Dark Side of the Ring co-creator Evan Husney is warning fans that the show’s three-part TNA Wrestling story is far heavier than the punchline they might be bracing for.
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, Husney pushed back on the idea that anyone tuning in for a victory lap over TNA’s messier years is in for what they expect.
“At first glance, you may think this piece might be just sort of an ‘lol at TNA’ episode or story,” Husney said. “But really beneath the surface is a really searing, emotional and very tragic story, that’s very emotional. I think that’s going to be very unexpected for a lot of viewers of the show.”
Husney went further on the toll the interviews took on the people who lived it. “This is a very emotional story that I don’t think people are going to be prepared” for, he said, adding that “so many people break down and they cry.”
Cornette, who appears in the episodes, framed the project as something TNA fans have never gotten before. He said it is not a glorification of Jeff Jarrett, but the first time the man who founded the company tells the story behind it, including the backstabbing and the financial crises.
Three hours, and the tragedies behind them
The story spans more than 20 years, which is why Husney says two hours was never going to be enough. He revealed the producers went back to Vice to expand the planned season premiere from two hours to three.
“We kind of went to the network begging and pleading for that third hour so we could let the story breathe a little bit more and we could get into a little more of the side quests along the way,” Husney said.
He acknowledged the runtime will raise eyebrows. “I knew that people’s reaction were going to be, ‘Really? Three hours for this?’ But I think once people see it, they’ll understand because we’re covering a long period of time here.”
Cornette detailed some of the personal losses Jarrett endured during the period the documentary covers, including the death of his first wife, Jill, from cancer, an estrangement from his father, Jerry Jarrett, and the death of his close friend Owen Hart. The third part also gets into Jarrett’s addiction struggles and the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff era of the company.
Originally “The Six Sides Of TNA”
Before it became part of Dark Side of the Ring, the project was conceived as something entirely separate. Husney said the team wanted to follow their Who Killed WCW? miniseries with a standalone TNA deep dive in the same tradition.
“Maybe we could have done ECW and it could have kept going as sort of like a promotion-by-promotion doc miniseries after miniseries,” Husney said. “For whatever reason, Vice didn’t want to do that.”
Folding it into the existing platform was the only way to keep it alive. “Originally it was going to be six parts. That’s what it was going to be as a standalone thing. It was going to be The Six Sides of TNA is what we were going to call it.”
The episodes feature Karen Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, James Mitchell, Awesome Kong, Eric Bischoff, David Sahadi, Vince Russo and Cornette. Former TNA president Dixie Carter declined to participate, leaving one of the most central figures in the company’s history out of the telling.
Dark Side of the Ring Season 7 premieres Tuesday, July 7 at 9 p.m. ET on Vice TV, with parts one and two of the TNA story airing back to back. Part three airs July 14.