It was just a week ago that a schedule was released for the new — and maybe final? — season of Dark Side of the Ring, which will debut on July 7 with a look at Jeff Jarrett and TNA Wrestling. It’s a three parter, broken down into parts one and two airing for the debut and part three airing one week later on July 14 on Vice TV. In their first words promoting as much, co-creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener had this to say about what the opener will be:
“Each season, we try to challenge ourselves
to go deeper, and season seven is our most ambitious yet.
“That’s especially true with our three-part exploration of TNA Wrestling, where Jeff Jarrett’s journey of redemption and resilience gives us a unique lens into the highs, struggles, and lasting impact of the foundational years of the company. It’s a perfect example of how compelling and ultimately human these stories really are.”
In preparation for the big debut, Husney joined series mainstay Jim Cornette on his podcast recently to promote the show, with the two going in depth on the Jarrett/TNA episodes. Cornette made clear it’s not a way to glorify Jarrett:
“This is not some biography for the glorification of Jeff Jarrett. For the first time, the guy who founded TNA Wrestling is telling the story behind it, and the trials and tribulations, and the backstabbing, and the financial crises.”
Husney makes it sound like it gets pretty intense, along with the original idea for what they wanted it to be:
“This is a very emotional story that I don’t think people are going to be prepared [for]… so many people break down and they cry.
…
“At first glance, you may think this is sort of an ‘lol at TNA’ episode or story, but really beneath the surface is a really searing, emotional, and very tragic story.”
…
“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.”
…
“Originally it was going to be six parts, more as a standalone thing. It was going to be the six sides of TNA, is what we were going to call it, but in order to do it for Dark Side, we sort of focused it on Jeff’s story and tried to hone it in more on Jeff’s trajectory, being the person who founded the company, and then being someone who’s thrown out of his own company.”
…
“Going way back when we did that Who Killed WCW miniseries… the idea was to continue in that tradition and do TNA as the next sort of deep dive exploration that we would have done on its own, and then maybe we could have done ECW, and it could have kept going, a promotion by promotion, miniseries after miniseries. But for whatever reason, Vice didn’t want to do that.”
It’s also made clear again that Dixie Carter declined to participate so we’re missing out on the perspective of one of the most important figures, for better or worse, in the promotion’s history. Still, they apparently go deep enough that Cornette revealed it even features Scott Steiner “breaking down and crying on camera.”
The full episode of Husney on with Cornette:
Looking forward to the show?
