The Mass Transit Incident

[TheBottomLine]

Yesterday I watched “Forever Hardcore” on Youtube, the independent documentary about ECW. And while I enjoyed the most part of it, there were some things I was unaware that happened during the course of their main history. Now I enjoy that type of wrestling as much as the natural type of wrestling we see in WWE now a days, apart from the unadulterated gore like the barbed wire matches etc.
Two things spring to my mind about what I discovered in watching it. Number 1, New Jack was and is an absolute psycho! That whole segment about him and Vic Grimes, and how Vic caused him to lose vision in his right eye and have brain damage, he blames Grimes yet he says Grimes was unsure about jumping from the height they were at so Jack pulled him as he took off, so in reality, it was New Jack’s own fault. But then to go and try and kill the guy, which he admits in the interview for the documentary, he tried to push him further, towards the turnbuckle rather than the stack of tables. I then read some more about him on Wikipedia, and how when he was in CZW (I think) he stabbed a guy multiple times with a metal blade. It’s no wonder he never stood foot in a WWE ring!
This leads me to my second discovery, also involving New Jack, the Mass Transit incident. For those of you who never heard of this, a kid convinced Paul Heyman into letting him perform in an ECW event, covering for Axl Rotten to team with D-Von Dudley against New Jack and Mustapha ( The Gangsta’s). Now he filled Heyman with crap saying that he was trained by Killer Kowalski, that he was 20 years old and could handle himself in the ring against the wrestlers of ECW. In reality, the kid never received an ounce of training and was only 17, but because he was over 350 pounds and like 5’9 or 5’10, Heyman let him wrestle. Anyway, in the interview with New Jack, he said he never knew that the kid was only 17, he was among almost every single person at the arena that the kid was 20. He said before the match he was coming to him and the other guys, trying to make them do these spots he thought up, keep in mind the kid never wrestled before, no experience or anything, nada! So Jack thought, like most of the other guys would “ Who the hell does this kid think he is?”. He then asked if New Jack would blade him during the match. Of course New Jack agreed, but said he was gonna cut the shit out of him, unbeknownst to the kid.

I scoured Youtube and couldn’t find the video anywhere, buuuut, I eventually found it on DailyMotion. It is horrifying. I don’t think the kid even landed a shot off. He was hit with a toaster, a chair, and then it came to it, Jack picks up a scalpel and goes to town on the kids forehead, it was vile. They still proceeded to attack him after the kid’s Dad is heard yelling “he’s only 17, ring the bell”. It’s crazy to think this actually happened, absolutely no way would that happen now-a-days. I was left with a horrible feeling in my stomach.

Now I respect these guys for what they put their bodies through, and it hit me just how loyal these guys were to ECW at the end of the documentary. Terry Funk and Sabu were talking about a match they had, a barbed wire match to be precise. Sabu had become entangled in the wire and his bicep was ripped from his elbow to his shoulder, and instead of calling it a day, like most people in that position would, he taped up the cut and continued on with the match! That to me was one of the craziest things I have ever heard! And then the last interview is with Terry Funk, and I just sat back and applauded, in my mind of course, his loyalty. The guy was in his late 50’s, WWE offered him a hefty contract to join them. He said he went and discussed it with his wife, his wife said “Terry, I hope you’re going to accept that money at this age” To which he said “ I can’t, I can’t leave my buddies behind, my guys, my fans…” he then broke into tears, and said “And that’s why I ain’t a millionaire..” I have nothing but respect for that man now, absolute legend in my eyes!

Anyway guys, just wanted to share that with you all, it’s a great documentary if you haven’t seen it, what do you all think about these incidents and maybe there’s others that weren’t included, doesn’t even have to be a ECW incident, what about New Jack, thoughts on him? Drop a post!

 

[Poop Master Flex]

When I think of New Jack the 2Pac Song "I Just Don't Give A Fuck" comes to mind as its probably the best way to describe New Jack. Jack has been very vocal about how he does wrestling for the money, he's in it for the money and if you piss him off in any way he has no problem shooting on you in the ring in the most violent way possible.

New Jack was a good talker and he always had that going for him but he is the definition of a "garbage" wrestler, a guy who has to result to violence to cover up his lack of wrestling skill. If he learned to actually wrestle and was not a nightmare to work with he could have done very well for himself as he always had verbal skills and charisma. If he gave a fuck he would have been in WWE easy. Not saying that's a bad thing, just saying that's New Jack.

