Wrestlers (2023) s01e05 Episode Script
Mother
1
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
This is my first tattoo right here.
It says, "Love."
And if you flip it upside down,
it says, "Hate."
So that resonated with me 'cause love
and hate are real close, you know.
The next day,
I went back and got this one.
It's a little harder to read,
but it says, "Truth,"
and then upside down, it says, "Hurts."
Here, I got my dog Blue. He was sweet.
He got killed by a SWAT team raid
on my cousin's house.
That was a sad day.
After that, I got my belly tat,
"2 Gutta 4 U,"
and that's a song I wrote back in the day.
Haley calls it "the skreets."
I call it "the gutta."
But, um, I got the Second Amendment
tatted on my chest.
Everyone says,
"Got an AK on your chest," but it's words.
I got Dracula in the middle,
which was the only random tattoo I got,
and then I got Five Finger Death Punch,
and then that's Ron Paul on my back.
Dr. Ron Paul. Y'all should look him up.
I got Jesus right here,
my Lord and Savior.
He's never gonna forsake me or abandon me.
And I had to get him there.
On this side, I got band stuff.
I got Disturbed.
It's kind of like
you got God on this side,
and, like, my bad side, kind of disturbed,
because I'm crazy, so you got that.
King and queen, Haley J.
You already know. We got that.
And then I got "forgiven"
just to remind me to remind myself
that God has forgiven us,
so we have to forgive ourselves.
[pensive music playing]
[Haley croaks hoarsely] Hi. The fuck?
I can't see you.
[Eric] Man, you sound like Batman.
[Haley laughs] That's what they said.
- [Eric] You look good though.
- Thanks.
- [boy] Yeah.
- [Eric] Who's this?
- He said, "Yeah!"
- [stylist] Aw!
[Haley] Thanks, Zayden.
It's annoying
that I don't have a fucking voice.
[Eric chuckling]
[Eric] It's probably
not as annoying to everyone else.
Look at the positives.
Text me. You don't need to talk.
Don't need to talk to nobody. Just try
sign language or something, you know?
- Drink hot stuff.
- [stylist laughs]
Not that.
That's the only one you got, huh?
- [Haley] Yeah.
- Look up better ones.
- All right, baby.
- All right.
[Eric blows kiss]
Love you. Bye.
[Eric] Love you too.
- [stylist] How long are you here for?
- [Haley] Hopefully not much longer.
We go home on Wednesday. She's never
been away from Zayden more than 5 days.
It was like, "Next time, we'll bring him."
But we take Zayden every Thursday to OVW.
I always took them to shows
when they were little.
But she liked wrestling.
She was always like, "I'll go. I'll go."
[stylist] How old were you?
[Maria] I was 19 when I had Logan
and 21 when I had her.
[Haley] I was 18 when I had my baby.
[stylist] I think it's cool though.
You grow up with your kid.
There's a different bond.
[Maria] You definitely
learn stuff together.
You figure it out together.
There's no rule book on it.
[stylist] Exactly. Just rolling
with the punches together.
[stylist laughs]
[woman] Hi, Maria.
How are you this morning?
- [Maria] Wonderful. Why?
- [woman 2] Can I go in here?
So that makes one of us.
[Maria cackling]
[Maria laughs] Fucking rookies!
Y'all's asses need to go out with me more
if y'all feel bad today.
[Crystal laughing]
[Maria] From the South, girl.
We drink down there.
Big Rig ready! Let's get it. Honk, honk!
- [man] Are you a heel or?
- [Maria] Babyface.
- [man] Babyface. Okay.
- It's scary weird.
- I've never been a babyface.
- [man] Yeah.
[man laughs]
- Sometimes that's
- [Maria] I'm a heel in real life, man.
[man] So what we're gonna do,
we like to anchor
our characters into real life too.
I'm gonna start off
asking stuff about your real life.
[melancholy music playing]
[man] What's your name?
Where are you from?
Uh, my real name is Marie James.
I am actually from Dunnville, Kentucky.
Ugh. Young me was an asshole.
I was a smart mouth.
I thought I was grown when I wasn't.
So I think I left home at 16.
You know, thought I was just brilliant.
Then real grown stuff happens,
like, I actually got pregnant
my senior year with my son.
Then, about two years later,
I had my daughter.
So, here I am,
I'm 21 years old, I've got two small kids.
Like, what the hell am I gonna do?
So I started selling drugs.
So my whole motivation was
make that money,
make sure my kids got out the projects.
I went to jail for a while, and
[sighs] It was a long road.
- [man] Yeah.
- Yeah.
[Haley] Mom did a pretty good job
of keeping us blind to her situation
or whatever.
They kept us very entertained,
watching wrestling on this big TV
or doing whatever.
[sentimental music playing]
But then what happened was,
my mom was locked up,
and I was staying in
all these fucked-up living situations,
where the people just didn't like me
or had too much going on,
where taking care of me and my brother
was a lot on their plate.
Whatever the excuse might have been,
I was unhappy.
So, it might have built
a little resentment, you know?
[man] And how were your kids growing up?
[Maria] They turned out
a lot better than I did, I feel like.
[Maria laughs]
When I say Haley is a carbon copy of me,
the child is 100% carbon copy.
Like, Haley is a very strong individual,
very strong-minded, very strong-willed,
and until she figures out
that she's wrong, she ain't wrong.
[Maria laughing]
- [barber] What up?
- [Eric] Daniel, you waited on me.
- It's good to see you. Good to see you.
- Where Holly at Haley at?
- [Eric] Man, she in Cali, bro.
- In Cali, wrestling?
Yeah, something like that.
Trying to stay out the way.
- [barber] Why didn't you go with her?
- It's an all-girls wrestling league.
- It's wack, for real.
- [barber 2 laughs]
- Straight up.
- They get all the love.
Yeah, they probably don't wanna hear
what I got to say out there in Hollywood.
This is the line I'm really worried about.
This one and this one. My main ones.
[clippers buzzing]
[Eric] I talked to my girl.
She's out in Cali, so she's
she's out of her element.
They make them practice their matches.
So it's, like, real weird
because that's not what we do
in pro wrestling.
Like, not for a week, anyway.
They practice matches for a week
'cause the girls out there,
most of them ain't actually pro wrestlers.
They're just actresses.
So it's hard for her
to try to wrestle people that
aren't real wrestlers, just actresses.
You know what I mean?
She basically grew up in wrestling.
Whereas my family didn't like wrestling.
I had to
I had to fight for it.
[barber] Hang on.
[Eric] And my grandma, she raised me.
She's probably seen me wrestle
two times in my whole life.
I started wrestling in my backyard.
She thought it was dangerous
and ain't want me to do it.
So I thought when I made it pro
and I was on TV, on pay-per-view,
it would change their mind,
but she really didn't care.
So it's all good.
It is what it is.
But Haley has a different support system.
And that's why
she's been able to, I think,
do as well as she has so fast.
[barber] Right.
[pensive music playing]
Oh, I'm happy for Haley.
She's the best wrestler here
in the women's division, by far.
No one's even close to her.
Um, I just I just
I have
How can I put it?
I've been wrestling for 21 years.
Like, almost as long as she's been alive.
[announcer] Eric Darkstorm
is a promising up-and-comer.
Four years as a pro, just 18 years old
I turned pro when I was 15, and I've been
on pay-per-view since I was 18,
and, um, I wrestled
for every major company.
[commentator] Hot tag into Darkstorm.
Series of clotheslines,
takes down both Naturals.
[Eric] I had to earn my respect
and pay my dues,
and I had to fight for my life to be here.
I had a lot of injuries.
I had drug problems.
I had mental breakdowns.
I had a kid.
I had life get in the way of wrestling,
and I could never get them
all together at the same time.
[commentator 2] Darkstorm is on fire here.
[interviewer] Why do you love wrestling
so much?
I fucking wish I knew, bro.
I would take that shit out of my head
if I could figure it out.
Overall, I've put
my life's work into my passion.
I get it. Times have changed and all that.
But I feel like these girls
are just getting shit handed to them,
and it's fucking disgusting.
We're growing together in this thing.
There's certain things that she does
better in wrestling than I do.
But most things, I do better.
I've been doing this a long time.
I help her with wrestling,
and she helps me with the character stuff.
- She's really good at that.
- I know, right?
[Eric] I could see myself marrying her,
or I wouldn't have started dating her.
- All right.
- [Eric] But
I feel like she needs
to dedicate more time to me.
[barber] Just another day
in the life of a wrassler, man.
Wrassling.
Oh yeah. It's going to the big time.
Going to the big time.
Yay, yeah!
[TV playing in background]
- [man] I got three words
- [commentator] He's lying in front of us.
Oh, what a shot by The Rock,
and a knockdown!
[Shera] This shoulder got dislocated
at a wrestling show.
I just fly in the air, and when I land,
I just only hear.
My eyes was closed, I think.
- So I hear that something is cracking.
- [crowd groaning]
[Shera] A big sound.
[crowd groaning]
[crowd chants] One, two, three!
- [crowd cheering]
- [bell ringing]
[Shera] I'll try to fix my shoulder
in three weeks
because I'm having a rematch
with Cowboy James Storm.
So, before, I need to fix this shoulder.
- To bring my title back.
- [cell phone ringing]
[Shera] My mom keeps calling me,
and I don't want to tell
my family what happened.
[Shera speaking Hindi]
[speaks Hindi]
[Shera in English] Having a sling
and telling shoulder dislocated,
she's gonna be freaking out.
So I'm not showing my shoulder.
I'm just like, "Yes, Mom.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything good."
[Shera and mom speaking Hindi]
[Shera in English] My mom got
so worried about me, like, what I do.
That's why I just don't tell them
if I'm going through pain
in my shoulder right now.
They don't know anything.
Good night.
I go through all these things by myself.
[Shera sighs]
[melancholy music playing]
[Al] Shera's injury
couldn't have happened at a worse time.
I had been building Shera all summer.
Hell, I've been building all this year.
I've spent God knows how much effort
and money
and television time building Shera.
And when I figure out a proper opponent
for Shera that I could use
to not just hopefully elevate Shera
but elevate the company,
elevate the roster,
you know, he gets hurt.
But you know, what do you do?
I mean, it was an unfortunate situation,
and now I've got to figure out
the next moment.
That next pop.
[melancholy music swells]
[Al groaning]
- [Haley] Hi.
- [Eric] What's up?
Come on, Zayden. You're always slow.
Slow, slow, slow.
- [Haley] Mama Snow!
- [Jessica] How was it?
[Haley] It was good.
It was fun. I missed you guys.
- [Jessica] Wasn't as good as here, was it?
- No.
- [Jessica laughing]
- Never that!
Uncle Bunz!
[man raps] Back to the East Coast
You know who do it the most ♪
- Eastside!
- [Haley] Shut the fuck up.
Even though I love the West
You got some nice breasts ♪
But I live out East
So don't go ♪
- Wow, how was it?
- [Haley] Wow!
[Haley laughing]
- Why'd he say it like that?
- Wow!
- He said, "Wow!"
- [Eric] No pun intended.
- No pun intended.
- It was good.
- [Deget] Have fun?
- Yeah.
[Deget] Ain't work on your tan out there?
I was stuck in a hotel. Haunted hotel.
I was stuck there all the time.
You're the only person
who peeped that. Get out of here.
All right. I'm gonna go find Zayden.
Babe, he's fucking fine.
Rev's out there. Zayden's out there.
Worry about you.
- I like to wonder where he is.
- [Eric] He's in the Davis Arena.
If you wanna leave
'cause we're talking about WOW, say that.
[Haley] I'm out of here. Hey, Jesse.
He's not a big fan of women's wrestling.
Too big for their britches.
I don't know if they're not strong enough.
[Haley] I come in this business
with a different mentality than he did.
He started when he was 15,
in his backyard. He loved it.
He wanted to do flippy stuff,
didn't care if he got hurt, whatever.
I started to make money.
Al and Doug, they all said
that I wasn't ready to go to WOW,
but everyone at WOW,
they praised me like I'm the best wrestler
they've ever seen in their fucking life.
