Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends

- What are we filming? - How are you doing?

- BBC2. How's it going? Louis. - BBC2? For what?

- BBC2 for... - I know what BBC2 is. For what?

For a documentary series on American sub-cultures.

- What sub-culture? - Wrestling.

- You're filming wrestling sub-culture? - Yeah, we are.

- Do you know who I am? - Um...

You're filming a documentary on wrestling and you have no idea who I am?

We've only just started.

Didn't you do a little research before you started?

No.

Ripped By mstoll

I was travelling through the American South,

on a mission to find out about the most popular sport in America -

which isn't really a sport.

I'm gonna kick the crap out of Scott Steiner.

Professional wrestling.

My first stop - the mega-bucks, high-end wrestling of the WCW

here in Gainesville, Florida,

where its touring show had Just touched down.

- Are you Alan Sharp? - I am.

- How are you doing? - Good.

- I'm Louis. How's it going? - Louis.

- Welcome to World Championship Wrestling. - Thank you!

- You ready to take a look? - Yeah. Can we?

- This is where it's all gonna happen tonight. - So this is it.

For the hottest show on Monday nights in America.

What is going on here exactly?

We're in the preliminary stage of the setting up of a wrestling event?

You bet. But it's not just a wrestling event.

You need to think about this as rock 'n' roll with muscles.

You need to think about this as Melrose Place in spandex. You know?

- Seriously? - 0h, yeah. We are drama.

Are there any wrestlers we could meet right now?

- Right now? - Can we go backstage at all?

Let me see if Roddy...

- What if you catch them at a bad time? - I don't want to find out.

First doorway there.

We're making a documentary for BBC2 in Britain about wrestling...

- Louis... - Bad time?

The Man Macho is busy. He got no time to talk to you.

- He didn't want to talk. - No. He didn't want to talk.

Here, Louis.

- Rowdy Roddy Piper. - Pleased to meet you. Louis.

- Louis Theroux. - Louis LaRue.

Theroux. You can call me LaRue if you want, though, you being a wrestler.

- How's it going? - Good. Real good.

I just came in the building and you shone a camera in my face.

I'm gonna fight some giant with hair coming out of his nose

and green teeth tonight.

I'm 232lbs and he's gonna be seven foot two and 400lbs.

How am I doing? I'm doing... terrible.

You're not your classic beefed-up guy.

You're a muscly guy but you're not super-duper muscly.

How does that work as a wrestler?

- I've killed men for less than that. - 0h, no.

May I ask how old you are now?

- April 17th, I turn 45. - Wow.

And they still can't beat me.

All right? So you should have caught my act when I was 29.

- Yeah. - Wow. That's fantastic.

- I would have made love to you! - Steady on.

You've been in the game for a while, can you run through a list of your injuries?

Sure. Right rotator cuff was torn in half, neck's busted in two places,

right hip is titanium, this wrist here... Get a good shot of that wrist.

That's been broken for seven years. They want to screw-fuse it.

But I play the bagpipes - I came fifth in the world playing the bagpipes -

and if they fuse it will disturb my bagpipe playing.

Is your bagpipe in there? Can we look in there?

It's all my sexual detachments in there.

That would be exciting.

Here we go, folks. Simple as this. Underneath here you've got the kilt.

There's my boots, my sporran, my brush.

There's my toothbrush and all that kind of stuff.

My T-shirt, my towel's in my hand, here's my water. That's it.

That's all I need. Wrestling trunks, boots...

It's like a briefcase for a day in the office except you're going in the ring.

Listen, I gotta take a pee. Goodbye.

Thank you very much. Seriously, thank you.

- Have you got a second for an interview? - Sure.

Do you know about this evening? Who are you going to wrestle?

I'm just starting tonight, so you've got a new character here.

This is your first night wrestling? I don't understand.

I used to be Alex Wright, WCW,

and I used to dance techno.

But the American people are not familiar with techno,

so I changed just to be a bad, mean guy.

I came up with my new look.

- So you're debuting a new persona? - Yes.

And is it a new name? What are you called now?

Like I said before, I was Alex Wright. Now I'm Alexander Wright.

Let's look at you because you're rocking a whole different look.

- This isn't my wrestling gear. - No?

In the ring, what will you be wearing?

I have a leather jacket on - a long one, no sleeves... high boots.

0f course, the glasses and the stick...

and "Achtung, achtung. Here is Alexander Wright."

- Excellent. - Thank you very much.

- Das ist gut, ja? - Thank you, Alex.

Goldberg?

- Goldberg, sir? How are you doing? - Fine, sir.

