#88 – D-Von Dudley & Mass Transit v The Gangstas, November 23, 1996
On this episode of the Old School Wrestling Podcast we review a match that neither Dre or the Black Cat never ever wanted to watch…D-Von Dudley and Mass Transit v The Gangstas. Join us in remembering one of the most controversial nights in pro wrestling history. We also take a special look at an old school story about the mysterious Missing Link! Please support the podcast by visiting flairchop.com where you can buy our tremendous “mail-order wrestling gimmicks” t-shirt, posters, and the box set of our first 50 episodes. You can also get a free OSWP sticker by leaving a comment on the iTunes store.
This episode has been archived. It is available either by ordering the physical “OSWP Season 3 box set” with episodes 76-100 or it can be instantly downloaded in a digital version of the “OSWP Season 3 complete set” with episodes of 76-100. The physical box set will always be our favorite, as it comes with a full color booklet featuring art by our friend Dean Stahl and looks great on your bookshelf next to your coliseum home videos. The instant digital download version also comes with high resolution PDFs of the booklet that you can view on your computer. Both the physical box set and the digital download come with two bonus episodes featuring our reviews of the Clash of the Champions 9 and the Royal Rumble 1988. These episodes have never been available on flairchop.com. But if you only want to hear this one episode, we also offer the option of instantly downloading just the individual episode for a small price.
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The Dudley’s were originally all brothers, their dad was a travelling salesmen in the 60’s and 70’s and evidently got 100 different women pregnant.
In regards to how Mass Transit got on the show, I have a pretty reliable source for this information.
He showed up with his dad and a midget. After telling everyone he was trained and not shaking anyone’s hand, he learned of Axl not being able to appear. He told Paul he had his gear, and that he was trained by Killer Kowalski. The midget (who was part of his entourage) backed up his claim. After finding out he was going to work New Jack he went to New Jack and kept trying to tell him moves he wanted to do. New Jack, being the veteran in this situation, felt disrespected by Transit not respecting his status. Kulas’ exact words were “Can you cut me? I’ve never done it but I want to”, to which New Jack responded, “Cut? You mean gig? You want me to gig you?” Kulas’ said “Yeah, you know, like with a razor, can you cut me?” New Jack, being the veteran realized this kid was lying about training and anything else due to his lack of knowledge.
The guy screaming to “ring the fucking bell” was really his dad, he also ran to the ambulance saying “These fucking assholes are trying to kill my son. You’re letting him kill my son.”
The other story that you guys didn’t touch on was that the crowd also realized the kid couldn’t wrestle. As he was being stretchered out, Kulas put his thumb in the air to signify that he was okay, to which the crowd exploded with Boo’s and chants of “Fuck You, Fat Ass”
I remember Mass Transit looking like Jerad from Subway before he lost all the weight. I heard New Jack actually used an Exacto Knife to open Mass Transit up. I was very pro-ECW when I heard the insident went to court. Not sure I feel the same way today.
I think there was a whole South Park episode dedicated to Cartman saying “tits” to refer to anything he liked.
Hey guys. GREAT show!! I have not seen this incident but have heard about it and will have to take a glance.
Anyway, today is the beginning of Black History Month so I would like to request a historically important match for you to review for the next show: Ron Simmons vs. Vader for the WCW World Title in Baltimore. This would be the match when Simmons becomes the first black champion, people cried, etc……I remember being a teen watching this match and was overjoyed when Simmons won. This came out of left field at the time but is still a memorable moment and a great match.
Keep up the good work!!!
FYI I have not listened to this episode yet, but wanted to throw in some comments first.
I remember this incident quite well. This Mass Transit fellow worked a few matches (maybe even just one) for a local public access wrestling company in Rhode Island. These guys may have been trained in the loose sense of the term, but they were not big league by any means. It was real wrestling (i.e. not backyard wrestling) but it was very low end. Very entertaining for me as a kid though, as it was a couple of hours of content each week that noone else probably had. The guys in the best shape were the midgets, so take from that what you will. So this kid had wrestled, but that doesn’t mean he was trained by Killer or even trained at all. So I’m sure Doomzday’s story is legit, as it jives pretty well from what I remember. Just wanted to throw it out there that the kid had been in the ring before.
ECW was this hot new promotion to me that I read about in PWI and the like. There was a local channel of some sort that had a few different wrestling shows during the week. One night was, let’s say Smoky Mountain (not sure on the exact promotions), and one night had ECW. I remember setting my alarm one night for midnight or whenever it was on. I watched it on my little black and white tv that was very snowy. I recall Stevie Richards, and that’s it. This is the same tv that I watched the big Friends season finale that saw Rachel rushing to the airport to confess her love for Ross, only to find that he came back with a lady on his arm. So sad.
Then, this lovely fellow named Mass Transit (or Ralph Kramden the bus driver in the RI promotion – or something of the sort) had an “incident”, and since the kid was local it was all over the news. My mom promptly told me I was not allowed to watch ECW. I think once they got to TNN the ban was over and I saw one or two of their shows before WWE took them down. I own all the events now, and have seen most of the big matches, but thanks to Mass Transit, I missed out on ECW when it happened.
I HAD TO WAIT FOR JOEL GERTNER AND HACK MEYERS.