Looks like I was ready, Al and Doug.
[Al] Let's go through TV
and everything for this week.
So, we gotta make sure that we do
the pre-tape with Maria and I,
so that we can continue to build
the story between Maria and Haley,
and to educate the audience that
there's a rift between the two of them.
This is going to end in a hardcore match.
Is that correct?
[Maria] I'll beat her ass.
[Al] Without Haley
being here consistently,
it's gonna be a challenge
to see if I can reignite
the heat and the story
between her and Maria.
[Adam] We need to line up props
to be used in a hardcore match.
- [Maria] I have ideas.
- You can have all the ideas you want.
Maria's wanting to do a deathmatch
with Haley. We're gonna do it here.
I'm gonna do it
to where we can tell a story,
and we can literally draw
all that emotion out of that audience.
And I'm gonna try my best to make sure
that they don't do nothing idiotic.
[man] What is a deathmatch?
Something fucking stupid.
I would be real happy with a table,
some thumbtacks, and one pane of glass.
[Al] You're not doing the pane of glass.
- [man] I feel like that's a lot.
- That's not a lot.
[Al] In a deathmatch, it's a free-for-all.
Do whatever you want, any way you want,
with anything you happen to have at hand.
Extravagant objects are used.
Barbwire baseball bats.
Panes of glass.
- Fluorescent light tubes.
- Thumb tacks.
It's violence to the absurd.
I do not need shit stuck in you
that we have to pry out.
- You don't have to pry it out.
- I know it. We're not doing it. Nope.
Quite honestly, it's an excuse,
in a way, to not be talented
and to be able to go out and say,
"I'm a wrestler, a deathmatch wrestler."
And Maria is a part of that.
[Maria] I did my first deathmatch
as a bucket list.
I wanted to actually do a deathmatch
to prove to myself I was tough enough,
strong enough, and I could do one.
[wrestler yells]
[crowd groaning]
After that first deathmatch,
I fell in love.
Apparently, I feel pain
differently than most people,
so I just kept doing them.
[commentator shouts] Oh my God!
[commentator 2] Oh!
Through that pane of glass!
[Maria] Back then,
the ladies were more tits and ass.
People didn't care if they could wrestle,
as long as they looked good
under the TV lights.
[shouts] Whoa, baby!
[Maria] All the women
were nothing but sex objects.
[crowd cheering raucously]
[Maria] All this extra bullshit.
You know, it was just nonsense for me.
That wasn't who I am.
[commentator 3] Oh, face first!
- [Doug] Let's do mousetraps.
- [Maria] Haley's done mousetraps.
- They're easy.
- [Al] No.
- [Doug] Let's do electric fence.
- [Al and Maria] No.
- [Bryan] Knives.
- [man] Do flaming ropes.
[Bryan] Swords.
- [Maria] Want me to tell you what I want?
- [Adam] Weed-eaters and staple guns.
- Staple guns are easy.
- [Doug] Cattle prods.
- [Maria] I just want one pane of glass.
- [Al] No.
- [Adam] A moat with piranhas.
- Moat with piranhas. Electric eels.
- [Adam laughs]
- I want one pane of glass for the finish.
That's it. One pane.
- [Al groans]
- [man] God!
Haley only wants to do one deathmatch.
She wants it to be against me
because that was my thing.
I was good at it.
She knows I'm not gonna kill her.
I'm gonna take care of her.
We're gonna have fun
and hit each other with a bunch of shit.
[whimsical music playing]
[Haley] That's her thing.
That's what she's known for,
Queen of Deathmatches and whatnot.
So if it's a good story
and we'll get more of a reaction,
then I'm all for it.
It's a mom-daughter thing, man.
They'll go through that.
It might bring them closer.
Wrestling's weird. It could heal things
if they beat the crap out of each other.
[Al] I hope, for them, it's cathartic,
but also, you know,
an audience is gonna sense
and go, "Ooh, that's real stuff."
"There's some real angst there."
[inaudible speech]
- [Matt] How are you?
- [Al] Good. You?
Good. Okay, so, what do you think
about August 27th, you wrestle?
- [Al grunting in shock]
- [Doug laughs]
Let me give you my idea.
Then you tell me,
"I'm glad to do a derivative of it."
[Doug] I'm still laughing. Sorry.
Why is that so funny?
Let me ask you this. What do you think
about this? This was my idea.
I think it would be interesting
to have something,
where for a few weeks leading into it,
loudmouth Shannon
Shut your mouth when I'm talking!
[Matt]does something
that makes you mad. You fire him.
Maybe I come in and say, "No, he stays."
And there's this
Al-Shannon thing for a few weeks
that leads to you wrestling him
and kicking his ass on the 27th.
You can't come in
and say he stays, 'cause
I'll think of something,
but if you do it, the heat goes on you.
- [Matt] I don't care.
- [Al] That means I wrestle you.
I'm not wrestling.
Fine, whatever you wanna do.
I don't have to be on it. My point is
- Just so you That's the psychology.
- [Doug] Great idea. I like that idea.
[Matt] You see how happy he looked
that he'd have to wrestle me?
- [Doug] That's money there.
- I know. I'm not wrestling you.
I'm not giving you
the chance to beat me up.
Here's the reason I like that idea.
I think our biggest draws,
to get a lot of people in the building,
are you and Shannon.
Shannon wrestling you is something
I can talk about on the radio for weeks.
- When did you last wrestle in Louisville?
- [Al] Oh God, years. It's been years.
- [Matt] So, would you do it?
- [Al] A long time. I'll think about it.
[Matt] Take a week.
Think about it. Let's talk next week.
[Al] I'll think about it,
if I can do good business with it.
[Matt] I feel you can.
[Al] I'm 59 years old,
and they want me to just step in the ring.
I don't wanna just step in the ring.
I don't wanna be an embarrassment.
There is
an immense amount of responsibility.
- [Haley] Got the keys?
- [Eric] I know you don't.
[man] Hey.
[man blows kiss]
[indistinct chatter]
[Matt sighs]
Cash!
What's up, man?
We're in Lexington at Courtesy Acura,
which is one of our biggest sponsors.
They basically fund our Lexington TV show.
The owner, Dan, is a really good guy,
but he's also a little eccentric.
Let me ask a question. Are you okay
with Haley talking trash to you?
It's fine. I'm a car salesmen.
I've heard it all.
Sweet!
Ohio Valley Wrestling has been great.
They're all humble people.
They're good people.
It's a good family event. Sweet!
[interviewer] Is that your catchphrase?
Sweet! I've been saying "sweet"
for I don't know how long.
I say that, yeah. I say a lot of "sweet."
Sweet. It's a good word. It's positive.
This is a family ordeal.
It's all about the kids.
What better way to get the kids' attention
but shoot 1,000 one-dollar bills to kids?
Sweet!
Instead of strippers,
we'll give it to the kids.
[money gun whirrs]
Sweet!
What's going on, brother?
- [Bryan] Good to see you.
- [Matt] What's up?
- Turning into a superstar!
- [woman] Like Marilyn
[Haley] In LA, they kept saying
I was the ghetto Marilyn Monroe.
Haley, you're gonna
have to do the U of L stuff.
[Haley] Got a shirt for me?
I don't know where they sell
U of L gear in Lexington.
- [Eric] I need a jersey, Matt.
- I'll tell you what. Do this. Come here.
[Eric] I love when Matt
gets his wallet out.
- I've been waiting for this.
- [Matt] Here.
Up here is Dick's Sporting Goods.
It's just over there.
- See if you can go find two U of L shirts.
- [Eric] Thank you, Matt Jones.
[Matt] I like to play up
some of our heel wrestlers,
make them U of L people,
because Kentucky fans hate Louisville,
and Louisville hate Kentucky.
So, you got Kentucky shirts?
[Eric] It was a fail.
I went to every store in the mall.
- There were no Louisville shirts?
- [Eric] They had a triple XL sweatshirt.
About as close as I got.
Keep that for your time.
- Split it with your partner.
- Thanks, Matt. Give me a handshake.
Matt Jones just gave me a hundred bucks.
- Here, Matt.
- Sweet!
The show is about to kick off.
If it goes great, it's on me.
- If it goes bad, it's on you guys.
- [all laughing]
So, uh No, seriously, let's go out.
Let's have one hell of a show.
I got your food after the thing's over,
so stick around when it's over.
- Thank you all.
- [wrestlers cheering]
Can I get a, "Whoa, Bundy"?
Where's Reverend?
[all cheer] Whoa, Bundy!
[Matt] How's everybody doing?
[crowd cheering]
How many of you,
this is your first time at an OVW show?
Raise your hand.
All right, here's the thing.
I wanna hear you yell and scream.
Cheer on the ones you like,
boo the ones you don't.
Be the loudest crowd
we've had on this tour.
Thank you all. Enjoy the show.
[Bryan] Welcome to Courtesy Acura
on a beautiful Saturday night.
- [Dan] Sweet!
- [inspirational music plays]
- [Dan] That's the way you like it.
- [all cheering]
[Matt] With the wrestlers,
I wish that I had handled the way
I initially interacted with Al
and some of them a little differently.
Because I think it would have been better
if I'd done it a little differently.
Jessie, how's life?
How are you all doing?
Ronnie, what's up, brother?
You guys have been
doing awesome, seriously.
Nice job, Ronnie.
Thank you, brother. Thank you.
Nice job, brother.
[Matt, voice-over] It's been a bumpy road,
but I think over time,
that's gotten better.
I do have a lot of respect for them,
and I think they see
that I'm bringing stuff here that's new,
and I think they appreciate that.
[crowd cheering]
- [man chants] Go, Big Blue!
- [crowd chants] Go, Big Blue!
Go, Big Blue! Go, Big Blue! Go, Big Blue!
[crowd cheering]
[bell ringing]
[announcer] The winner is
[inspirational music continues]
[Matt] But it has also been
hard
because it's this group
of people that I really like.
But I don't feel like
I've completely connected with them.
[man] Tell Eric I got that
[sentimental music playing]
[Matt] But I want it to work out.
Hey, guys, if you want a beer,
they'll give you one from Country Boy.
Thank you, man.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
Let me say,
I thought the crowd was into it.
You guys did a great job.
Continue to get better and better.
Gotta give it to you
for pulling off this deal.
It was great tonight.
And, Jesse, you did an awesome job.
[Deget] Yeah, good stuff.
Good shit. Way to go.
[Matt] Let me ask a question.
After the final show of the summer,
I'm gonna have us
a party afterwards at a bar.
- Where should we go?
- [Deget] The strip club.
- [Matt] We're not going to a strip club.
- [wrestlers laughing]
[Matt] We're not
[Eric] Can I please say some stuff to you?
- Are you
- [Haley] Say what you wanna say.
I'm trying, but you keep interrupting me
and saying all this other shit.
You know why I didn't talk to you?
You gave me a reason
not to trust you. I didn't.
Because you don't know what I did.
Don't tell me, okay? You asked a question.
- Can I please answer it?
- Mm.
I hung out with my son.
I really miss him. He missed me.
I don't care about no other bitch.
I'm not with no other bitch. I'm with you.
I care about the way you talk to me.
I didn't talk to you
'cause you were being rude as fuck.
You're rude. You're mean.
- [Eric] Ever hung out with yourself?
- I'm mean, too, but
How do you think
mean and mean is gonna work?
Mean and mean. Mean on mean.
[Eric] Look at you right now.
I'm literally trying to talk to you.
- You're a whole character, so don't
- You can't get that through your head.
No. You gotta separate what we're doing
at home from HollyHood Haley J.
It's the same person turnt up.
Okay, what am I getting from you, babe?
I'm not getting cuddles and hair rubs.
I'm getting HollyHood Haley J.
You said, "I'm on ten all the time."
I don't wanna be on ten at all times,
and I don't think you have to be.
Like, come on. Please, I'm really trying
to talk to you from my heart.
And you won't get over yourself
with this HollyHood Haley J bullshit.
You're Haley Marie James. Okay?