- Have you got one second? - I've got one second.

My name's Louis Theroux. I'm from BBC2.

I'm making a documentary on what it takes to make it as a wrestler

and I understand you're basically the top wrestler in the country.

- Thank you. - Say I wanted to be a wrestler for WCW.

How would I go about it?

- First you'd have to gain a lot of weight. - Really?

And then... is there a school?

Yeah. The school's in Atlanta. It's called the Power Plant.

Really? Power Plant.

There's someone I want you to meet. This is Sarge.

- I'm Louis. How's it going, Sarge? - It's going all right.

So how do you fit into the WCW?

I'm the trainer at the Power Plant. I train guys.

I've worked with guys like Bill Goldberg, Dallas Page,

Kevin Nash, High Voltage, Wrath.

You must have seen a lot of people come and go. Do I have what it takes?

There's many ways I could tell you.

I mean, you could be the biggest muscle-head guy in the world,

but that ain't what it takes.

You gotta have brains. You gotta know where the cameras are -

- you're playing to millions at home. - Yeah.

This is a thinking man's game.

Gordon Solie used to say it's a human game of chess and that's true.

Would it be 0K if I came along to the Power Plant

- to see how you qualify for the WCW? - Sure.

You're more than welcome. I'll be glad to put you through the paces.

Sarge, thank you, it's been a real education.

- When will you be at the Power Plant? - Soon.

It was nearly show time. My very first professional wrestling event.

It was the WCW's weekly televised special - Monday Nitro -

with five million fans watching every week.

Pretty quickly it became clear it wasn't totally real -

at least not in the Olympic sense.

At one point, my friend Rowdy Roddy Piper

helped a seemingly inJured wrestler to an ambulance,

which was then revealed to be bound...

for a mental hospital.

But amidst the melodrama,

the athletic prowess of the wrestlers was undeniable.

In the end, what most intrigued me

was the soap opera in spandex part

and how exactly the fights were choreographed.

I thought Sarge would be the perfect person to shed some light.

- How's it going? - Busy. We gotta get the truck loaded.

- Was that a good show? - Basically, overall, it was a good show.

0ne thing I don't totally understand

is to what extent they know what's going to happen when they come out.

- Do you know what I mean? - No.

I understand there's an enormous amount of athletic and acrobatic ability

and tremendous strength,

but as far as what goes on in the ring itself...

- Yeah. - How does that work?

I don't have any idea. Listen, guys. I am real busy.

0h, 0K. Shall we catch up?

Get together with Alan Shaw.

- I've got to take care of my business. - 0K. See you later.

Sarge seemed slightly miffed at my question,

but I was sure we could sort it out during my try-out at the Power Plant.

Awaiting my date with Sarge,

a lead took me to North Carolina

and a wrestling troupe called the AIWF...

...who also had their own TV show.

Hey, look at that! Brian, we are back right here, live on the air.

Dean Puckett, the guy on the right,

had offered to talk openly about how his fights were organised.

And, as an added incentive, he told me

that the AIWF was the most extreme wrestling federation in America.

- Hey. Are you Dean? - That's me.

- I'm Louis. How are you doing? - I'm doing great.

So AIWF, that's your wrestling organisation?

- Yes. - What does that stand for?

The American Independent Wrestling Federation.

- So you are the promoter, owner? - Uh-huh. And wrestler.

We keep everything on here from speakers to concession stand, photos...

We travel round North Carolina, Virginia.

- Like a rock band. - Yeah. We're kinda like a...

- Scooby Doo? ...a really violent rock band!

My first stop with Dean - a live radio promotional for the AIWF.

This is cool.

- So Dean's going on as Rick Diesel? - Yes.

The wrestling fans know me as Rick.

- So we're not allowed to call you Dean? - Yeah.

1300 WSYD and we are on the air right now with professional wrestler Rick Diesel.

We're here to promote a show in Westfield, North Carolina tonight.

This is Louis. I want to introduce you to Louis.

I should get close to the mic. How are you doing, Debbie? It's nice to meet you.

How did you get hooked up with Rick Diesel?

Um... We were looking for a community of wrestlers.

People who didn't just do it as a job, but people who lived it.

So we found out about the AIWF.

So do you only, then, Louis, investigate or do shows

on the bizarre and the strange?

- (Dean) Excuse me?! - Basically I like meeting weirdos. No.

- 0K. - This is awesome.

- Have you seen the AIWF wrestle? - Yes, I have.

These guys do a great job. Rick is quite a showman.

If you've seen any of his TV shows, he's very vocal...

And he puts on a show.