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00:00In my opinion is, Chunkyard Dog was the most prominent black wrestler to ever lace a pair
00:19of boots.
00:20Overcoming incredible odds, a young black wrestler rose from humble beginnings to become
00:25a generational superstar, achieving unimaginable heights in a sport dominated by white performers.
00:32Yes, he did.
00:33He paved the way for all of us.
00:35You feel you're going to be wearing the crown?
00:36Just as sure as I'm black in a day's sun to me, J.
00:40His charisma and, you know, his personality is what got him to where he was because he
00:44was a fan favorite no matter how you looked at it.
00:46JYD was on top, selling it out.
00:48I mean, it was incredible.
00:50If you guys could just hear the crowd, they'd just love it.
00:53And couldn't nobody stop it.
00:54He's invincible.
00:55It ain't nothing else I like to do it no better.
00:58And that's fire.
00:59I've seen the stars for him because at that time there were no black superstars.
01:04Bill Watts, he saw dollars.
01:06I saw his charisma.
01:07I named him, gave him his music and did everything and he was so dynamite.
01:11The unlikely friendship between promoter cowboy Bill Watts and the Junkyard Dog was tested
01:17when the Dog defects to the WWF.
01:20I think Dog went because there was a better opportunity.
01:23You know, there's more money and then he was going to be a big star there.
01:26But JYD's dreams of achieving superstar status in the big leagues fell short.
01:32Vince McMahon didn't use him like Bill did.
01:35I wish he had because he could have been one of the biggest stars in the WWE.
01:39Yeah, broken spirit because he went there to be that big hero again and he didn't get it.
01:46How can Vince McMahon put everything on JYD?
01:50Because you don't know if he's going to show up or not.
01:52You're not dependable.
01:53Untrustworthy.
01:54Dog forgot one thing.
01:56You can't do what the white man do and keep your job.
02:11When you're trying to become a star and on your way to stardom, you can fail at a lot of things.
02:17But to be successful as a wrestler, you have to put the time in.
02:20You have to become known by the fans.
02:23You have to be able to sell your product.
02:25You have to be able to have some dialogue.
02:27When Junkyard Dog came to Mid-South, he had dialogue.
02:31He had style.
02:32He had physical attributes.
02:34And these things turn into box office.
02:37These things turn into money.
02:39Sylvester Ritter was probably the greatest star to come through the state of Louisiana
02:44that they ever had in terms of wrestling.
02:47He represents the people.
02:49They all love him.
02:51Dog had a great following.
02:52He was universally loved.
02:54The gleam in his eyes, the little smile that he had was infectious.
02:59Man, he just got over it.
03:01The people in Louisiana loved him.
03:03He'd get to the ring and he'd grab that top rope and lean back and shake his legs and his butt.
03:10And the people would just go wild.
03:11I'm lacing up the boots and the whole building's going,
03:13Who that?
03:14Who that?
03:15Who that going to beat the Dog?
03:17Who that?
03:18Boom, boom, boom.
03:19Who that?
03:20I'm lacing up my boots going, Holy smokes.
03:23More than just a wrestler, Junkyard Dog is a hero to the working class,
03:27a beloved figure in the city of New Orleans who became a superstar to fans across the Southeast,
03:33transcending the sport to become an icon.
03:37A Junkyard Dog, brother.
03:38Nobody messes with a damn Junkyard Dog.
03:41I'm Jake the Snake Roberts, Hall of Famer, and I can still kick your butt.
03:45Mid-South, I am tired of you ripping me off and playing your stinking games with me.
03:52New Orleans was his town, man.
03:54My God, if you were wrestling him, brother, you were scared to death
03:58because you didn't know if you were going to make it out of that ring and back to the dressing room.
04:02Police usually had to carry the guys out that wrestled Dog
04:05because if you parked your car in that parking lot, they would destroy it.
04:10Who that going to beat that Dog?
04:12Nobody.
04:13That's who.
04:14Before becoming one of the most popular wrestlers the South had ever seen,
04:18the Junkyard Dog was a rookie named Big Daddy Ritter
04:22searching for his big break in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
04:26Well, Dog tried to get into wrestling several times.
04:28They're all short-term deals.
04:30He wasn't on everybody's must-wanted list because then, A, he was black,
04:34and a lot of the white promoters, they're all white,
04:37had a quota, seemingly, unwritten, unstated, but it was there.
04:41And so if he didn't fit their quota, they already had a black baby face.
04:45I ain't going to hire another one.
04:47It's sad to say. It's coarse. It's hurtful.
04:49I am Jim Ross.
04:51I've been in wrestling since 1974,
04:54and along the way, I got to meet the Junkyard Dog and become friends.
04:57It's great to have you back, Junkyard Dog.
04:59From JYD, when I first met him, it seemed like he was always smiling.
05:03And his skill set was limited.
05:05But my God, the charisma and the love that he created for the fan base.
05:09Well, you can't coach charisma.
05:11You either got it or you don't.
05:13Despite Ritter's charisma and size,
05:16only Bill Watts, the owner and promoter of Mid-South Wrestling,
05:20decides to take a chance on the young brawler.
05:23Cowboy was bigger than life.
05:25He was a disciplinarian. He was kind of like the head coach.
05:28You know, I never met Vince Lombardi, the famed football coach,
05:31the Packers, that won multiple Super Bowls.
05:33But some of my older peers said that Watts was Vince Lombardi-like.
05:38My way or the highway, here are the rules.
05:40There are not many of them.
05:42I expect you to adhere to them, and there's no negotiation.