In regards to the Mass Transit incident I don't feel for a second it should have went as far as it did. I certainly don't blame New Jack taking liberties with the kid as when I hear the story it sounded like he had a beating coming to him but to slice his head deep and doing it on purpose isn't cool. Frankly I think that was the real bad thing about the incident as if that didn't happen I doubt anyone would have said a thing. When you never wrestle in your life you certainly don't walk into the back and tell established wrestlers (2 of them are the ECW Tag Team Champs) what to do, you keep your mouth shut, take the beating and maybe come back if they like you. You don't lie to everyone about your age and frankly Mass Transit getting beaten up is no ones fault but his own, the kid and his parents should of had more sense than that. Then again Mass Transit and his family has sued multiple times ECW, New Jack and RF Video so I have no love for the kid and his family, especially when you blame New Jack for the kids death because he was a morbidly obese person which apparently is New Jacks fault (even though the kid had back titties in his match with New Jack).

All in all both sides took it too far, New Jack for scalping the kid and his family for suing everyone in sight even though it was their extreme negligence that got Mass Transit hurt and subsequently dead at a very early age. Seriously? If your kid is 400 lbs at 17 maybe you should try and get the kid help before it gets even more out of hand.

 

[TheBottomLine]

I had always heard of New Jack and was aware of the Danbury Fall incident, but after seeing the interviews with him I thought "This guy is absolutely crazy". I suppose if he wasn't such a loose cannon he could have been in the WWE. But those kind of guys filled up the ECW roster,without them they wouldn't have some of the fame they have today!

It honestly makes me feel horrible thinking about the Mass Transit incident. I am in no way defending the kid because he should never have filled Paul and the rest of the guys with bullcrap. And also what kind of Father allows his kid to wrestle at 17 in that sort of environment? All he had to do was look at the crowds that are present to realise what ECW let alone what happens in the ring! New Jack actually admitted the kid never said how big he wanted the cut to be, and you can see Jack absolutely digging the scalpel into his head like a surgeon would operating on a brain!

400 pounds at 17 is ridiculous! I seen on wikipedia that he was over 300 at 10! I mean it's easy for Heyman to be mistaken thinking he was 20 but apparently he never asked for any legal documents to clarify anything about his age or past experience,do you know if they won in the lawsuit against ECW/Heyman?

 

[closet_fan]

A dwarf wrestler, who I don't ever recall being named, backed up the kid's lies. And that was another reason why Heyman let him wrestle. The kid was an idiot for even thinking he had a chance. Of course Heyman should have asked for some sort of ID to protect himself. But he was probably in such a jam, he was just happy there was someone who could fill in.

I also remember Heyman saying that when he was being taken out on a stretcher, the kid was still acting like a heel and trying to get into with the crowd while he was taken back to the dressing room. Supposedly New Jack asked the kid if he was okay during the match and the kid told him to keep going at him.

If I was a juror, just the fact that the father let him wrestle and then backtracked, knowing what kind of promotion ECW was, would have been enough for me to prove Heyman was innocent and had no knowledge that the kid was underage. I believe Heyman did win.

As far as Terry Funk, he'll go down as the best wrestler to ever get in the ring in my mind. He's had success everywhere he went. That being said, Heyman might have been the mastermind behind ECW, but Funk gave it credibility on name alone. I absolutely loved it when he won the ECW title because he deserved it, despite being the oldest wrestler on the roster at the time.

I have no doubt if ECW was still around, Funk would be wrestling there.

 

[TheBottomLine]

As I said,I watched the match, for the parts the kid is in, he didn't get a shot off, he was just getting battered by Mustapha and then New Jack came in and the shit hit the fan, as if it hadn't already! Yeah I think it went to court but I dunno what the outcome was, I'd say the parents got nothing though.

It's a shame he died at such a young age but being 400 pounds didn't help him anyway. I actually think Kid Kash was sayin in the documentary he sat back with Heyman and started smoking cigars and fed him with absolute crap, completely making a fool of him!

Yeah at the start of the video when Transit and D-Von are waiting for Gangsta's to come out the kid's mouthing off to the crowd and giving the fingers so it doesn't surprise me that he did that going out!

