Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring: Abdullah The Butcher
Abdullah The Butcher is one of the scariest and most hardcore pro wrestlers in the business. However, he has had a very dark life, not only due to the bloody matches he has had in the ring, but what occurred beyond the ring.
VICE's Dark Side of the Ring crew actually did an episode on Abdullah The Butcher. As for talking heads, those interviewed are Mick Foley, Hugo Savinovich, Tony Atlas, Devon Nicholson aka Hannibal, Josephine Hearon (Abdullah's Sister), Ralph Shreve (Abdullah's brother), Jocelyn Malikah-Marshall (Abdullah's Caretaker), and the man himself Abdullah the Butcher
It was very well made, but it is a really tough watch that at points really got me disgusted. There are 5 main takeaways that I had watching this episode.
5. Abdullah's Current Living Conditions
It has been known for a while that Abdullah is broke. He lost all of his money from his failed businesses, that lawsuit with Hannibal (Oh We Will Get to That) and etc. It's one of the reasons why he has not paid a dime of that lawsuit.
Due to being flat broke, Abdullah's current living conditions are just awful Jocelyn his caretaker is showing pictures of the house he lives in and its brutal.
His house is in such disrepair that the caretaker did not film at his actual living facility. There are so many electrical and water damages that we saw, it is insane that his house has not been burned down. Joceyln the caretaker is showing photos and that there is no financial support to help fix it.
I am going to be honest; Abdullah's caretaker Jocelyn does not really come across that great in this documentary. When she is showing those photos, she makes the damming statement where she states that "Abdullah built a career and people have taken advantage of him.". Meanwhile she herself is clearly taking advantage of him as well. She is a super shady character.
4. Abdullah The Butcher always used Dirty Blades
So, they talk about the Hannibal incident where he contracts Hepatitis C. When Nicholson got the disease, he was confused how he got it, until he noticed his match with Abdullah the Butcher.
Then we get the story of how Abdullah uses his blades. I got to warn you reading, this is absolutely disgusting and watching this creeped me out.
So according to Tony Atlas, the business at that time had a reputation of using dirty blades during their matches to draw blood in their matches. A ton of those blades came from Abdullah as he had a reputation for keeping blades.
Wrestlers would go up to Abdullah to ask to borrow a blade and to give it back to him. Abdullah never cleaned or sterilized those blades after he got it back. Obviously, he contacted Hepatitis C and who knows how many others got the disease because of him. What a business.
Dude never cleaned his blades and that was common knowledge in the locker room, yet they still used it. They were sharing those blades like drug addicts shared needles with each other to inject drugs. It is so disgusting.
3. Abdullah's Blood Test Is Damning Evidence
What I did not know is that Abdullah the Butcher had provided a blood sample. Guess what, he did in fact have hepatitis C. The most damning part of that test is that Abdullah has the same rare strain that Devon Nicholson had. Yeah, that's pretty telling that he gave the infection to him.
Abdullah originally denies having Hep C, but come on man, the blood tests don't lie. Abdullah them later claimed it was Devon that gave him the Hep C. Here is a problem with that, in his blood work he has had a history of Hepatitis C.
The courts obviously gave the win in the court case to Nicholson who was awarded 2.3 million dollars in damages. He only lost because he never showed up in court, but even if he did that blood test is petty damming.
The video of that match does not paint him well either. It was in 2007 and Abdullah cuts his head with the razor, and then uses the same blade on himself. Which is just pretty gross. Hannibal wins the court case, but Tony Atlas believes that he should not have gotten anything. He should have cut himself knowing Abdullah's untrustworthiness with his dirty blades, but Devon was too scared to do it.
2. Abullah The Butcher Claims that he never learned how to read or write.
Abdullah did not come ff great in the Bruiser Brody episode he participated in, but in the one focused on him, he honestly comes off so much worse. not only for what he did with Hannibal, not cleaning blades, and etc. The one thing he blames his problems on is the fact that he never learned how to read or write, especially when he lost the court case.
Watching and listening to him make this claim and hearing him say it word for word, here is my view on it. I don't believe this man one bit.
He has often been seen signing autographs, contracts, checks, and etc. He has even been seen reading menus and scripts for promos too. Heck he even ran multiple businesses as well, including restaurants.
I even asked a friend of mine who has met Abdullah himself. He saw him write him an autograph and read memorabilia he had shown Abdullah. So, yeah, I don't believe him one bit and you can tell that everyone who know Abdullah is skeptical on that claim. Even, Mick Foley who rarely says a cross word about anybody is skeptical on that, which is pretty telling.
While his family and caretaker say the claim is true. I am not so convinced that can trust his family. Especially his brother who does not come off great in this episode either.
1. Devon Nicholson Comes Across Worse
If you were to tell me that Devon Nicholson would come off worse in this episode compared to Abdullah the Butcher, I would have called you crazy. But hey, if anyone can do it it is Devon Nicholson.
He was already on my nerves in the intro of the documentary. In the beginning of the episode, where they do the intro of the show, He legit said to Abdullah "You're a piece of shit, and I hope when you die you die a slow and painful death". What a great message to a man that you say with joy that you ended his career.
Then later in the documentary gets into the ref incident with Nicholson. So, what happened was Devon was in his Blood Hunter gimmick and he decided to have the ref bleed in the match so he could do a segment building his new gimmick.
What he decides to do is grab a spike and cut the ref himself multiple times, and he goes in deep with these cuts. This ref's head gets mutilated, and they even show a photo of his head in the aftermath. He went way too far in this and he in the documentary blames the promotion for "bad communication".
How the hell was Nicholson not arrested for this is my question? Why the heck was there also no medical personnel as well at that pro wrestling show?
The craziest part about this incident and this was not mentioned in the documentary. Doing research, after this incident with the ref occurred, Nicholson decided to set up a GoFundMe, not for the ref, but for his planned "Blood Hunter Movie'' about the gimmick.
Oh, and he decided to use the footage of that ref incident in his trailer in a Facebook advertisement. But yeah, he feels like it went too far, and it was all because of bad communication. That the GoFundMe is still up, but no longer active. He only got 230 Canadian dollars for it thus resulted in him not doing the movie.
I mean, this guy has always not had the best reputation in pro wrestling, but this episode proves what a piece of work this guy truly is.
Honestly rewatching this episode, excluding Mick Foley, nobody comes off well in this episode. Nobody and it is a shame. I feel no remorse for Devon Nicholson, and I do not believe Abdullah The Butcher one bit in this episode. His caretaker and family come off shady in this episode too. I respect Tony Atlas the person, but that Dirty Blades story was just disgusting.
This was a very dark episode and if you're interested in learning more about Abdullah The Butcher, this is a solid watch. Just beware of a lot of blood and people who don't paint themselves in the best light.
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