05:46Bill Watts gave him the biggest break for a black man.
05:51Let me turn this off.
05:55Hey, this is the Birdman Coco B. Ware.
05:58Man, you know me flying all over the place in the wrestling business.
06:01The Birdman Coco B. Ware.
06:06I mean, wrestling is a white man's sport.
06:09J.Y.D., he wasn't a wrestler at all.
06:12He couldn't put you in a leg lock or a chicken wing.
06:14He don't know nothing about all that.
06:16He was a street fighter.
06:17Bill Watts gave him a chance to draw some money.
06:21And you know what? He bust Louisiana wide open.
06:24Mid-South sports was based on realism.
06:27So, athleticism, realism, making it more easy to suspend your disbelief
06:32of the art form that is pro wrestling.
06:35Watts had a rule.
06:36If you go to a bar, or you get in any kind of scuffle,
06:39and you get your ass whipped, you're fired.
06:42The booker for Cowboy Bill Watts is Ernie Ladd.
06:46Ernie Ladd was a philosopher.
06:48He was 6'9 and 300 pounds.
06:50So, Ernie was always looking for talent.
06:52Somebody along the way told Ernie,
06:54Hey, there's this black guy, big, muscular powerhouse,
06:57the kind of guy you'd like, Ernie, that you ought to take a look at.
07:00So, Ernie brought Dog in, and he had a rough start
07:03because Cowboy didn't know that Dog was not a great technical wrestler.
07:08He brought that big, fine, black specimen of a body down that aisle.
07:13Some young gals started screaming and hollering,
07:16and we would excite the crowd.
07:18He was so statuesque, and he looked great.
07:20Turn your head, you wouldn't forget him.
07:22Dog just clicked with the rest of the fan,
07:24so he knew how to connect with the audience.
07:27This is Mr. USA, WWE Hall of Famer, Tony Atlas.
07:33So, all you boys in the Mid-South, get ready for yourself
07:37because I got trouble here, and I got trouble there,
07:40and I got trouble coming your way.
07:42To the Mid-South, we gonna boogie, baby!
07:45So, I have to give credit for this to Cowboy Bill Watts.
07:48Bill Watts came up with ideas.
07:50Dog was a hell of a football player.
07:52He was a hell of a street fighter. He was a brawler.
07:55So, what Bill Watts did was create matches that fit Dog's style.
08:00Bill wanted Dog to do a few things really well.
08:04Clotheslines, thumbs, body slams, tackles.
08:07And so, those things, based on his football background,
08:10those things could be translated very easily into pro wrestling.
08:13Oh, power slam!
08:15To boost Junkyard Dog's star power,
08:18Bill Watts and Ernie Ladd know they need to find
08:20the perfect villain for JYD to face in the ring.
08:24Wait a minute! What's he doing?
08:26There's nothing that he couldn't do in the ring,
08:29you know, if he was in the ring with the right guy.
08:32I am Ted DiBiase. Towards the end of my career,
08:34I was known in the WWE as the Million Dollar Man.
08:37Ted DiBiase!
08:41One, two, three!
08:44One, two, three. Al Padilla raises a hand.
08:46He put something in that glove!
08:48And the thing that I did was I always highlighted
08:53in the ring what he did best.
08:56I mean, Bill Watts coached me. The Funks coached me.
08:59They would say, Teddy, you got to basically put him
09:02in the middle of the ring and work around him
09:04and emphasize or highlight the things that you know
09:07he does very well and stay away from the things
09:10that he doesn't do so well.
09:12He had enough trust in me to know that, you know,
09:15I wasn't going to make him look bad out there.
09:18I was always going to make him look good.
09:20A dog just thumped him, and there's the count!
09:23Well, you talk about an action-packed duo, they are.
09:26We became friends. We traveled together a lot,
09:29and so much so that when we got married,
09:31JYD was my best man. That's how close we were.
09:35Put that change around his neck, put that music on,
09:38another one bite the dust, and he came back in
09:41with a thump. The rest of it is history.
09:44There he goes with that big thump.
09:46He just put him about six feet under.
09:48Bill Watts is the first wrestling owner, promoter,
09:52who ever featured as one of his very top stars,
09:57a black guy.
09:58This last year has kind of been the year of the dog.
10:00I don't know if it's the Chinese year of the dog or not,
10:03but in Mid-South wrestling, it was the year of the dog.
10:05Bill Watts took JYD and made him the star.
10:09When you get awards like this, it's because
10:11you're doing so many good things.
10:14They had a very, very close relationship.
10:17Anything that Dog needed or wanted or disliked,
10:20he would never talk to the wrestlers about it.
10:23He would only talk to Bill Watts.
10:26I don't think anyone in the business did more
10:30for an individual than Bill Watts.
10:33As he looked at mentoring and helping Dog,
10:36Bill looked at him like he was family.
10:38You always go out and give 100% for the people
10:40and for yourself.
10:41A lot of people were astounded that Cowboy
10:44was so friendly with a black person.
10:46And Cowboy said, I want you to know one thing.
10:48He said, my favorite color is green.
10:51And at that time, JYD was selling tickets, lots of them.
10:55Junkyard Dog's captivating presence draws capacity crowds
10:59night after night, inspiring his fans to stop at nothing
11:02to defend their hero.
11:04The fans not only looked up to him, they worshipped him.
11:07I'm Jim Cornette.
11:09I've been involved in a variety of ways in professional
11:11wrestling over the last 40-something years.
11:13Because that's all you are is a yellow dog-faced liar.
11:17You know what he just did?