I've earned a whole ot of respect for Funk, someone in the documentary said that Funk wanted new ways to get over with the crowd, so at 50 years old he started moonsaulting! Absolute legend in my eyes but I don't think he will ever get the true recognition he deserves.

 

[tvcolosi]

You'll find that if you watch New Jacks "Shoots" his stories often contradict each other. I'd say 75% is a work with him, now Mass Transit, Grimes, and Gypsy Joe, those actually happened and New Jack should not be glorified for it. In fact the story that he had "4 justifiable homicides" as a bounty hunter.. 100% not true.. I take that back, 75% not true. He admitted he shot one guy as a bounty hunter, and that guy died 2 days later in the hospital..

As far as that incident, the interviews with Heyman, Dreamer, and D'Von (his partner that night) on the "Rise and Fall DVD" along with the guys on "Forever Hardcore" DVD all tell the same story, that kid and his dad should have been prosecuted for falsifying documents. i believe the kid provided paperwork that he was trained. The only thing New Jack did wrong was the deepness of the cut. But based on the BS Jack has spitted in the past; a part of me believes that the deep cut was accidental, but Jack ran with it. Like he meant to cut him, as he asked, but the knife was sharper than he anticipated. He didn't use a razor blade, but a surgical scalpel, which is REALLY thin and REALLY sharp.

 

[#heel420]

Just rewatched it to refresh my memory and its still extremely(no pun intended) hard to watch. Blood was literally squirting out of his forehead at the end. I don't exactly feel bad for the kid though, he should have known what he was getting himself into with New Jack and ECW. Not to mention the fact that he lied about his age and training.

I don't know what happened with the lawsuit but, I know New Jack was charged and taken to court over this. Mass Transit dropped the charges when Jack agreed to take him on the road and train him, but Jack skipped town the next day.

 

[tvcolosi]

Just rewatched it to refresh my memory and its still extremely(no pun intended) hard to watch. Blood was literally squirting out of his forehead at the end. I don't exactly feel bad for the kid though, he should have known what he was getting himself into with New Jack and ECW. Not to mention the fact that he lied about his age and training.

I don't know what happened with the lawsuit but, I know New Jack was charged and taken to court over this. Mass Transit dropped the charges when Jack agreed to take him on the road and train him, but Jack skipped town the next day.

Judge dropped the charges. It might have been that the family decided not to press charges but he got off scott free for this one

 

[Ovaltine]

I have heard about this, but I never watched it until right now. That was just awful. I don't care what the kid said. No one deserves that to happen to them in a scripted match. What did any of that prove? The most disturbing part was that those in attendance were cheering it on. I get that the kid lied, but a match like that makes me embarrassed to call mysef a fan.

 

[zones.]

ok wasnt there some racist junk also tied into this? correct me if im wrong, its been bout 2 years since iv seen the vid or read the backstory in which i found, but i could have sworn there was some involvement of the kid calling people ******s or New Jack sayin something bout him being a fat cracker near the end of the fight. i do remember he was asking if the kid was ok near the end correct? i could have sworn it could be heard somewhere around there.

but on the subject, iv never liked New Jack, he is completely nuts and is the perfect symbol of what i think was WRONG with ECW. I loved the dudleys, loved sabu, loved everyone else that started to shine there such as rey, but new jack was just completely out there. i honestly cannot recall a single incident of serious magnitude that DOESNT involve new jack. i mean yea we have quite a few with sabu too but they were mostly him GETTING messed up and obviously accidental. new jack though? trying to kill people every time his boots touched a mat? the man was and is a walking court case. it was like repeated attempted homicides that were deemed 'legal'. the man is scary by all accords.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

It's defiantly a tough subject to even talk about, because of how sketchy it is. I remember the WWE wanting to bring in New Jack but deciding the risk was higher than the reward. I believe this was when they brought the "New" ECW in in 06.

While I think New Jack is scum (Based on the truth he has told, and how far he has taken lies to make himself look like a badass), I don't blame him on this particular incident. The kid should have never lied about his training and age, he brought that on himself.

 

[Headman]

I was in attendance for the Danbury Fall (Worst ppv ive ever seen in person btw). It was easily the scariest moment I've ever witnessed during a wrestling show. I don't blame New Jack for being angry with Vic Grimes for botching, but if he's serious about trying to kill Grimes during their XPW freefall match, then that's extremely fucked up.

