15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Tony Atlas
4. Tony Tried To Get Shot By Police
Perhaps unsurprisingly given how low he was feeling, Tony became suicidal around this time. In a shocking admission, he told VICE how he'd actively go into police station parking lots to try get them to come out and shoot him. On the street, Atlas would also walk in front of cars - he was generally trying to find different ways to get killed, because things had become insufferable for him.
He still has no clue how he managed to keep going day after day. Some nights, Atlas drifted off on his park bench probably wishing he wouldn't wake up again. Damn, how intense and depressing a thought is that?! It's the police station parking lot story that'll catch a lot of viewers off guard though. Imagine how low somebody has to be to think, 'I know - I'll wander into his car park and try to convince cops to shoot me to death'.
Mercifully, that didn't happen and Tony is still around today to tell his story.
He'd gone from tearing it up on WWF cards right before the WrestleMania and Hulkamania boom of the mid-1980s to sleeping on a bench, eating out of bins, scoring drugs if he was able and having suicidal thoughts daily. It's unbelievable that Atlas managed to pull himself back from the brink. He certainly couldn't have done that without an angel walking into his life one day, that's for sure.
Someone very special showed Tony the love and care he sorely needed at the worst time in his entire life.