I know you. There is another person.
You're not always your character.
You don't always have your lashes.
You don't always have your fingernails.
There's a little girl on the other side
that works at Holiday Inn,
and it's not HollyHood Haley J.
When we're in bed, I don't need HollyHood.
I'd like to have my girlfriend. Okay?
You can act like
you don't give a fuck about me.
You're just gonna go and do whatever.
But I know you're sad.
I see you, Haley Marie.
I know you're fucking sad.
I don't want that.
If I can't talk to you and say,
"Can you not be your character
for one hour?"
how about you try to be
another character that's just yourself?
We're not gonna solve this problem,
obviously, 'cause I'll always be Haley J.
It is me that you don't like.
That's what you're confused about.
So it is what it is.
[Eric] All right, cool.
[melancholy music playing]
[inaudible speech]
[Haley] I have to work on trusting people,
and that causes problems
in my relationship
'cause I don't trust him or anyone.
I always think
someone's out to get me. Never fails.
[melancholy music continues]
[Eric] She doesn't know where Haley Marie
and HollyHood Haley J cross.
I know the two are different.
She's a really sweet girl on the inside.
[Haley] I'm always in survival mode,
and I gotta tell myself, "You're okay."
That's not necessarily his fault.
It's probably mine.
Psycho Haley.
[Bryan] Foot to the face!
[female wrestlers screaming]
[laughter]
- [Maria over radio] Tracy.
- [Al over radio] Damn.
[Maria laughs]
[Maria] They're just gonna trade
Wow! Okay. Whoo!
That's aggressive.
[Maria yelps]
[Al] She caught her
right in the chops on that.
[wrestler screaming]
Be prepared, Maria.
- [ref] One, two, three.
- [wrestler] Ring the bell!
[Al] Go do damage control.
That's what you're here for.
[Maria] Calm down. It's all right.
Come here. Calm down.
I'll take care of it, okay?
Listen, look at me. Look at me.
I'll take care of it, okay? All right?
Calm down. Let me see your face.
[woman] Aw, dude!
- Let me see.
- [man] No teeth?
- [wrestler] No.
- [woman] Couldn't tell you bled.
She got real angry, real quick.
I had to settle them down, so
- You good, baby?
- Oh yeah, she does that with everyone.
She helps everyone. It's very annoying.
Doesn't give two shits
about her actual child,
but she's got 50 other children in here,
so she's gonna take care of them.
Wrestling causes us problems
'cause she helps people who don't need it.
I don't know.
She's like everyone's mother.
She babies everyone.
I call her Captain Save-A-Hoe.
Yeah. I was making sure
we didn't chip no teeth or anything
'cause it came, but
[Haley] I'm like, "Girl, calm down."
Worry about you, or me.
Whatever. It's fine.
Yeah, that's her. Very loving.
Very loving.
[man] This storyline that Al is developing
between you and your mom,
there's some actual truth?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
I put everything in real-life perspective.
- That's how it's easier for me.
- [Maria] Haley Marie, no! Haley!
- Haley Marie? Oh no.
- [Maria] Enough! Get yourself together!
[Haley yells] Why don't you
get yourself out of my face?
In the promo, I was probably saying
something that I actually felt, you know,
and her facials
showed how she actually felt.
But I'm trying to make it as real
as possible for me, so it's believable.
[clicks lips]
I'm not privy to all the ins and outs
of their relationship,
but I can see there's
probably some existence of strife.
[Maria] I'm doing
everything I can with her.
You're her mother.
This puts you in a difficult position,
but we need Haley under control.
This girl is going wild.
I come out here tonight to address
a situation that was very disturbing.
Haley J assaulted OVW officials
and her own mother.
[crowd booing]
[Al, voice-over] I get the sense
that a young girl like Haley
would need her mother to be there for her.
And from what I've heard, Maria wasn't.
And you can see the scars
that both of them carry from that
still to this day.
Al, please do not send her back to jail.
[yells] Put her in jail, Al!
[Maria] If it takes me
getting in this ring,
with her, to get her under control
- Wait, wait, wait! You wanna wrestle me?
- Get her out of here. Put her in jail.
I'm only in this predicament
because of you!
- [Haley growls] Captain Save-a-Hoe!
- I do not want to wrestle you.
[Al growls] Shut up!
Boy, you're not my daddy!
If I were, I'd bend you over my knee,
and I would whip your ass!
- [crowd gasping]
- [Haley] That's real
[crowd gasps and yells]
- [Haley] Bend that over your knee!
- What did you do?
- Al, don't
- Get mad.
Oh, what you gonna do? Suspend me?
[Maria] Al, I will put her in her place.
I promise you.
You wanna wrestle her? You got it!
But you better be willing
to do whatever it takes
because it's gonna be anything goes.
'Cause if you don't do it,
I sure as hell will.
[crowd cheering]
You should've brought it more.
You had your chance.
He literally said
it was the most genuine shit
they've had on TV.
[Al] All of this, from the finish on,
I mean, that's gonna take time,
and it's got to
- [Maria] Be emotional.
- Gotta get emotional.
- And I'm not an emotional person. Like
- The hell you're not! [laughs]
When it comes to getting pissed off,
you're real easy to get pissed off.
- Oh, I'm angry.
- She said, "I just don't cry."
I don't cry. I'm an angry person.
I'm not an emotional person.
- There's a difference.
- [Maria] Yeah.
Anger is an emotion,
but it's the only one I got.
[Maria] Oh my God,
that was my favorite baby picture.
- [woman] This one?
- [Maria] Yes.
Oh God!
- Where'd that come from?
- [woman] Track picture?
- [Maria] I think that was sophomore year?
- [woman] Sophomore year.
- Oh God. Where'd I get that black eye?
- [woman] Who?
- Me!
- [woman] Where?
Pretty sure that's that fight I got into
on Main Street with those five girls.
- I come out on top on that.
- [woman] Them girls went to jail.
[pensive music playing]
Marie, she was a handful.
She was a rowdy little girl.
She was a big troublemaker.
Not a little, a big.
[Tina laughing]
Ah. She got in a lot of fights.
[Maria] I had a lot of anger.
Didn't know what to do with it.
Why you got 'em in a cooler?
My mom and dad divorced when I was five.
My mom actually took my sister,
and my brother and I stayed with my dad.
I grew up rough and tough
with a bunch of guys.
And Saturday mornings,
we'd watch wrestling,
and I always loved the bad guy.
It was just, uh
always been with me.
- I always loved wrestling, Mom.
- [Tina] I know you loved it.
[Maria] I was doing the Canadian gimmick
when I was the first OVW women's champion.
I didn't start growing up, literally,
until I was almost 30, probably.
Then I started wrestling, you know.
I think Haley's fifth-grade year,
I had my very first match.
Wrestling was the way
to get out of trouble.
So wrestling saved me, and in that aspect,
I found a way to channel my anger.
[woman] When you first moved here,
everybody was clowning you
'cause your mom was a wrestler.
- [Haley] Who?
- [woman 2] I was there.
- [Haley] You was there. Big Lexi.
- [woman] No, the
[Haley] Oh, it was Big Big.
She was like, "I don't give a fuck
if your mom is a wrestler, bitch!"
"I'll beat your ass, bitch!"
Started throwing rocks. "Hold up, bitch."
[woman] How do you feel about being close
to your mom with this wrestling stuff,
but y'all wasn't so close before?
- Right?
- That's what I be wondering.
[Maria] Look at that face.
Little Haley.
[gasps]
Marie.
- [Maria] Aw! Little chunky monkey.
- She is chunky there.
[Maria] She'd probably kill me if I showed
this picture, with her actual dad.
- [Tina] The wedding picture?
- [Maria] Yeah.
It's her real dad that she don't claim.
I do have a sperm donor. He's a nice man,
I'm sure. I'm just not his cup of tea.
He's not too fond of me, I don't think.
He doesn't talk to me very often.
He already had a son,
and, you know, that's enough for them.
They don't need me or whatever, so
For me, it was really hard
being a single mom
because I didn't have anybody to help me.
I would work ungodly hours
just to make sure that they had
all of those things that I never had.
This is when I was managing
third shift at IHOP. I was always tired.
Always.
I work all the time,
and I wrestle all the time.
It's work, wrestling,
my relationship, my kids.
It's been very hard for Haley.
I was angry before
'cause I had these things.
Mom going to jail, not being there.
Now she's wrestling and not there.
[woman] Do a lot of people from Frankfort
slide up on you
[Haley] No. Nobody from Frankfort
talks about me.
I'm glad I'm not in Frankfort no more.
I miss y'all, but I don't miss Frankfort.
When my mother went to jail,
we were bouncing around house to house.
Anywhere we went, Haley J
was not the favorite. Me and my brother.
I always got beat up,
spit on, called a bitch,
wasn't allowed to talk to my mother
when she was in jail on the phone.
My mom was locked up, and I was unhappy.
I was going through a lot of things.
I already felt by myself, I guess.
And then, um, when she gets out of jail,
she starts wrestling
and getting her life together.
She was gone all the time.
And I was out doing
whatever I wanted to do, you know.
[Maria] She missed me when I was in jail.
She became a very angry child.
When Haley left home,
she left home at, like, 16.
She just didn't like
the situation that she was in.
So she was like, "All right, I'm out."
So we went our separate ways.
As far as knowing how bad it was for her,
she would hide that from me.
When you're in pro wrestling,
and if you truly love the business,
there are times
when you're gone for weeks at a time.
So that was kind of tough.
Oh, just got back from the ring.
When Maria and I were together,
we were traveling parents.
Once they got old enough,
big brother takes care of little sister.
"Stay here.
We'll go to this wrestling show."
They're 18 and 16.
I feel comfortable doing stuff like that.
But, you know, while we were gone,
she became this HollyHood rough exterior.
You're gonna have to earn her trust
for her to really open up to you.
[Haley] It's so crazy
'cause I was such a sweet kid.
My teenage years, I'm fighting.
All I wanted to do was fight.
And I took my rage out in the streets.
Sold some drugs.
Slept on park slides. Street life.
Yeah, I've kind of
been through some things.
At 15, I was raped.
Um
I couldn't tell you what happened.
I decided to skip school.
I skipped ball practice.
We wasn't doing nothing outrageous.
We went to people's houses.
Maybe smoked, not for sure.
Doing, I don't know, kid shit.
My friends wanted to pick up these boys.
I'm like, "Okay, whatever."
We pick them up. They're like,
"I got this for you," which was a Xanax.
I'm like, "Okay." So I took that.
And by the time we got to the apartment,
I think I took one more.
And, yeah, I was out.
That whole night was, like
I woke up one time,
and I was in the room by myself.
And then I woke up another time,
and I was naked.
And he was shutting the door
with a blanket around his back,
and he shut the door,
and I seen he was naked.
And I'm like, "What the?"
And I'm right back out.
I didn't know
anything had happened or whatever
other than I seen him
close the door, naked.
[somber music playing]
So I didn't think nothing of it
until we went to school.
The whole school's talking about
how I lost my virginity to this dude.
And I'm like "Hold on, what?"
Like, I literally had no idea. None.
Vroom! Went right past me.
And I guess he told somebody there,
like, he fucked me.
And I was like, "No, he didn't."
I thought I could trust someone.
I told 'em the story.
It turned into the telephone game.
All these stories went around school.
So I got into several altercations
about that one.
And I'm like, "What the fuck?"
So, yeah.
Fifteen.
[Haley] All that stuff that happened,
it changed me sexually.
I'm not a sexual person.
Like, it makes me cringe sometimes.
It messed up my mental.
I'm always in survival mode.
I gotta tell myself, like, "You're okay."
"Nobody's out to get you."
[melancholy music playing]
[Matt] Welcome back!
Kentucky Sports Radio.
One of the things
we like to talk about is drama.
And, Shannon, there is not bigger drama
than a mother-daughter relationship.
There's the highs. There's the lows.
I don't have kids.
I wouldn't necessarily know about it.
But I know mothers and daughters fight.
