Jim Cornette Reviews Dark Side Of The Ring's Earthquake John Tenta Episode
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- From Episode 333 of the Jim Cornette's Drive Thru
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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this episode was more about a good guy in a shitty business.
Brian’s assessment was spot on.
Which was honestly a nice change of pace. I loved this episode.
Earthquake’s episode is similar to Owen Hart’s episode. Both good guys in a cold and mean business.
@@ThatDoesntWorkForMeBrother one MAJOR difference. tenta died of cancer. owen died from the stupidity and callousness of vince russo and vince macmahon.
Exactly, there was nothing really controversial about him or his career. He never got addicted to drugs/alcohol, he never abused his family, he never cheated on his wife and he never committed any crimes like a certain bank-addicted drug robber. It's just about a good guy trying to succeed in an industry comprised mostly of backstabbers and scumbags. There's also the added tragedy being that he died from something that could've been prevented. He easily could still be around today otherwise.
Mr Tenta must’ve been a heck of an amazing man for Haku to spend that much time talking on camera. I had never seen Haku WANT to talk so much about any other wrestler. That speaks volumes about the kind of guy Mr Tenta was. RIP John Tenta
Sumo respect
Haku also laughing for seemingly 10 minutes after seeing The Shockmaster incident.
If you haven't seen it yet, Dark Side posted the full video of Haku laughing for two minutes straight. It was frighteningly wholesome to watch the scariest man to ever be in the business laugh until he was crying for two minutes.
Great point
Best part of this episode was haku laughing at the shockmaster😂😂😂
I’ve never seen Haku laugh like that. It was good to see him have Humor
Oh man he was dying of laughter. It was hilarious.
and then shortly after wiping off a tear when speaking about his "sumo brother"
I lmao when Haku couldnt stop laughing 😂😂
💯
I think this was the closest we have come to Jim's request for a "light side of the ring" episode more so was a celebration of John's life instead of the usual. Good episode.
Well, Cocaine and Cowboy Boots is still a top contender for funniest episode.
I still think the "worst" episode was on Matt Bourne. The guy was a nasty thug, a drug addict, woman beater, etc. And they interviewed several less than stellar people associated with Matt.
@ryanjacobson2508 that's up there...but the Jake/grizzly episode was the darkest of dark imo. Hard to watch all of that one.
@@ryanjacobson2508 yeah that's pretty true, worst episode to me though was the plane ride from hell because they came off as very biased towards certain people and purposely left out information
WI
When his wife was singing to him and broke down crying mid-performance, I lost it.
The ending was so hard for me
That "fan in the stands" moment was something I remember watching when I was a kid too. I admit, I fell for it and thought he was an actual random guy. It was a genius way to introduce him.
Me too. I was like 12 I think so I knew wrestling was scripted but really didn’t understand 😂😂😂😂 but loved it.
Same, my dad somehow knew what was going to happen in advance.... And I asked him how.
@@rahowherox1177your dad’s a smark
As a Warrior fan I remember that vividly
Santino Marella did the same thing
John Tenta was a good person in and outside the ring
In all of my years following wrestling, I can’t recall anyone saying a single bad thing about him. The only other guy who might also fit that description is Mick Foley.
He is the best of men
Probably as beloved by everybody as Boss Man
RiP .
This episode felt like DSotR was saying "Its sad he died, but after years of fining your heroes were drug addicts, wife beaters, killers, psychopaths, violent criminals, or in the case of the great Owen Hart, died in such a tragic way that reflects badly on professional wrestling; here's one who absolutely deserves to be remembered as one of your heroes."
Well said!
Haku laughing at the Shockmaster made me lose it lol
Ha Ha Ha it was fun to watch to be honest
It was funny, yes, though do agree with Brian, served no purpose other than they wanted to do shock master. At the least I thought he was going to say, John called me afterwards or whatever, but no, just did to do. They do need better organization with their stories.
Yeah it would have been better fitted to a stupid gimmicks show@@littletom1978
such a contagious laugh, laughed it at watching the trailer, laughed again at the documentary, even the cast started laughing 😂
He was laughing like he never seen it before and never even heard of the Shockmaster. Amazing how deep WCW buried the incident that wrestlers who worked for them just after that time period never heard of it.
Earthquake was a great heel, Natural Disasters were a great tag team. Nice to hear he was a good dude.
Agreed. Never heard a single bad thing said about them.
When Earthquake “injured” Hulk Hogan on the Brother Love show, it was very believable.
When he “squashed” Jake’s snake, it was very believable.
John Tenta was the real deal.
