Nick Gage is the self-proclaimed king of deathmatch wrestling, but his road to the top has been marked with a six-year prison sentence for armed robbery and personal tragedies.@darksideofring. Tonight at 9p. pic.twitter.com/gVCwVtnh9J
— VICE TV (@VICETV) May 13, 2021
Hope.
It’s a word rarely associated with Vice’s excellent documentary series, Dark Side of the Ring. Often times audience (and those in the episode) are left staggered, deflated and gutted by the events that have unfurled in the episode.
In the second episode of Dark Side‘s third season there’s plenty to feel gutted about in the story of death match wrestling legend Nick Gage. This is the story of a man who died due to a freak accident in a match, whose immediate family passed in horrific ways, who became addicted to opiates, and ultimately spent years in prison for bank robbery.
Yet, you leave this episode with hope.
This because the infectious positivity of Nick Gage cannot be denied. Yes, from an outsider’s perspective, a grizzled man with wearing the scars of combat on his body, often times covered in gallons of plasma and spewing profanity at a rapid clip is an absolute source of hope and it shines through in this episode. If you’ve ever seen Gage wrestle on “tape” or in-person, you know how grateful of the new lease on life he has post-incarceration. You can see not only in the footage of his wrestling, but through his words and body language how much the fans — who wrote him copious letters of encouragement during his jail time and cheer him with rapid passion today — mean to him. They’re his family, they’re the reason he’s having a redemption story and it’s wonderfully obvious that he will do whatever he physically can to thank them for this.
This is what makes Nick Gage’s story so fascinating. Yes, at times this is a typical Dark Side tale filled with downward spirals and death, but rarely have we seen the subject of an episode come off so authentic. His in-ring persona and “real world” persona are mirror images of each other — he’s loyal, he’s genuine, honest, ferocious, and unabashed in everything he does. He’s truly a captivating subject and it’s these reasons why viewers of this episode, like wrestling fans for the past decade find themselves totally enthralled with the leader of the MDK Gang, Eastern Block H8 Club.
As for the episode itself — it’s an all-time for the series. It deftly weaves in the history of death match wrestling (with a heaping helping of context from AEW’s Jon Moxley), Gage’s personal history (put into perspective by long-time girlfriend Sondra and GCW owner Bret Lauderdale) and some of Gage’s wildest in-ring moments (in particular his much-publicized incident with David Arquette). The episode is weaving multiple threads in this episode, but it never loses sight of the redemption of the king of death match wrestling.
This reviewer has stated this multiple times about Dark Side of the Ring before but it rings even truer in this episode — this is 100% a series that non-wrestling fans can watch and unequivocally enjoy. It’s a masterfully-produced, well-research docuseries that tells phenomenal, captivating stories complete with excellent interviews interspliced between oft-times rare footage. However, if I were to point at one of the best episodes of the series ever, it would have to be this one about Nick Gage. It’s a true story of redemption that is still unfolding to this day and you’d be hard pressed to find a more captivating person that you will find yourself rooting for than Nick Gage.
And at the end of the episode you will know the answer to the age old question — “Who’s the god of this shit?” The answer: Nick Fucking Gage. MDK all fucking day.
Dark Side of the Ring Season 3 Episode 2: The Ultra-Violence of Nick Gage is Now Streaming on the Vice website.
Nick Gage’s devastating struggles with homelessness and addiction came to a head shortly before Christmas Eve, 2010, when he entered a bank in New Jersey.
All-new episode premieres Thursday, 9pm on @vicetv and @CraveCanada. pic.twitter.com/vkyDvfwg1k
— Dark Side of the Ring (@DarkSideOfRing) May 11, 2021