11:18He just wrote a check that his ring won't be able to stop.
11:21Yeah.
11:22Wait.
11:24Wait.
11:26The downtown municipal auditorium was the Dog's house
11:29every Monday night.
11:31And the Freebirds come in, and they want to take over.
11:35The Freebirds had hair cream that could remove your hair.
11:39And they said they were going to use it to take the hair away
11:42from one of their opponents.
11:43But when Junkyard Dog came in and tried to do something
11:46about it, accidentally, according to the Freebirds,
11:51the cream wound up in his eyes.
11:54This is supposed to be a solution to remove hair.
11:56The agony he's in.
11:58My God, that moment right there.
12:00F***.
12:02Freebirds were dead men.
12:04When the word got out that J.Y.D. had been blinded
12:07by the Freebirds, and then when J.Y.D. went on television
12:11and said, my daughter, my baby daughter is about to be born,
12:14and I'll be able to hold her, but I'll never be able to see her,
12:18the people wanted to kill the Freebirds.
12:22Literally.
12:23As the highly anticipated dog-collar match with J.Y.D.
12:26against Freebird Michael Hayes approaches,
12:29Dog plays his part at ringside, until one fateful night
12:33when the line between fiction and reality really blurs.
12:37J.Y.D. himself told me this story.
12:40Others have disputed it, but it sounds very typical
12:43of New Orleans and the wrestling scene at that time.
12:46They're in the downtown municipal auditorium,
12:49and Dog is sitting at ringside.
12:51He's blind, but he's in the corner.
12:53The Freebirds look around, and they see Dog sitting
12:56in the corner, and all of a sudden, some guy comes over
12:59the railing and is right there at Dog's shoulder,
13:02and the guy pulls out the biggest gun he's ever seen
13:05and says, Don't worry, Dog, I got him.
13:08And for two seconds, Dog is conflicted.
13:11Do I grab this guy's gun and save their lives,
13:15but expose that I can see,
13:18or do I sit here and let him shoot him?
13:22And while he was conflicted, the cops came over the rail
13:25and grabbed the guy and took him down.
13:27In our little world down there in the Mid-South,
13:30we became bigger than life.
13:32Sometimes you wonder when success comes somebody's way,
13:35is it truly a blessing or a curse?
13:44J.Y.D., J.Y.D.
13:46He transcends race, color, and creed.
13:49He's everybody's champion.
13:52Under the guidance of legendary promoter Bill Watts,
13:55the Junkyard Dog has emerged as a main event superstar
13:58in Mid-South, drawing record-breaking crowds for the company.
14:02He was the black Hulk Hogan down there.
14:05Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
14:08I mean, he had all those towns just sewed up.
14:10Let me tell you something, buzzer, buzzer,
14:12it ain't but one dog.
14:14Well, there weren't many black wrestling stars
14:16when I broke into business.
14:18I'm WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long.
14:20You will go one-on-one with The Undertaker!
14:24Ho, ho, ho!
14:26He had that control, he had that charisma,
14:28so he brought the blacks out,
14:30and also he brought the whites out.
14:32There were whites that loved J.Y.D., too.
14:34So Bill Watts knew that was money, okay?
14:36So that's why he pushed dogs.
14:38Oh, the crowd says, who that? Who that?
14:40Who that? Who that?
14:42Who that's gonna beat that Junkyard Dog?
14:44Who that?
14:46You know, in Mid-South, we stop at a restaurant,
14:48we stop at a gas station,
14:50people recognize us where we went.
14:52We get a lot of letters at Mid-South
14:54that the dog and the different stars
14:56can drop by and visit them.
14:58I know we got a nice letter from a kindergarten teacher
15:00in LeCompte.
15:02Well, the Junkyard Dog found time,
15:04and when word got out in that town,
15:06they had Junkyard Dog Day,
15:08and I'll tell you, it was great.
15:10After he got his, he wanted to reach back
15:12and help others.
15:14He got more pleasure out of helping you.
15:16Talk to the kids, give them money.
15:18Very generous, not just with his money,
15:20but with his time.
15:22They get very well known, and they forget about
15:24the way that they grew up, and a lot of times,
15:26I like to go back to school and visit.
15:28Long before the bright lights and roaring crowds,
15:30Sylvester Ritter, the man behind
15:32the Junkyard Dog, grew up in
15:34a small North Carolina town.
15:36What a lot of people don't understand or don't know
15:38about it is, it's a true Rags to Riches
15:40story for him. My name's Jarvis Woodburn.
15:42I'm the nephew of the Junkyard Dog.
15:44I called him Uncle Dog. That's what he was to me.
15:48This was the, God, this is the
15:50old, old one, I believe.
15:52Yeah. He grew up without a dad.
15:54My great-grandmother, which is his
15:56grandmother's the one that raised him and my mom.
15:58True Southern upbringing.
16:00Family first. Treat all people equally.
16:02And that's just the kind of person that he was.
16:04This is the home where
16:06Sylvester grew up.
16:08Him and my mom.
16:10My grandmother. Great-grandmother.
16:12Great-great-grandmother.
16:14It was old school.
16:16Wake up in the middle of the night. Gotta go to the bathroom.
16:18You gotta do a number one, you're going in a bucket.
16:20You gotta do a number two, either you hold it
16:22or you come outside and use an outhouse.
16:24There we go.
16:26There's the source of heat right there.
16:30And this was kind of like the
16:32living room area.
16:34This was a bedroom here.
16:36So it was very cramped.
16:38I mean, when I
16:40I remember when I was growing up, there was
16:42actually two beds in here.
