New Jack & Vic Grimes' Brush With Death At ECW Living Dangerously 2000

A portion of pro wrestling's creative model hinges upon trying to top what has come before, especially on a physical level. Clearing the ever-rising bar can be a daunting challenge, but like a moth to a flame, some wrestlers are drawn to that challenge, putting their bodies on the line for the sake of entertainment, while understanding that the margin for error is sometimes razor-thin.

Though most pro wrestling high-wire stunts often take place without issue, some backfire in horrific fashion, and such was the case in 2000 when ECW star New Jack was nearly killed as the result of one particular dangerous spot. In the middle of a live pay-per-view, before thousands of attendees and tens of thousands watching at home, The Original Gangsta had a very serious brush with death. He would never be quite the same again.

A Dangerous Sport 

Not even a year had passed since one of pro wrestling's most profoundly-upsetting tragedies. In an accident that could have been avoided entirely, during WWF Over The Edge, Owen Hart fell over 70 ft to his death while making a special descending entrance as his Blue Blazer alter ego. Among the numerous controversies associated with The King of Hart's senseless death were issues with the flimsy rigging and the fact that the pay-per-view continued to its planned conclusion, even after it was known that Hart had passed away. 

While investigations and legal action played out, life (as it often does) went on in professional wrestling. At the time, the wrestling industry was living through a boom period, enjoying popularity not seen since the mid-to-late 1980s. 

Among the many sought-after elements in wrestling was the proliferation of stunts, which only became increasingly common as the 1990s continued. Common among them were falls off and through steel cages, dives from ladders, brawls in more dangerous locations, wrestlers going through tables, the use of automobiles, and unprotected chair shots to the head. Many of these stunts were performed with some semblance of safeguarding, but few would walk away from such incidents completely unscathed. 

One promotion that featured more stunts than most was Extreme Championship Wrestling and the promotion since the mid-1990s had built their reputation on carefree barbarism, from Sabu's springboards into peril, Balls Mahoney's chair-swinging, Spike Dudley's ragdoll bumps, or Rob Van Dam's death-defying dives. Fans went into ECW events expecting a certain amount of anatomical sacrifice.

New Jack

One individual who brought the violence on a regular basis was New Jack. From the moment ‘Natural Born Killaz’ blared over the sound system, New Jack - sometimes alone, sometimes with a friend - would launch a trash can full of blunt objects into the ring and spend the duration of his matches using those weapons. 

By the turn of the millennium, the New Jack match formula had become easy to memorise of song hits, weapons introduced, some ringside brawling, metallic strikes to the skulls of the enemy, some forehead carving, and (usually) a diving chair shot called The 187 as a finish. On a good number of occasions - particularly matches taped for TV - New Jack went a little further into the stratosphere, however. At some point during the course of his arena-spanning fights, New Jack would dive off a high perch within the arena such as a balcony or wall ledge onto an opponent laid across a table.

By New Jack's own admission on Dark Side of the Ring, he would snort cocaine in the locker room to get himself in the state of mind needed to perform these sorts of risky free falls. The balcony spots had become a regular part of New Jack's repertoire in the 1990s, visible in battles with the likes of The Dudley Boyz, and former Gangstas partner Mustafa Saed.

Vic Grimes 

After the Dudley Boyz jumped to the World Wrestling Federation in the summer of 1999, Paul Heyman cobbled together several undercard heels into a new stable called Da Baldies, a street gang whose unifying theme was the fact that all of them sported the chrome dome look. After cycling through several short-lived members (including WCW washout PN News), the Baldies settled upon a firmly-static trio of kingpin leader Angel, roughneck DeVito, and rotund enforcer Grimes.

Grimes (or Vic Grimes, as he was better known) had been an industry curiosity for several years. Standing barely over six feet tall and weighing in excess of 330 lbs, Grimes contradicted his roly-poly physique with unthinkable agility. Though far from technically polished, Grimes could hit flips like very few men of a similar frame. Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader were probably the only men of comparable size and shape fans had seen tumble through the air before Grimes came along.

