10 Things We Learned From Nail In The Coffin: The Fall And Rise Of Vampiro

5. His Troubled Past

Nail in the Coffin Vampiro
Epic Pictures

So much of Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro will either bring a smile or a wince to your face - depending on whether it's the father/daughter relationship or the violent brutality of Vampiro the wrestler we're seeing - but the most disturbing part of the documentary is hearing Ian Hodgkinson lay bare his troubled past.

Pegged as a hockey protege, it was expected that the young Ian would go on to forge a career for himself as a professional hockey player. It was during these teenage years, however, than Hodgkinson began to feel a burning urge within him that caused him to get into plenty of fights - many of which he himself admittedly went looking for.

Deciding to turn to a local priest for guidance, Hodgkinson was sexually abused, which in turn led to him turning to drugs.

As Ian puts it in Nail in the Coffin:

"I started taking drugs to understand what was going on and to try to hide the shame and deal with the pain."

A hockey trip shortly after this saw Hodgkinson discover The Sex Pistols, and soon after this he was likewise drawn in by The Road Warriors after coming across an episode of AWA television one night.

While the hard edge of both The Sex Pistols and The Road Warriors struck a chord with Ian, the heady heights of a pro wrestling career were still a long way away, with Hodgkinson then ending up working for one of Canada's biggest crime families.

It was only after he realised that this path may end up costing him his life that the future Vampiro moved out to Los Angeles - and he'd eventually find his way to the Arena Mexico.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.