10 Things I Learned Watching Dark Side of the Ring The Life and Crimes of New Jack

Ok, so I will go ahead and say this now, this episode is not going to be pretty as it talks about professional wrestler New Jack who is one of if not the most controversial wrestlers of all time. Some of the stuff that he has done in his life and wrestling career, he honestly should have gone to jail for. I have heard a ton of stories about how crazy New Jack was, so I wanted to dive deeper on it. Dark Side of the Ring did a documentary on him and yeah it is definitely a hard watch, but I learned new things in this documentary. As always I will give the 10 things I learned watching Dark Side of the Ring’s documentary on New Jack.

10. New Jack’s promos created riots and SMW had to use a disclaimer when he cut a promo.

The one thing I can saw watching New Jack, was that he was absolutely terrible in the ring, but he can cut a good promo. However he went very far with his promos and he said some very terrible statements. During his time in Smokey Mountain Wrestling (SMW), Jim Cornette would tell New Jack to say something that would anger the crowd. Keep in mind that SMW was a southern territory in wrestling and there was a lot of racism. New Jack went there by using real life situations in his promos. 

One example was when he told O.J. Simpson to keep up the good work, which yeah is probably not a great thing to say. If he were to do that today, he probably would be blackballed from the industry. I am warning you now that this is not going to be the last time I say this statement in this article.

Another example is when the SMW wanted to push The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) and get them in the Tag Team championship feud with the Rock N Roll Express. So what do they do, well they attack Ricky Morton and beat him in the middle of the ring with nightsticks. New Jack even cut a promo while doing it and this angered so many fans, that a riot happened and the police had to escort the Gangstas out of the arena to safety. Keep in mind the whole Rodney King controversy happened  while this was filmed and they did decided to reverse what happened in real life. Which yeah probably would have gotten them removed from TV if this was done today. 

New Jack’s promos were so bad that the  NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) called Smokey Mountain Wrestling and said they did not like New Jack’s representation and told them to stop. Well New Jack heard about it and you know what he did, cut a promo on them along with calling them “home grown monkeys.”. Which is a terrible thing for anybody to say and Jim Cornette realizing that they can be sued or loose sponsorship from New Jack’s promos decided to put a disclaimer on the bottom of the screen reading that these views weren’t of SMW. Which I am shocked was not done after the whole riots situation when New Jack did the promo on Rodney King.

9.  Mustafa Saed (New Jack’s Tag Team Partner) was crazy

Now we get into New Jack’s partner in the tag team called The Gangstas and his name Mustafa Saed. When New Jack cut those promos Saed was the enforcer and made those faces and hyped Jack as well. That was actually him in real life too and would do that almost everywhere he went in life. Saed even decided to roll up pencil shavings and smoked it. Which I got to be honest, I did not know that was possible to smoke pencil shavings. Pro wrestler Sandman told the story and knowing the amount of drugs he took, the fact that he as well decided to decline it was telling.

New Jack himself even thought Mustafa was crazy as well. Knowing how insane New Jack is that should induct Saed into the hall of fame himself. But New Jack warned Saed to not smoke the pencil shavings as well as mushrooms that Saed found growing on the side of the building. Mustafa was so crazy that while fighting the police and was about to get handcuffed he said that the police were trying to screw him over. Saed also was snotting all over the place which was just disgusting as well. Point is Saed is absolutely crazy and being paired with New Jack was just perfect and it made there tag team work.

8. New Jack had a rough childhood

So many wondered why New Jack was so crazy and well a big reason was due to his rough childhood which was very brutal. So New Jack’s father was an alcoholic and he hated New Jacks mother. One day New Jack father decided one day to just stab his wife multiple times in front of the kids. He did not care who saw him abusing or attacking his wife at all. To make it worse, New Jack’s mom decided to try and take the kids and leave. So New Jack dad, decided to shoot New Jack’s mom in the leg while she was carrying New Jack. I shed a tear hearing this because no kid should ever grow up in an environment like that at all. His childhood absolutely was a reason why he flipped out on people all the time.

7. Tiny the Terrible got Eric Kulas into ECW

So now we get into the details of the Mass Transit incident. The Mass Transit Incident is one of the most controversial moments  in the industries history and it almost took down ECW.  Many including myself thought that Kulas (who was 17 years old at the time) had no wrestling experience and somehow tricked Paul Heyman to get booked on the show as a last minute replacement. However, what I did not know was Kulas actually had experience wrestling and even had matches with pro wrestler Tiny the Terrible. I could not believe it, but they actually had footage of Kulas wrestling Tiny the Terrible which I never saw before. Paul Heyman saw it and decided to invite the wrestlers involved in that match to an ECW show to tryout. This made a lot more sense as to how Kulas even got in the company to begin with.

6. Eric Kulas rubbed a lot of wrestlers in the locker room the wrong way.

Now Eric Kulas was brought in as a replacement for Axel Rotten who had to miss the show due to a family emergency. Kulas who was underaged became his replacement and while he got the role, he did not exactly handle himself well in the locker room. In regards to Tiny the Terrible, he stated that Eric went into business for himself and took roles that left many off the card which angered many.