A late-1990s series of matches with the much smaller Erin O'Grady - the future Crash Holly - on the west coast indie scene brought Grimes considerable notice. Their big man vs. little man dynamic spawned some wildly entertaining (and entertainingly wild) bouts, and it put both men on the WWF's radar.

In the summer of 1999, each of them debuted on WWF TV, but only one stuck. Crash Holly quickly became a fixture, while Grimes, playing a drug dealer named Key that aligned with Droz and Prince Albert, was gone in a flash. Grimes had apparently injured The Godfather during his introduction angle, while reported issues with his general work also led to Grimes being cast out of the Federation very quickly.

Before the end of 1999 - at the apparent recommendation of the WWF - Grimes went to work for ECW, where he was immediately put into Da Baldies.

New Jack Vs. Da Baldies

By this time, New Jack and Angel were embroiled in a heated feud after Angel poked The Original Gangsta in the eye with a staple gun during an angle. Over the months ahead, New Jack would play the role of one-man army against Angel and his henchmen.

Many of the New Jack vs. Angel matches would follow the same template of beginning the match brawling among the strewn-about plunder. As New Jack gained the early upper hand, DeVito and Grimes would jump in to interfere. With Angel down, New Jack and Grimes would brawl around the venue, culminating in New Jack incapacitating Grimes with a high-dive stunt at the back of the arena. 

New Jack would then make his way back to the ring, overpower the smaller DeVito, but then fall victim to a recovered Angel, who would steal another win to bolster his claim of being "King of the Streets" over his arch-nemesis.

New Jack and Grimes fighting to the back of the arena had happened several times in late 1999 and they continued to do the spot as March 2000 rolled around, with March 12 hosting the second ECW pay-per-view of the year in Living Dangerously from the O'Neill Center in Danbury, Connecticut. 

Living Dangerously 2000

The Living Dangerously card was an unusual one in that of the first seven matches, only one of them went past the 10-minute mark, which was a Bullrope Match won by 54-year-old Dusty Rhodes over Steve Corino. 

The card continued with one accelerated showcase after another. ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome won an impromptu match over midcarder Kid Kash, Jado and Gedo made a totally random appearance losing to midcard duo Nova and Chris Chetti, and Super Crazy and Rhino also advanced to a tournament final to crown the new ECW World Television Champion. 

The Danbury Fall

After Balls Mahoney defeated FMW regular Kintaro Kanemura in under two minutes, he was attacked by Da Baldies. In classic Pavlovian fashion, ECW fans took the trio's appearance as the impetus for New Jack to appear, armed with his array of weapons. Right on cue, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube heralded the arrival of New Jack. 

Just before then, Grimes had flattened Mahoney with an impressive top rope dive through a ringside table, so he was briefly out of the picture while New Jack battered Angel and DeVito. After New Jack took out the other two, Grimes made the save and began carving up New Jack with a pizza cutter. 

Quickly, though, New Jack took over by hitting Grimes with a snow shovel, but Grimes gained the upper hand with a low blow. Soon, they were both on the floor and amongst the ECW fans in attendance, beginning their inevitable trek toward one side of the arena.

Cameras briefly lost sight of the two among the sea of humanity before the broadcast showed Grimes pounding a bloody New Jack with a crowd control stanchion. He then placed his opponent onto a table before setting up a second one over top of him, fixing to make New Jack the meat in a sawdust sandwich.

Grimes then began climbing an adjacent scaffold, but seconds later, New Jack was off the tables and climbing the other side of the structure. Thirteen feet off the ground, Grimes and New Jack engaged in a slugfest with extremely minimal support underfoot.

At this point, the plan was apparently for New Jack to throw Grimes off the scaffold through the two tables, in what would have no doubt been a spectacular scene. It's not clear if New Jack was intending to go with him for the ride, sending both men through the tables, or Grimes was going to make a solo trip, allowing New Jack to return to the ring to battle DeVito and Angel.