My friend sent me this video of Superstar Billy Graham telling a story about Abdullah the Butcher. Sounds almost identical to this situation :
http://youtu.be/b_K0RtUhWvQ
Uhmmm, Mr. Graham, I believe the correct term is Native American…
My list of shocking pro wrestling stories would be
• Owen Hart’s tragic death at a PPV.
• Misawa’s tragic death in the ring.
• The story of Benoit murdering his family.
The Mass Transit Incident was shocking, but obviously not as much of a major headline.
Obviously, this video is very disturbing, but I think what is more disturbing is the fact that this stuff still happens all the time. I’ll clarify and say that while no one almost bleeds to death, however it’s not uncommon for untrained idiots to be taken advantage of on shitty independent shows.
No one will ever know exactly what chain of events led to that night, but it ends up being just another sad story in the bizarre world of pro wrestling. It’s a business built around violence and deception, so it’s no wonder that you end up with people like New Jack.
On a more important note, my favorite reference to the word “tits” as being cool has to be from Hogan during the height of the NWO takeover. He and the boys have taken over the production truck, and looks into the camera and declares “The NWO is TITS…Brah!”. Immediately following, I believe, Konnan snuck in an unedited “We’re fucking shit up” . Marvelous.
Great show as always and keep up the good work
Thank you for mentioning “The NWO is tits brah”. Work just became a happier place.
ECW really watered down violence in wrestling. I was just a little hulkamaniac at the
time but I think I remember Hogan being pit through a table to film No Holds Barred back in the early 80s
That put him out for months. ECW was putting guys though 5 tables and wrestling the next night. I don’t call
that innovation. Chair shots used to take guys out for weeks. Now The Rock can get power bombed through a table
and still win the title. Wow. Keep up the great work brother.
Dear Dre!
Maybe I hear you wrong but it seems you
always speak about “ApNer” magazines.
The guy’s name ist ApTer, Bill Apter…
Nice show about a not so nice subject!
Greetings from Europe (Vienna)!
Great Show Guys! I had heard about this incident over the years and had never actually seen it (Mostly due to lack of interest) before now. I am very impressed withthe fact that you guys can make such an interesting show about such a shitty wrestling match. Show as always was totally Tits!!
ON the subject of discribing something as “Totally Tits” I first heard about this from an old George Carlin stand up. Never used it until I heard you guys talking about it in your early episodes that I happened to purchase the first 50 episodes collector series of (Great value all listeners should buy it) I realize that the refferance is dated but not for an OLD SCHOOL WRESTLING PODCAST!!….LOL
So I say again Guys Thank you very much for the show as a tribute I will use the Old School Compliment….Totally TITS!!!
Hey Boys,
As soon as I saw what you guys were reviewing, I knew it was going to be a good one, and you didn’t disappoint! Outstanding show! A few comments:
1) I’ve lived in Philly for 52 years and have never worn a dirty baseball cap nor have I thrown any D batteries at any athletes. Well, I saw somebody throw one at JD Drew once, but that was ok because he refused to play for the Phillies after being drafted by them. I’ve also seen people get the crap beat out of them for wearing opposing teams jerseys at sporting events. That’s also ok, because if you’re that dumb, you deserve to get an ass kicking. Other than that, we’re kind peace loving people. Anyone who’s seen an ECW crowd can see this!
2) Dre is a modern day Rich Little! His impersonations of the Von Erich’s, Bill Apter, and Big Dust are so spot-on that it’s scary!
3) You should consider making the Apter mag story reviews a permanent part of the show! The Missing Link story, just like the Crusher Blackwell story, was priceless! I didn’t realize how much I missed those timeless mags from the 70’s & 80’s!
Thanks for another outstanding podcast! It was tits!!
I gave up oswp for 3 weeks for fast in church… Good things come to those who wait as the last 2 shows I listened to back to back… Did anyone tell u Yokozuna won a rumble as did John Studd? Oh we’ll big men do win the Royal Rumble…
I’m not a wrestler and don’t know the “code” of the boys backstage…but defending New Jack is insane. The dude recklessly cut someone who lacked the experience to defend himself. I’ve heard New Jack’s version of this and it doesn’t make him or his side of the story look any better. ECW was amazing and, in my opinion, was the best-booked wrestling in the US at the time. But they made mistakes and this is probably the biggest one.
Wrestling is full of strange, captivating people. New Jack is surely one of those people. But he’s far from innocent, he’s bragged a lot about seriously hurting people, and I can’t look past that. He’s an asshole, even if he’s talented.
I remember reading about this incident around 1998 online. This always interested me for some bizarre reason (Might have been my bloodlust for violence at this time). As soon as I found out about YouTube I looked for this match and surprisingly found it. It was pretty shocking to see this match I admit. I watched it again after listening to this podcast and never noticed the blood from Mass Transit’s head flow out like that before until you guys mentioned it. That was pretty disgusting. Kinda glad I finally outgrew stuff like that. I always wanted to know what New Jack was saying in his promo and now I know. Wow.
If I was an indie wrestler, and I saw that I was going to be wrestling New Jack, I would turn around and go home. I don’t need 10 bucks that bad!
Anyone have a good link to watch this match?
I spent a good hour looking for this 10 years ago or so. If you read about something often enough eventually you feel like you have to watch it. Nope. You don’t. Just let it be. It’s a ridiculous case of bullying and carelessness. Oh, he doesn’t have experience and wants to step in with US? Then he gets an absurd amount of abuse and, uhhh, that’ll teach him a lesson or something. Awful. One of those instances where you are really, truly embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.