I've met New Jack a few times, and he was funny but kind of scary at the same time. I'm not easily intimidated, but in each of my encounters with him I remember looking for the quickest excuse to politely make my exit. I never know how much of what he says is a work and what's real. The guy is either always in character or he's really fucking nuts.

As for Mass Transit. The kid was an idiot. New Jack shouldn't have did what he did, but when you BS a psychopath you pretty much get what's coming. I was sorry to hear that the kid died later on due to complications with his weight, but that has nothing to do with the stunt that he and his father pulled by scamming their way onto the card.

 

[HBsam31]

ok wasnt there some racist junk also tied into this? correct me if im wrong, its been bout 2 years since iv seen the vid or read the backstory in which i found, but i could have sworn there was some involvement of the kid calling people ******s or New Jack sayin something bout him being a fat cracker near the end of the fight. i do remember he was asking if the kid was ok near the end correct? i could have sworn it could be heard somewhere around there.

but on the subject, iv never liked New Jack, he is completely nuts and is the perfect symbol of what i think was WRONG with ECW. I loved the dudleys, loved sabu, loved everyone else that started to shine there such as rey, but new jack was just completely out there. i honestly cannot recall a single incident of serious magnitude that DOESNT involve new jack. i mean yea we have quite a few with sabu too but they were mostly him GETTING messed up and obviously accidental. new jack though? trying to kill people every time his boots touched a mat? the man was and is a walking court case. it was like repeated attempted homicides that were deemed 'legal'. the man is scary by all accords.

I agree with this. New Jack just took everything too far. I loved ECW, but to do some of the things he did is just not good. Like someone else said, if he could actually wrestle maybe he wouldn't have had to resort to these types of things. I will admit he was great on the mic, but that was about it. On the topic of Mass Transit, he was just stupid. Someone else mentioned if you mess with and BS a psycho you are going to get what is coming to you. That kid should never have put himself in that position, and his parents were obviously unfit for a multiple of reasons. I am and always was a fan of ECW, but at times like this one things just went to far.

 

[boozinjedi]

Truer words have yet to be spoken!!

He was either totally crazy OR crazy like a fox!!

I loved his "shoots"

I blame the kid mostly...he sold himself for more than he was.

The one person I believe would've been right at home in ECW never had the chance to experience it...Bruiser Brody,he'd happier than a pig in shit there!!

 

[The Eighties]

From the different interviews I've heard the kid seemed to be a bit mentally challenged, the blame for putting him in that spot lies with his father, I mean what sane adult walks into that arena and thinks it's a good place for his son to become a wrestler? It was a bear pit.

Apparently he also started telling the guys in the match what spots he wanted to do which is a no no for a new guy and asked New Jack to help him get colour. At the end of the day though nothing changes the fact that New Jack is an awful human being, no real professional with respect for the craft would have done what he did to that kid, he went out of his way to do as much damage as possible.

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

Truer words have yet to be spoken!!

He was either totally crazy OR crazy like a fox!!

I loved his "shoots"

I blame the kid mostly...he sold himself for more than he was.

The one person I believe would've been right at home in ECW never had the chance to experience it...Bruiser Brody,he'd happier than a pig in shit there!!

You blame the kid? What a stupid thing to say. I dont care what the kid said. The kid told New Jack to cut him because he didnt know how. New Jack cut him to the bone of his skull on purpose. That is the act of an idiot who does not care about anyone he is in the ring with.

 

[jachba]

The kid was underage. That overrides everything. The grownups in that situation failed all the way around. A 17 year old does not know better.

 

[tvcolosi]

The kid was underage. That overrides everything. The grownups in that situation failed all the way around. A 17 year old does not know better.

How does anyone other than his father get that blame? I am assuming you lumped Paul E. and New Jack with him. He had paperwork (I assume an ID was involed so they knew who to make the check out too. It may bounce, but it was to have someones name one it ) saying he was trained and 19, his dad verified. What else could they have done?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Ok, regardless of the father - responsibility for ensuring paperwork etc was legit was with Heyman. It was his show, his job to make sure every aspect was above board, "i was conned" isn't an excuse for Heyman in this case.

New Jack has always been an interesting case, as a worker there was potential as part of The Gangstas but he had a rep that quickly overtook his abilities and ECW was the perfect place to hide it with "shortcuts/weapons/brutality", they say some men overcompensate... New Jack seemed to everytime he got in the ring by being nastier and just plain wrong.