16:44There's that wall
16:46with all of the
16:48photos and stuff.
16:50There's actually a
16:52real, real young picture of him over there.
16:54If these walls could talk.
16:56But I grew up just like
16:58everybody else with nothing.
17:00I grew up hard, back down in
17:02South North Carolina.
17:04But I fought, and I'm still fighting, trying to
17:06bail on myself.
17:08I saw him one time to give
17:10fans. He took the dog
17:12chain off his neck and
17:14gave it to a kid with a family there.
17:16And they just loved it.
17:18He still stayed humble.
17:20You know, he wasn't a guy that you
17:22couldn't talk to. Dog never changed.
17:24He never changed. He was the same guy
17:26each and every day.
17:28Though fame didn't change the junkyard
17:30dog, life on the road and
17:32the days and weeks away from home
17:34begin to take their toll.
17:36We would always try to come home around, especially
17:38the holidays when my mom cooks.
17:40But then after that, it's just kind of like just hanging out
17:42with the family for as long as they can before they gotta
17:44get back on the road.
17:46He had a daughter, Latoya.
17:48His daughter was with us since she was
17:502 going on 3 years old. He loved her to death.
17:52She loved him. She was definitely a daddy's girl.
17:54He was a great father. He was just
17:56on the road all the time.
17:58Being on the road all the time is
18:00well, I mean,
18:02it can take a toll.
18:04It taxes on your body. It taxes on
18:06your mind. It taxes mostly
18:08on your relationships
18:10with your children, with your wife,
18:12with your family.
18:14You know, an average week was
18:161,500, 2,000 miles a week.
18:18So you're in a car a lot, and you're away
18:20from your family a lot. And sometimes
18:22a big ol' fat joint was your
18:24solace. Of course,
18:26for a dog, it just created more of an appetite.
18:28We both
18:30were experimenting with drugs at the
18:32time. I remember
18:34J.Y. showing me a jar that he had
18:36over 1,000 hits of speed
18:38You know, and
18:40of course, when he came south, it came
18:42with him. Yeah.
18:44He was already into the speed
18:46and into the downers and sleeping
18:48pills. I hadn't gotten into that
18:50yet, but
18:52I was soon to start.
18:54There was a couple times on the road
18:56with him, he would always keep his pinky
18:58nail a little bit longer.
19:00You know, I'd look over, and I'd see him,
19:02and he was just about to do it, and he looked over at me
19:04and he goes, if I ever see you doing this,
19:06I'll kill you. All right.
19:08He'd tell me twice.
19:10Kind of like
19:12rock and roll. I mean,
19:14I didn't know wrestlers
19:16had groupies.
19:18Found that out. It's kind of like you see
19:20on TV with these rock stars and stuff.
19:22It was just like anywhere they went.
19:24Restaurants, bars.
19:26When you got fame like this, he said,
19:28you can actually make money. I said, what are you talking about?
19:30He said, I'm not going to sleep
19:32with them for free.
19:34Some of these chickens would pay.
19:36So I started hanging out with Doll
19:38because I got free beer, free
19:40food, and got laid.
19:42Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
19:44Ha, ha, ha, ha.
19:46And they paid for it.
19:48We was in Little Rock, Arkansas.
19:50And I was low on money
19:52because at that time, unfortunately, I was
19:54involved with drugs, and
19:56Doll said, I'll get you some money. I said, okay.
19:58I got some girls coming. I said, thank you.
20:01The door opened,
20:03and these three girls came in.
20:05And each one of them gave Doll
20:07$100 apiece
20:09to get laid by the wrestlers.
20:11So anyway, Doll said,
20:13he don't do no screwing.
20:15He like your feet. He's going to play with your feet.
20:17You like to play with your feet. I said, I'm playing with
20:19the girls' feet. Doll getting ready to do
20:21the girl, and then we hear another knock at the door.
20:24He thought it was one of the wrestlers.
20:26It was the girl's husband.
20:28You know, he wanted to fight Doll, so
20:30he did. It didn't last long.
20:32Doll beat the hell out of him.
20:34The girl stayed.
20:38Doll was one of the highest paid guys
20:40in pro wrestling at that time.
20:42He never made under a grand a week.
20:44I think he probably averaged more than like
20:46$2,000 or $3,000 a week, and in a territory
20:48that size, that was pretty extraordinary.
20:50Bill, he did nice things
20:52for him, including a car.
20:54And when he pulled up to an arena, he got noticed
20:56in a positive way.
20:58As one of the biggest draws in the territory,
21:00the Junkyard Dog catches the eye
21:02of WWF promoter Vince McMahon.
21:04In the summer of 1984,
21:06McMahon makes JYD
21:08an offer that's more than
21:10double what he's paid under Bill Watts.
21:12Vince McMahon was starting the national
21:14expansion that he started
21:16in 1984, and Vince was trying
21:18to suck up all the talent.
21:20Unfortunately, the thing
21:22happened that I never believed would happen,
21:24and that was Doll walked out.
21:26He walked out on his
21:28professional savior,
21:30and he went to WWF for the cash.
21:32How does Bill Watts
21:34feel when JYD leaves?
21:36Oh, phew.
21:38Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
21:40Oh, I'd love
21:42to have seen him when he got that phone call.
21:50A lucrative offer
21:52from the WWF proves too
21:54strong for the Junkyard Dog to resist.
21:56As he suddenly departs Mid-South,
21:58sending shockwaves through
22:00the territory and leaving promoter
22:02Bill Watts stunned.
