sneakers.
27:34What do you mean?
27:34Well, one day, I'm at the airport, and this girl was telling me, she can't wait to see me.
27:39She got some new shoes.
27:40She said, I'm going to walk all over you.
27:42I said, shit.
27:44I could go do this and come back, the wrestler.
27:48And Chief J Strongbow tried to save me.
27:51He said, this match is going to be one of the most important matches of your life.
27:55I said, oh, fuck it.
27:56I'm going to LA to be my girl.
27:58Wait, hold on a second.
27:59You would have had an opportunity to become the first black world champion, but instead,
28:05you decided to get on a plane to go get walked on?
28:08Yeah.
28:09I had to lose everything to learn to appreciate what I had.
28:15What?
28:16What the hell's going on?
28:18A pair of crushed, man.
28:21If you miss one show and you got a good excuse, that's one thing.
28:24But if you start missing one here and there and here and there, you lose your dependability.
28:30And that's what they do.
28:31They depend on us to do what we're supposed to do.
28:35I can't think of nothing worse.
28:38Everybody there that paid money because, oh, I want to see Tony Atlas.
28:42Now look at that.
28:43Yes, sir.
28:45And then you go, I ain't coming.
28:48Come on, man.
28:49You can't do that.
28:51When I came back, Vince let me go.
28:55I was fired.
28:57He told me himself, I have to make an example out of you.
29:02In fact, it was a compliment in a way.
29:05See, all the wrestlers were screwing up.
29:07He said, I have to make an example out of you because if I fired Tony Atlas,
29:12everybody would know I would fire anyone.
29:15Think about it.
29:16You taking out your biggest star you got on your car, on your roster.
29:19That says a lot about the promoter because he's sacrificing crowds and houses to try to bring you back to reality.
29:27You know, sometimes you got to be protected from yourself.
29:29Tony's addiction and release from the WWF land him in a small New England-based promotion under the control of promoter Mario Savoldi.
29:41Mario told me, I know you used to make more money, but I could guarantee you 50 to 75,000 a year.
29:50He said, it's not much, but here in Maine is Livermore.
29:54Then all of a sudden, Mario would book a show on a Saturday.
30:00Vince would book a show in Maine on a Friday trying to put Mario on a building.
30:06Mario attended the side and dropped, dropped, dropped, dropped, dropped.
30:09All of a sudden, I had no money, no place to go.
30:13I became homeless.
30:15I lost everything.
30:16I'm not very well educated.
30:18The only way that I knew how to make a living was in that ring.
30:22I don't come to the park no more.
30:2520 years since I've been in this park.
30:28This here was my home, right here.
30:30It's where I slept.
30:36I was here for a year and a half almost.
30:40The same people that give you something, they can also take it away.
30:45And you could lose everything you ever owned in a matter of suckers.
30:50Got in fights down here on Knox Street.
30:54He said that once he woke up and had rolled off a bench,
30:59he said, Mark, I woke up and I was laying in a mud puddle.
31:04Man.
31:09Making hundreds of thousands of dollars,
31:11like you're making a million dollars back in the 70s and 80s, yo.
31:15And I went from that life to living on Knox Street,
31:19to eating out of a dumpster.
31:22Here I am standing on a freaking corner,
31:24and everybody knows me.
31:26That's what made it so hard.
31:27See, I was poor before, but nobody knew me.
31:30But to be poor and famous,
31:33I was more hooked on cocaine here in Maine
31:36than I have been in my whole life.
31:39I became a suicidal.
31:40I tried to die by police shooting.
31:43I used to go to police station
31:44to try to get them to come out of the parking lot to shoot me.
31:46I used to walk in front of cars and everything trying to die.
31:51Though he's ready to give up,
31:53a local woman comes to Tony's aid,
31:56saving him from his darkest struggles.
31:59Monica was walking right down this street here.
32:03She said, what you doing here?
32:05I said, I sleep here.
32:06She said, you can't stay here.
32:07It's 20 below zero.
32:09She said, you will freeze to death.
32:11I said, I don't give a f***.
32:12I want to die.
32:13So she left.
32:15Then she's not trying to be f***ing again.
32:18I curse her out again.
32:20Fatty got so dead gum cold,
32:22and my legs went numb.
32:25Monica called the ambulance.
32:27And they're trying to ask Monica all these questions about me.
32:30Monica can't tell them nothing.
32:31She don't even know my name.
32:34I went into a coma.
32:35That's when we first met.
32:43I didn't have a pot to piss in
32:45and the one to throw it out of.
32:47I had nothing to eat.