Not sure if the video mentions it, but not long before he passed away, he hung out on the Wrestlecrap forums. A website that had multiple entries about him. He basically did AMA there before that was a thing, and for what I think was at least a few months he chatted with people there somewhat regularly.
He was super friendly during that time.
Lots of padding out in this episode simply because there wasn't a lot of self imposed "Dark" which this series kind of needs. John didn't fool around with the kind of things that make these episodes. A quality man who should have had better out of the business and was certainly worth a lot more than what he received, who's life was cut short due to tragic illness and his family have had to endure the loss of their husband/father makes up the "Darkness" in this episode. The ending of this episode was the most heartwrenching of any I've seen in the series. The love of his children really came across and it was truly shocking that nobody from the business attended his funeral.
So true. Such a great summary you put in. I was in tears at the end. Makes me think of my father, which made me more sad.
Yes. As touching as the end was, with his family all together, the fact that nobody, apparently not even those wrestlers who appeared in the show speaking so highly of Tenta, went to his funeral left a bad taste in my mouth. Not Haku? Not Tugboat?! Shameful.
@@ATMyles very true.
Seeing Quake dropkick for the first time was amazing.
Yeah, that was a real jawdropper. He didn't only gain massive height (at least 6 feet), it was also clean and perfectly executed.
@@KomradeKrusherreally underrated athlete - as impressive as Vader or Bigelow in his way because he was so much bigger than them
Same for me!
Looked unbelievable!
My friend’s dad worked with Tenta at one point (non-wrestling capacity) Said he was a nice man who usually kept quiet, but was always the strongest man around.
That's a great compliment. It seems like people have gotten really into being aggressive and showing how awesome they are. I miss the days when the real tough guys never felt the need to speak up about it.
John Tenta was 42 when he passed which meant during the attitude era as Golga he was only 34-35.
Better yet was only 26 or 27 in 91-92 which is also just as crazy.
@@gamblinggod960People looked way older before circa 2000. Some of it was the fashion, but a lot of it was probably due to people smoking a lot more cigs back then to the point that even non-smokers were heavily affected by second hand smoke.
@@ryanjacobson2508 in general you're right, (although I think it was a lot more all around diet and lifestyle than just cigs) but it depended a lot on the individual too. Bret Hart was 32 in 1989 when Quake debuted at 26, and he looked great and young for that age, even by today's standards.
@@ryanjacobson2508 No, Tenta was definitely a special case. Mainly due to the baldness at such a young age and having a very mature looking face.
@@gamblinggod960blew my mind when I found that out some time back
"I'm not a shark. I'm not a fish."
John Tenta was one of the best big men in wrestling. Simply watching him run the ropes was one of the most captivating things. Whether it was dark or dim, I just enjoyed it because of who it was about.
John Tenta taking the time to engage with fans and to chat in a humble, down to earth manner with fans on wrestling forums was very endearing and a testament to a genuinely nice human being. RIP
John Tenta. A genuinely nice guy and the perfect monster heel.
I remember chatting with him on the Wrestlecrap forums fondly.
The episode wasn't the traditional story of someone in wrestling having personal issues with drugs, alcohol etc or doing something controversial it was more of a story about a nice guy in the buisness who got fucked around by the business.. but he seemed to have a really nice family who really loved and respected him and it's a shame that he died so young and that hardly anyone in the business seemed to care
Did he really get fucked around by the business though? He got paid for 10 years before cancer seized him. Yeah, yeah, ‘Shark’ but I bet he was being paid handsomely
@@nbaldwin45 tbh he didn't have much money from wrestling at all and worked as a truck driver for a few years before he died. And ofc at the time he was probably paid okay but it wasn't made to last them gimmicks he had with shark and gogar etc so they was only ever gonna be short runs
@@theboxingboy7422 Fair enough.
Anyone who used to frequent the Wrestlecrap forums remembers what a cool dude John Tenta was.
Remember that well!
Earthquake a top 5 all time debut of a new wrestler
Too bad that was his peak in the business
He was "picked " outta the crowd to sit on Dino Bravo and ultimate warriors back while each man did push-ups correct ? I was a little kid so I could be mis remembering it
@@jimmirogers3485yup.
That was a swerve that will never work again.
@@jimmirogers3485 Correct
I saw The Natural Disasters wrestle The Bushwhackers in Birmingham UK in 92. I was 7 years old and will never forget Earthquakes presence coming down the aisle. Underated big guy!
One of the most heart wrenching episodes, because it was not only about one of the nicest guys behind the curtain according to everyone who knew him, but also because he "didn't do himself in" like so many others.
Also, Haku of all people saying Tenta was one of "the guys you have to watch out for" is saying something.