He especially rubbed New Jack the wrong way especially. Kulas would during the meeting about the match asked to get offense in a 7 minute match, which New Jack found disrespectful. Kulas even wanted to put New Jack through a table, which also angered New Jack as he was a veteran in the business and Kulas was a rookie.

So Kulas as he was young wanted to bleed and he did not know how to blade himself. So he makes the decision to go up to a pissed off New Jack and ask him to cut him. Yeah you can see what was coming next, with the whole Mass Transit incident. The thing about New Jack that he was so angry that his goal when blading/cutting Kulas was that “I didn’t want to kill him, but wanted him close to death.”. Think about that he wanted to hurt him so much not to the point of death, but while he was close to that point all for the fact that he was annoyed with how Kulas was in the locker room. New Jack cut this kid so deep that he needed 50 stitches and messed him up mentally. Add to the fact that New Jack hit Kulas with toasters, crutches, and etc as well. If he were to do that today, he probably would be blackballed from the industry.

5. Eric Kulas’s father tried to get backstage to beat up New Jack

The craziest part of the whole Mass Transit incident was Eric’s father was at the event and even was in the crowd. In the footage he was asking the ref to ring the bell as he was only 17. Which my goodness, to see your son in that state must have been terrifying for him to see. It clearly haunts him to this day as  Eric Kulas’s family declined to participate in the documentary, which I don’t blame for.

I already knew that he was in the crowd, but what I did not know was what he did after the incident happened. Eric’s father tried getting backstage so he beat New Jack up. Well security stopped him, but Eric’s father said multiple racial slurs to him. I got to be real, it is probably for the best that security help Kulas’s father back. Especially as New Jack admitted that he would have killed/beat up the old man as well if he got close. 

4. New Jack had beef with Vic Grimes due to a botched dive.

So now the documentary gets into details about the XPW Scaffolding Match controversy. This is just an insane moment where New Jack basically threw Grimes off the top of a 40 foot distance and tried to legit kill him. Oh we will get to that in a second.

So what happened is that New Jack was known to do these insane jumps and keep in mind he was high on cocaine doing it. So he kept doing more and more dives along with them getting higher. One fall went really bad in a match against Vic Grimes. So the plan was for both to do a dive at a high distance, but Grimes got cold feet and did not want to do it. Which I don’t blame him as it can get very terrifying for wrestlers to dive at that height. However Jack did not like that and said that you’re going down like it or not. So they both fall and Grimes lands straight on New Jacks head and it caused serious permanent damage. Not only did he crack his skull, but New Jack as a result of that fall made him blind in one eye. Which yeah definitely made New Jack hate Vic Grimes. 

What also fueled New Jack’s hatred is that Vic Grimes never once visited or called him at the hospital. Which say what you want about New Jack, that was a pretty terrible thing for Grimes to do. He should have checked in on New Jacks and the fact he did not would have angered me as well. 

It was because of this incident New Jack had a goal to get even with him. So later on in XPW New Jack was booked in a scaffold match with Vic Grimes. A Scaffolding match takes place on a scaffold 40 feet in the air and the ways to win are either pushing an opponent off it or grab the flag from the opponent’s home base and return it to there one’s own home base. I got to say looking into what a scaffolding match, this match type was not just dangerous, but stupid as well. The fact there are multiple out there just terrifies me.

So I guess you know where this was going as New Jack broke from the script and shocked Grimes with a taser. In there conversation Grimes said “he could not feel his legs”, you know what Jack’s response was, “You aren’t going to need them, Bombs Away!” and he thew Vic Grimes off the top of the scaffold.

3. Vic Grimes only suffered a dislocated ankle in the scaffolding match

Before you continue on I watch you to watch the video below of the Scaffold Match and go to around the 5:00 minute mark where New Jack Stuns Vic Grimes. Then after that is when Jack throws grimes off the scaffold and it is just crazy with the way he lands.

I mean it is a crazy fall and the thing that is insane is that Grimes only suffered a dislocated ankle, which is a freaking miracle. Especially as New Jack was trying to throw him to the floor and seemed disappointed that he did not. Again if New Jack did this today he would have been blackballed from the wrestling industry.

Just look at the way he lands on those ropes. Keep in mind that those ropes I believe at the time were pure steel cables with little to no rubber on them. I am shocked that Grimes did not suffer a severe back or neck injury. He is lucky to not be paralyzed or dead from this. XPW the company that did this match also gets blame for this, but they also have there own Dark Side of the RIng episode that I might do a review on as well.

2. The Gypsy Joe Incident

Coming into this documentary I honestly had no idea about this incident at all. I knew about the wrestler Gypsy Joe though. His gimmick was that he was a legit tough guy who does not feel an ounce of pain at all. So his gimmick would be to no sell moves at all. Well few things entering this match, first New Jack forgot what Gypsy Joe’s gimmick was and that Joe was only 73 years old. How you forget before entering a match just boggles my mind.

