"We were obsessed with the history of wrestling" - Dark Side of the Ring co-creators discuss the show's concept
Dark Side of the Ring quickly became one of the most popular pieces of wrestling content to hit the internet. The renowned series has received praise from all corners of the wrestling world.
It attempts to pull back the curtain and address some of the most controversial characters, events, and scandals that rocked the world of professional wrestling.
The new season of the docuseries is scheduled for release starting May 6 on Vice. It will cover topics such as Brian Pillman, The Ultimate Warrior, Collision in Korea, and much more.
Renee Paquette recently featured the show's co-creators on her Oral Sessions podcast. The duo of Jason Eisener and Evan Husney discussed just how the show's concept came to be.
"Well basically a few years ago, Evan and I, we were obsessed with the history of wrestling," Eisener and Husney said. "We were kind of developing taking all these stories that we were researching and developing a narrative, scripted TV series idea. Like, we wanted to do kind of like, you know, The Sopranos, epic Boogie Nights telling of the old territory days of wrestling."
The duo also explained how they failed to pitch the idea in Hollywood as a television show. They later decided to run a documentary pilot featuring the story of Bruiser Bordy, which became the pilot for Dark Side of the Ring.
"We became obsessed with the story of Bruiser Brody, which was our pilot episode for season one," Eisener and Husney added. "At first we thought that was gonna be it. Then we got the order to make more episodes, so we made six of them. That did well, and the rest is history after that."
Dark Side of the Ring has covered many topics
The Vice series has covered several high-profile topics surrounding the wrestling business in its relatively small sample size. Between seasons one and two, Dark Side of the Ring has managed to become Vice's and wrestling's much-watched program.
The series has covered controversies surrounding wrestlers like New Jack and The Road Warriors. Dark Side of the Ring has also showcased major wrestling events like the passing of Owen Hart and the Montreal Screwjob.