10 Things We Learned From VICE’s Dark Side Of The Ring: New Jack
9. New Jack's Promos Even Shocked D'Lo Brown
Not many people know that D'Lo Brown cut his teeth as a "bump guy" for New Jack's tag-team with Mustafa (known, appropriately, as The Gangstas) in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. D'Lo says he was only really there to take punishment from babyfaces so Jack and Mustafa didn't have to.
He was also left shocked by most of New Jack's promos.
Jack's scathing rebuttals to some of the racist abuse he received from SMW's audience throughout the mid-90s were deemed so controversial that Jim Cornette ran a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. "The views of The Gangstas are not those of Smoky Mountain Wrestling or this station" gave Jack carte blanche to use slurs and say anything he liked.
In the background, Brown couldn't believe what he was getting away with. The WWF and WCW were very family friendly in 1994-1995, and it stunned D'Lo that SMW would let New Jack address serious issues like racism and murder on TV.