32:49All I had were the clothes on my back
32:51and my trophy.
32:53That's all I had.
32:54I had nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
32:58And this woman took me in.
33:01She said, if you need a place to stay,
33:03you can stay with me.
33:05You understand?
33:06She took me home to her house.
33:08So I started going back to the gym,
33:10working out.
33:11I got a little pot-tanned job here.
33:13I work as a bouncer to pay the rent.
33:16All of a sudden,
33:17Vince saw me a contract.
33:19With Mario Savoldi's promotion struggling,
33:22Vince McMahon reaches out,
33:23offering Tony another opportunity for glory.
33:27Monica started crying.
33:29She said, now that you're back doing what you do,
33:32I'll probably never see you again.
33:34And I said, Monica, yes, you will.
33:38I bought these cheap rings.
33:40I bought these rings, this ring right here.
33:44I still got it.
33:46And I said, Monica, now we are married.
33:50For Vince to do that, that's a good, you know,
33:52because it's easy for him to just say,
33:53get the hell on.
33:54And then, of course,
33:56I'm sure Tony had enough time to
33:58know that he'd done wrong
34:00and love the opportunity to get to come back.
34:03He said, well,
34:04that's Burry the Hatchet.
34:06He said, I got a great idea for you.
34:08What have we got here?
34:10Take a look at this.
34:11What just...
34:12Tony Adler was a respected superstar.
34:14All of a sudden, he said,
34:18who?
34:22Vince, what were you thinking?
34:24Why would Vince have me to come out
34:26and do a gimmick
34:27and then tell people who I am?
34:29I couldn't understand why he did that.
34:30I think it was a way of making fun of him.
34:36And what was it just because...
34:39It's because...
34:40It's because Vince can't.
34:43You know?
34:44I think Ricky the Dragon's steamboat worked great.
34:47But then when they turned me into the costume-wearing,
34:50fire-breathing dragon,
34:52it was more like a caricature.
34:55And, of course, with Tony, the same thing.
34:56Look at Atlas, wow!
34:58Just 180-degree turn.
35:00If that was the intent,
35:02then it was a success
35:04because that was embarrassing.
35:08Oh, God.
35:10Salva, give me a break.
35:13My third-grade son at that time
35:15could promote a better idea than that.
35:18So how did you feel about the gimmicks?
35:22I believe I'm rapping for Salva Simba.
35:25I was eating out of dumpster,
35:27sleeping on a park bench.
35:29Hey, you're going to ask me how you like the gimmicks.
35:31Brother, he could have put me in a freaking pink gorilla suit at that time.
35:36I would have loved it.
35:37Tony's return to the WWF doesn't last long.
35:42And despite stints and other promotions,
35:45he never regains his former glory.
35:49But in 2006,
35:51Tony is inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame,
35:54giving him one last moment in the spotlight.
35:58Well, and, of course, this is my Hall of Fame introduction here,
36:01WWE Hall of Famer.
36:03I'd like to thank the wrestling fans.
36:08Tony was a role model for a little black kid
36:13that watched wrestling
36:15and had somebody that identified and looked like him.
36:18And I requested Tony as my manager.
36:22I wanted Tony.
36:24Yes, sir.
36:24I heard you need to do that for a payday.
36:27Next thing I know,
36:28they're telling me I'm going to abandon Mark Henry.
36:34Over 15 years after leaving WWE,
36:37Tony's new role as a mentor
36:39sees him guiding Mark Henry on the road,
36:42hoping he won't repeat Tony's mistakes.
36:46It was just a childhood dream.
36:49Wanting to be in the same room with Tony Atlas.
36:52And Tony and I would go to the gym.
36:57He used to amuse him with stuff that I could do.
37:00And I got in really good shape, though,
37:02riding with Tony.
37:03Tony Atlas and the world's...
37:06And then I went into a different level of,
37:09you know, Hall of Fame stuff.
37:11And he's going to call the police.
37:13That was awesome.
37:14So how and when did Vince fire you for good?
37:17The last time I worked for him,
37:18I was with Mark Henry.
37:19Tony Atlas is wading into the fabric of our craft.
37:22I had to catch a flight.
37:24That red eye,
37:24leave out at like 12, 30 or something
37:26out of Las Vegas.
37:27Vince said,
37:28Tony, you're just as much a part of this company
37:31as anybody here.
37:33I get home,
37:34I get a phone call,
37:35we have to terminate your contract.
37:38I said, what did...
37:38I just talked to him yesterday.
37:40That's Vince.
37:41What come out of Vince's mouth,
37:43don't trust it.
