Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring: Plane Ride From Hell
It has been a while since I did a review on Dark Side of the Ring Since Season 5 concluded with the Black Saturday Episode. I decided to take a bit of a break from it for a few weeks. While the Who Killed WCW documentary is going, I decided to wait on reviewing that as so far, I have not learned much from watching that documentary.
So, I am going to start writing retrospective reviews of Dark Side of the Ring. I am going to start with the most controversial episode that was ever made. That's right I am doing the episode Dark Side of the Ring made on the Plane Ride from Hell that occurred in 2002.
Those interviewed in this documentary are Mike Chioda, Jim Ross, Tommy Dreamer, Terri Runnells, Justin Credible, Rob Van Dam, and Heidi Doyle (One of the flight attendants who was on the plane).
Coming into this episode, I knew about the Place Ride from Hell and some details about what happened. However, this episode gave me so much more details on what happened, why it happened, and a viewpoint from one of the flight attendants. So, let's get into the 10 things that I learned from watching Dark Side of the Ring's Episode of The Plane Ride from Hell.
10. The Background of The Plane Itself and Flight Attendant Heidi Doyle
An interesting part was that we got to learn more about the plane itself. It was a private flight where WWE bought special flights from a company called Sport Jet. This was a notable company that other organizations utilized like the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Coyotes, Utah Jazz, Seattle Mariners, and many more.
This plane had 50 leather 1st class seats, couches, and very nice carpeting. It's expensive, but you don't have to deal with the general public, and you can get whatever food or refreshments you want. Now that is cool for an international flight. However, this flight immediately went wrong before it went into the air.
9. The Plane Was Delayed For 7 Hours
WWE was all done with their tour overseas and with the Insurrextion PPV in 2002 done, it was time to go home. Everyone was excited to go back and once they headed to the plane; they were ready.
The problem now was the weather. In Connecticut, the weather was rough at this time. The flight was delayed for a total of 7 hours. That's right a 7 Hour Delay!! What sucks too is that they were on the tarmac, so they couldn't even get out of the plane.
That sucks and I remember years ago this happened to me and my family. Luckily it was only a 90-minute delay, but I can't imagine how the 7-hour delay in a plane on the tarmac would feel like.
8. The Passengers Went Through 3 Liquor Carts
With the plane delayed for that long, the flight crew had to keep them entertained and calm while they waited. Luckily there was a full open bar in this plane and knowing the pro wrestling business, they took full advantage of it.
These guys drank so much alcohol that they went through a total of 3 liquor carts before the plane took off. These liquor carts were full of normal bottles you would see at a bar, not the normal tiny ones you would normally see on a Delta, Spirit, or American Airlines plane. Thats insanity!!!!
I had never heard of any flight that went through that many liquor carts until watching this episode. Even Heidi Doyle said that this was the first and only time that she had seen that much alcohol be consumed on a plane.
The craziest part is that the wrestlers took over the liquor carts while Heidi and the other attendants were serving it. Even Justin Credible said that they would have gotten to those booze no matter what even if they were cut off. Plus, even admitted that Ric Flair would even pay off flight attendants to get the liquor. That's super problematic and I don't understand why this plane still took off with how hammered these guys got.
Something that was not mentioned in the documentary was that after this flight, WWE had a limitation/ban on alcohol being served to wrestlers during plane rides. Which is honestly for the best and hopefully that limitation/ban is still in place today.
7. Michael P.S. Hayes Got H Bombed on the Plane
Ahh Michael P.S. Hayes. Now in the review I did on the Terry Gordy episode, I said that Michael P.S. Hayes the man doesn't come off as a Class-A type of character. His involvement in the Plane Ride from Hell is a big example of why.
For some reason, Hayes just randomly punches John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) while he is sleeping. Out of all the people you decide to punch one of the biggest bullies in the WWE locker room. That's not all in punching him, JBL is bleeding all over the place, and with JBL woken up, he fights back by punching Hayes. Hayes then is knocked out from the punch.
By the way, Mike Chioda is laughing when explaining this whole situation. Oh yeah, a fight on a plane where one is bloodied, and the other is knocked out while on a plane is so hilarious.
I always thought the punch was the big reason why he was knocked out, but that is only 50% of the reason why. What I did not know was that Michael P.S Hayes also got H bombed on this flight. Of course, an H bomb is when you put a Halcion pill in a drink to knock them out without their knowledge.