22:04The big topic of conversation is the Junkyard Dog
22:06and what's happened to him, and we don't
22:08really know. We do know that he's left the Mid-South
22:10area. When Doll left
22:12Mid-South, it broke Watts' heart
22:14because he had never been as kind
22:16and as giving
22:18to anybody in his career.
22:20Bill went on television,
22:22had a little verbal tirade, directed
22:24at Doll. I want to comment one minute
22:26on the Junkyard Dog, because I watched him
22:28come to Mid-South as a youngster,
22:30and a lot of people watched him grow
22:32to become truly a superstar.
22:34But then JYD walked out,
22:36not only on Mid-South, which really hurt me
22:38personally because I considered him a great friend,
22:40he walked out on all the fans.
22:42I mean,
22:44to see a white man cry
22:46over a black man back in the day,
22:48I saw tears
22:50come out of Bill Watts' eyes.
22:52It just hurt him bad because Bill Watts did
22:54everything he could
22:56to keep him there, and it just looked like
22:58overnight, he was gone.
23:00But in the aftermath
23:02of his departure, rumors
23:04circulate that his sudden exit
23:06from the company is motivated by
23:08factors beyond money.
23:10Dog told me this story, the way he went to the
23:12WWF. Dog was in
23:14the bathroom, and he was in the stall.
23:16Bill Watts and Grizzly Smith, they came
23:18in the bathroom, and they didn't know
23:20Dog was in the stall.
23:22Grizzly Smith went to tell Bill Watts, he says,
23:24well, I think we're going to lose Sylvester.
23:26I hear he's going to the WWF,
23:28he's going to New York. The next thing Bill Watts
23:30said to Grizzly Smith, he said, ah, don't worry
23:32about it, that nigger ain't going nowhere.
23:34Dog heard that.
23:38And so that's
23:40when he made up his mind to leave and go to
23:42Benson.
23:46After the junkyard Dog
23:48leaves Mid-South in the summer of
23:501984, Bill Watts begins
23:52a search for his replacement.
23:54Brother, it scared him
23:56to death that his territory
23:58was going to just collapse.
24:00So desperate
24:02that immediately, he tried to
24:04slide in another black superstar.
24:06Bill made, I think, a
24:08mistake, in the sense that
24:10we started trying out every
24:12African-American resident,
24:14trying out every African-American wrestler
24:16that we could bring in.
24:18George Wells. You can't run this dog out.
24:20I'm here to stay, and I'm here to whip a
24:22whole lot of behind. Brickhouse
24:24Brown. Brickhouse
24:26Brown!
24:28And Brickhouse is styling, Joe.
24:30He brought another guy in, called him
24:32the Snowman. I had the pleasure of
24:34wrestling him. Jake the Snake,
24:36he tried to take me out. These thunder cookers,
24:38he can't do nothing with it.
24:40Did not work. I want to suck
24:42right down here in the middle of this ring right now!
24:44Butch Reed was a very good wrestler,
24:46but he wasn't a dog. He was a
24:48bodybuilder. He was too pretty,
24:50not that big, bad son-of-a-bitch
24:52that people could identify with.
24:54And on and on.
24:56So no replacement for you?
24:58No, none. Forget about it.
25:00They were good guys. They tried,
25:02but replacing a legend?
25:04That's like hiring the next cowboy
25:06to replace John Wayne. How the hell are you
25:08going to do that?
25:10Fans of the WWF welcome
25:12J.Y.D. with open arms
25:14and thunderous applause.
25:16This place has gone bananas!
25:18And he certainly has his legions of fans here
25:20by the thousands. And these fans
25:22are with him all the way.
25:24He is perfect.
25:26McMahon did a phenomenal job of marketing J.Y.D.
25:28when he hired him. I will give him that.
25:30You have become one of the most popular athletes
25:32in the World Wrestling Federation, perhaps
25:34in the most shortest length of time
25:36of anyone ever to enter the ring.
25:38I've been very fortunate, a lot of it
25:40comes from just understanding the people
25:42and getting along with people and making no difference
25:44what race or color they is.
25:46Financially, it was the best move Dog ever made.
25:48He told me one time he was making
25:50six figures a quarter
25:52on his action figure.
25:54That's the third time my junkyard's been burgled this month.
25:56There's only one way to protect this place, amigo.
25:58You've got to get yourself a junkyard dog.
26:00I thought that was cool,
26:02seeing the cartoons on Saturday mornings,
26:04his action figure, the music video, all that stuff.
26:06That was pretty cool as a kid to see.
26:08What was his tune on the album?
26:10Grab Them Cakes.
26:12He couldn't sing for shit.
26:26His dreams were all being fulfilled.
26:28He was making money.
26:30He was doing it, man.
26:32He was doing it.
26:34The junkyard dog and world's heavyweight champion,
26:36Hulk Hogan.
26:38Longevity-wise,
26:40it's hard to stick around.
26:42Extremely competitive business.
26:44Everybody wants Hogan's spot, the spot below that.
26:46A lot of hungry guys.
26:48Hard to stick around.
26:50As the junkyard dog joins
26:52a WWF roster
26:54packed with some of the biggest names in wrestling,
26:56his magnetic presence
26:58can only carry him so far.
27:00Despite his best efforts,
27:02he fails to recapture the towering heights
27:04of his glory days in Mid-South.
27:06I don't think
27:08the industry was ready to go that route.
27:12How can I say it?
27:14With a
27:16black wrestler.
27:18That's just my opinion.
27:20I really believe that JYD
27:22thought that Vince McMahon
27:24was going to push him the same way
27:26as Bill Watts,
27:28and it didn't happen.
