Insane Insights Dark Side Of The Ring: Nick Gage

There are many examples of how Pro Wrestling can be super violent. Especially in Hardcore matches that have been popularized by FMW, ECW, etc. the popularity of those promotions has led to the growth of Deathmatch Wrestling in the wrestling business which has led to it being a niche market. So many pro wrestlers have come from this type of wrestling including Mick Foley, Atsushi Onita, Terry Funk, Jon Moxley, and many more.

One of the best deathmatch wrestlers today is Nick Gage. He is often considered one of the greatest ever to do it, however, he has also had a dark life throughout most of his career, and Dark Side of the Ring did an episode covering his life and career.

10. Why Deathmatch Wrestling?

Many wonder why wrestlers would choose to do this type of wrestling. Is it to follow in the footsteps of Mick Foley or Terry Funk? Well, not to Nick Gage. The reason he chose to do it is because he admits that he is crazy in the head, has a high pain tolerance, and wants to show people that Deathmatch wrestling is legit. Gage in the documentary says  “You have to love this s*** because it hurts and burns”. He loves doing it, even if it hurts him.

9. Jon Moxley's First Match with Nick Gage

Before Jon Moxley bro and a household name in AEW and WWE as Dean Ambrose, Moxley was a notable deathmatch wrestler in CZW. Eventually, Moxley was going to cross paths with Nick Gage and my goodness this match was crazy

The main spot in the match was when Gage decided to use a pizza cutter. The pizza cutter is a notable tool used by Gage in his matches. It is sort of like what the Sledgehammer is with Triple H. When Moxley originally agreed to do this spot he thought it was going to be a safe spot, oh boy was he wrong about that.

In the match, Gage decides to use the pizza cutter not only on Moxley's forehead but in his mouth. Gage used it on Moxley and when he got cut in the mouth, Moxley thought his tongue was accidentally cut off.

Here is the crazy part they finished the match. Luckily Moxley was all good and his tongue was not cut off. Moxley wasn't mad at Gage and had beers and cigarettes with him in the locker room.

Moxley admitted he loved the intensity of the match and believes that's what drives him and other deathmatch wrestlers to keep coming by and do it.

From that point forward Moxley values the intensity more than the money and fame. This is 1,000% believable because one of the main reasons why he left WWE was because of his unhappiness with the lack of intensity of the matches. It's why he keeps doing these types of matches today.

8. That Tournament of Death Incident

Oh boy, you know when an event is named the "Tournament of Death" you know that there is craziness about to happen. If you don't know “The Tournament of Death”. It is basically what King of the Ring is in WWE, but just add the deathmatch factor to it.

How is this event even legal to take place and be allowed to compete in that name? Well, this event is located in Delaware and the middle of either the farm or woods. This event has to be in a place way out there so the cops won’t come and break up the party/event. Yes because the main issue here is the cops being involved and not going too far in the match where wrestlers could lose too much blood.

Brett Lauderdale who is the current owner of GCW (Game Changer Wrestling) was interviewed as he knows about Gage a lot. Fun fact, Gage is the first to be signed contract-wise to the promotion. This is rare because Lauderdale hates signing wrestlers to contracts. Lauderdale was at the event the "Tournament of Death" and was one of the referees of the tournament and the match.

Gage got to the finals of this tournament and had to win one more match against Thumbtack Jack. The match is a hardcore match and the ring is surrounded by light tubes. Nick Gage wanted to be thrown into the light tubes. Gee, wonder what can go wrong here. Well, Gage got his wish and got thrown into them and it went wrong. A piece of glass went into one of Gage's arteries and blood was just gushing out of his body and the crew running the show had to act quickly.

While getting treatment Gage was angry that he couldn't finish the match. Watching the footage you can just see the adrenaline rush Gage is having right now. He wants the cameraman to film him wanting to go out there and luckily the medic and everyone around him convinces him to stay and get treatment. Gage is right he is crazy in the head for wanting to go out and finish. You want to know the craziest part of this whole thing…

7. Nick Gage Flatlined for 7 Minutes

That's right, Nick Gage was declared dead for 7 minutes straight. This occurred while he was getting airlifted to the hospital, that's how bad this injury was. It's not a shock that he had to be airlifted for it as they could not get an ambulance to the location where the match happened.