Haku and John once had a sumo bout in the locker room and it went to a standstill.
I look at John "Earthquake" Tenta as one of the most underrated big men ever. He could work and was very agile for his size. He could hit a nice looking dropkick which looked even more impressive given his size and I think he had one of the best looking power slams ever.
Bam bam could work young yoko could work early vader could work too
@@jimbowlan5804 absolutely all big guys who could work and move around the ring with ease. We could also put a young Andre The Giant on that list as well.
@@jimbowlan5804Bam Bam was unbelievable
@@jimbowlan5804all
Of those guys get their due. Big John doesn’t
By all accounts a good man that died way too young and is still missed by everyone who knew him.
Did they miss him enough to go to his funeral?
This episode was an excuse (and valid one at that) to recreate The Shockmaster.
Definitely worth it
I never expected to see Haku cry. It was a beautiful a celebration of someone's life. A nice change of pace.
I was a huge fan of Earthquake as a kid and was really hoping there wasn't some horrible secret about him. Still wasn't ready for this episode. Sounded like he was a great guy that was gone way too soon. I was surprised they didn't bring up him covering up his tiger tattoo with a shark to fit his new gimmick.
They did
The good ones go young. Probably why I’m still here.
The shock master part was unnecessary but hilarious watching Hakus reaction
Shockmaster wasn’t getting his own episode this was a great time to highlight it
Solid episode. Tenta was a real man, unlike many others who run and quiver from responsibility. Tenta worked a shit day job at the Big n' Tall to keep it going for his family. That's honorable. He didn't turn to crime, he kept it straight, and for that reason I vote for John Tenta into the Hall of Fame.
Great man , like guy said on episode John would shovel shit if he had to to provide for his family , great wrestler and greater human being may he rest in peace
What a great sounding dude. Really cool that he accepted her son and raised him along with his own. Ive seen clips of Earthquake but Ive never seen Shark. 😂😂
He’s not a shark , he’s a man !
@patrickboian8545 Stevie Ray bookers brother tells a funny tenta story
@@jimbowlan5804 Yeah I really like Stevies show.
The Damian/Quakeburgers was tremendous!!
Brian saying that you never thought of Earthquake being present during the attitude era is so true
To know how evil heel Earthquake was then know how much of a sweet guy John Tenta was just goes to show how great a performer he was. In case you didn't know he was a hell of a Sumo wrestler as well.
Earthquake should have been WWF champion instead of Sgt Slaughter
He was super over when he was feuding with Hulk Hogan. Don't know why they didn't put the title on him at that point.
@@rdrouynrivExactly because he was super over when he was feuding with Hogan. Same thing happened to Sid, Mach and, allegedly (but believably) Jake Roberts. Couldn't have someone in that spot who might actually be able to steal Hogan's thunder.
YES!
@@KomradeKrusherDing ding, we have a winner
In hindsight, sure. Sarge was the bigger star with name recognition outside of the wrestling bubble so it made sense they went with Slaughter. And I highly doubt Hogan would have had a problem with the angle considering it was Warrior who was the champion at the time and Hogan would have been the one to take the belt back from Earthquake at Wrestlemania.
His daughter's smile was contagious
“Rarely has a wrestler had to deny that they were a fish.”
John Tenta at one point was a 20 year old that looked 50.
But tenta was a big bastard was scary just looking at him
Arn Anderson looked 50 when he was a junior in high school.
No he didn't.. wtf
and looked about 75 at 42/his death
The Rock in school looks about as old as The Rock now
I remember seeing his debut when Warrior and Dino were doing the push up challenge and he came down crashing on Warriors back over and over
I used to see Big John stomping around Guildford Mall in Surrey with his tiny Japanese wife beside him when I was a kid, when he was working for Al Tomko's promotion in Burnaby. It was always a sight. He was a massive head turner, and a helluva nice guy.
Earthquake and the natural disasters don't get the respect they ought to. I loved the natural disasters, they were believable, and could wrestle. Look at summerslam 92, great reaction for them against the Beverly brothers, another team that don't get their props.
The more butthurt Last gets by the existence of the show, the more I love it 😂
0:52 "I can't wait for the reenactment of someone stubbing their toe." 😂
The only dark parts were him working at a department store and hiding his bladder cancer from family and friends.
It definitely had flaws in the research.
For Tenta coming back to the WWF, Vince wanted to bring him back as Earthquake but he lost weight most likely because he was dealing with the bladder cancer at the time & didn’t tell anyone so he became Golga. It wasn't to stick it to him because he left.