Hayes while knocked out made the perfect opportunity for X-Pac to get revenge. Hayes in the creative meetings would constantly talk bad about him. With a knocked-out Hayes, X Pac grabs some scissors and cuts off Hayes's ponytail. Once that was done X-Pac lifted the Ponytail and everyone cheered
When the plane ride was over Hayes woke up and he was super angry. I would too if I had my hair messed with while I was asleep. In the locker room for the next episode of either Raw or Smackdown, X-Pac would put the hair in a bag and nail it on the door in front of everyone. Jim Ross saw and decided to take the bag down, along with throwing it in the trash.
6. Brock Lesnar Allegedly Exposed Himself to Terri Runnels
Now this was an interesting one because I heard a rumor about this occurring a few years ago. What happened was that Brock Lesnar decided to expose himself in the locker room and in front of Terri, who was very uncomfortable when that happened.
The creepiest part was Goldust (Terri's ex-husband) was there when it happened. He said to her don't sell it, because at the time Brock was getting a big push. The "Don't Sell It" was also the phrase Terri used when a drunk Goldust got onto the announced mics that flight attendants were using on the plane.
Now the producers on the show tried to get Brock to comment on this, but he never responded. However, with what has been alleged in his involvement in the recent Vince McMahon trafficking scandal and even allegations from Jim Cornette's wife, it's not a good look. hope they're false because I love Brock Lesnar the wrestler, but I can't just ignore it.
5. People Thought Scott Hall Was Dead
The Scott Hall story of this incident was super sad. It was only a matter of time before this was going to happen. Hall had a really bad issue with alcohol, and it was no longer an if, but when he was going to be let go. WWE ignored it and kept him on the road, and you guessed it he was not sober on this flight.
Hall would assault Heidi by ripping her shirt and was quoted saying "I'm going to lick you'' and allegedly did that. To make it worse, Hall got H Bombed by Mr. Perfect, because he thought that it would be funny.
Heidi obviously terrified and scared went to the kitchen area of the plane and did not leave that area once until they landed. I don't blame her one bit.
When they landed Hall was in such rough shape that almost everyone thought that Hall was dead. So, what is the logical thing here, do they get medical help to help their friend/coworker? Nope.
Justin Credible decides to get a wheelchair, puts shades on him, and pushes him through customs. Oh, and Justin Credible decided to lie that he had a condition to get through the airport and back to their hotel room. What a business.
4. The Plane Was Left Trashed Inside
When everyone left the plane, the flight attendants had to clean the plane, and it was dirty. There was blood, vomit, food, alcohol, hair, and syringes all over the place. The attendants wanted to get off the plane, but Heidi and the crew had to stay until that plane was 100% cleaned.
Jim Ross even said that they were lucky to be on a private flight because if it was on a Delta or American Airlines flight, the FBI would have been called. Think about that, think about how scary that is with the power that Jim Ross had to say that comment in the documentary.
3. Why Ric Flair Wasn't Punished
With this incident done and over, it was time to get into the punishments. Curt Henning and Scott Hall were fired as a result of this flight. Goldust was fined a large amount as a result of this incident.
A notable name that was not punished was the Nature Boy Ric Flair. That makes no sense with how much of a complete degenerate he acted on the flight. So, the producers asked why he wasn't punished. Jim Ross thought about it while saying "Good question". Then he finally said that Ric was a "made man" in the business and got a free pass from this incident.
I have to ask, were all those other times in the '70s, '80s, '90s, and 2000s just free passes then? I don't care if they were done in different companies, Ric Flair has done this so many times and got away with it. Ric Flair has been given so many passes that you would think he was a journalist covering every sport in America.
2. The Lawsuit That Was Filled and The Reaction from the Wrestlers.
With how traumatizing this incident on the Plane was, I am not surprised that there was a lawsuit. It was not filed by Heidi, but by another attendant that had similar issues and filed it. The reaction to the lawsuit from the other pro wrestlers was shocking, especially from Terri Runnells and Tommy Dreamer.
Terri Runnells claimed that if she filed a lawsuit on something like this, then she would have been in court the rest of her life. Downplays the trauma that Heidi and the other attendants had while being on this flight by calling this incident normal.
Tommy Dreamer made a comment when the settlement in the lawsuit was reached, and this stunned me. He said, "...if that is how she felt, she should have not taken the payout and prosecuted to the full extent of the law to people this heinous person in jail.". What a piece of garbage.