This was probably a blessing in disguise. Watching the documentary and how much blood he lost, Gage was lucky that he did not die after that match. Someone was watching over him to keep him alive because he shouldn't be with all the blood he lost. Gage admitted that there was no way he was going out like that as he will do this until he said he can’t anymore. So Gage continued to do death matches.

6. ECW Informed CZW that they were going too far

CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling) was getting deeper into the hardcore scene and Nick Gage, along with his brother Justice Pain decided to join up with the company.

In this introduction to their CZW days, the documentary goes into the promotion's history. CZW started in 1999 and at the time the big boys in extreme hardcore wrestling were ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling). CZW was starting to grow, but ECW was concerned about how far the company was going with its hardcore wrestling and told them that in a call.

Let's be honest here, they're right. The many weapons that they use are just too graphic. When ECW of all companies is telling you you're going too far then that is telling. However, it was clear ECW was only saying that because they were scared CZW was going to beat them in the hardcore scene as they were competing. Nick Gage would agree on that too and he was quoted saying, "The only reason they said that was that CZW was competition, and they were the new kids on the block”.

5. Why Nick Gage Robbed the Bank

Now the documentary talks about the lead up to the bank robbery. At the time Nick Gage was in a rough spot financially and was homeless. Not only that Gage had a really bad drug addiction and was hooked on almost every drug you can think of. Is anyone really that shocked Gage had a bad drug issue with all the abuse his body has taken?

His issues strained his relationship with his brother and Justice Pain was his only family alive at this point with his dad and mom passing. He did have a girlfriend, but they got kicked out of her parents' house. Their situation got so bad that Gage would squat in Brett Lauderdale's house.

Which is probably not the brightest idea after all Lauderdale is your boss. One day Lauderdale finds out and kicks Gage and his girlfriend out of his house in the middle of the night and the temperature is 10 degrees Fahrenheit so it's super cold. Gage is desperate needing money and a place to stay and it led to him deciding to rob a bank.

4. How He Robbed the Bank

With the Why settled in this story the documentary dives into the How. How Gage Robbed this bank is crazy. What's crazy is he originally backed out of doing it on one bank, but when he saw another, he said he wasn't going to chicken out. So he hyped himself up like he normally would go to the ring and decided to walk into the bank and rob the teller.

He had no plan whatsoever and he didn't even wear a mask or face covering. Gage also was staring straight at the camera and everyone knew it was him. Jon Moxley even saw security footage and photos that were all over his email.

Moxley makes a good point in the documentary as when Gage goes in the ring he wears a mask like a train robber. The one time he doesn’t wear one is when he robs a bank. Gage even admitted that he did not know there was a camera there and that he was staring right at it. Well, there are cameras everywhere in a building, of course, they're going to get your face.

Gage with all of this money decides to head straight to Brett Lauderdale’s house. It sounds like a brilliant idea to go to your boss or coworker to tell him you committed a robbery. Gage originally lied to Lauderdale that he robbed a drug dealer. The problem with that lie is that the money was too new for it to come from a drug dealer.

When his girlfriend found out, she was shocked but wasn't going to turn him in. She loved him and wanted to stay with him. She is a ride-or-die type of person and Nick Gage is lucky to have someone like Sondra in his life. She and Gage after he robbed a bank decided to travel to Atlantic City. The goal was to spend all that money and once it's out then Gage will turn himself in. At this point Gage knew he was screwed either way, so he thought why not spend it all and have the time of his life before going to prison for many years.

3. Nick Gage Realized the Impact He Had On Fans When He Went To Prison

Gage turns himself in and he is later sentenced to 5 years in prison. While prison was a dark place for him, he got a ton of support from fan mail that woke him up. He realized that he had a big impact on fans and wanted to do his time in prison and change for the better.

He focused on his body physically and mentally during his time in jail. There is even never-before-seen footage of Gage being released from prison and reuniting with Sondra and Lauderdale. Lauderdale had given Gage a lot of chances and he is a true friend to Gage.