As for Shockmaster, he successfully went through the wall during rehearsal l. Between rehearsal and live, a stagehand added the 2x4 that Ottman never saw & tripped falling through.
Haku's reaction to Shockmaster is awesome. That will be a wrestling meme forever.
Brian just came off like an edgelord contrarian here. This was my favorite DS episode
Earthquake used the ropes so hard, I thought they would snap but never did
To see Ming get so tickled😂😂😂, was the best, funniest, and quite frankly, one of the scariest things I've ever seen😂😂😂.
To Brian, RE: the Shockmaster recap:
That was Dark Side’s ONE shot at fitting the Shockmaster into one of their episodes. They HAD to take the shot.
As for the episode’s tone, I didn’t find it particularly sad at all. Sure, him dying young of cancer sucked, and I feel bad for his kids, but look at the man’s life. Literally no one who knew him had anything bad to say about him. THAT says everything right there. The first thing anyone said about him was how nice he was. His children barely sounded sad talking about him; because to them, he embodied happiness. RIP Mr. Tenta.
Tenta would have been the first one to laugh his butt off over the Shockmaster hook
Once again Brian goes out of his way to be completely insufferable
This guy thinks he’s the most funniest person ever, I agree, he’s completely insufferable and makes this impossible to listen too.
@@D-Ryit’s his smugness
When I was 5 i actually thought he killed hulk Hogan on the brother love show when I saw that lol
One of my coworkers and I were talking about this exact moment. He told me his dad and brother laughed at him for days because he thought Hogan died.
Quake-Burgers!!!!!!!
RIP Earthquake
Jim steadily realizing that he is older than all these departed legends is a heck of a thing.
Absolutely loved this Darkside tribute. What a man Tenta was. I can’t believe he was only 43 😢
I watered up a little to be honest. A good human being.
I went to high school with John in Surrey, BC Canada. He was a true gentle giant. He used to work the door at school dances and no one dared to try anything.
I grew up in South Wales back when the WWF did one or two UK shows a year in London. An indie promotion did a show in the town’s local leisure (sports) centre and Earthquake appeared. It was my first live wrestling show and I loved every second. Thank you John Tenta 🙏
Haku laughing at the Shockmaster was the highlight of the episode 😂😂😂😂
RIP John Tenta
I cant wait until they review Buff Bagwell
JUDY WAS CAUGHT DOING WHAT!!!
Thanks for reminding me. I forgot it was on 🤷♂️
Shaving her sons balls! Where was the lawnmower shaving kit then Corney? Lol
the oldest looking 28 year old ever, but seemed like a great man, a nice episode for the most part
Tenta was a helluva good guy who loved his family and could actually go if someone wanted to shoot. He deserved to be treated better.
Brian is such a cynical asshole here😂
This episode actually choked me up, more than most. What an amazing family he had.
Who gives a crap? Are you saying that because his opinion differs from yours, that he's wrong?
@@Miguel-mp7uz No, he's calling him a cynical asshole....which is the person's description of his attitude...has nothing to do with whether one agrees with his opnion on the show or not. Why do you care about this person's opinion? In a UA-cam comments section...where all people do is express opinions. Lol.
I was so bummed when he Natural Disasters lost the tag team match to Money Inc when Dibiase just left the ring
Brian Last looks like modern day Bam Margera
I think you need episodes on lighter stories like this to counter act episodes like Grizzly Smith & Benoit
When i was a kid, Earthquake lived in my apartment complex for a couple years.. i was probably grade 5... one time our class went ice skating and he was at the rink, doing pirouettes ! it blew my mind.
Last's opinions are just woeful
Especially of the food variety
Conrad is that you?
There was something really wholesome to me about seeing Haku laughing at the Shockmaster segment after seeing it the first time 😂😂
Overall this was a touching episode. John Tenta seemed like such a great guy (as does Fred Ottman who still looks great and seems like a great human being). His family is wonderful as well.
John Tenta was super active on wrestling forums near the end of his life. It was really cool and really sad to read all of his interactions with fans.
Probably one of the least dark episodes but really sad at the end
I was 7 in 98 so of course i loved The Oddities and Golga was my favorite in that group. I know Jim hated it, but they were over, can't deny that. Didn't know it was John Tenta until YEARS later.
It was definitely better than anything he did in WCW.
I felt Golga would've worked better at the time if he was portrayed more seriously. Personally, I would've taken him instead of Viscera in the Ministry of Darkness. Earthquake was certainly a better worker than Vis.
I was surprised that Earthquake John Tenta was included, there wasn't anything 'dark' about him or his life. Most of the series seems to omit some obvious 'dark' stories.
