Dark Side of the Ring
Vice’sDark Side of the Ringseries peels back the curtain on some of professional wrestling ’s wildest and , in some shell , darkest stories . From the life of ECW ’s Original Gangsta New Jack to the harrowing tragedy of the Benoit family , Vice ’s docuseries has never been shy about tackling a miscellanea of topics from behind the pall of professional wrestling . Their approaching sequel of time of year 3 promises to deliver more of the same depth psychology that has attracted both casual and hard-core fans alike .
Related : How To Watch Dark Side Of The Ring Online
In cookery for the debut of the upcoming season on September 16th , serial co - Godhead Jason Eisener and Evan Husney sit down withScreen Rantto talk about the Libra they strike in the series ’s stories , their approach in bestow WWE talent on board for the series , and if they desire to do more with specific episodes . They also allow for a behind - the - scene glimpse into their own series .
Screen Rant : So , first off , how ’s everyone doing ? How ’re you guys ?
Jason Eisener : Great ! Still in the heart of finishing the rest of season 3 , but it ’s depart good , and we ’re almost there !
Evan Husney : Yeah I ca n’t consider it ’s 14 episode we ’ve done in the retiring class . It ’s like a entire fuzz .
Especially with the issue you ’ve covered in those 14 sequence . So , you ’re still bring about the last chip of season 3B basically ?
Evan Husney : Just finishing it up ! Lock in the edits , doing the sound admixture …
So the last - moment product hooey . It ’s content - done , so just edit now for the most part .
Evan Husney : That ’s right !
One question I ’ve always wonder watchingDark Side of the Ring : How were you able to get some of the audience that you got from WWE contracted talent / legends ? For case , in the Brian Pillman instalment , you managed to get Austin , andStone cold-blooded Steve Austinis obviously doing hooey with the WWE through either his appearances or the Austin show [ on Peacock ] . I ’ve always inquire how you were capable to get some of the WWE endowment to get on board with that .
Evan Husney : Well I mean … at the end of the day , we usually just make an effort to ask . In terms of Steve , it was because the subject of Brian Pillman was so interconnected with his own career , and he was friends with Brian . come up in the business with Brian . It was like , " Let ’s touch out " , and we did n’t know if it would be potential or not , but we get to out directly , and lo and behold !
He had watch over the show , he had liked the show , and he wanted to be a part of it and that was it ! In some cases , without refer public figure , when we reach out to certain endowment , we rule out that there might be a conflict of interest and we ca n’t do it , or they ’re apprehensive about potentially jeopardizing an opportunity with WWE , so they do n’t want to do it , but it is kind of an interesting thing because with regards to our time of year stopping point instalment this class blab about the Steroid Trials , we were able to get WWE ’s attorney Jerry McDevitt to be a part of it , so I do n’t think there ’s a " hard - and - fast " rule . It just kinda comes down to when it gain sense and for what story and if we can get the approach or not . So , we have been fortunate in the past to be able to get that , but sometimes , it has n’t worked out as well .
I see your Jake Roberts painting in the setting , and it drew to mind the episode revolving around his family line with Grizzly Smith , and that really rough news report by comparison to some of the other episodes ofDark Side of the Ring . Is there a balance that you hombre render to hit with some of the darker stories vs. the comparatively lighter story ? Like the stories of Owen Hart and Grizzly Smith vs. talk about New Jack .
Evan Husney : I think that it ’s something that we are aware of , but I opine we always just wanna prefer the best stories . No matter what the most interesting , charm stories are . No matter if it ’s drab , if it ’s a Herb Abrams " lighter " story , and you may even look at that storey and say it ’s not unclouded . you could attend at Brawl for All . My girlfriend suppose Brawl for All is the darkest story of them all , so it ’s interesting how different people sort of comprehend it . I reckon , for us , we always just go for what the best story is and kinda go from there , although we are very aware .
I know when we went into doing the Grizzly Smith story and it look like it was gon na move ahead , we knew that this was gon na be believably some of the darkest areas we would explore in the show , so we ’re always mindful of that and also aware on how the whole episode is gon na come together . We really endeavor to justify bringing an interview that far down into the depth . We really seek to regain the ignitor at the end of the tunnel . That ’s something we ’re emphatically mindful of .