Whatever the plan was, Grimes was getting cold feet atop the unstable scaffold. Other wrestlers would claim that neither man scouted the scaffolding ahead of time, so the spot was planned without either of them knowing how little footing they would have.

While Grimes was skittish, though, New Jack was committed to finishing the spot. After all, both men had just climbed this scaffold and two tables were set up below. From a show perspective, they couldn’t exactly back out now as they had already teased the big spot. 

For what felt like an eternity, Grimes and New Jack shuffled atop the scaffold, throwing occasional worked punches to give the impression that they were brawling. They were ultimately stalling, though, while New Jack tried to convince Grimes to go through with the fall.

Despite Grimes' protestations, New Jack told him, "On three." With his hands grasping Grimes by the lapels, New Jack counted to three and tugged the super-heavyweight.

Grimes subtly pulled back in hesitation, which was critical to the timing. Holding onto Grimes, New Jack's feet went over the side and, because of his reluctance, Grimes went a second later than his opponent would have liked.

New Jack's feet hit the top table. Grimes, like a boulder, rolled through the air. Upon New Jack's awkward landing, Grimes' back hit New Jack's head and slammed it into the concrete floor, crunching it beneath his frame.

Cameras panned wide amid the cheers and cries of astonishment. Colour commentator Don Callis' voice grew serious as the staff quickly realised that New Jack was badly hurt.

A pool of blood formed under New Jack's head and he later claimed that he had brain fluid leaking from his nose. New Jack had suffered brain damage and a skull fracture, as well as blindness in his right eye. He had also broken his leg from his foot spiking the table.

Grimes was helped away while the collective bump was shown from numerous angles on replay. The cameras stopped going back to New Jack, relying on wide shots and replays as a means of filling time. 

Backstage was a scene of sheer panic. A number of wrestlers were of the belief that New Jack might have died. Callis and Joey Styles did their best to keep calm under the circumstances, scrambling while announcing they would try to have an update on New Jack's condition before the night was over, which never arrived. 

Halting the show altogether was not a discussion, as only two matches remained, both for championships. The decision was made to rush through both bouts as quickly as possible.

The tag title match was next, a three way won by Lance Storm and Justin Credible after a mere nine minutes. The Television Title final closed the show, with Super Crazy upsetting Rhino in a shade under eight minutes. Living Dangerously only ran just over two hours due to the panicked haste to speed through the final bouts. 

New Jack Seeks Revenge

As the event rushed to its conclusion, New Jack was finally helped away and transported to a local hospital via ambulance. Not only did New Jack survive, but he was back in the ring about a month later. Though still capable of battering other wrestlers with crutches, guitars, and metal objects, the injuries would affect New Jack for the rest of his life.

As for Grimes, New Jack claimed the Baldies enforcer never reached out to apologise or see how he was doing. The two had a physical altercation at a later TV taping, but continued working together in the short-term, before Grimes departed ECW that summer.

A year and a half later, the two men were on opposite sides of a Scaffold Match in XPW. There, New Jack exacted his revenge with the use of a stun gun, incapacitating Grimes before unsafely throwing him off the 20-foot structure and towards a bevy of tables, which Grimes barely grazed in his addled state, and he bounced off the ropes. Incredibly, Grimes only suffered minor injuries, including a dislocated ankle.

By New Jack's own admission, he was trying to kill Grimes, claiming he was trying to throw him to the floor. 

"I was high so I just tased him. I tased the sh*t out of him….I wanted him to hit the floor. I just didn’t throw him hard enough. I was trying to throw his ass to the f*cking floor," New Jack said on Dark Side of the Ring.  

Regardless, New Jack considered the matter settled as, while Grimes was being tended to in the post-match, New Jack approached him and coldly said, "Now we're even."

To the surprise of no one, New Jack and Vic Grimes never worked a match together again following XPW Free Fall.