Last night, after weeks and weeks of hype and build up, independent filmmaker Jon Bravo finally released a 20+ minute video that was finally going to prove to the world the massive steroid scandal that he claimed would rock the wrestling world, having previously announced (or alluded to) that WWE Superstars from past and present, including Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Luther Reigns, were all guilty parties in. He even claimed one past WWE Superstar had ordered over $140,000 worth of product in one order. Well, the video came and went and most viewers came to the same conclusion: “Well, there’s 25 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.”
Apart from the atrocious spelling mistakes (on March 16, universally known as Stone Cold Day to wrestling fans, Bravo misspelled Stone Cold’s name twice as “Steve Austyn”), the entire 21 minutes and 37 seconds is entirely Bravo talking to convicted steroids dealer Richard Rodriguez – who’s clearly still in prison as his interview is routinely interrupted by an operator declaring he’s receiving this phone call from a federal prison (why he never edited those out is beyond baffling). And in between his dialogue with Rodriguez, which doesn’t really shed light on anything beyond the allegations we’ve already heard, the rest of the video is speculative heresay in regards to all of the celebrity names that Bravo had previously hyped as having evidence on.
Now to be fair, he does show some evidence of transactions between Rodriguez’ company and several men: Rick Bassman (wrestling trainer), filmmaker Chris Bell (brother of weightlifters Mark and Mike Bell), trainer Chris Cavallini, celebrity trainer Tony Morris, former WWE wrestler Daniel Puder, actor Josh Duhamel and weightlifter Jesse Burdick. Speaking of Burdick, it turns out that that former WWE Superstar who placed the large orders wasn’t actually a WWE Superstar – it was Burdick who used the name “Jesse Ventura” during his orders. Every other alleged celebrity buyer, from Roman Reigns to John Cena to Mark Wahlberg, seemed to be accused as possible recipients of these orders simply due to being photographed with one of the men he provides evidence of transactions on.
But the final “reveal”, or the climax that everyone was waiting for – the proverbial door to Al Capone’s vault – was an even bigger let down than the previous 17 minutes. The film concludes with Bravo telling Rodriguez over the phone that he cannot confirm Roman Reigns’ guilt in the entire scenario because the evidence is on other devices of Rodriguez’ still being held by the DEA. So after months of hyping that he in fact had all the evidence on Reigns, he loudly declares he has none of it.
It had all the hype and build up of Geraldo Rivera’s failed 1986 special, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault, where the celebrity journalist opened Capone’s vault live on TV to find it…completely empty. After months of hyping the show, Rivera fell flat on his face when the entire reveal proved to be nothing. Which is exactly what this has turned out to be when it comes to shocking and damning the wrestling world.
That sound you hear in the distance, over the hills and far away? That’s the echoes of Vince McMahon laughing after watching this and declaring “Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34, FULL STEAM AHEAD!”