But how often do mothers
and daughters step into a wrestling ring
and fight each other
in a first blood match?
That's crazy!
But it's happening
Saturday night at historic Davis Arena.
I don't know why anyone wouldn't show up
to see a mother
and daughter fight each other.
[Al] Find it, gather it,
start looking for it.
- [Haley] Okay, I'll do that.
- Okay. Like that croquet mallet.
- [Haley] I can use this.
- [Al] Yeah.
We need stuff out there.
We're not gonna use everything.
I'll just go around
and find some random shit.
[Maria] Yeah,
you ain't hitting me with that.
What up, bub? I'm looking
for random shit to hit my mother with.
[Deget laughs]
That shit is under the ring.
- Under the ring?
- Yeah.
[Haley] Hello, guys. Oops.
Is there anything in here
I could hit my mother with?
[metal clattering]
[Haley] Hello!
- Shit.
- [Leila] They brought your stuff.
[Haley hums happily]
These are soft. She's gotta cover them.
She's gonna put thumbtacks all over it.
- [woman] You gonna do crafts?
- [Haley] I don't know these matches.
This is her shit.
- [Leila] You guys gonna bleed?
- I'm gonna Yes!
[woman] Gonna gig yourself?
[Haley] No, I don't have to. Hard way.
Hard way? Yikes.
I'm scared to gig myself.
Shit, I'd rather do it the hard way.
My face is already fucked up.
Bruise, bruise, bruise.
- [woman] What do you mean, the hard way?
- Been fucking me up. Hard way?
It means you get hit for real.
It busts you open.
- Gig means you
- [woman] No, yeah, I know gig.
- Blood thinner?
- [Haley] Mom, look at this shit.
- Thirty-five hundred fucking tacks, bro.
- [Maria] Three thousand.
Maybe just one thing?
- Sprinkle them around.
- [Maria] Thing is
- [Leila] She brought the pain.
- [Maria] You have to have a lot.
- Because the ring is so big
- [Haley] Have to?
If you put
if you pour one box out,
it's gonna look like nothing.
- [Haley] If I fall out
- I got you.
[Haley] Tell 'em to turn the lights off.
That's my only thing.
[Maria] If you fall out, I got you.
[sighs anxiously]
I don't fucking know, man.
- I'm leaving the premises. Moved your car?
- [Maria] Yes.
- [Reverend] Don't blaze up till you leave.
- Don't worry. I got me.
And if not, somebody's gonna yell at me.
Other than you.
[Reverend] I am not.
Yeah, I'm frustrated and nervous
about my match, and I gotta smoke.
I'm gonna go to this liquor store.
Let me hit this again.
When I watch deathmatches,
I throw up sometimes.
All the blood and stuff.
But I'm thinking, hopefully,
since it's mine, it won't be as bad.
Yeah, I'm nervous.
I don't wanna bleed. Don't wanna do
the stuff I have to do tonight, but
[woman] Why are you doing it?
[Haley] Uh, you know, 'cause, um
it's good storytelling.
[woman] There's a great fight tonight
with Marie and Haley, mother and daughter.
You know, can't miss it.
It's gonna be fantastic!
Um, I'm gonna cheer for Haley.
[Al] You gotta take your time and sell.
It's not about what you do,
it's what it is that was done
and the injury that it's causing.
If we do it right,
we'll get people crying in this building.
[Haley] I had a lot of anger
towards my mother growing up.
I felt like she wasn't there,
and I was very angry at her,
then turned into this little angry person.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Haley exhales forcefully]
[Doug] Eleven minutes. Eleven.
[indistinct chatter]
[male wrestler protests]
[Haley coughing and vomiting]
[woman] She's been freaking out
about having to do it.
She's like,
"I really don't wanna hit my mother."
I was like, "Think about every time
you got yelled at for no reason."
[water runs and stops]
No, it's okay. Thank you, boo.
When I'm actually okay,
I don't feel like I'm okay.
So I'm still in survival mode,
and I'm gonna pick a fight with you or you
just to be in my natural state.
I am the way I am because of my mother.
[Doug] Eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
[announcer] The following contest is
your main event on Saturday Night Riot,
and it is a hardcore rules match.
[crowd cheering and booing]
[Maria] All of the anger that she has,
I can't hold it against her,
because it's something I did.
Because I was a young mom,
and I went down
the wrong path for a while.
[Bryan] Look at these
weapons of destruction.
She's still angry,
but she's young too. She's just 22.
[Bryan] There's a trash can lid.
All sorts you can do.
[Al] Think about this. She's willing
to do this to her own mother.
do this to her own mother.
I can't even fathom
[Maria] Whether or not
she's gonna forgive me,
that's something that
she's gonna have to deal with
and come to terms with on her own.
[announcer] The Amazing Maria!
[crowd cheering]
[Bryan] We thought
Amazing Maria's in-ring career was over.
[commentator] We did.
- I'm not fighting you!
- [Haley shouting]
- [fan] Maria!
- [commentator] Maria doesn't wanna do it.
[Bryan] I can't even fathom the emotions.
[Maria] I don't know what you want!
I'm not fighting her!
[fan 2] Just do it!
[fans shouting]
[Maria shouts] Understand?
I'm not fighting her!
[commentator]
Someone's gotta put Haley in her place.
It's gonna have to be Maria, whether
she wants to or not. This match is signed.
[Bryan] The bell has rung.
[Haley shouts] Come on! Go for it, Ma!
What's wrong, huh?
Huh?
- Hello? Trying to have a match here.
- [Al] Let it build, girls.
Let it build.
There is no parent
that wants to be put in this position.
[Bryan] No parent would want to do this.
To have to lay hands on your child
[commentator] I don't know what to say.
I don't know
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
- [Al] There we go.
[commentator] Oh my.
- [Bryan] What is there to say, Josh?
- [Josh] The disrespect.
[Bryan] Maria might have had enough here,
shoving her daughter across the ring.
Haley hammering down
on her own mother now.
Hit me!
[Bryan] Oh, Haley taken off her feet.
[Maria] Haley!
I don't care what these people want!
I'm not fighting you!
[Bryan] She doesn't care what people want.
There's some chanting,
"Fight your daughter." Oh!
[crowd shouting]
[Maria yells] I'm not fighting you!
[tense music playing]
[Haley] Why don't you fight me back?!
[Bryan] The disrespect is pouring out
of Haley J right now and onto her mother.
[Haley] Let's get it. Come on. Come on!
[fan shouts] Respect!
[Josh] Just a disgusting show here.
[Bryan] Maria putting her hands
behind her back, refusing to fight.
[Haley] What do I gotta do, huh?
Fine, let's go.
[Bryan] Now choking Maria.
- Is that a piece of cabling?
- [Haley] Let's go!
- All by myself, then!
- [Maria choking]
[tense music continuing]
[indistinct conversation]
[Bryan] Bringing in a table.
Don't think they're having dinner.
[Josh] Me neither.
- [crowd groaning]
- [Bryan] Oh, what what is that?
- [Josh] That's covered in tacks.
- [Bryan] Jesus.
The point is to shed blood.
Her own mother,
who refuses to lift a hand.
Steel chair in the hand of Haley.
You can see, really savoring this moment.
- Fight me!
- [Maria] I'm not fighting you!
- Fight me!
- I'm not fighting you!
Go ahead! Go ahead!
[Al] Don't No head shot.
[crowd shouting]
[shouts] Oh my God!
This isn't right.
[Bryan] No.
[crowd shouting]
[Josh] No.
Haley. Haley! Stop.
Get up, Mother.
[fan shouting raucously]
- [Josh] You've got to be kidding.
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
Shots to the thighs
with those tacks in the Oh my God!
[screaming]
- [man] Stuck in her hair!
- [woman] Look They're in her thigh.
[crowd shouting]
[Maria wailing in pain]
[man] Oh! She hit her in the butt!
[fans chanting] She's amazing!
[fans clapping rhythmically]
[Bryan] Look at the blood
all over the legs of Amazing Maria.
[fans chanting] She's amazing!
[Bryan] Oh! Haley J to the midsection.
- [Maria groans]
- [Haley grunts]
- [Bryan] Oh, boom!
- [Maria yelling]
[Josh] In the back of the head.
[Bryan] Maria just bleeding
from multiple parts of her body, Josh.
Oh, come on.
Yummy, bloody!
[Bryan] This is a disgusting human being.
[Josh] Oh my God.
That's not popcorn! Those are thumbtacks.
- More thumbtacks, Bryan!
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
Maria just attacking Haley J
in the spine with that trash can lid.
[fans chanting] Maria! Maria!
[screams] No!
[Bryan] I can't imagine
what Maria's going through.
The heartbreak. The emotions.
The loss, Josh. The freaking loss.
Oh God!
I just want this to be over.
[Bryan] Every shot is just a reminder
to Maria of what she's lost.
[melancholy music playing]
[Bryan] Now the ring has become
an arena of carnage, and Haley J
[Haley grunts]
[Josh] With a pile of thumbtacks,
trash can lids, and everything else
[Bryan] Maria turns it around!
[crowd shouting]
[Josh] Who got the worst of that one?
That's the real question.
There are no winners
when thumbtacks are involved.
[melancholy music continues]
- [Haley yelling]
- [crowd groaning]
[Bryan] The blood just pouring out
of Maria's head now.
- [music swells]
- [crowd chanting and cheering]
[fans clapping rhythmically]
[Maria] This is what you want?
[crowd groaning]
[wrestlers groaning]
[Josh] Double clothesline. Both women
go down right into the pile of thumbtacks.
[music swells]
[fans chanting] Holy shit! Holy shit!
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!
[Josh] In 12 years, over 700-plus shows,
I have never, ever, in my career
here in OVW seen anything like this.
Maria trying to get to her feet.
[crowd shouting]
[Bryan] Maria driven through the table
by her own freaking daughter.
[Al] Count!
[crowd chanting and shouting]
- [Bryan] That's it!
- [Josh] Thank God. Thank God.
[crowd chanting] Maria! Maria!
[announcer] Here is your winner,
HollyHood Haley J!
[melancholy music continues]
[Maria whimpering]
[fans shouting]
[Bryan] Maria and HollyHood Haley J
had to fight through hell
to find each other again.
[applause]
[fans chanting] Thank you both!
Thank you both! Thank you
[Josh] We're not ending on a riot.
We're ending on another r-word,
one worth much more. Redemption.
[music drowns out speech]
[fan whistles in support]
[Haley] Her going to jail
and me going through all that shit,
I tried to push that on her
for the longest time.
- [woman] Yes!
- [woman 2] Yeah!
[wrestlers clapping]
[announcer] Thank you
for coming to Saturday Night Riot!
[Haley] I had my baby.
With me being a single parent
and with me struggling,
I realized that she was doing
the best that she could do.
It's hard. Shit, even living on your own
without a kid, it's hard.
[groans]
I didn't lose my anger until I was
over 30 years old, you know what I mean?
It was a process. And I feel like
she's going through that process now.
She has found something in wrestling
that she's really good at.
She's fucking really good at it.
Like, really good at it. And she's only
three years in the business.
[man] A fan caught it with their body.
Instead of being upset,
they want an autograph.
- I'm shaking.
- [man] Honey, that was a hell of a match.
- [Haley] I appreciate that.
- Yes, ma'am.
Ouch.
[Maria] I want my daughter to succeed,
because I didn't.
Anything I can do to help her on her path
and keep her going upward,
I'm all about it.
He's a good boy.
You a good boy?
This is her dream, and I'm living it.
I think that she finds joy
in seeing me do well.
This is the locker room therapy dog.
He's like, "Bitch, you need some love.
Just let me love you."
"Let me love you."
Is that what
you're trying to tell me? Huh?
Get out of here! Get out of here.
[sentimental music playing]
[Haley] I'm trying to change things up now
because I handled things like my mother.
And we're two different people, you know.
She did what she did in wrestling.
I'm gonna do what I'm doing in wrestling.
I don't wanna be stuck in my ways.
I wanna change and grow.
I try to do different.
[woman] Fell on thumbtacks
and realized she fucking regretted it.
