The Wrestlers

Well, Ethan Page again

brutalized young Darby Allin.

Oh my goodness!

Page has treated Allin like he was a fly who's beneath him.

Face first into the wall!

And Allin has been busted open!

I'll stop it now. Stop it now?

Allin has got a trash can.

He just jumped off the balcony!

Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!

Allin taking that trash can back with him to the ring.

Page asking for mercy and getting none!

Oh! Oh! Oh!

That's so cool!

Allin to the top of the ladder!

No. Ugh.

One! Two! Three!

It's over!

The winner of the match: Darby Allin!

No matter what you think of professional wrestling

on a pure physicality level, if you aren't taken aback

by what we just saw, I don't know what's gonna take you.

We don't know, we don't know.

Professional wrestling is experiencing

a global renaissance.

Brought on by a cross pollination of styles,

it has its own language, each style a different dialect.

As a lifelong wrestling fan, I've always felt there's more

to wrestling than just choreographed violence.

At the core of every wrestler there's a storyteller,

every ring a stage to reflect the struggles of its audience,

whether it be gender, sexualit, race, religion or class.

A theatre for the masses that gives us

the heroes and villains we nee.

From the skyscrapers of Japan to the alleyways of the Congo,

we're gonna meet some of the most influential figures

in the sport, and examine their global impact.

In a world where the President of the United States is in

a wrestling hall of fame, and global politics

increasingly resemble theatre, it's impossible to ignore

wrestling's place in our society.

Wrestling has always had a complicated relationship

with the truth.

For decades, bookers tried to maintain that

the matches were not fixed.

It wasn't until the 1980s, aftr a slew of investigative report,

that it became widely known that the winners and losers

were predetermined.

For non-fans, it's proven difficult for wrestling

to shake the moniker of fake.

But to dismiss wrestling as a fake sport

is to misread it completely.

To understand why, I'm taking you to one of the best bookers

in the world: Gabe Sapolsky.

His promotion Evolve is widely considered the top indie

wrestling company in America, and he's agreed to show us

exactly what happens behind the curtain.

Gabe Sapolsky, I was like I gotta meet this guy.

He's the top promoter on the indies.

Getting on Evolve set up the rest of my career.

As a promoter, he knows what he's looking for.

He has a vision.

Gabe understands what I want to achieve.

That's the guy that you want to impress.

If you don't know who Gabe Sapolsky is when we're talking

about wrestling, you just don't know what you're really doing.

He's just the guy.

Special treat Friday. Right, Jack?

Yeah.

If we eat well during the week and really don't have any treats

- or maybe just one - and we work hard all week,

we get to go for a special treat on Friday.

- Right, Jack? - Yeah.

I have a lot of work to do this weekend, okay?

Mm-hmm.

But then I'll be back Monday to pick you up from school.

Oh!

The big question is always: is pro wrestling fake?

The drama and the physicality of it is not fake at all.

The way people would describe wrestling forever,

for years, would be it's a fake sport, it's not real.

I don't think that they've ever seen an actual wrestler,

because there's nothing fake about what they do.

And it's very hard to explain to them that that isn't the case.

You either get it or you don't.

Whoa!

It kinda sikes you, right?

It's kinda... hypnotizing, eh?

Looking around, Gabe,

there's not a lot of wrestling ephemera in here.

Is there any?

The Dragon Gate USA title belt.

It's symbolic to me because I was done, I was dead in

the industry, and that belt signifies the comeback.

The original merchandising contract we had with Sabu.

So if it wasn't for this contract right here,

none of this would've happened.

And then you of course have

the picture of the godfather of hardcore wrestling.

Yes, I have that Terry Funk plaque.

Terry Funk of course was like the beginning of everything too

with ECW.

September '93 is my first year, so we're talking...

you know, moving on 24 years now.

I appreciate the fact that I've been able to do this

for so long, and also I realize the fact that

the next show can be my last show.

Like that's how quickly it ends.

When I was booker for Ring of Honor, it was my life 24/7.

Every minute of every day was spent thinking about it,

and I was very unhealthy.

A lot of people in the business become so immersed

that they kinda lose themselves in it.

There was a couple of years where he was on the road

like every weekend, every weekend.

Having that routine, it definitely has brought

a balance to him for sure.

I just don't wanna be a person

that's having somebody else raise their kid.

Once he stops holding your hand walking home from school,

he is never holding your hand again.

Wrestling's giving me this luxury to raise my kid.

I try to do the logistics and the promotional stuff

during the day.

Most of the writing I do takes place after midnight.

I can be up till 4:00 or 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning

writing wrestling storylines.

Wrestling is a thing that goes up and down.

It might be very high, very popular right now,

but in two years it can hit bottom.

And that's not his fault or anyone's fault.

So we know that he's made his mark in wrestling,

but it's not something that is...

that we expect to go on steadily.

A professional wrestling booker is a dying breed these days.

I could've gotten a 9-to-5 job.

Maybe I'd be better off now if I did.

I mean, ultimately it's his decision,

and I've always told him that throughout the whole time

we've been together.

It's your decision, that's your career path.

Whatever it may be, I'll support you.

At the same time, I know... I know how much he loves it.

Much like in boxing, a booker in wrestling is the matchmaker,

and they also decide which match happens when

to maximize the audience's reaction.

But unlike boxing, the booker decides who wins and who loses.

In wrestling, the booker becomes like a stage director

of an athletic improv troupe.

I would-You know what, I'm gonna change this.

I would hit the double team finish on Fred, okay?

Maybe dump him out of the ring, you turn to Harper...

But then how is Harper gonna be legal?

- What's that? - How's Harper gonna be legal?

You guys figure that out.

It's... It's un-figure-out-able!

No, it's not!

Everything is figure-out-able. That's your job.

- Alright. - Alright.

Exposing the business 101!

A big part of being a booker

is being able to manage the big picture.

You're dealing with maybe about 20 talents, 30 talents.

Wrestlers look at things from a perspective of just themselves,

because they're focused on their careers.

A part of that is getting the talent to understand

the big picture.

If you're out at the merch table while the matches are

in the ring, all the focus of the fans should be on...

Yeah, you don't want a fan thinking,

"Oh, well this match, I got another option.

I can go hang out with Matt Riddle at the merch table,"

you know what I mean?

It's disrespectful to the guys in the ring.

That's the old school mentality.

Alright, cool, thank you.

Everyone has different talents in life.

I can't fix a cabinet, but somehow I'm able to write these

storylines and recognize this quality in wrestlers.

Same way with each of these wrestlers.

They all have a different skill set.

Take a guy like Darby Allin.

I recognize that this is a guy who wants to create.

Two years into his wrestling career and one year after

walking into an Evolve open tryout,

Darby Allin has had a very quick ascent.

It's Darby Allin!

Still in his early 20s, he's achieved what takes

other wrestlers years to accomplish, moving quickly up

the Evolve card in increasingly bloody matches.

Get rid of that towel.

Damn it!

By the end, I will get one.

The Executioner will get one of them.

Two of the boys from Atlanta are playing a game of

who can board slide this rail over here first,

and the loser gets maced.

Okay, um... why?

Life's kinda boring at times, and you gotta...

spice things up.