Never heard of Jim Wilson, but he was obviously correct in what he was trying to say while surrounded by Dr. D, Capt. Lou, and an audience of yahoos. Time has proven him right, and to this day he is trying to help wrestlers who are on the wrong side of the political aspects of the business, or otherwise hurt from their work in the ring. He was an easy target on Mort's show, but he was right.
You're right. Guys like Schultz were ALWAYS in character and it got him in a lot of trouble. By trying to defend the biz he ended up only hurting it even more.
This is great. I love how freely people could speak back then, at least in the right forum. I also forgot how great a show Morton Downey Jr had. And wow, a bonus appearance by Paul Heyman.
Well said!You can't beat the old"Code of Silence".My father used to workout with Ray "Thunder"Stern at his Health Club in San Francisco.When he was going to go up against Ray "the Crippler"Stevens,my dad had to ask,"Who's going to win."He never spoke to my father again!
every single thing jim was saying turned out to be true and no one believed him in that room and he showed incredible composure during this entire ordeal
dean pharis gymnasts dont get injured, killed, or end their careers because of physical fighting though. Wrestling involves fighting between 2 people and many times the fight can turn real or they take real shots or go overboard because of real life beef. Wrestling is a very risky dangerous form of entertainment and many have paid the price. Dont pass it off as completely fake and nonsense because trust me its not, even brock lesnar has said that and hes been in MMA and WWE.
ITS NOT REAL its coregeophy one of the Hwarts fell from a wire it's entertainment these guys spend days practicing not to hurt eachother,Did u ever see the punches w the footstomp foe sound effects it's dangerous stunts not real fighting PERIOD
dean pharis i know its not real im not saying its real. Of course its not a real fight, they are telling stories in the ring but what im saying is that there is pain involved and tons of injuries happen and many wrestlers work stiff and at times hit for real on purpose or by accident, its called getting potatoed. Getting slammed on the ring from the top rope or to the floor does hurt,. its not a trampoline. The injuries these guys get is insane. They get hurt more often than MMA guys because there is greater risk involved.
btw the fights are staged these guys DON't hate eachother!!!many have died due to steroids and mental problems w that like murder suicide see the videos of all the pro wrestlers that died outside the ring & also it would not be legal to smack a steel chair on anyones head unless concented for entertainment purpouses I'm passing it off as FAKE MMA now thats real collage wrestlings real everyone knows its fake c'mon
"He's (Schultz) has been in the business and it's never happened to him, how come it happened to you?" - Because Schultz never worked for Jim Barnett, Mort.
I am a fan of Dr. D, but everything he says on this show is wrong, and everything Wilson says is true. He says Wilson can't play football. Wilson was an All American at Georgia, and played in the NFL. Says he never heard of a blade job? David Schulz knew exactly what he was talking about and did it many times in his career. I don't know about the homosexual allegations Wilson is making toward those promoters, but I would bet that he is telling the truth about that as well. I get that Schultz and Albano were trying to protect the "business" but looking back on it now they look quite foolish.
People who are looking at this from today's perspective are missing the point that in those day they protected the business. From the wrestler and promoters side, there was a fear that if the business was officially exposed as a work, nobody would come to matches, or watch anymore. Even those who knew it was a work back in the day still questioned, "maybe this or that match was real" because you could never get a successful, money drawing, wrestler to admit that. So it's not so much that that dude was right, as much as he was a chump who was turning on his fellow workers...its such an abstract thing looking at it from 2015. There was no internet, no "shoot" interviews, etc.
The monkey wrench in this argument is that the ring boy scandal broke a few years later and it was revealed what Jim Wilson was talking about was true. Schultz is doing some real asinine shenanigans in order to protect officials who were molesting little boys. There's no excuse for what he is doing, no matter the context.
And another thing I love how Shultz is trying to protect the business here, yet when Vince McMahon shit canned his ass for slapping the shit out of Stossel he claimed he was told to do so.
Watching this in 2018. My how things have changed. I won't repeat all the previous comments that Jim and Patterson were right, but to watch this now is really something.
LOL I remember the Morton Downey Jr. Show. I would secretly watch it in my room when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My parents caught me watching it and I got the shit beat out of me. This was the equivalent of Jerry Springer back in the day.
He was protecting the business, it was really important back then. Also I love how Paul E. called in, I didn't even know he was around back then, this has to be the mid 80s, since Dr. D was in the business.
I am also surprised by Wilson´s calm demeanor especially when Doctor D threw water at him. I think Wilson could have handled D if he wanted to. He was a fairly accomplished football player and an upcoming wrestler until the INCIDENT happened. In truth he was trying to stand up for his fellow wrestlers. God Bless Wilson.....RIP!!! He should have been a bigger name in sports.