27:30I didn't let Louisiana down.
27:32I didn't let my family down.
27:34I didn't let Bill Watts down.
27:36He was just heartbreaking.
27:44Having left the Mid-South
27:46territory behind for the promise
27:48of even greater fame,
27:50the junkyard dog fails to reach
27:52the same level of prominence in the WWF.
27:54Me and Dog want to be
27:56climbing the mountain top.
27:58We want to go to the promised land.
28:00We want to be with Hunk Hogan, brother.
28:02They push some black wrestlers there,
28:04but as far as putting a black man
28:06in the money spot, no.
28:08Not at all.
28:10They didn't go there.
28:12So I gotta put this black and white thing
28:14together all the time,
28:16because that's the only way I see it.
28:18From 1980 to
28:20I would say 86,
28:2280% of the top wrestlers
28:24were minorities in the Vince Sr. area.
28:26Vince McMahon, senior figure,
28:28that you have to have a person
28:30that represents every nationality
28:32of people, and that was his idea.
28:34Pedro Morales, Bruno Sammartino,
28:36Rocky Johnson,
28:38the Wild Samoan,
28:40Mr. Fuji, Bob Backlund,
28:42and that whole list,
28:44I mean, how many white people?
28:46One.
28:50When Vince Jr. took over,
28:52when there wasn't many minorities
28:54on top, he came with
28:56the Hunk Hogan, Ronnie Piper,
28:58Bret Hart.
29:00He had a pecking order
29:02for Dawn. He needed
29:04a black wrestler, but he had to push
29:06the Caucasian wrestler. It's not racism.
29:08It was a business decision.
29:10He wanted to get the white fans
29:12to come more.
29:14Vince McMahon didn't
29:16use him like
29:18Bill did. I wish he had,
29:20because if he'd have opened that door,
29:22I think he could have been one of the biggest stars
29:24in the WWE.
29:26Do I think it affected him? Absolutely.
29:28And I think that was when
29:30the drugs got really bad.
29:34Dawg started off with pot,
29:36and that led to cocaine.
29:38He just smoked it.
29:40Y'all call it crack now.
29:42Once he got into the coke,
29:44the coke took him.
29:46He had to have it every day.
29:48J.Y., he didn't care where he was at.
29:50He'd just pull it out and do it
29:52on airplanes and everything, man.
29:54He got me in trouble
29:56one time. They were doing a TNT
29:58thing that Vince used to do.
30:00He said, I want you to make sure he get there.
30:02They got a Learjet for him,
30:04a nice jet. So when Dawg
30:06landed, they got the guy with the limousine
30:08to pick us up at the airport.
30:10Dawg said the limousine's got to go in the ghettos
30:12to get some dope.
30:14So they driving around.
30:16Dawg, we got to get to the building, Dawg.
30:18Finally, he found somebody selling his dope.
30:20The limousine driver
30:22had no idea what was going on.
30:24So Dawg asked, is it okay I smoke?
30:26Then we got, he thought me
30:28a cigarette. Dawg said, yeah.
30:30He take out his crack pipe
30:32and started smoking crack.
30:34The limousine driver was like,
30:36he don't know what the hell to do.
30:40We finally get Dawg there,
30:42but we late, which means I
30:44missed my match. Dawg forgot
30:46one thing that Thunderbolt Palazzo
30:48tried to teach all of us black wrestlers.
30:50Thunderbolt used to always say,
30:52you can't do what the white man
30:54do and keep your
30:56job.
30:58By the late 1980s,
31:00the Junkyard Dawg is consumed by a
31:02devastating drug addiction,
31:04and its consequences are felt far
31:06beyond the squared circle.
31:08He didn't look good. He would talk,
31:10but he wasn't that cheerful
31:12Dawg that we knew.
31:14He just wasn't the same person.
31:16He didn't care what happened.
31:18He didn't care at all.
31:20I mean, he just...
31:22Oh my God, yeah, he was out of control.
31:24I remember him
31:26sitting there in
31:28Madison Square Garden
31:30and loading a pipe up
31:32and hitting it right in front of everybody.
31:34I tell you what, what are you doing, man?
31:36He goes, they don't even know
31:38what it is.
31:40He was just
31:42burnt.
31:56Of course, he had a drug problem.
31:58Everybody was taking drugs back then.
32:00I can't throw no stones. A to Z.
32:02I just never had that addictive
32:04type personality. But Dawg, he struggled
32:06with that. He sank into it.
32:08It was more and more and
32:10you know, there was no
32:12talking him out of it.
32:14Why is he let go from the WWF?
32:16No shows. The way I understood it.
32:18Vince didn't care what you did
32:20because the drugs helped you to go, go, go.
32:22But you miss shows, you
32:24scare me to do that.
32:26I didn't have no idea that he was leaving
32:28or anything like that. And that's the way the wrestling business
32:30it was like that. They didn't give you
32:32two weeks notice to tell you, hey, leave.
32:34A guy can't go buy groceries.
32:36He don't have any money.
32:38And you have a senior family.
32:40It's disheartening.
32:42He definitely had a great
32:44soul. If
32:46JYD's story isn't a cautionary tale,
32:48then people aren't paying attention.
32:58Fired from the WWF and struggling
33:00to make ends meet, JYD
33:02turns to the independent circuit.
33:04Performing in small high school
33:06gyms for diminishing crowds.
33:10After hitting rock bottom, JYD's
33:12fortunes change with an offer to join
33:14World Championship Wrestling
33:16where his old friend and mentor
33:18Bill Watts is now in charge.