Apparently as well New Jack was annoyed with Gypsy Joe a veteran saying he could teach New Jack a lot which rubbed him the wrong way. Of course when the match started a lot of fans in this show were throwing racial slurs at New Jack and it made him super angry. Now combine that with him hating others no selling his moves and getting rubbed the wrong way. Yeah this was not going to end well.

New Jack just starts beating the living heck out of Gypsy Joe. He threw Joe into a tone of hard steel chairs in the crowd which had to hurt. New Jack even got a barbed wire bat and hit Gypsy Joe in the head multiple times. I mean my goodness I am going to put a video of this incident down below and go to the 4:25 mark.

Again I am going to keep saying this, if New Jack did this today he be blackballed from the industry. I don’t know how Joe did this, but once he got hit multiple times in the head Joe legit walked away. I mean the guy is 73 and just walks away from multiple legit baseball bat shots to the head. The adrenaline rush Joe was on must have been so powerful. Even New Jack said that he probably went to far in this incident. I am watching and I legit say “No kidding”. How anybody would even want to book New Jack is insane, well we get into the next incident.

1. The insanity of Hunter Red Incident

Ok so this incident does not paint New Jack or anybody involved in a good light and I am going to warn you now as what New Jack does is beyond disgraceful. The worst part is the footage of this incident is on youtube and I am not going to show it as it disgusting.

New Jack now is working the independent scene now as nobody wants to even touch him. He signs with promoter MWW (Yes that is his real name) who use to promote his own wrestling company. While he was booking the card a young wrestler called Hunter Red came up to him and requested to work with New Jack as it could get him noticed by other companies. MWW warned Red that it was not a great idea as it was a whole different process working with him, but Red eventually got MWW to make the match happen.

Hunter Red then gets to speak with New Jack and wants to know how the match will be run. New Jack did not like to talk about matches unless it was backstage. Red just kept pushing on wanting to know now which angered New Jack. Red left pissed and it angered New Jack. So now the match is about to happen and New Jack gets high on cocaine and was even drinking vodka, Which is not a good combination of stuff to take together. 

So New Jack was clearly under the influence and when the match begins, Hunter Red gets stiff with him. Red legit throws punches at New Jack which connected with his nose. So Jack got pissed and reached into his pocket for a blade and New Jack just stabs Red multiple times. I mean in front of cameras and in front of fans. Again i agree with Jim Cornette who reacted to this saying  “This does not do the public image of pro-wrestling any good.”. So yeah New Jack crosses the line and he even apparently knew the count of how many times he stabbed Hunter Red. The news said he did it 16 times, and he clarified that he did it 9 times. I don’t care how many times he did, doing it one time is too much.

Somebody in the crowd called the police and New Jack got arrested for it. New Jack is now facing 15 years of prison and here is where it gets insane. When Hunter Red gets checked out of the hospital he immediately goes to the jail to speak with New Jack. He says that he will drop the charges, if New Jack goes on the road with him and make this incident into an angle to make more money. I am watching this in shock and I am like, is Hunter Red out of his mind. Why would he even want to go anywhere near New Jack after he gets stabbed by him multiple times? The fact that he would even consider this is just idiotic.

So Hunter Red drops the charges and once he did, New Jack immediately left Florida and never spoke to Hunter Red ever again. I mean I have no words for this. What did Hunter Red think was going to happen? There was no way New Jack was even going to do this or even go near Hunter Red ever again. New Jack was lucky, because he would have easily been in a prison cell if Red never dropped those charges.

My thoughts on the documentary

This has to be one of the craziest episodes I think I have ever seen in Dark Side of the Ring’s Series. Some of the stuff that New Jack has done, should have landed him in a prison cell. The fact that he never once got sentenced for the stuff he did is just insane to me. How he also never got blackballed as well never made any sense to me. People have been blackballed for a lot less and yet New Jack still got bookings. Look at David Schultz what he did was way lower to get blackballed and compare that with New Jack. Nothing bad happened to New Jack and the bookings kept coming to him.

I am glad New Jack never got signed with WWE, because he was too much of a liability and imagine the distraction he would cause in that locker room. New Jack easily is one of the craziest individuals that has ever stepped foot in the ring ever and probably ever will. I just don’t think there will ever be another New Jack in the wrestling business and it is for the best.

New Jack passed away on May 14th, 2021 at the age of 58 years old.

The MVP of this documentary I could not decide between D’Lo Brown, The Sandman, or Jim Cornette. So i decided to give it to all three of them as they all gave us a good inside on New Jack.

Overall the documentary was well made and the Dark Side of the Ring crew did a fantastic job. There are two people I wish also got interviewed in this documentary. The first is Mustafa Saed as he was New Jack’s tag team partner in Smokey Mountain Wrestling and I think he would have given another look at New Jack. Although he as well seems to also be crazy as the guy smoked pencil shavings. The second is Paul Heyman and that one is understandable as at the time this came out Heyman was signed with the WWE.