10 Things We Learned From VICE’s Dark Side Of The Ring: New Jack

6. He Warned Paul Heyman About The 'Mass Transit' Incident

Paul Heyman New Jack
WWE.com

The infamous 'Mass Transit' incident has been explored in-depth before, but never like this.

There's zero remorse in New Jack's voice as he remembers "beating the sh*t" out of 17-year old Erich Kulas at an ECW event in November 1996. In fact, Jack didn't care one bit when people told him in 2002 that Kulas had died ("So? It wasn't my fault"). Looking back, it all seems so reckless and preventable.

Backstage, Jack says he asked Paul Heyman how far he could go with the rookie. In a moment he'd probably come to regret, Paul E said he could do whatever he liked - illustrating his chilling mindset at the time, Jack told Heyman people would be talking about that night for "10 years". He wasn't lying. Folks still talk about it 24 years on.

After speaking with Heyman and warning his boss that things would get seriously violent, Jack got high in the locker room and told D-Von Dudley to stay out of the ring once The Gangstas threw him over the top rope. He'd already decided he was going to hurt Kulas before the match even started.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.