Heidi wanted to move on with her life, but she had to live with the pain and memory of this incident. I 1,000% understand where she is coming from. You can tell how this [lane ride has affected her and if I were in her situation, I would be terrified too.
1. Nobody Comes Off Good In this Episode, Nobody
Normally I would save this for the conclusion of the article, but I am going to do this here. The big thing that I took away, is that almost everyone involved in this situation and documentary, excluding the flight attendant Heidi Doyle, does not come across well.
Ric Flair doesn't come off well in this either. Which coming in was expected with all the stories involving Flair and planes. Oh yeah, there are multiple stories of him doing this on multiple different plane rides.
Brock Lesnar doesn't come off great with the Runnells Allegations and fighting Mr. Perfect on the plane. He almost broke the plane and if he did everyone on that flight would have been dead.
Even though Goldust was the only one to defend Heidi Doyle on the plane, he had a ton of substance abuse issues and was also a handful on the flight as well.
Michael P.S. Hayes doesn't come off great with punching JBL. Then again, it's Michael Hayes. How that man still has a job with WWE today and had a long career in WWE behind the scenes is a tremendous question mark.
Scott Hall was all boozed up and had his issues with Alcohol. I knew all the stories about him on this plane and pretty much knew that he was not going to come out of this great. Even Justin Credible was smiling when talking about how messed up Scott was and even had to wheel him out of the plane in a wheelchair, instead of getting medical help.
Mike Chioda doesn't come off well with him laughing and joking about this entire incident. Especially when a busted-open JBL knocked out Michael P.S. Hayes. Nothing is funny about men fighting each other on a plane. Chioda also does the same thing with the Brock Lesnar and Mr. Perfect fight.
Terri Runnells's comments on the lawsuit and downplaying it rubbed me the wrong way. This woman went from alleging that Brock Lesnar flashed her, to labeling what happened with Heidi Doyle as things that are common and daily. Oh yeah, it is so common for somebody to be treated like that and harassed. Give me a break.
Look I like Jim Ross, but he is not painted in the best light either in this either. He feels ashamed and embarrassed with how everyone was acting on this plane and he was in charge of keeping them in line. These guys were acting like elementary school kids under his watch, and he failed to control it.
Rob Van Dam came off as the sanest pro wrestler on the plane and in this documentary. Does he come off the cleanest in this episode? Nope, but from the bunch in this episode, he comes off a bit better.
Let's get to Tommy Dreamer who comes off the worst and taints his legacy in this documentary. I mean the comments that this man says in this documentary were so repulsive that I don't even want to repeat them word for word in this article. Defending Ric Flair and all of the wrestlers in the shenanigans doesn't paint him well.
After this documentary, TNA/Impact and his radio show on Busted Open made the move to suspend him indefinitely for his comments. He's lucky that he wasn't fired immediately as a result of what he said.
Final Thoughts on the Documentary
The scary thing is and this was not mentioned in the documentary. There are so many disgraceful plane rides like this that have occurred in the wrestling business. This is not an isolated incident, and two other plane rides stand out.
The first one is the fight Kurt Angle and The Undertaker had. This was when Kurt Angle was Horsing around with Vince McMahon, and they were having a full-blown wrestling match while the plane was in the air. The Undertaker woke up and thought Kurt was attacking him on purpose. He decides to choke Kurt Angle to the point where he is unconscious and then immediately falls asleep himself. Wow!!
The second one involves the "Gentleman" Chris Adams. In the Dark Side of the Ring episode, I wrote about him, Adams had his version of the plane ride from hell. He was insanely drunk and was acting like the opposite of a "Gentleman" on the plane. He even decided it was a smart move to headbutt the piolet on the plane.
There are so many insane Plane Ride stories that don't paint the Wrestling business in the best light and the one that always gets the most attraction is the 2002 one post the WWE Inserrextion PPV.
This was the most explosive episode ever made and it created so much controversy. This was a well-made documentary, but I feel ashamed being a wrestling fan and seeing some of my heroes whom I loved watching back in the day act like this on the plane ride.
As for Heidi Doyle the flight attendant, I feel really bad for her the most with what she and other attendees had to deal with. I give her kudos coming onto the documentary and speaking about it, because of what she had to deal with, and it had been thought talking about it. I hope that she is doing okay today.
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