Jason Eisener : That ’s a really skillful breaker point because as dark as that episode is , it ’s important to us that there is an aspect of it that you see in the oddment how these citizenry made it through and , hopefully , people watching the show going through similar things could find stirring or specialty in some of the people on our show .
Particularly the scene where Jake Roberts has gone from where he was back then to where he is now . DDP Yoga . Finding his inner peace . Finding where he is now withAEW .
Jason Eisener : Same with his sis Rockin ' Robin and how she ’s pulled her biography together and is successful today . We find her extremely inspiring as well .
Are there any episodes that you ’ve done that you wish you could ’ve expand into a two - hour instalment like Benoit or Pillman ?
Evan Husney : Yeah the Grizzly Smith episode ! Maybe that one moreso than most of them . There ’s so much more to the story . JoLynn , Jake ’s sister , and the snatch … the trial . There ’s little pockets of moments to elaborate upon there for sure . I cerebrate that one , without thinking about it exhaustively , is probably the one that sticks out the most to me that I would be intimate to have flesh out . You could make an argument to amplify the Owen one , but I think , for us , it was always about those final days , and I know Martha [ Hart ] has always wanted to make something that was more feature - length about Owen ’s whole life , so we definitely want her to have that opportunity . Dynamite Kid too , that ’s potentially also another nominee for that as well .
Jason Eisener : The Grizzly Smith one was one of the episodes that ’s probably snug to me , being also just a fan of Jake Roberts . He was one of my very first favorite wrestlers . There ’s just so much more that you could go into with his life history storey , with Rockin ' Robin ’s aliveness story . That sequence could ’ve been three or four instalment . There ’s a whole journey of their lives that could be told and go through , but we ’re only give the meter that we have . You know at one point , I think at the very showtime , this show was thought of as a half - minute show . Can you think if we try on to get these stories down to 20 - something minutes ? It would ’ve been unimaginable !
Evan Husney : Yeah that would ’ve been impossible , but with that being say though , I will say that even the Grizzly Smith installment as an hour , yell out to our editor Jason Cook on that installment , I think there ’s an artform to take that chronicle and making it as efficacious in the amount of time we do have for sure .
Vice recently aired an episode ofVice Versaon the animation of Chyna . There was talk about her story being aDark Side of the Ringepisode . Was it ever pitch as aDSOTRepisode , or was it something that was immediately given toVice Versa ?
Evan Husney : From the very beginning , Chyna … we always wanted to be a floor that we cover . I ca n’t think … I think it was during season 2 , and then there was news out there that there were two competing infotainment at the time that sort of consolidate into one , but at the time , it was two dissimilar infotainment that were being actively produced with interviews already being done . It was a decision that we made , as grievous as it was for us because we ’re Brobdingnagian fans , as the theme that if we seek to get into this and now , trying to compete with sure family members and peradventure what our story will have … We did n’t want to put syndicate fellow member at odds and have conflicting , " Here ’s our story and their report " . I did n’t necessarily think it was the correct thing to do , and the infotainment that was being made that wound up on Vice which we did n’t do it at the time . We felt that it would be best for Chyna that this film became the classical celluloid . I think they did a terrific occupation .
Are there any story in wrestling , both contemporary and overall , that you ’d like to cover in a particular sequence ?
Evan Husney : There ’s scads . We have a run listing of dozens of potential subjects and topics for DSOTR , so I think there ’s a lot left to explore . If we do get the opportunity to go into a season 4 , I think it ’d be nerveless to take the show into a little more tonal direction as well . One I think that would be really nerveless is that our first season plow three floor set in World Class Championship Wrestling , our favourite territory of them all . We ’d love to explore a story about Gentleman Chris Adams . There ’s a wild , demented profile story you could get there . mayhap the Fabulous Freebirds if we ’re give that chance . That would be really cool to be able-bodied to tell their story . There ’re wads out there .
As far as a contemporary narrative , it ’s knotty . The Nick Gage episode from this season is probably the most contemporary chronicle that we ’ve severalize , but even at the end of that episode , his narrative is not even finished . I think it ’s tough for us to do stories that are happening actively now because you do n’t wanna start film it , and then , a unexampled chapter emerges . I think , for us , that ’s likely as contemporary as we can get .
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