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As soon as I read Vladimir's documentary was released, I made sure to watch that evening. All I can say is WOW! Anyone who has ever loved anything should go out of their way to watch this. It was such a beautiful heart-string tugging piece that can and will remind us why we love wrestling. So many of us have spent decades living vicariously through Vladimir and his WWF/WWE adventures and events... not in an envious way necessarily, but in a "that guy is one of us!" kind of way. It was such a great love letter to all of us who ever cheered or booed at a live event.
Is Vladimir OK? He was so brave to talk about his suicide attempts after the loss of his mother and hardships during the pandemic. His love and pride of who she was brought tears to my eyes. He mentioned he is getting help, but as a fan, I think there are legions of us that just want to know that he's OK.
OK is a relative term. He is very happy this week that the film is finally out as he just wanted everyone to know his story and know about his mother. Since the film was completed, however, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (which he publicly announced this past April) and has been forced to retire as he has been dealing with balance issues as well as the loss of a good portion of his speech from the disease. So, he's OK, but he's not as OK as you saw in parts of the film, which was shot from 2019 to 2021 off and on. Emotionally, he's much better than he was during the pandemic. Physically, he's undergone a number of surgeries and is in physical and speech therapy currently. So, he's struggling. I cannot over-explain enough how much of a boost to him personally the film coming out was for his morale.
What took so long for this to be released and what prompted the out of nowhere drop into Peacock?
I don't think there was one reason it was shelved. It wasn't done to him personally. There was a decision made in July 2021 to stop releasing a number of the documentaries that were planned or being worked on. The Lex Luger Icons doc got re-worked into an A&E project. Vlad's got shelved. A documentary about enhancement talents with Dusty Wolfe, Barry Horowitz and others was dropped while in the middle of filming. WWE changed strategies for the Network and Peacock, they had numerous regime changes with even Triple H and Vince McMahon being out at times, the director of the film was let go and then the company was sold. With no disrespect to Vlad, the company has much bigger issues to deal with.
As to why it came out, there were folks who regularly (and sometimes to their own detriment) kept bringing it up and pointing out that the film should be released. They deserve some big thank you-s from everyone. It was a year and a half of it being brought out and it being pointed out that it makes the company look good to release a story about a fan who loved them so much that the company and the talents loved him back. There were at least four times I was told the project was dead and it would never be seen, but there were some who kept pushing for it.
Finally, the dam broke and the decision was made it put it out last Friday and it was online for streaming within a few hours. It's obvious there won't be any promotion behind it, but now at least it's out for everyone who asked about it and if nothing else, it completes Vladimir's journey and allows him to have his story told. My issue all along was that he wasn't a WWE personality who worked for the company. He was a fan who poured his heart out about some of the worst hurt he ever dealt with in life and for that alone, he was owed the world seeing his doc. Now they have and WWE should be thanked for that. In the end, it was released. The delays don't matter to me personally. It had to have been Kevin Dunn who flipped the switch at the end of the day, so if anyone wants to thank someone, thank him.
What was your reaction when you found out his story would finally be released for WWE audiences?
You have to understand this is probably the one story I could never be unbiased about. It was a film about one of my best friends that featuring several of my other best friends that had been lost in a vortex somewhere. I wanted it to come out. When I got the word that it was possibly close on Friday afternoon, I hoped but didn't expect it to actually happen. When it hit the WWE Network and then finally Peacock, I was overjoyed and relieved for Vlad. I won't even lie. I hardly slept last Friday because I was so excited for him - and because had his cell phone off and had gone to bed, I couldn't even tell him! When I finally got him and told him, it was like Mardi Gras and Christmas for him, and it meant the world to me. I can never thank those responsible for getting the film out to the masses enough.
WWE has beautifully spotlighted two fans in very unique and prestigious ways: Connor the Crusher and now Vladimir. Does this open the door for other superfan opportunities?
I think there's a great long-form documentary in there about the fans who love WWE so much they become known personalities themselves. Whether WWE ever moves forward on that, I don't know. Today, I am just thankful that Vlad's story is out in the wild for everyone to watch. It doesn't belong to WWE or even Vlad anymore - it's for everyone to watch and consume and hopefully be inspired by and to me, that's a chance for the magic of Vlad to be remembered forever. I can't think of a better person for that to happen to.
Has WWE reached out to Vlad at all?
Not since 2021, to the best of my knowledge. They don't have to. The film is out.
Loved the Vlad doc and saw that you've tweeted about it a lot. (Also, long-time reader of your reporting. One of the few I trust.) The one thing I still don't know (!) is how Vlad could afford all of this? What job does he do where -- even if he saved every penny -- he can live in the upper east side of NY, have an extra room for wrestling memorabilia and afford front-row tickets for decades? (I assume these days he gets some assistance from WWE.)
Vlad receives zero assistance from WWE. I don't know how you'd connect that together. That's not reality.
He had a regular job. He worked for many years for a group of apartment buildings owned by the same owner, doing superintendent and handyman and porter work depending on what was needed at what building at the time. He had the same job for decades and would still be there working had it not been for his health. As far as Vlad's apartment, he had the same one for decades. He just saved his money and spent it on what he loved. He was a frugal guy then and is now. I think a lot of people forget that he wasn't flying all over the world every week for Raw and there weren't 15 PPVs a year. He was going to Madison Square Garden once a month, WWF TV tapings in the Northeast and PPVs a few times a year. It was a different world then, and a lot of it was local. He was also going with his circle, which allowed them to share rooms, rental cars, etc. PPV tickets weren't $1000 like they are now. It was a different time and he made it happen by busting his butt, the same way someone works their butt off to buy season tickets for a NFL team.
Do you think MLW giving Vladimir an award led to WWE delaying the release of his film?
No, I would probably guess that WWE had and still has no idea MLW gave Vlad that award. If someone being nice to Vladimir and surprising him led to WWE being angry, that would speak really poorly on WWE. I'd like to think that wasn't the case.
There was a rumor WWE killed the doc because Vladimir went to an AEW show. Anything to that?
No, because he's never been to AEW. He attended a Ring of Honor show this year during Wrestlemania weekend. So, zero truth.
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