The Rock Hypes up Upcoming Episodes of “Dark Side of the Ring”

VICE’s Dark of the Ring series has covered some of the darkest and infamous moments in pro wrestling history. In this season alone the series has tackled Chris Benoit’s Double-Murder Suicide, New Jack’s career, the Brawl For All, the death of Jimmy Snuka’s girlfriend Nancy Argentino and the death of Dino Bravo. And while the next episode thankfully isn’t about any tragic deaths, it does involve a notoriously moment from 1980s wrestling history — when David Schultz slapped 20/20 reporter John Stossel on camera.

One person who is particularly excited for the show is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Here’s a little background on what happened. Schultz was a heel who worked for a number of promotions from 1974-87, particularly the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Alliance, Stampede Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation. He first arrived in the WWF in late 1983 and would compete multiple times for the WWF World Heavyweight Chamionship and Intercontinental Championship the following year.

However in December 1984 Schultz was approached by Stossel backstage at a WWF event at Madison Sqaure Garden. The 20/20 reporter was trying to uncover some secrets about the world of pro wrestling, and flat out told Schultz he thought wrestling was fake. Schultz responded by slapping Stossel’s head twice, knocking him to the ground both times. The entire encounter was caught on video tape, and Schultz was quickly suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission. Stossel sued the WWF and was awarded $425,000 when the case was settled out of court.

Schultz claimed WWF officials told him to hit Stossel, but he was still fired from the company in early 1985. The episode coveirn gthe incident will air on April 28.

Johnson made a surprise appearance on this week’s edition of The Bump, where he congratulated Triple H on 25 years in the WWE.

“I’ve got to tell you man, you, from my very first match at The Garden, you were so good to me, so welcoming to me then,” Johnson said. “But also I knew, of everybody in the locker room I knew, that there was a hunger in your eyes that were were going to be competitors and were would compete and work our asses off. And that’s exactly what we did. That’s exactly why we gelled together and had incredibly chemistry. I always talk about the matches I had with Stone Cold [Steve Austin], that you had with Stone Cold, you’ve had with Mick Foley, I’ve had with Mick Foley, Undertaker, you name it.

“But there’s only one man I’ve gone around the world with and wrestled consistently so many times and put in just incredible matches, and that’s you,” he added, before congratulating the 14-time world champion on all of his accomplishments both in and out of the ring.