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
This is my first tattoo right here.
It says, "Love."
And if you flip it upside down,
it says, "Hate."
So that resonated with me 'cause love
and hate are real close, you know.
The next day,
I went back and got this one.
It's a little harder to read,
but it says, "Truth,"
and then upside down, it says, "Hurts."
Here, I got my dog Blue. He was sweet.
He got killed by a SWAT team raid
on my cousin's house.
That was a sad day.
After that, I got my belly tat,
"2 Gutta 4 U,"
and that's a song I wrote back in the day.
Haley calls it "the skreets."
I call it "the gutta."
But, um, I got the Second Amendment
tatted on my chest.
Everyone says,
"Got an AK on your chest," but it's words.
I got Dracula in the middle,
which was the only random tattoo I got,
and then I got Five Finger Death Punch,
and then that's Ron Paul on my back.
Dr. Ron Paul. Y'all should look him up.
I got Jesus right here,
my Lord and Savior.
He's never gonna forsake me or abandon me.
And I had to get him there.
On this side, I got band stuff.
I got Disturbed.
It's kind of like
you got God on this side,
and, like, my bad side, kind of disturbed,
because I'm crazy, so you got that.
King and queen, Haley J.
You already know. We got that.
And then I got "forgiven"
just to remind me to remind myself
that God has forgiven us,
so we have to forgive ourselves.
[pensive music playing]
[Haley croaks hoarsely] Hi. The fuck?
I can't see you.
[Eric] Man, you sound like Batman.
[Haley laughs] That's what they said.
- [Eric] You look good though.
- Thanks.
- [boy] Yeah.
- [Eric] Who's this?
- He said, "Yeah!"
- [stylist] Aw!
[Haley] Thanks, Zayden.
It's annoying
that I don't have a fucking voice.
[Eric chuckling]
[Eric] It's probably
not as annoying to everyone else.
Look at the positives.
Text me. You don't need to talk.
Don't need to talk to nobody. Just try
sign language or something, you know?
- Drink hot stuff.
- [stylist laughs]
Not that.
That's the only one you got, huh?
- [Haley] Yeah.
- Look up better ones.
- All right, baby.
- All right.
[Eric blows kiss]
Love you. Bye.
[Eric] Love you too.
- [stylist] How long are you here for?
- [Haley] Hopefully not much longer.
We go home on Wednesday. She's never
been away from Zayden more than 5 days.
It was like, "Next time, we'll bring him."
But we take Zayden every Thursday to OVW.
I always took them to shows
when they were little.
But she liked wrestling.
She was always like, "I'll go. I'll go."
[stylist] How old were you?
[Maria] I was 19 when I had Logan
and 21 when I had her.
[Haley] I was 18 when I had my baby.
[stylist] I think it's cool though.
You grow up with your kid.
There's a different bond.
[Maria] You definitely
learn stuff together.
You figure it out together.
There's no rule book on it.
[stylist] Exactly. Just rolling
with the punches together.
[stylist laughs]
[woman] Hi, Maria.
How are you this morning?
- [Maria] Wonderful. Why?
- [woman 2] Can I go in here?
So that makes one of us.
[Maria cackling]
[Maria laughs] Fucking rookies!
Y'all's asses need to go out with me more
if y'all feel bad today.
[Crystal laughing]
[Maria] From the South, girl.
We drink down there.
Big Rig ready! Let's get it. Honk, honk!
- [man] Are you a heel or?
- [Maria] Babyface.
- [man] Babyface. Okay.
- It's scary weird.
- I've never been a babyface.
- [man] Yeah.
[man laughs]
- Sometimes that's
- [Maria] I'm a heel in real life, man.
[man] So what we're gonna do,
we like to anchor
our characters into real life too.
I'm gonna start off
asking stuff about your real life.
[melancholy music playing]
[man] What's your name?
Where are you from?
Uh, my real name is Marie James.
I am actually from Dunnville, Kentucky.
Ugh. Young me was an asshole.
I was a smart mouth.
I thought I was grown when I wasn't.
So I think I left home at 16.
You know, thought I was just brilliant.
Then real grown stuff happens,
like, I actually got pregnant
my senior year with my son.
Then, about two years later,
I had my daughter.
So, here I am,
I'm 21 years old, I've got two small kids.
Like, what the hell am I gonna do?
So I started selling drugs.
So my whole motivation was
make that money,
make sure my kids got out the projects.
I went to jail for a while, and
[sighs] It was a long road.
- [man] Yeah.
- Yeah.
[Haley] Mom did a pretty good job
of keeping us blind to her situation
or whatever.
They kept us very entertained,
watching wrestling on this big TV
or doing whatever.
[sentimental music playing]
But then what happened was,
my mom was locked up,
and I was staying in
all these fucked-up living situations,
where the people just didn't like me
or had too much going on,
where taking care of me and my brother
was a lot on their plate.
Whatever the excuse might have been,
I was unhappy.
So, it might have built
a little resentment, you know?
[man] And how were your kids growing up?
[Maria] They turned out
a lot better than I did, I feel like.
[Maria laughs]
When I say Haley is a carbon copy of me,
the child is 100% carbon copy.
Like, Haley is a very strong individual,
very strong-minded, very strong-willed,
and until she figures out
that she's wrong, she ain't wrong.
[Maria laughing]
- [barber] What up?
- [Eric] Daniel, you waited on me.
- It's good to see you. Good to see you.
- Where Holly at Haley at?
- [Eric] Man, she in Cali, bro.
- In Cali, wrestling?
Yeah, something like that.
Trying to stay out the way.
- [barber] Why didn't you go with her?
- It's an all-girls wrestling league.
- It's wack, for real.
- [barber 2 laughs]
- Straight up.
- They get all the love.
Yeah, they probably don't wanna hear
what I got to say out there in Hollywood.
This is the line I'm really worried about.
This one and this one. My main ones.
[clippers buzzing]
[Eric] I talked to my girl.
She's out in Cali, so she's
she's out of her element.
They make them practice their matches.
So it's, like, real weird
because that's not what we do
in pro wrestling.
Like, not for a week, anyway.
They practice matches for a week
'cause the girls out there,
most of them ain't actually pro wrestlers.
They're just actresses.
So it's hard for her
to try to wrestle people that
aren't real wrestlers, just actresses.
You know what I mean?
She basically grew up in wrestling.
Whereas my family didn't like wrestling.
I had to
I had to fight for it.
[barber] Hang on.
[Eric] And my grandma, she raised me.
She's probably seen me wrestle
two times in my whole life.
I started wrestling in my backyard.
She thought it was dangerous
and ain't want me to do it.
So I thought when I made it pro
and I was on TV, on pay-per-view,
it would change their mind,
but she really didn't care.
So it's all good.
It is what it is.
But Haley has a different support system.
And that's why
she's been able to, I think,
do as well as she has so fast.
[barber] Right.
[pensive music playing]
Oh, I'm happy for Haley.
She's the best wrestler here
in the women's division, by far.
No one's even close to her.
Um, I just I just
I have
How can I put it?
I've been wrestling for 21 years.
Like, almost as long as she's been alive.
[announcer] Eric Darkstorm
is a promising up-and-comer.
Four years as a pro, just 18 years old
I turned pro when I was 15, and I've been
on pay-per-view since I was 18,
and, um, I wrestled
for every major company.
[commentator] Hot tag into Darkstorm.
Series of clotheslines,
takes down both Naturals.
[Eric] I had to earn my respect
and pay my dues,
and I had to fight for my life to be here.
I had a lot of injuries.
I had drug problems.
I had mental breakdowns.
I had a kid.
I had life get in the way of wrestling,
and I could never get them
all together at the same time.
[commentator 2] Darkstorm is on fire here.
[interviewer] Why do you love wrestling
so much?
I fucking wish I knew, bro.
I would take that shit out of my head
if I could figure it out.
Overall, I've put
my life's work into my passion.
I get it. Times have changed and all that.
But I feel like these girls
are just getting shit handed to them,
and it's fucking disgusting.
We're growing together in this thing.
There's certain things that she does
better in wrestling than I do.
But most things, I do better.
I've been doing this a long time.
I help her with wrestling,
and she helps me with the character stuff.
- She's really good at that.
- I know, right?
[Eric] I could see myself marrying her,
or I wouldn't have started dating her.
- All right.
- [Eric] But
I feel like she needs
to dedicate more time to me.
[barber] Just another day
in the life of a wrassler, man.
Wrassling.
Oh yeah. It's going to the big time.
Going to the big time.
Yay, yeah!
[TV playing in background]
- [man] I got three words
- [commentator] He's lying in front of us.
Oh, what a shot by The Rock,
and a knockdown!
[Shera] This shoulder got dislocated
at a wrestling show.
I just fly in the air, and when I land,
I just only hear.
My eyes was closed, I think.
- So I hear that something is cracking.
- [crowd groaning]
[Shera] A big sound.
[crowd groaning]
[crowd chants] One, two, three!
- [crowd cheering]
- [bell ringing]
[Shera] I'll try to fix my shoulder
in three weeks
because I'm having a rematch
with Cowboy James Storm.
So, before, I need to fix this shoulder.
- To bring my title back.
- [cell phone ringing]
[Shera] My mom keeps calling me,
and I don't want to tell
my family what happened.
[Shera speaking Hindi]
[speaks Hindi]
[Shera in English] Having a sling
and telling shoulder dislocated,
she's gonna be freaking out.
So I'm not showing my shoulder.
I'm just like, "Yes, Mom.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything good."
[Shera and mom speaking Hindi]
[Shera in English] My mom got
so worried about me, like, what I do.
That's why I just don't tell them
if I'm going through pain
in my shoulder right now.
They don't know anything.
Good night.
I go through all these things by myself.
[Shera sighs]
[melancholy music playing]
[Al] Shera's injury
couldn't have happened at a worse time.
I had been building Shera all summer.
Hell, I've been building all this year.
I've spent God knows how much effort
and money
and television time building Shera.
And when I figure out a proper opponent
for Shera that I could use
to not just hopefully elevate Shera
but elevate the company,
elevate the roster,
you know, he gets hurt.
But you know, what do you do?
I mean, it was an unfortunate situation,
and now I've got to figure out
the next moment.
That next pop.
[melancholy music swells]
[Al groaning]
- [Haley] Hi.
- [Eric] What's up?
Come on, Zayden. You're always slow.
Slow, slow, slow.
- [Haley] Mama Snow!
- [Jessica] How was it?
[Haley] It was good.
It was fun. I missed you guys.
- [Jessica] Wasn't as good as here, was it?
- No.
- [Jessica laughing]
- Never that!
Uncle Bunz!
[man raps] Back to the East Coast
You know who do it the most ♪
- Eastside!
- [Haley] Shut the fuck up.
Even though I love the West
You got some nice breasts ♪
But I live out East
So don't go ♪
- Wow, how was it?
- [Haley] Wow!
[Haley laughing]
- Why'd he say it like that?
- Wow!
- He said, "Wow!"
- [Eric] No pun intended.
- No pun intended.
- It was good.
- [Deget] Have fun?
- Yeah.
[Deget] Ain't work on your tan out there?
I was stuck in a hotel. Haunted hotel.
I was stuck there all the time.
You're the only person
who peeped that. Get out of here.
All right. I'm gonna go find Zayden.
Babe, he's fucking fine.
Rev's out there. Zayden's out there.
Worry about you.
- I like to wonder where he is.
- [Eric] He's in the Davis Arena.
If you wanna leave
'cause we're talking about WOW, say that.
[Haley] I'm out of here. Hey, Jesse.
He's not a big fan of women's wrestling.
Too big for their britches.
I don't know if they're not strong enough.
[Haley] I come in this business
with a different mentality than he did.
He started when he was 15,
in his backyard. He loved it.
He wanted to do flippy stuff,
didn't care if he got hurt, whatever.
I started to make money.
Al and Doug, they all said
that I wasn't ready to go to WOW,
but everyone at WOW,
they praised me like I'm the best wrestler
they've ever seen in their fucking life.
