Jeff Jarrett says he personally called Dixie Carter and urged her to take part in the TNA-focused episodes of Dark Side of the Ring. Speaking with Ariel Helwani on YouTube ahead of the Season 7 premiere on Vice on Tuesday, Jarrett explained his effort to get her voice on camera.
Jarrett said the idea came up on a group call with Vice and the Dark Side team. “I said, hey, guys, do y’all want me to call Dixie? And they’re like, would you? And I’m like, absolutely.”
He described texting Carter, who lives in Nashville near his extended family, and getting her on the phone. “I said, Dixie, I’m really encouraging you to have your voice. She didn’t come out and say no, but definitely didn’t say yes.”
Jarrett said he told Carter the documentary was going ahead with or without her. “They’re doing an in-depth. Father James Mitchell, D’Lo Brown, Russo, Bischoff. I said, Cornette. I said, myself. We all have our truth and I think your truth should be told. I think you’d be doing yourself a disservice.”
His Verdict And Lingering Tensions
Jarrett said Carter’s absence was the one thing he would criticize, agreeing with Helwani that it left a void. “I’m with you, Ariel, that it’s an, she’s an important part. I wish she would have.”
Overall, Jarrett praised the project while noting he felt it could have run longer. “I think they did a very, very good job. Very respectful, emotional components to this. It could have easily been four episodes because there’s a lot of layers to the story.”
He acknowledged there are hard chapters, including material involving his wife Karen, that are being told publicly for the first time. “There are parts of this doc that this story has never been told. So I do think the timing is right for it.”
On his relationship with Carter, Jarrett said sobriety has softened how he looks at the past. Asked about words like sabotage used in the doc, he said he had long since let go. “Do I believe she could have done quite a few things different? But if I don’t forgive, it’s like me carrying around a 10-pound ball. So I long ago forgave.”
Vice TV. Season 7 premieres July 7, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET with a two-hour, back-to-back premiere (Jeff Jarrett/TNA Parts One and Two). The remaining episodes air weekly at 10 p.m. ET.
