Dark Side Of The Ring Recap: Brian Pillman

Dark Side of the Ring has returned for season three, and this season is bigger than ever. 14 episodes starting with this week's two-hour special on Brian Pillman. A Hall of Fame-worthy talent that needs more than one standard length episode for his story to be done justice. Whether you missed the season premiere, want to check out the highlights, or simply want to relive it, you can check out everything that was covered below.

Getting Into The Business

The show starts with Stone Cold showing off a gold chain Brian Pillman gave him. The HoFer admits he doesn't keep much from his career, but that's one thing he has never wanted to give up.

Pillman had throat problems when he was growing up and often had to get his vocal cords scraped. It's what resulted in his voice being the way it was in later life. It also led to him needing an emergency tracheotomy on the dining room table as a child when his mom discovered him unable to breathe.

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Pillman was set to make a name for himself playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, making a lifelong friend in the team's strength coach who appears frequently during the episode. An ankle injury puts a stop to his football career, which is what leads Pillman to wrestling. He trains with the Hart family and competes in Stampede Wrestling. That eventually leads him to WCW thanks to Dave Meltzer highlighting his talents. A match against Ric Flair really shines a spotlight on Pillman's talents.

With nothing for Pillman or Stone Cold, WCW throws them together. Despite neither viewing themselves as tag wrestlers, the two of them make the best of it and create a legacy that is still fondly remembered to this day. Austin admits Pillman came up with pretty much everything the team is remembered for. The name, the camera gesture they made on the way to the ring. It also allowed Pillman to really be a heel for the first time. It was evident from the off that it was a role he was born to play.

Life At Home

It really comes across that despite his love for the business, Pillman was very much a family man. However, life at home for Pillman was troubled right from the off. After marrying his first wife Rochelle and having their first child Brittany, he discovered he already had a daughter from a previous relationship, Dani.

Pillman appears to take that in his stride, but the problems keep on coming. A man breaks into their home while Pillman is on the road, attacking Rochelle with an ice pick, even stabbing her in the face. While she survives the attack, Pillman's sister explains it affected her for the rest of her life.

Pillman eventually finds love elsewhere, leaving Rochelle for his second wife, Melanie. As well as his own children, Melanie also has two kids of her own. The pair also have a fifth child together, Brian Pillman Jr. Rochelle's continued problems, including her going missing, lead to Brian and Melanie filing for sole custody of Brittany. Rochelle would eventually kill herself. It wrecks Pillman as Melanie reveals he blamed himself.

Working The Boys

Pillman poured even more of himself into his work following Rochelle's death. He went to Eric Bischoff for more money, but the WCW president was unable to give it to him. That's when the two of them hatched a plan that would result in Pillman getting the Loose Cannon moniker. The aim was to blur the lines between what was staged and what was real. Pillman's actions would get WWE's attention, they would offer him a big contract, and that would allow Bischoff to hit back with an even bigger deal. At least that was the plan.

Pillman executed the plan so well that no one other than him knew what was real and what wasn't, even Bischoff. Pillman even convinces Bischoff to fire him, saying that way he can take a real letter of termination to WWE and show them it. Bischoff does it and while he's a free agent, Pillman makes some appearances in ECW. The lack of limits on wrestling's most extreme show allows him to take the Loose Cannon persona up another level.

It was at this point Pillman's life took an unfortunate turn at the worst possible time. The Loose Cannon was in a serious car accident after falling asleep at the wheel and hitting a tree. Pillman needed metal plates in his face and his ankle was shattered to the point doctors considered amputating his foot. All of this while he was out of contract. Many in the business truly believed it was an extension of the ruse he was trying to pull.

Pillman's Got A Gun

Pillman played down his injuries and convinced WWE to sign him. Due to their history, WWE had Austin and Pillman cross paths right away. That led to what has become perhaps the most talked-about segment in not only Pillman's career but all of Raw history. Austin breaks into Pillman's house where he finds the still-injured wrestler with a gun. The feed gets cut as Pillman points the gun at Austin.

The segment took place right before the Attitude Era was in full swing. Fans weren't ready for that kind of reality in their wrestling, which meant Vince McMahon was forced to publicly apologize for it a week later. Pillman continued to wrestle after that, but the amount of pain he was in while doing so resulted in his dependency on painkillers getting out of control. Jim Ross tried to convince him that his talents could be used elsewhere in wrestling but admits on the doc that he failed.

The Grieving Widow

Pillman was slated to wrestle at Bad Blood 1997. He never showed. Jim Cornette called the hotel where Pillman had been staying, only to be informed that the wrestler had passed away. Cornette even thought that was all part of Pillman's master plan at first, only for the reality to set in moments later. McMahon announced Pillman's death to the world the following night on Raw, at which point another controversial segment aired.

McMahon convinced Pillman's widow Melanie to appear live on the show and discuss her late husband's death. Melanie claims she asked McMahon not to mention Pillman's drug use, especially since his cause of death had not yet been determined. The footage of McMahon asking Melanie about Pillman's use of painkillers is then shown.

Life for the children Pillman had left behind got very bad after his passing. They had a stepfather who would abuse them and even used dogs to make sure they didn't misbehave. Despite that, Brian has reconnected with Melanie in later life and the two of them are even shown together towards the end of the episode. Melanie admits she was worried when Brian told her he was getting into the wrestling business.

The episode ends on a light note despite the dark subject matter. Pillman's sister has strived to make sure Dani, Brittany, and Brian remained close and all four of them are together at the end of the episode. Brittany admits Linda, Pillman's sister, has basically been a mother to all three of them who either had one or both parents taken from them.

Dark Side of the Ring returns next week for an episode all about WCW and NJPW's infamous Collision in Korea show.

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