Looks like I was ready, Al and Doug.
[Al] Let's go through TV
and everything for this week.
So, we gotta make sure that we do
the pre-tape with Maria and I,
so that we can continue to build
the story between Maria and Haley,
and to educate the audience that
there's a rift between the two of them.
This is going to end in a hardcore match.
Is that correct?
[Maria] I'll beat her ass.
[Al] Without Haley
being here consistently,
it's gonna be a challenge
to see if I can reignite
the heat and the story
between her and Maria.
[Adam] We need to line up props
to be used in a hardcore match.
- [Maria] I have ideas.
- You can have all the ideas you want.
Maria's wanting to do a deathmatch
with Haley. We're gonna do it here.
I'm gonna do it
to where we can tell a story,
and we can literally draw
all that emotion out of that audience.
And I'm gonna try my best to make sure
that they don't do nothing idiotic.
[man] What is a deathmatch?
Something fucking stupid.
I would be real happy with a table,
some thumbtacks, and one pane of glass.
[Al] You're not doing the pane of glass.
- [man] I feel like that's a lot.
- That's not a lot.
[Al] In a deathmatch, it's a free-for-all.
Do whatever you want, any way you want,
with anything you happen to have at hand.
Extravagant objects are used.
Barbwire baseball bats.
Panes of glass.
- Fluorescent light tubes.
- Thumb tacks.
It's violence to the absurd.
I do not need shit stuck in you
that we have to pry out.
- You don't have to pry it out.
- I know it. We're not doing it. Nope.
Quite honestly, it's an excuse,
in a way, to not be talented
and to be able to go out and say,
"I'm a wrestler, a deathmatch wrestler."
And Maria is a part of that.
[Maria] I did my first deathmatch
as a bucket list.
I wanted to actually do a deathmatch
to prove to myself I was tough enough,
strong enough, and I could do one.
[wrestler yells]
[crowd groaning]
After that first deathmatch,
I fell in love.
Apparently, I feel pain
differently than most people,
so I just kept doing them.
[commentator shouts] Oh my God!
[commentator 2] Oh!
Through that pane of glass!
[Maria] Back then,
the ladies were more tits and ass.
People didn't care if they could wrestle,
as long as they looked good
under the TV lights.
[shouts] Whoa, baby!
[Maria] All the women
were nothing but sex objects.
[crowd cheering raucously]
[Maria] All this extra bullshit.
You know, it was just nonsense for me.
That wasn't who I am.
[commentator 3] Oh, face first!
- [Doug] Let's do mousetraps.
- [Maria] Haley's done mousetraps.
- They're easy.
- [Al] No.
- [Doug] Let's do electric fence.
- [Al and Maria] No.
- [Bryan] Knives.
- [man] Do flaming ropes.
[Bryan] Swords.
- [Maria] Want me to tell you what I want?
- [Adam] Weed-eaters and staple guns.
- Staple guns are easy.
- [Doug] Cattle prods.
- [Maria] I just want one pane of glass.
- [Al] No.
- [Adam] A moat with piranhas.
- Moat with piranhas. Electric eels.
- [Adam laughs]
- I want one pane of glass for the finish.
That's it. One pane.
- [Al groans]
- [man] God!
Haley only wants to do one deathmatch.
She wants it to be against me
because that was my thing.
I was good at it.
She knows I'm not gonna kill her.
I'm gonna take care of her.
We're gonna have fun
and hit each other with a bunch of shit.
[whimsical music playing]
[Haley] That's her thing.
That's what she's known for,
Queen of Deathmatches and whatnot.
So if it's a good story
and we'll get more of a reaction,
then I'm all for it.
It's a mom-daughter thing, man.
They'll go through that.
It might bring them closer.
Wrestling's weird. It could heal things
if they beat the crap out of each other.
[Al] I hope, for them, it's cathartic,
but also, you know,
an audience is gonna sense
and go, "Ooh, that's real stuff."
"There's some real angst there."
[inaudible speech]
- [Matt] How are you?
- [Al] Good. You?
Good. Okay, so, what do you think
about August 27th, you wrestle?
- [Al grunting in shock]
- [Doug laughs]
Let me give you my idea.
Then you tell me,
"I'm glad to do a derivative of it."
[Doug] I'm still laughing. Sorry.
Why is that so funny?
Let me ask you this. What do you think
about this? This was my idea.
I think it would be interesting
to have something,
where for a few weeks leading into it,
loudmouth Shannon
Shut your mouth when I'm talking!
[Matt]does something
that makes you mad. You fire him.
Maybe I come in and say, "No, he stays."
And there's this
Al-Shannon thing for a few weeks
that leads to you wrestling him
and kicking his ass on the 27th.
You can't come in
and say he stays, 'cause
I'll think of something,
but if you do it, the heat goes on you.
- [Matt] I don't care.
- [Al] That means I wrestle you.
I'm not wrestling.
Fine, whatever you wanna do.
I don't have to be on it. My point is
- Just so you That's the psychology.
- [Doug] Great idea. I like that idea.
[Matt] You see how happy he looked
that he'd have to wrestle me?
- [Doug] That's money there.
- I know. I'm not wrestling you.
I'm not giving you
the chance to beat me up.
Here's the reason I like that idea.
I think our biggest draws,
to get a lot of people in the building,
are you and Shannon.
Shannon wrestling you is something
I can talk about on the radio for weeks.
- When did you last wrestle in Louisville?
- [Al] Oh God, years. It's been years.
- [Matt] So, would you do it?
- [Al] A long time. I'll think about it.
[Matt] Take a week.
Think about it. Let's talk next week.
[Al] I'll think about it,
if I can do good business with it.
[Matt] I feel you can.
[Al] I'm 59 years old,
and they want me to just step in the ring.
I don't wanna just step in the ring.
I don't wanna be an embarrassment.
There is
an immense amount of responsibility.
- [Haley] Got the keys?
- [Eric] I know you don't.
[man] Hey.
[man blows kiss]
[indistinct chatter]
[Matt sighs]
Cash!
What's up, man?
We're in Lexington at Courtesy Acura,
which is one of our biggest sponsors.
They basically fund our Lexington TV show.
The owner, Dan, is a really good guy,
but he's also a little eccentric.
Let me ask a question. Are you okay
with Haley talking trash to you?
It's fine. I'm a car salesmen.
I've heard it all.
Sweet!
Ohio Valley Wrestling has been great.
They're all humble people.
They're good people.
It's a good family event. Sweet!
[interviewer] Is that your catchphrase?
Sweet! I've been saying "sweet"
for I don't know how long.
I say that, yeah. I say a lot of "sweet."
Sweet. It's a good word. It's positive.
This is a family ordeal.
It's all about the kids.
What better way to get the kids' attention
but shoot 1,000 one-dollar bills to kids?
Sweet!
Instead of strippers,
we'll give it to the kids.
[money gun whirrs]
Sweet!
What's going on, brother?
- [Bryan] Good to see you.
- [Matt] What's up?
- Turning into a superstar!
- [woman] Like Marilyn
[Haley] In LA, they kept saying
I was the ghetto Marilyn Monroe.
Haley, you're gonna
have to do the U of L stuff.
[Haley] Got a shirt for me?
I don't know where they sell
U of L gear in Lexington.
- [Eric] I need a jersey, Matt.
- I'll tell you what. Do this. Come here.
[Eric] I love when Matt
gets his wallet out.
- I've been waiting for this.
- [Matt] Here.
Up here is Dick's Sporting Goods.
It's just over there.
- See if you can go find two U of L shirts.
- [Eric] Thank you, Matt Jones.
[Matt] I like to play up
some of our heel wrestlers,
make them U of L people,
because Kentucky fans hate Louisville,
and Louisville hate Kentucky.
So, you got Kentucky shirts?
[Eric] It was a fail.
I went to every store in the mall.
- There were no Louisville shirts?
- [Eric] They had a triple XL sweatshirt.
About as close as I got.
Keep that for your time.
- Split it with your partner.
- Thanks, Matt. Give me a handshake.
Matt Jones just gave me a hundred bucks.
- Here, Matt.
- Sweet!
The show is about to kick off.
If it goes great, it's on me.
- If it goes bad, it's on you guys.
- [all laughing]
So, uh No, seriously, let's go out.
Let's have one hell of a show.
I got your food after the thing's over,
so stick around when it's over.
- Thank you all.
- [wrestlers cheering]
Can I get a, "Whoa, Bundy"?
Where's Reverend?
[all cheer] Whoa, Bundy!
[Matt] How's everybody doing?
[crowd cheering]
How many of you,
this is your first time at an OVW show?
Raise your hand.
All right, here's the thing.
I wanna hear you yell and scream.
Cheer on the ones you like,
boo the ones you don't.
Be the loudest crowd
we've had on this tour.
Thank you all. Enjoy the show.
[Bryan] Welcome to Courtesy Acura
on a beautiful Saturday night.
- [Dan] Sweet!
- [inspirational music plays]
- [Dan] That's the way you like it.
- [all cheering]
[Matt] With the wrestlers,
I wish that I had handled the way
I initially interacted with Al
and some of them a little differently.
Because I think it would have been better
if I'd done it a little differently.
Jessie, how's life?
How are you all doing?
Ronnie, what's up, brother?
You guys have been
doing awesome, seriously.
Nice job, Ronnie.
Thank you, brother. Thank you.
Nice job, brother.
[Matt, voice-over] It's been a bumpy road,
but I think over time,
that's gotten better.
I do have a lot of respect for them,
and I think they see
that I'm bringing stuff here that's new,
and I think they appreciate that.
[crowd cheering]
- [man chants] Go, Big Blue!
- [crowd chants] Go, Big Blue!
Go, Big Blue! Go, Big Blue! Go, Big Blue!
[crowd cheering]
[bell ringing]
[announcer] The winner is
[inspirational music continues]
[Matt] But it has also been
hard
because it's this group
of people that I really like.
But I don't feel like
I've completely connected with them.
[man] Tell Eric I got that
[sentimental music playing]
[Matt] But I want it to work out.
Hey, guys, if you want a beer,
they'll give you one from Country Boy.
Thank you, man.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
Let me say,
I thought the crowd was into it.
You guys did a great job.
Continue to get better and better.
Gotta give it to you
for pulling off this deal.
It was great tonight.
And, Jesse, you did an awesome job.
[Deget] Yeah, good stuff.
Good shit. Way to go.
[Matt] Let me ask a question.
After the final show of the summer,
I'm gonna have us
a party afterwards at a bar.
- Where should we go?
- [Deget] The strip club.
- [Matt] We're not going to a strip club.
- [wrestlers laughing]
[Matt] We're not
[Eric] Can I please say some stuff to you?
- Are you
- [Haley] Say what you wanna say.
I'm trying, but you keep interrupting me
and saying all this other shit.
You know why I didn't talk to you?
You gave me a reason
not to trust you. I didn't.
Because you don't know what I did.
Don't tell me, okay? You asked a question.
- Can I please answer it?
- Mm.
I hung out with my son.
I really miss him. He missed me.
I don't care about no other bitch.
I'm not with no other bitch. I'm with you.
I care about the way you talk to me.
I didn't talk to you
'cause you were being rude as fuck.
You're rude. You're mean.
- [Eric] Ever hung out with yourself?
- I'm mean, too, but
How do you think
mean and mean is gonna work?
Mean and mean. Mean on mean.
[Eric] Look at you right now.
I'm literally trying to talk to you.
- You're a whole character, so don't
- You can't get that through your head.
No. You gotta separate what we're doing
at home from HollyHood Haley J.
It's the same person turnt up.
Okay, what am I getting from you, babe?
I'm not getting cuddles and hair rubs.
I'm getting HollyHood Haley J.
You said, "I'm on ten all the time."
I don't wanna be on ten at all times,
and I don't think you have to be.
Like, come on. Please, I'm really trying
to talk to you from my heart.
And you won't get over yourself
with this HollyHood Haley J bullshit.
You're Haley Marie James. Okay?
I know you. There is another person.
You're not always your character.