Do you blame Eric Kulas? No, he was a kid who wanted to emulate his idols, sadly he chose a man like New Jack to emulate and talked his dad and himself into a situation they couldn't control nor back down from. Had they confessed even before the bell rang do you think New Jack would have been any easier on him? Hell no...he'd be dead!

The incident itself reminds me of the JBL/Meanie one at One Night Stand... no Bradshaw didn't take a scalpel to Meanie or nearly kill him... but he clearly crossed that boundary of professionalism that says "In this ring, we look out for each other before anything else". I am sure New Jack thought this would get him into WWE with the direction they were beginning to look at, that he could be their "bad ass". JBL threw punches he shouldn't have done, he set out to hurt a fellow worker who wasn't expecting it and New Jack did the same. That the worker was trained, untrained 17, 20 or 40 is immaterial. How does anyone prove their credentials in Wrestling, particularly in 96? You relied on a reference, often verbal from someone the promoter trusts... if that person says "this kid is ok" then that was enough. Today, they test for everything in WWE from strength to cardio to your abilities... Heyman literally let a kid walk in off the street and put his life at risk, hell the guy who "vouched" could say "I was ribbing Paul, thought you were smarter than that".

Part of me thinks Heyman knew what he was doing and he knew that "any publicity is good", so he rolled the dice on the kid knowing what he was doing and that New Jack would know where the line was drawn... again that neither was correct is on Heyman at the end of the day.

 

[TheBottomLine]

I had honestly never heard of it before I watched that documentary, I was just bored on youtube and stumbled across and decided to watch as I had a few hours to kill before work.

As regards to what Zones said about the racist element of the match, I'm not sure if the kid was being racist considering he was standing in the ring with D-Von Dudley. As far as I could see and hear, he was flipping off the crowd and trying to get heat. New Jack did say that he hated white people after the match though if I remember correctly.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the start of the thread but I read that Jack stabbed a guy multiple times in CZW with a blade, I could be repeating myself but that to me that stands out as a guy completely off his head. He was everything that was wrong with ECW. Guys like RVD, Dreamer,Sabu,Funk,Sandman and Foley during his stints there, made ECW what it was, the were extreme but never went too far with each other. It seemed from watching that documentary and the interviews the wrestlers gave, they all discussed spots before there matches, they went in knowing what was coming their way and were happy to that. That wasn't the case with Jack and Transit, Transit asked to be cut,now he did never say who big of a cut he wanted, but if a newbie came to you asking to be cut,you wouldn't rip his head open to the point his skull is basically on show!

Now Transit didn't do any favours for himself bigging himself up to Jack, in fact he did himself no favours even turning up that night in the first place, but as idiotic as he and his father were to get involved, no 17 year old kid should have to go through something like that. It wouldn't surprise me if he had ADHD or some form of mental disability.Lets just be glad we will never see something like that again, at least in TNA & WWE anyway.

 

[Blaze]

I really didn't know about the Mass Transit incident until a buddy of mine pulled it up on dailymotion for me. Wow. The kid sort of had it coming to him though. He should have never lied to Heyman and got into that match, especially with New Jack, who's known for his aggression and insanity. I also heard that the kid was making racist comments, which was definitely uncalled for.

 

[TheBottomLine]

Just seen an interview with New Jack, he said that he was meant to be involved in the Invasion angle, but Paul Heyman was still pissed about the whole Mass Transit thing, that he didn't allow him and he was made to pack his bags. I don't now how true this is, because anytime I see an interview with Jack, he overwrites things he said in previous interviews. I seen one and he said that he wanted to cut the shit out of Kulas for bigging himself up and badgering Jack backstage. The second one he said that he didn't know how big the kid wanted the cut, he was checking to see if he was alright and so on. Now maybe he's just in and out of character in different interviews but personally I don't believe a word he says.

 

[HBsam31]

I saw this thread and responded, and it got me curious so I checked out some of New Jack's interviews. When talking about being accused of stabbing a guy 11 times he came back with "no I didn't" It was 9 times". He said it in the way that I say I am going to take out the trash or I am going to cook dinner. That actually gave me the creeps. This guy really doesn't have any regard for other people. I don't care who you want to put the blame on for the Mass Transit thing, but the father in this case should have went to jail. Obviously there is a lot of blame to go around, but any father that would allow his underage kid to be in that position should have been behind bars.