REVIEW: ‘Breaking Kayfabe: Teddy Annis’ DVD

Kayfabe Commentaries‘ revealing shoot interview series “Breaking Kayfabe” is back with arguably the most controversial edition yet in “Breaking Kayfabe: Teddy Annis”

“Breaking Kayfabe” is Kayfabe C.’s groundbreaking shoot interview series that continues to prove the personal lives of wrestling’s biggest names can be just as crazy and interesting as their in-ring careers! For this edition series host (and the best interviewer in the business today) Sean Oliver is joined by one of (if not the) most controversial and most divisive man in all of professional wrestling, Teddy Annis, a.k.a. Teddy Hart.

Today Teddy Hart is best known for the Rolling Stone expose “The Rise and Fall of Wrestling’s Weed-Dealing, Cat-Breeding Phenom” (in which they say of Annis: “[Teddy Hart] breeds Persian cats and sells weed, and over the last few years has made more income from these endeavors than from the indie wrestling circuits that still welcome him.”), his recently withdrawn sexual assault charges in Edmonton, and the long list of incidents in and out of the ring that have all but blackballed Annis from the major wrestling promotions. Considered by many as the “greatest wrestler who never made it”, Teddy Annis’ life and career are the stuff “Breaking Kayfabe” was made for!

The bulk of the first hour and fifteen minutes of the interview has to do with how Teddy ended up being charged in Edmonton with one count of sexual assault, one count of unlawful confinement, and three counts of assault. Though we learn how Teddy got into breeding cats (including an hypoallergenic breed), getting into the marijuana growing business, and the events that led to his release from WWE, the first half of the interview deals entirely with the legal escort service Annis ran with his then-wife and a growing cast of women and how it went awry. The story is long, convoluted, and at times contradictory. It’s also very, very pro-Teddy Annis. As is pointed out numerous times throughout this portion of the interview, an invitation was extended to Annis’ ex-wife, who refused, saying only: “I’m not interested. I have moved on. So should he.”

The second portion of the interview delves into some of Annis’ most controversial moments in the business, the behind the scenes lowdown on each, and why he feels he’s been wrongly vilified, claiming not to know what the big deal is, that the controversies are “vague” and that he isn’t the problem. From his fight with CM Punk to the 2003 Ring of Honor “Scramble” fiasco to working with Konnan (whom Teddy believes was a happy and joyous in WCW), Annis gives his side of the story and explains why, in his mind, everything’s been blown out of proportion.

The highlight (or lowlight) comes around the 90-minute mark when Teddy goes on a tear about the Hart family legacy and how “my last name murdered me.” Though he’s proud of who Bret and Owen (and others) were away from the ring, Teddy blames Bret for the deaths of Owen, Pillman, and Davey Boy; the collapse of WCW and the fizzling of the wrestling boom; and (of course) his own WWE career not panning out all because Bret decked Vince McMahon in the wake of the “Montreal Screwjob”. Annis thinks Bret and Shawn Michaels should be running WWE today and that it should be Teddy Hart who is the main player in WWE, listing a series of matches he never got see because of one punch. Teddy blames Bret for Teddy Hart not wrestling The Rock or Kurt Angle and firmly believes he should be in WWE right now facing AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and John Cena with Bret and Nattie in his corner and Tyson Kidd booking the shows. Annis says that if he and Bret only buried the hatchet years sooner then he would be a player in WWE today. The worst, to me, is when Teddy says that Stu Hart would have authorized stabbing Bret to death in the shower (a la Bruiser Brody) had the events of 1997 transpired in Stu’s territory!

The hard-hitting topics don’t stop as we hear about Teddy’s brother dying and its affects on his family, and bribing his school’s principal for a diploma to get into WWE. Along the way Teddy complains about facing CM Punk and AJ Styles when they were on their way up rather than when they were “comfortable, happy, relaxed” as WWE Superstars; gives his thoughts on other members of the Hart family, including burying the late Smith Hart for supposedly mistreating handicapped people; and the belief that he’s currently not signed to WWE not because of his history or current legal problems in Texas but because of harsh words he spoke about The Rock and Samoa Joe on a podcast. Eek!

With a running time of 2 hours and 9 minutes, “Breaking Kayfabe: Teddy Annis” is clearly NOT for the casual fan. This one comes with a warning. However, if you’re a fan of Teddy Hart or a hardcore wrestling fan or just this series, for that matter, it may be something worth checking out.

 

You can pick up a physical copy of “Breaking Kayfabe: Teddy Annis” on DVD, download it for later, or stream it on demand instantly at KayfabeCommentaries.com.