Holy shit do I miss kayfabe. I mean, wow, these guys were selling the business as being legit with their very soul. Much respect to them for that. As for Mort, the entire show was more scripted than wrestling. Watch Évocateur and learn how each show was written well in advance and Mort was simply given a point, a side to argue for, and he'd go with it, despite what he truly believed. Bonus Dennis Coralluzzo sighting, too. Nice to see him not freaking out and biting his fingernails to the nubs for a change. >_>
Man do I remember seeing this show live on tv back in the summer of 1988 this was really funny yet an eye opener it was the pioneer of trashy reality talk tv. Yes wrestlers and their promoters back then went to great lengths to protect the business and not expose its dark secrets, even though we knew that wrestling was scripted and arranged still it was looked at as an entertaining business, Yes Dr Shultz is right even though it’s a tough business , sadly 30 years later most wrestlers have been neglected as far as health benefits and have died or are suffering with many medical problems the promoters used them then dumped them. Jim Wilson and Claud were right about the abuses that went on behind the locker room door.
Shultz used to be the man, but his defense of pro wrestling as being "real" comes off as really silly nowadays with so many shoot interviews. He was such a mark for the business. He bladed, but denied it. It claimed he's 0% fake, but he "won" or "lost" as the promotors told him to. Jim Wilson and Thunderbolt were the only legit people in that entire clip.
I do agree on that. Going on national tv and especially on a show like this was the wrong thing for him to do but he was not insinuating that at all. Just with him and his situation. It just happened to be the sort of thing going on with a lot of other wrestlers at that time. If David Shultz was so loyal to the business then, why did he go out of his way to expose the business eight years later? He knew all the stuff that went on but he did nothing about it until others decided to speak out
I believe he was really told he was gonna get a push only in GA because promoters will say anything.. Jim Wilson was a legit football star in GA & PLAYED FOR THE FALCONS.. DR.D HAS heard of him..
But, for it’s time Mort was the biggest, loudest, and best show for it’s time, hand’s down! He was far and away more informative and entertaining than any of his contemporaries. I know you don’t, but I miss the guy and was genuinely sad when I found out he passed away.
Can you imagine David Shultz nowadays working as a motivational speaker in addition to his other ventures ? Yes you too can hire this man to "motivate" your employees.....
Every wrestling fan in the world knows this was the way before the dawn of the internet. Doing anything else meant you never worked again. Have you never heard of Eddy Mansfield.
It's amazing how similar Steve Austin's demeanor and attitude were to that of Davide Schultz! Both seemed pissed off 24/7 and had a lot of the same characteristics in the way they spoke. Austin was at his most intense in late '96 and '97 From around the time he did the angle where he broke into Brian Pillman's house and Pillman pulled a real gun on him.
Actually it was well known in many non-wrestling circles. There was a book published in the 1930's called "Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce" that detailed the inner working of pro-wrestling. I also remember reading sports writers claim that wrestling was fake, so many people did know about the real pro-wrestling.
I had taped this show and I lent it to a freind because I had a movie taped on it too and never got it back. I remember at the end when Morton asks if G.L.O.W. was fake and the guy replies we have a show comming up and the show ends. I miss his show. RIP Morton Downey Jr.
These old clips of pro wrestling allegations on Morton Downey, Donahue, etc. look so much more interesting now all these years later in 2009. Imagine telling them then what's been happening in the last few years or so. Man oh man Morton Downey Jr.'s show was way ahead of its time. It was almost like Politically Incorrect, but even more raw and enthralling. Westside of Milwaukee baby!
When I saw this when it first aired,I was all on Dr. D and Albanos side. Kinda pathetic to see it now and realize the truth and know how wrong I was. I wonder what Shultz would say about this now. Would he show any remorse?
every era has its thing, everyone is hated at some point. It's never about how great is someone for doing something for the first time but for being accused to being different for the first time.
I really feel sorry for Jim Wilson here. Everyone here was belittling him, Shultz, Carraluzzo, Heyman, even Downey, calling him a loser & questioning his manhood, but the fact of the matter is Wilson was telling the truth and all those guys knew it. The promoter he refered to,Jim Barnett was known to sexually proposition wrestlers & the entire buisness is just a work. Today, though Wilson has been vindicated.
Read Jim Wilsons 'Choke Hold' Its the best book out there that exposes the business for what it is/was. I love pro wrestling but there has been some serious shit that has gone down behind the curtain. Read it.
Thunderbolt Patterson & Jim Wilson actually both worked in Detroit for the Sheik in the late '60s. T-Bolt should have told Downey that to prove Wilson was indeed a pro wrestler.
Dr D had a tough career. He was a top flite heel in the early 80's and he went on a 20/20 episode and hit John Stossel. Stossel sued and the WWF subsequently let him go and he missed out on the HUGE 80's BOOM. He really was progressive in the ring for his time but his southern temper caused him to miss out.