33:20And Bill Watts came in and he knew that
33:22he could make his mark if he recaptured that black
33:24superstar.
33:26He was a likeable as hell. Everybody there was happy
33:28to try to resurrect him
33:30shall we say. I knew that his days
33:32of working on top were over. He didn't
33:34know that. It didn't seem like he wanted to admit it, but
33:36you ain't the same guy.
33:38And you look bloated.
33:40You're not JYD right now.
33:42And at some point
33:44you hold out hope to somebody that you love
33:46and respect. Well, they'll see the light.
33:48But let me tell you something.
33:50As my daddy would say, they gotta take care of their share of the
33:52water.
33:54I get mad when I pull up stories
33:56about the first thing people say, drugs this,
33:58drugs that. You got a
34:00guy that came from nothing.
34:02They pulled him out of that environment.
34:04Give him all this money. Not making excuses,
34:06but yeah, he did drugs.
34:08Will be.
34:10I mean, everybody got demons.
34:12I'm pretty sure the last time I seen him
34:14was like 1995
34:16and I came in and he was just mumbling.
34:20And that was about it, man.
34:22And I went back to where he was sitting
34:24and they said, he's in the ring. I went out to
34:26watch. They were ringing the bell. It was over.
34:28It lasted about two minutes.
34:30That's all he gave me.
34:32He came back, grabbed his money and walked out the door.
34:36Didn't say bye. Didn't say hi.
34:38Didn't say nothing.
34:40And I know exactly where he was at.
34:42He was wanting to get outside so he could get high again.
34:44I've been there.
34:46I've been there.
34:48If he had his drug fix, he was perfectly happy
34:50to go into isolation until he needed the money
34:52and he'd work a show
34:54for some independent promoter for the cash.
34:56You see, the pain
34:58that you get from the cocaine
35:00is because you look in the mirror
35:02every now and then, a moment of clarity
35:04and you'll look at yourself and you'll see
35:06just how far down you've gone.
35:08That's painful.
35:10And it's also shameful.
35:12And those two things, man,
35:14will kill you.
35:16In just over a decade,
35:18JYD goes from
35:20headlining the Superdome
35:22to working a part-time job
35:24at a local Walmart.
35:26Dog is used to being treated
35:28a certain way for a long period of time.
35:30From his football career
35:32to his wrestling career.
35:34And then all of a sudden, all that is taken away from him.
35:36He had to get used to being treated
35:38like shit, pretty much.
35:40When I hit that spot,
35:42I tried to commit suicide.
35:44I was homeless for a year and a half.
35:46I slept in the park.
35:48Didn't shower or bathe or brush my teeth
35:50or comb my hair for a year and a half.
35:52So Dog was going through the same thing.
35:54He didn't save his money.
35:56Dog was very careless with money.
35:58He was making $8,000, $10,000 a week.
36:00It just came so easy to him.
36:02And all of us felt the same way,
36:04not just Dog, that it would never end.
36:06We figured this would never end.
36:08That we're always
36:10going to be making money.
36:12We're always going to be big stars.
36:14This would never end.
36:16So the phone rings one day
36:18and I get a call from JYD.
36:20I haven't talked to him in quite a while.
36:22He knows by now that
36:24I've had this change in my life
36:26and that I'm out not only doing school assemblies
36:28but I'm speaking in churches.
36:30If you're a wrestling fan, you may have
36:32remembered the Million Dollar Man.
36:34How many in this room would say you remember that guy?
36:36Yeah!
36:38I want you to encourage those kids
36:40you're talking to
36:42not to do what I did.
36:44And I was just like,
36:46wow.
36:48I did what he asked me to do.
36:50That's sin.
36:52That one that goes away for a week or a month
36:54and then it rears its ugly head and it's back.
36:56Or maybe even worse, it's there every day.
36:58Drugs, alcohol, addiction.
37:00Here's a guy
37:02who was the biggest name
37:04and succumbed to drugs.
37:06And of course,
37:08that was probably one of the last conversations
37:10we had.
37:12The last time he came home
37:14was for his daughter's graduation.
37:16He was from Mississippi.
37:18Dog was real proud of his daughter.
37:20He wanted to make sure that he was at his daughter's
37:22graduation because, I mean, she would want
37:24in there too. I mean, you've got to feel real proud
37:26if your dad is the junkyard dog
37:28and he walks into your graduation.
37:30It don't get no better than that.
37:32So he was certainly determined
37:34to get there.
37:36From where he was living
37:38out in Mississippi to Charlotte, North Carolina
37:40is about a nine-hour drive one way.
37:42He misses the graduation.
37:44We're all at my mom and dad's house.
37:46He shows up. Of course, he apologizes
37:48that he was late.
37:50He holds my son for the first time.
37:52My son was six months old, but he looks like a little
37:54miniature baby doll in his hand.
37:56And he held him for a while.
37:58But that was the last family photo
38:00taken of him.
38:02And then
38:04later on, he said,
38:06I'm going to get back on the road.
38:08So I met him at this gas station
38:10and there's something on the driver's side door.
38:12I said, what's that? He goes, puke.
38:14Boy, she had a long night
38:16last night.
38:18So I didn't think nothing else about it.
38:20And I said, you're going to drive all the way back home?
38:22You're not going to pull over to sleep or anything?
38:24Nah, I'm just going to go ahead and drive on.
38:26Make it straight home.
38:28I didn't know that was going to be the last conversation
38:30I had with him, though.