1. Chyna
2. Mike Awesome
3. The collapse of WCW and ECW
4. Razor Ramon/Scott Hall
5. Yokozuna
6. Brian Christopher
7. Buzz Sawyer
8. Mass Transit
Apparently they wanted to do a Mike Awesome episode but Mike’s family said ‘no’. Good for them.
Mass Transit was covered in the New Jack episode. Scott Hall would be a little raw given how recently he died
@@nbaldwin45 Yes, your right, I forgot about the New Jack episode. I think there's a lot of recent events that would make interesting topics for episodes, but as you say; too raw.
Replace Mass Transit with Hardbody Harrison
@@AmahlAmahlAmahl I hadn't heard of Hardbody Harrison until your comment. But jeez...yes, I'm surprised he hasn't already featured after reading about him.
Jim should do an Omnibus of strictly ads and completely going off the rails. It is some of the funniest content on this channel, lol. I laugh every time
That Koji Kitao vs Tenta match was the same show Duggan lost a match because he misunderstood the Japanese ref's count and forgot to kick out at 2
Haku was awesome
This wasn't a Dark Side, this was a celebration of John Tenta. Yes it had its peaks and valleys but it was nice to celebrate the live for a gentle giant and a kind-hearted man.
I witnessed Earthquake eat a table of big mac's after a house show in Sarnia Ontario in 89/90🌖
Personally, I'd rather see some reenacting instead of just interview footage. Of course, the best is when they have actual footage of the events.
Fr there’s no show without them. Brian is a moron
That's the name.I haven't heard in forever Earthquake was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up
AHH man, just finished watching the documentary. Teared me up man, fck. He was such a great guy, accomplished so much in two different sports. I wish I could have watched him wrestle live. Great documentary.
I dare say Kitao’s most memorable moment was his match with Nobuhiko Takada. Takada went into business for himself and knocked him out with a head kick.
It was like I'm not crying, you are.
Except we all were. 💔
He seems to have been such a lovely person. And I was terrified of him his as a kid. I was sure that he killed Damien.
Now I feel bad because he just seemed to be so kind
Haku laughing even puts the fear of god in you
Sidenote:
Kōji Kitao is to this day, the only modern Yokozuna, who never won a championship at the highest level of sumo! The standard for promotion to Yokozuna is two championships in a row or equivalent, he got promoted for being runner-up two times in a row,
He got kicked out of sumo a year and half later, thanks to bad behavior.
The Wholesome Side of the Ring
Speaking of getting tired of certain things with dark side of the ring , it’s exhausting to constantly hear Brian’s opinion of the show
WTF is Last's problem today?
He's always mad.
@@ricosalvaje5802
He sounds like he needs a 💨💨 or two.
@@ricosalvaje5802that’s what supporting Joe Biden will do to ya
Managed to mention Biden/Trump under a comment and video that had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Plus ten points of internetting.@@michaelspringer4532
Sounds like he doesn’t like the production of the TV show, and you don’t like the way he’s expressing his distaste.
I could be wrong though.
Earthquake was so nimble, quick and explosive. He was a main eventer for a reason. As far as ability and size and talent, he was a memorable wrestler.
I grew up near Vancouver. All Star Wrestling used to come to town every few months. I remember seeing John Tenta back stage as a kid. He was a mountain of a man.
So many people in that business pass away so young. That's dark enough imo
Good point.
The Dark side of the Ring episode of XPW and the poor kid who had his thumb cut off was sad. That ending where Rob Black is still alive and not in prison is crazy.
I feel like that tangent on Shockmaster wasn't needed. Hakus laugh was really funny though.
John Tenta, human redwood.
I think the reason wwe gave for not pushing Tenta on his return was that he'd lost alot of weight and didn't look as scary. Sad tho.. the man deserved better😢
Tenta was one of my favorites. Then to learn about the gentle giant he was... just made me love the man more than the wrestler. Rest up Mr Tenta and thx for all you did while here
Didn't ask him about the most viral clip of the whole thing, Meng laughing his rear off?
Goddamn but Haku laughing at seeing the Shockmaster entrance for the first time is the greatest thing I have ever seen
Princess Victoria should be an episode. Her book's pretty good,well detailed,etc.
I hope you all find someone who loves you as much as Brian loves having bad takes.
I kinda wanted to see more mention of his childhood and Surrey Canada, the city he grew up in
Haku pissing himself laughing was the best part, classic. But it was a story of a nice guy in the industry, I liked it. RIP John Tenta. But Haku laughing is the best lol
Haku laughing his ass off at the shock master was the highlight off the whole episode