You don't always have your lashes.
You don't always have your fingernails.
There's a little girl on the other side
that works at Holiday Inn,
and it's not HollyHood Haley J.
When we're in bed, I don't need HollyHood.
I'd like to have my girlfriend. Okay?
You can act like
you don't give a fuck about me.
You're just gonna go and do whatever.
But I know you're sad.
I see you, Haley Marie.
I know you're fucking sad.
I don't want that.
If I can't talk to you and say,
"Can you not be your character
for one hour?"
how about you try to be
another character that's just yourself?
We're not gonna solve this problem,
obviously, 'cause I'll always be Haley J.
It is me that you don't like.
That's what you're confused about.
So it is what it is.
[Eric] All right, cool.
[melancholy music playing]
[inaudible speech]
[Haley] I have to work on trusting people,
and that causes problems
in my relationship
'cause I don't trust him or anyone.
I always think
someone's out to get me. Never fails.
[melancholy music continues]
[Eric] She doesn't know where Haley Marie
and HollyHood Haley J cross.
I know the two are different.
She's a really sweet girl on the inside.
[Haley] I'm always in survival mode,
and I gotta tell myself, "You're okay."
That's not necessarily his fault.
It's probably mine.
Psycho Haley.
[Bryan] Foot to the face!
[female wrestlers screaming]
[laughter]
- [Maria over radio] Tracy.
- [Al over radio] Damn.
[Maria laughs]
[Maria] They're just gonna trade
Wow! Okay. Whoo!
That's aggressive.
[Maria yelps]
[Al] She caught her
right in the chops on that.
[wrestler screaming]
Be prepared, Maria.
- [ref] One, two, three.
- [wrestler] Ring the bell!
[Al] Go do damage control.
That's what you're here for.
[Maria] Calm down. It's all right.
Come here. Calm down.
I'll take care of it, okay?
Listen, look at me. Look at me.
I'll take care of it, okay? All right?
Calm down. Let me see your face.
[woman] Aw, dude!
- Let me see.
- [man] No teeth?
- [wrestler] No.
- [woman] Couldn't tell you bled.
She got real angry, real quick.
I had to settle them down, so
- You good, baby?
- Oh yeah, she does that with everyone.
She helps everyone. It's very annoying.
Doesn't give two shits
about her actual child,
but she's got 50 other children in here,
so she's gonna take care of them.
Wrestling causes us problems
'cause she helps people who don't need it.
I don't know.
She's like everyone's mother.
She babies everyone.
I call her Captain Save-A-Hoe.
Yeah. I was making sure
we didn't chip no teeth or anything
'cause it came, but
[Haley] I'm like, "Girl, calm down."
Worry about you, or me.
Whatever. It's fine.
Yeah, that's her. Very loving.
Very loving.
[man] This storyline that Al is developing
between you and your mom,
there's some actual truth?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
I put everything in real-life perspective.
- That's how it's easier for me.
- [Maria] Haley Marie, no! Haley!
- Haley Marie? Oh no.
- [Maria] Enough! Get yourself together!
[Haley yells] Why don't you
get yourself out of my face?
In the promo, I was probably saying
something that I actually felt, you know,
and her facials
showed how she actually felt.
But I'm trying to make it as real
as possible for me, so it's believable.
[clicks lips]
I'm not privy to all the ins and outs
of their relationship,
but I can see there's
probably some existence of strife.
[Maria] I'm doing
everything I can with her.
You're her mother.
This puts you in a difficult position,
but we need Haley under control.
This girl is going wild.
I come out here tonight to address
a situation that was very disturbing.
Haley J assaulted OVW officials
and her own mother.
[crowd booing]
[Al, voice-over] I get the sense
that a young girl like Haley
would need her mother to be there for her.
And from what I've heard, Maria wasn't.
And you can see the scars
that both of them carry from that
still to this day.
Al, please do not send her back to jail.
[yells] Put her in jail, Al!
[Maria] If it takes me
getting in this ring,
with her, to get her under control
- Wait, wait, wait! You wanna wrestle me?
- Get her out of here. Put her in jail.
I'm only in this predicament
because of you!
- [Haley growls] Captain Save-a-Hoe!
- I do not want to wrestle you.
[Al growls] Shut up!
Boy, you're not my daddy!
If I were, I'd bend you over my knee,
and I would whip your ass!
- [crowd gasping]
- [Haley] That's real
[crowd gasps and yells]
- [Haley] Bend that over your knee!
- What did you do?
- Al, don't
- Get mad.
Oh, what you gonna do? Suspend me?
[Maria] Al, I will put her in her place.
I promise you.
You wanna wrestle her? You got it!
But you better be willing
to do whatever it takes
because it's gonna be anything goes.
'Cause if you don't do it,
I sure as hell will.
[crowd cheering]
You should've brought it more.
You had your chance.
He literally said
it was the most genuine shit
they've had on TV.
[Al] All of this, from the finish on,
I mean, that's gonna take time,
and it's got to
- [Maria] Be emotional.
- Gotta get emotional.
- And I'm not an emotional person. Like
- The hell you're not! [laughs]
When it comes to getting pissed off,
you're real easy to get pissed off.
- Oh, I'm angry.
- She said, "I just don't cry."
I don't cry. I'm an angry person.
I'm not an emotional person.
- There's a difference.
- [Maria] Yeah.
Anger is an emotion,
but it's the only one I got.
[Maria] Oh my God,
that was my favorite baby picture.
- [woman] This one?
- [Maria] Yes.
Oh God!
- Where'd that come from?
- [woman] Track picture?
- [Maria] I think that was sophomore year?
- [woman] Sophomore year.
- Oh God. Where'd I get that black eye?
- [woman] Who?
- Me!
- [woman] Where?
Pretty sure that's that fight I got into
on Main Street with those five girls.
- I come out on top on that.
- [woman] Them girls went to jail.
[pensive music playing]
Marie, she was a handful.
She was a rowdy little girl.
She was a big troublemaker.
Not a little, a big.
[Tina laughing]
Ah. She got in a lot of fights.
[Maria] I had a lot of anger.
Didn't know what to do with it.
Why you got 'em in a cooler?
My mom and dad divorced when I was five.
My mom actually took my sister,
and my brother and I stayed with my dad.
I grew up rough and tough
with a bunch of guys.
And Saturday mornings,
we'd watch wrestling,
and I always loved the bad guy.
It was just, uh
always been with me.
- I always loved wrestling, Mom.
- [Tina] I know you loved it.
[Maria] I was doing the Canadian gimmick
when I was the first OVW women's champion.
I didn't start growing up, literally,
until I was almost 30, probably.
Then I started wrestling, you know.
I think Haley's fifth-grade year,
I had my very first match.
Wrestling was the way
to get out of trouble.
So wrestling saved me, and in that aspect,
I found a way to channel my anger.
[woman] When you first moved here,
everybody was clowning you
'cause your mom was a wrestler.
- [Haley] Who?
- [woman 2] I was there.
- [Haley] You was there. Big Lexi.
- [woman] No, the
[Haley] Oh, it was Big Big.
She was like, "I don't give a fuck
if your mom is a wrestler, bitch!"
"I'll beat your ass, bitch!"
Started throwing rocks. "Hold up, bitch."
[woman] How do you feel about being close
to your mom with this wrestling stuff,
but y'all wasn't so close before?
- Right?
- That's what I be wondering.
[Maria] Look at that face.
Little Haley.
[gasps]
Marie.
- [Maria] Aw! Little chunky monkey.
- She is chunky there.
[Maria] She'd probably kill me if I showed
this picture, with her actual dad.
- [Tina] The wedding picture?
- [Maria] Yeah.
It's her real dad that she don't claim.
I do have a sperm donor. He's a nice man,
I'm sure. I'm just not his cup of tea.
He's not too fond of me, I don't think.
He doesn't talk to me very often.
He already had a son,
and, you know, that's enough for them.
They don't need me or whatever, so
For me, it was really hard
being a single mom
because I didn't have anybody to help me.
I would work ungodly hours
just to make sure that they had
all of those things that I never had.
This is when I was managing
third shift at IHOP. I was always tired.
Always.
I work all the time,
and I wrestle all the time.
It's work, wrestling,
my relationship, my kids.
It's been very hard for Haley.
I was angry before
'cause I had these things.
Mom going to jail, not being there.
Now she's wrestling and not there.
[woman] Do a lot of people from Frankfort
slide up on you
[Haley] No. Nobody from Frankfort
talks about me.
I'm glad I'm not in Frankfort no more.
I miss y'all, but I don't miss Frankfort.
When my mother went to jail,
we were bouncing around house to house.
Anywhere we went, Haley J
was not the favorite. Me and my brother.
I always got beat up,
spit on, called a bitch,
wasn't allowed to talk to my mother
when she was in jail on the phone.
My mom was locked up, and I was unhappy.
I was going through a lot of things.
I already felt by myself, I guess.
And then, um, when she gets out of jail,
she starts wrestling
and getting her life together.
She was gone all the time.
And I was out doing
whatever I wanted to do, you know.
[Maria] She missed me when I was in jail.
She became a very angry child.
When Haley left home,
she left home at, like, 16.
She just didn't like
the situation that she was in.
So she was like, "All right, I'm out."
So we went our separate ways.
As far as knowing how bad it was for her,
she would hide that from me.
When you're in pro wrestling,
and if you truly love the business,
there are times
when you're gone for weeks at a time.
So that was kind of tough.
Oh, just got back from the ring.
When Maria and I were together,
we were traveling parents.
Once they got old enough,
big brother takes care of little sister.
"Stay here.
We'll go to this wrestling show."
They're 18 and 16.
I feel comfortable doing stuff like that.
But, you know, while we were gone,
she became this HollyHood rough exterior.
You're gonna have to earn her trust
for her to really open up to you.
[Haley] It's so crazy
'cause I was such a sweet kid.
My teenage years, I'm fighting.
All I wanted to do was fight.
And I took my rage out in the streets.
Sold some drugs.
Slept on park slides. Street life.
Yeah, I've kind of
been through some things.
At 15, I was raped.
Um
I couldn't tell you what happened.
I decided to skip school.
I skipped ball practice.
We wasn't doing nothing outrageous.
We went to people's houses.
Maybe smoked, not for sure.
Doing, I don't know, kid shit.
My friends wanted to pick up these boys.
I'm like, "Okay, whatever."
We pick them up. They're like,
"I got this for you," which was a Xanax.
I'm like, "Okay." So I took that.
And by the time we got to the apartment,
I think I took one more.
And, yeah, I was out.
That whole night was, like
I woke up one time,
and I was in the room by myself.
And then I woke up another time,
and I was naked.
And he was shutting the door
with a blanket around his back,
and he shut the door,
and I seen he was naked.
And I'm like, "What the?"
And I'm right back out.
I didn't know
anything had happened or whatever
other than I seen him
close the door, naked.
[somber music playing]
So I didn't think nothing of it
until we went to school.
The whole school's talking about
how I lost my virginity to this dude.
And I'm like "Hold on, what?"
Like, I literally had no idea. None.
Vroom! Went right past me.
And I guess he told somebody there,
like, he fucked me.
And I was like, "No, he didn't."
I thought I could trust someone.
I told 'em the story.
It turned into the telephone game.
All these stories went around school.
So I got into several altercations
about that one.
And I'm like, "What the fuck?"
So, yeah.
Fifteen.
[Haley] All that stuff that happened,
it changed me sexually.
I'm not a sexual person.
Like, it makes me cringe sometimes.
It messed up my mental.
I'm always in survival mode.
I gotta tell myself, like, "You're okay."
"Nobody's out to get you."
[melancholy music playing]
[Matt] Welcome back!
Kentucky Sports Radio.
One of the things
we like to talk about is drama.
And, Shannon, there is not bigger drama
than a mother-daughter relationship.
There's the highs. There's the lows.
I don't have kids.
I wouldn't necessarily know about it.
But I know mothers and daughters fight.
But how often do mothers
and daughters step into a wrestling ring
and fight each other
in a first blood match?