2. Nick Gage, Thought he Legit Killed David Arquette in their Deathmatch

Ahh David Arquette is one of the many nails that resulted in the death of WCW. David Arquette is one of the actors in WCW’s movie called Ready To Rumble. Which was a movie that the Turner executive would think had helped out WCW. It also didn't help that Vince Russo thought it was a good idea to put WCW's main World Title on him to get the movie over in pro wrestling.

David Arquette after many years wanted to earn respect from pro wrestling fans and he decided to film a documentary on it called "You Cannot Kill David Arquette”. In the documentary he wanted to wrestle in a match, and he decided to choose of all people, Nick Gage.

Not only does he want a match with him, but in a legit deathmatch stipulation. This sounds like a brilliant idea, but here is the problem, Arquette has no idea who Nick Gage even was or what a deathmatch even is. It's telling too that Arquette's one rule in this deathmatch is to not cut him. There's more of a chance that Hulk Hogan tells an honest story than you not getting cut open in a Deathmatch. What did Arquette think was going to happen?

Now the match is made and it's happening..in the beginning, it's going well. Until Nick Gage grabs the pizza cutter and David Arquette gets cut open. The trust was all but broken and Arquette was angry.

Gage then grabs a light tube and smashes it on Arquette's face. Gage then takes the broken light tube and blades Arquette and I'm doing that, a piece of glass gets stuck in his neck. Gage sees and he legit believes that he killed Arquette. Luckily the cut was not severe and they were able to finish the match.

In the aftermath, Arquette packs his stuff and immediately leaves the building. It was Luke Perry who was picking him up and was in attendance at the event as well. Luke Perry is the father of AEW pro wrestler Jack Perry.

Arquette admits that he was way over his head and should have done more research. That should have been step 1 of the process before doing something dangerous like a Deathmatch. Both Gage and Arquette have never spoken to each other since this situation happened and it's probably for the best.

1. The Tragic Ending of Justice Pain

Justice Pain is the brother of Nick Gage and as previously stated both have not had a great relationship. Especially Justice cut all ties due to Gage's addictions and problems. The craziest part was that when Nick Gage was reconstructed and on the ups, the exact opposite happened with Justice.

Justice got in trouble with the law and had a really bad drug issue. It got so bad that he was stealing cars like he was Trevor from GTA V. The cops caught him, but it was a long chase scene. The chase even got onto Walt Whitman Bridge and while the cops were after him Justice Pain jumped off the bridge. On January 24th, 2020 Justice Pain passed away at the age of 41 due to suicide. Tragic, just tragic, and what's heartbreaking is that Nick Gage lives near the bridge today and has to see it every day. Every time he walks by it he says a prayer to his brother.

Final Thoughts on the Documentary

Deathmatch wrestling isn't for me, but I can't deny how popular it is. It's a niche market and unless there are strict laws in place regarding it, it's unlikely this type of wrestling goes away.

As for Nick Gage is a great redemption and comeback story. Although he has a few screws loose for doing this type of wrestling, he's definitely in a much better place than he was at that time.

The talking heads were great in this episode. Jon Moxley was a great get for Dark Side of the Ring. Sondra was excellent in this too and like said earlier he's got a fantastic partner. Now David Arquette comes off like a completely clueless idiot for even doing the Deathmatch with Gage, but he was a solid talking head in this.

Brett Lauderdale comes across as the greatest in this documentary and while kicking Gage out in the middle of the night when it's 10 degrees is not cool, Gage was the wrong there for squatting in his house without even telling Lauderdale or asking him if he can stay. He never gave up on Gage once and with all the power Lauderdale had during his time in CZW and now owning GCW. Lauderdale could have easily just cut all ties with him as Gage burned a few bridges with him, but he didn't.

As for Gage today he's still wrestling with GCW. He even got an appearance in AEW in a match with Chris Jericho. Now that match did not cost AEW any future sponsorships with Domino Pizza, but it was still a great moment for him. Hopefully, for Gage, he keeps staying sober and doesn't get in trouble with the law. But like it was said earlier for now he has redeemed himself.

Fantastic job by the Dark Side of the Ring crew with this episode.

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