38:38On June 1st, 1998,
38:40after leaving a celebration
38:42of his daughter's high school graduation,
38:44the junkyard dog
38:46sets out on the long and fateful
38:48journey home.
38:50We talk 10-15 minutes,
38:52right before he's getting ready to go.
38:54He's done gashing up and everything.
38:56And he said, well, man,
38:58when you come back down, I'll be back on the 4th.
39:00Be back on the 4th.
39:02I said, all right, well, cool, man. See you then.
39:04Dab each other up.
39:06He gets in the car and drives away. I go home.
39:08One day, I get the call at work
39:10and it's my mom.
39:12And she's,
39:14you know, very upset.
39:16She said, Sylvester got killed last night.
39:18I was like, wait, what?
39:20And she
39:22rambled something and I could barely make it out.
39:24I just heard car. He got killed.
39:26And she hangs up the phone.
39:30And according to the authorities,
39:32an accident happened
39:34that morning.
39:36He drove all through the night, all night long.
39:38He fell asleep. There was no skid marks.
39:40You could see where the car veered off the road and it flipped several times.
39:42There's no way he could have been wearing
39:44his seatbelt because he was too damn big for that seatbelt.
39:46He shouldn't have been in that car anyway.
39:48And it was head trauma,
39:50according to the autopsy.
39:52A lot of times when you're on the drugs,
39:54you know, you're up three or four days.
39:56Sometimes you don't get no rest until
39:58sometime the body just says, hey,
40:00I don't want no more. I'm shutting down.
40:02So that's what the body has to do to you
40:04before you really go get rest.
40:06So I think dogs just hadn't had no rest
40:08and the body just shut down.
40:10It broke my heart.
40:12And I'm sure it broke the world's heart.
40:14He loved Ted DiBiase.
40:16They was like brothers.
40:18And I know it broke Ted's heart.
40:20I was very hopeful then that he was
40:22going to get better.
40:24The next thing I know, he's had a
40:26car wreck.
40:28How did you learn about his passing?
40:30I got a phone call
40:32when he had the car wreck.
40:36To tell you the truth, I was happy for him.
40:40Because I was still caught
40:42in the trenches.
40:46And I knew that he had escaped.
40:48I knew that the pain was over.
40:52I started crying.
40:54Because I realized I never got to tell him how much I loved him.
40:56The period of time I was around him,
40:58he was such a dynamite human being.
41:00By the time we ended,
41:02our relationship was not near as important
41:04as the time we spent together.
41:06J.Y.D. was a neat, special person.
41:08And then you also see the terrible
41:10battle that's fought when guys get
41:12something that gets a hold of them
41:14that they can't whip.
41:16Alright, so this is his
41:18grave site here.
41:20One of his last wrestling pictures.
41:22And just below him, this is his daughter.
41:26Actually what it was, was a ruptured heart valve.
41:28It actually literally exploded.
41:30There was nothing it could have done anyway.
41:32And then she passed away.
41:34A few minutes after that.
41:36And she was 31 years old.
41:38My mom comes, as you can see, with flowers and everything.
41:40Never misses a holiday, birthday.
41:42My mom finds it
41:44very difficult to talk about Sylvester.
41:46Because she was so close to him.
41:48And she raised
41:50Latoya as her daughter.
41:52It's just traumatic for her to go back
41:54down memory lane, so to speak.
41:56I think it just opens up
41:58too many wounds that probably hadn't fully healed.
42:00He was a trailblazer, man.
42:02I'm sure a lot of those young guys
42:04appreciate the path that you laid for him.
42:06Yes, he paved the way for all of us.
42:08I mean, anytime he came out,
42:10you always remember J.Y.D.
42:12And you will remember him when you left that arena
42:14that night. So, Dog's legacy
42:16is he's just one of the greatest black stars
42:18in pro wrestling.
42:20J.Y.D. did more
42:22to create awareness
42:24and acceptance
42:26within the closed world,
42:28very prejudiced world of pro wrestling.
42:30He stepped to the front of the line.
42:32And he stayed in the front of the line
42:34for many, many years.
42:36The charisma was natural and real, organic.
42:38And that's what separated him
42:40from the pack.
42:42Who that?
42:44Who that gonna beat that junkyard dog?
42:46Who that?
42:48This guy is a true hero.
42:50So I prefer to remember him in the happier days
42:52and not anything else.
42:54He broke the barriers.
42:56I mean, the fans are just all over you, Dog.
42:58It gets pretty hectic at times, but I enjoy it, man.
43:00I love it. See, in this business,
43:02I let them get close to me.
43:04He always had a moment for a kid or a grown-up.
43:06He had that charisma
43:08that made him a god to those that loved him.
43:10And there were so many people that loved him,
43:12black and white.
43:14Yeah, it's hard to find anybody say something
43:16bad about J.Y.D. He was a stand-up guy
43:18in a business where there's not
43:20a whole lot of stand-up guys.
43:22I'm honored to introduce Sylvester Ritter
43:24to Junkyard Dog
43:26Wrestling Hall of Fame.
43:28I'm hoping that he's remembered
43:30for good stuff that he did
43:32in the industry.
43:34Latoya Ritter will be the recipient
43:36of the award for her dad.
43:38While I'm standing here,
43:40it's important to me, and I know it will be important
43:42to him, to introduce his sister,
43:44Christine Woodburn. He called her
43:46Big Red.
43:48I didn't get to speak to J.Y.D.
43:50very much at the end, but
43:52again, that last conversation
43:54when he said,
43:56tell my story,
43:58when you're talking to those kids,
44:00that told me, I said, the guy that I knew
44:02is back.