37:48Whatever it is,
37:50superstar Billy Graham had it.
37:52He became the hottest box office attraction
37:54in the business.
37:56When he lost the belt,
37:58that was his downfall.
38:00It destroyed his ego.
38:03He just never could believe
38:05that he was worth anything.
38:07The rise of superstar Billy Graham
38:08is fascinating,
38:10but the decline of superstar Billy Graham
38:11is tragic.
38:12Are you ready?
38:20One more.
38:21Years after his historic time in WWE,
38:25Tony Atlas keeps his legacy alive,
38:28offering fans another glimpse of Mr. USA.
38:31Mr. USA,
38:33Tony Atlas.
38:34The legend of Tony Atlas won't die,
38:37because it still lives,
38:39because people see him,
38:41they go to autograph signings,
38:43so he'll go up and say hi
38:44and hug people.
38:46I was in Boston a couple of years back,
38:48and I'm doing meet and greets,
38:50you know,
38:50and Tony's there.
38:51All of a sudden,
38:52I see Tony take off his jacket.
38:55Then all of a sudden,
38:56I see Tony bending over,
38:58lacing up a pair of boots.
38:59Now,
39:00holy cow.
39:02And I said,
39:02Tony,
39:03what the hell are you doing?
39:05Brisco,
39:06I'm working tonight.
39:09Man gotta make a living.
39:12I'm not financially secure.
39:14I'm not that well educated.
39:16The only thing I got left
39:17is my health and strength.
39:20I met three women in my whole life
39:22that cared about me.
39:23Three.
39:24My mother,
39:26my grandmother,
39:27and my wife,
39:28Monica.
39:29Well,
39:30right now,
39:30when people say,
39:31how is she doing?
39:32Not good.
39:33In 2019,
39:35my wife,
39:35Monica,
39:36had a stroke,
39:37and she's been hospitalized
39:38since.
39:40This is my home
39:42away from home.
39:43My wife is here.
39:45If I'm not at the gym,
39:46I'm here.
39:47I thought I lost my wife.
39:49I sure did.
39:52This is my wife,
39:53Monica.
39:54Yeah,
39:55come on,
39:55baby.
39:56Well,
39:56this is the woman
39:57that found me in the park,
39:59and she took me in,
40:01went through hell
40:02and high water with me.
40:04Say hi,
40:04baby.
40:05Hi,
40:05baby.
40:10So how's your day going,
40:12baby?
40:13Compassion is the biggest thing.
40:16When somebody is bedridden sick,
40:20he have to cook for her
40:21and clean for her,
40:23bathe her,
40:24and I got my little kit here.
40:27This is my Monica kit.
40:29It's a special person
40:30that does that.
40:32I wash her face.
40:34I put chapstick on her,
40:36and then I help her
40:38to go to bed.
40:40I could never
40:41do enough
40:43for this woman.
40:45Like I said,
40:46I would not be here
40:47right now
40:48if it wasn't for Monica.
40:49I'm sure Tony
40:53has reflected
40:54back to those days
40:55with Rocky Johnson,
40:56Madison Greergaard,
40:57getting those $5,000
40:59or nine payoffs.
41:00And I'm sure
41:01he reflects back
41:02at being homeless
41:03after having all that money
41:05and having nothing
41:06that's not in place
41:07where you lay your head.
41:09But you can't do it
41:10all over again.
41:12I'm going to say this.
41:14Tony had his moments
41:14in the business,
41:15and those are the moments
41:16that he should be recognized for.
41:18No, this can't be done.
41:20Mr. USA clears the ring.
41:22The winner,
41:23Tony Rokos.
41:25If I had been
41:26a little bit more humble,
41:27I would have been
41:27the first black world champion.
41:30But I'm more happy now
41:31with no career,
41:33no money,
41:34and I was a miserable
41:36when I had all that money
41:37and glory.
41:38I was not happy.
41:39The only thing
41:40that made me happy
41:40was getting some girl
41:41to stomp on my face.
41:44Other than that,
41:46more stories
41:47is never too late.
41:48to say I'm sorry.
41:50It's very stiff.
41:52It's never too late
41:53to wash all the mud off
41:54and act like you got
41:56some damn sins
41:57because other people
41:59are depending on you too.
42:03I do this every day.
42:05And you're willing
42:06to live for them
42:08rather than die for them.
42:10You're getting prettier
42:16from you.
42:18From you.
42:18And you're going to tell you
42:18to their family.
42:19Bye.
42:20Bye.
42:21Bye.
42:22Bye.
42:23Bye.
42:24Bye.
42:24Bye.