That's crazy!
But it's happening
Saturday night at historic Davis Arena.
I don't know why anyone wouldn't show up
to see a mother
and daughter fight each other.
[Al] Find it, gather it,
start looking for it.
- [Haley] Okay, I'll do that.
- Okay. Like that croquet mallet.
- [Haley] I can use this.
- [Al] Yeah.
We need stuff out there.
We're not gonna use everything.
I'll just go around
and find some random shit.
[Maria] Yeah,
you ain't hitting me with that.
What up, bub? I'm looking
for random shit to hit my mother with.
[Deget laughs]
That shit is under the ring.
- Under the ring?
- Yeah.
[Haley] Hello, guys. Oops.
Is there anything in here
I could hit my mother with?
[metal clattering]
[Haley] Hello!
- Shit.
- [Leila] They brought your stuff.
[Haley hums happily]
These are soft. She's gotta cover them.
She's gonna put thumbtacks all over it.
- [woman] You gonna do crafts?
- [Haley] I don't know these matches.
This is her shit.
- [Leila] You guys gonna bleed?
- I'm gonna Yes!
[woman] Gonna gig yourself?
[Haley] No, I don't have to. Hard way.
Hard way? Yikes.
I'm scared to gig myself.
Shit, I'd rather do it the hard way.
My face is already fucked up.
Bruise, bruise, bruise.
- [woman] What do you mean, the hard way?
- Been fucking me up. Hard way?
It means you get hit for real.
It busts you open.
- Gig means you
- [woman] No, yeah, I know gig.
- Blood thinner?
- [Haley] Mom, look at this shit.
- Thirty-five hundred fucking tacks, bro.
- [Maria] Three thousand.
Maybe just one thing?
- Sprinkle them around.
- [Maria] Thing is
- [Leila] She brought the pain.
- [Maria] You have to have a lot.
- Because the ring is so big
- [Haley] Have to?
If you put
if you pour one box out,
it's gonna look like nothing.
- [Haley] If I fall out
- I got you.
[Haley] Tell 'em to turn the lights off.
That's my only thing.
[Maria] If you fall out, I got you.
[sighs anxiously]
I don't fucking know, man.
- I'm leaving the premises. Moved your car?
- [Maria] Yes.
- [Reverend] Don't blaze up till you leave.
- Don't worry. I got me.
And if not, somebody's gonna yell at me.
Other than you.
[Reverend] I am not.
Yeah, I'm frustrated and nervous
about my match, and I gotta smoke.
I'm gonna go to this liquor store.
Let me hit this again.
When I watch deathmatches,
I throw up sometimes.
All the blood and stuff.
But I'm thinking, hopefully,
since it's mine, it won't be as bad.
Yeah, I'm nervous.
I don't wanna bleed. Don't wanna do
the stuff I have to do tonight, but
[woman] Why are you doing it?
[Haley] Uh, you know, 'cause, um
it's good storytelling.
[woman] There's a great fight tonight
with Marie and Haley, mother and daughter.
You know, can't miss it.
It's gonna be fantastic!
Um, I'm gonna cheer for Haley.
[Al] You gotta take your time and sell.
It's not about what you do,
it's what it is that was done
and the injury that it's causing.
If we do it right,
we'll get people crying in this building.
[Haley] I had a lot of anger
towards my mother growing up.
I felt like she wasn't there,
and I was very angry at her,
then turned into this little angry person.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Haley exhales forcefully]
[Doug] Eleven minutes. Eleven.
[indistinct chatter]
[male wrestler protests]
[Haley coughing and vomiting]
[woman] She's been freaking out
about having to do it.
She's like,
"I really don't wanna hit my mother."
I was like, "Think about every time
you got yelled at for no reason."
[water runs and stops]
No, it's okay. Thank you, boo.
When I'm actually okay,
I don't feel like I'm okay.
So I'm still in survival mode,
and I'm gonna pick a fight with you or you
just to be in my natural state.
I am the way I am because of my mother.
[Doug] Eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
[announcer] The following contest is
your main event on Saturday Night Riot,
and it is a hardcore rules match.
[crowd cheering and booing]
[Maria] All of the anger that she has,
I can't hold it against her,
because it's something I did.
Because I was a young mom,
and I went down
the wrong path for a while.
[Bryan] Look at these
weapons of destruction.
She's still angry,
but she's young too. She's just 22.
[Bryan] There's a trash can lid.
All sorts you can do.
[Al] Think about this. She's willing
to do this to her own mother.
do this to her own mother.
I can't even fathom
[Maria] Whether or not
she's gonna forgive me,
that's something that
she's gonna have to deal with
and come to terms with on her own.
[announcer] The Amazing Maria!
[crowd cheering]
[Bryan] We thought
Amazing Maria's in-ring career was over.
[commentator] We did.
- I'm not fighting you!
- [Haley shouting]
- [fan] Maria!
- [commentator] Maria doesn't wanna do it.
[Bryan] I can't even fathom the emotions.
[Maria] I don't know what you want!
I'm not fighting her!
[fan 2] Just do it!
[fans shouting]
[Maria shouts] Understand?
I'm not fighting her!
[commentator]
Someone's gotta put Haley in her place.
It's gonna have to be Maria, whether
she wants to or not. This match is signed.
[Bryan] The bell has rung.
[Haley shouts] Come on! Go for it, Ma!
What's wrong, huh?
Huh?
- Hello? Trying to have a match here.
- [Al] Let it build, girls.
Let it build.
There is no parent
that wants to be put in this position.
[Bryan] No parent would want to do this.
To have to lay hands on your child
[commentator] I don't know what to say.
I don't know
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
- [Al] There we go.
[commentator] Oh my.
- [Bryan] What is there to say, Josh?
- [Josh] The disrespect.
[Bryan] Maria might have had enough here,
shoving her daughter across the ring.
Haley hammering down
on her own mother now.
Hit me!
[Bryan] Oh, Haley taken off her feet.
[Maria] Haley!
I don't care what these people want!
I'm not fighting you!
[Bryan] She doesn't care what people want.
There's some chanting,
"Fight your daughter." Oh!
[crowd shouting]
[Maria yells] I'm not fighting you!
[tense music playing]
[Haley] Why don't you fight me back?!
[Bryan] The disrespect is pouring out
of Haley J right now and onto her mother.
[Haley] Let's get it. Come on. Come on!
[fan shouts] Respect!
[Josh] Just a disgusting show here.
[Bryan] Maria putting her hands
behind her back, refusing to fight.
[Haley] What do I gotta do, huh?
Fine, let's go.
[Bryan] Now choking Maria.
- Is that a piece of cabling?
- [Haley] Let's go!
- All by myself, then!
- [Maria choking]
[tense music continuing]
[indistinct conversation]
[Bryan] Bringing in a table.
Don't think they're having dinner.
[Josh] Me neither.
- [crowd groaning]
- [Bryan] Oh, what what is that?
- [Josh] That's covered in tacks.
- [Bryan] Jesus.
The point is to shed blood.
Her own mother,
who refuses to lift a hand.
Steel chair in the hand of Haley.
You can see, really savoring this moment.
- Fight me!
- [Maria] I'm not fighting you!
- Fight me!
- I'm not fighting you!
Go ahead! Go ahead!
[Al] Don't No head shot.
[crowd shouting]
[shouts] Oh my God!
This isn't right.
[Bryan] No.
[crowd shouting]
[Josh] No.
Haley. Haley! Stop.
Get up, Mother.
[fan shouting raucously]
- [Josh] You've got to be kidding.
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
Shots to the thighs
with those tacks in the Oh my God!
[screaming]
- [man] Stuck in her hair!
- [woman] Look They're in her thigh.
[crowd shouting]
[Maria wailing in pain]
[man] Oh! She hit her in the butt!
[fans chanting] She's amazing!
[fans clapping rhythmically]
[Bryan] Look at the blood
all over the legs of Amazing Maria.
[fans chanting] She's amazing!
[Bryan] Oh! Haley J to the midsection.
- [Maria groans]
- [Haley grunts]
- [Bryan] Oh, boom!
- [Maria yelling]
[Josh] In the back of the head.
[Bryan] Maria just bleeding
from multiple parts of her body, Josh.
Oh, come on.
Yummy, bloody!
[Bryan] This is a disgusting human being.
[Josh] Oh my God.
That's not popcorn! Those are thumbtacks.
- More thumbtacks, Bryan!
- [Bryan] Oh my God!
Maria just attacking Haley J
in the spine with that trash can lid.
[fans chanting] Maria! Maria!
[screams] No!
[Bryan] I can't imagine
what Maria's going through.
The heartbreak. The emotions.
The loss, Josh. The freaking loss.
Oh God!
I just want this to be over.
[Bryan] Every shot is just a reminder
to Maria of what she's lost.
[melancholy music playing]
[Bryan] Now the ring has become
an arena of carnage, and Haley J
[Haley grunts]
[Josh] With a pile of thumbtacks,
trash can lids, and everything else
[Bryan] Maria turns it around!
[crowd shouting]
[Josh] Who got the worst of that one?
That's the real question.
There are no winners
when thumbtacks are involved.
[melancholy music continues]
- [Haley yelling]
- [crowd groaning]
[Bryan] The blood just pouring out
of Maria's head now.
- [music swells]
- [crowd chanting and cheering]
[fans clapping rhythmically]
[Maria] This is what you want?
[crowd groaning]
[wrestlers groaning]
[Josh] Double clothesline. Both women
go down right into the pile of thumbtacks.
[music swells]
[fans chanting] Holy shit! Holy shit!
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!
[Josh] In 12 years, over 700-plus shows,
I have never, ever, in my career
here in OVW seen anything like this.
Maria trying to get to her feet.
[crowd shouting]
[Bryan] Maria driven through the table
by her own freaking daughter.
[Al] Count!
[crowd chanting and shouting]
- [Bryan] That's it!
- [Josh] Thank God. Thank God.
[crowd chanting] Maria! Maria!
[announcer] Here is your winner,
HollyHood Haley J!
[melancholy music continues]
[Maria whimpering]
[fans shouting]
[Bryan] Maria and HollyHood Haley J
had to fight through hell
to find each other again.
[applause]
[fans chanting] Thank you both!
Thank you both! Thank you
[Josh] We're not ending on a riot.
We're ending on another r-word,
one worth much more. Redemption.
[music drowns out speech]
[fan whistles in support]
[Haley] Her going to jail
and me going through all that shit,
I tried to push that on her
for the longest time.
- [woman] Yes!
- [woman 2] Yeah!
[wrestlers clapping]
[announcer] Thank you
for coming to Saturday Night Riot!
[Haley] I had my baby.
With me being a single parent
and with me struggling,
I realized that she was doing
the best that she could do.
It's hard. Shit, even living on your own
without a kid, it's hard.
[groans]
I didn't lose my anger until I was
over 30 years old, you know what I mean?
It was a process. And I feel like
she's going through that process now.
She has found something in wrestling
that she's really good at.
She's fucking really good at it.
Like, really good at it. And she's only
three years in the business.
[man] A fan caught it with their body.
Instead of being upset,
they want an autograph.
- I'm shaking.
- [man] Honey, that was a hell of a match.
- [Haley] I appreciate that.
- Yes, ma'am.
Ouch.
[Maria] I want my daughter to succeed,
because I didn't.
Anything I can do to help her on her path
and keep her going upward,
I'm all about it.
He's a good boy.
You a good boy?
This is her dream, and I'm living it.
I think that she finds joy
in seeing me do well.
This is the locker room therapy dog.
He's like, "Bitch, you need some love.
Just let me love you."
"Let me love you."
Is that what
you're trying to tell me? Huh?
Get out of here! Get out of here.
[sentimental music playing]
[Haley] I'm trying to change things up now
because I handled things like my mother.
And we're two different people, you know.
She did what she did in wrestling.
I'm gonna do what I'm doing in wrestling.
I don't wanna be stuck in my ways.
I wanna change and grow.
I try to do different.
[woman] Fell on thumbtacks
and realized she fucking regretted it.