David Arquette On Going "Way Too Far" In Infamous Deathmatch Against Nick Gage

Wrestling Inc.'s Nick Hausman recently sat down with David Arquette to talk about his new documentary "You Cannot Kill David Arquette". The film focuses on Arquette's personal journey as he makes his return to professional wrestling since his infamous time as WCW World Champion at WCW. One viral match from Arquette's return came at GCW where Arquette got bloodied in his death match against Nick Gage. Arquette discussed how that match changed the story of the documentary.

"Well, we wanted to start from the bottom, and backyard wrestling had become a bigger thing. Like it was on VHS back when I was wrestling, but then some wrestlers now have come out of backyard wrestling," Arquette noted. "So we wanted to have an element because we wanted to build up sort of from the ground up and get proper training along the way. So they set all that up, and I just would show up and just sort of be prepared with gear, but be open to whatever happened.

"But I'm the one who like wanted to go out on the independent circuit and do all those matches that weren't on camera, like a lot of the stuff that's in the film was from the cameras that were shooting it, so I didn't have like these guys following me on the independent circuit that much right, although they came up for my birthday, and they came up for a couple things. And then the death match wasn't even supposed to be filmed. David Darg, one of the directors, was in town. I said, 'you should probably come because this is going to be crazy.' Lo and behold it was."

Arquette discussed more about how the original story of the documentary changed after that Gage match that, from Gage's perspective, had a strange ending. Most of Arquette's return was with popular indie wrestler RJ City, and Arquette credited City for helping him out during his matches, but Arquette talked about some of the problems that came along the way like some indies booking him but not City.

"We showed a little of the wrestling with RJ, but there's a whole world there in tag team wrestling in independent wrestling, but it was a lot lighter," Arquette said. But the Nick Gage thing did happen, but it's weird. As I was going along, certain people would book me and and wouldn't book RJ, and then that would be all kind of messed up. I always loved wrestling with RJ. He's a veteran like he's been doing this for like 10 years at least, probably more. So there's always a comfort level there when you have someone who has so much experience, who knows how to set up matches and tell a story in a better way, protect you in a better way. So when I wouldn't wrestle with him, typically I'd have a horrible match or do something stupid, or I get hurt, all this stuff.

"I wish they would have covered more of that, but this story kind of unraveled itself, and the big lesson in it all. Even the Legends of Wrestling thing, part of that was the first day of shooting. We get to fight with the Nasty Boys because they didn't want to film me in this place, and we hadn't got asked for clearance. It was our fault, but then it sort of comes full circle because he sees me getting the death match. And then he calls me up to let me know that he's got my back. It's to talk about certain things because I try to protect the business, and I don't want to reveal too much and all that."

Arquette talked about the pain that his body endured throughout his matches. However, he felt he needed to keep going not only because of his daredevil mindset but also to give back to fans. He said his one regret was not getting into the Japanese hardcore scene.

"I was almost done with it after the RJ match to be honest with you," Arquette admitted. "I'd been in so much pain. I had three fractured ribs, and I was taking all these bumps and it was just so painful like the pain in having fractured ribs and taking wrestling bumps. I still get the sense memory for it. It's just chilling the kind of pain it is. It's a full body pain, but when that happened in that thing, I definitely felt I'd taken it way too far. I'm a bit of a daredevil, and I'm a little crazy.

"I'm not scared of anyone. So it's a bad combination to be put in a ring because I could tolerate pain, and I like to put on the show specially for GCW fans. They're like some of the hungriest fans in the wrestling community. So I wanted to do it for them, and I wanted to do it to prove that I'm not scared of him and I'm tough and whatever, it did feel like it went too far. But that being said, I feel a little sad. I never got to the Japanese world of that because it's so bananas."

Arquette was asked if his wife, Christina, was shocked seeing the GCW footage of him bleeding. He admitted that she was but revealed that she was also worried about the scene in the film and if it was captured well.

"She really was," Arquette stated. "She was concerned about me, but she's also calling and saying, 'gee, are you sure you got all the cards for the scene? Did you get all the angles?' So she's like balancing these things which was really good."

On whether he is done with wrestling, Arquette noted "once you're in, you're in for life." He said he's not sure what his future will look like, but the one request he does have is that if he is booked, he wants City booked as well.

"Well, like they say in the wrestling business, 'once you're in, you're in for life,' so I'm pretty sure I'm in for life," Arquette admitted. "I don't know if I'll be a manager or wrestler, but if you do want to book me, you have to book RJ City."

"You Cannot Kill David Arquette" is now available via VOD. Arquette's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.