Professional wrestling needs coverage like Dark Side of the Ring

Professional wrestling has its secrets. Dark Side of the Ring was a documentary series that uncovered those secrets, revealing the tales through the voices of many individuals that lived the moments. Topics such as “The Plane Ride from Hell,” and Owen Heart’s tragic death were covered in detail. News broke Sunday evening that the show has been canceled.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that the show was not renewed for a fourth season. According to his comments, this situation stemmed from the plane ride episode.

“Because they were relying on memories of people from 20 years ago, and there were multiple flights back from Europe where guys were drunk and out of control, but the famous one didn’t have Vince McMahon or Linda McMahon on the flight, although people on that flight told them that they were,” Meltzer said. “There were also complaints from Rob Van Dam, Dreamer, and Ross about how they were depicted on that episode claiming to have been taken out of context. Ross had questioned appearing on the show going forward publicly.”

This is an unfortunate turn for the popular show. Dark Side of the Ring completed three seasons and thirty episodes in total.

Professional wrestling has a long history of lacking accountability for bad actors. Dark Side of the Ring helped shine a light on situations that many individuals had not heard of, and many involved weren’t given the opportunity to tell their side of the story.

Dreamer’s appearance on Dark Side of the Ring led to an indefinite suspension by IMPACT Wrestling for his comments about the allegations against Ric Flair. He has since returned to IMPACT Wrestling as reported by Fightful Select in December.

Dark Side of the Ring did an excellent job telling those stories through the voices of the people who were there to live them. Wrestling fans, many of today’s younger fans, learned of stories for the first time, while some long-time viewers learned even more about tales that were once jokes across the industry.

According to Meltzer’s report, the producers of the show are taking on a new professional wrestling project. There are so many different stories to tell throughout wrestling, such as the Speaking Out movement, which needs in-depth reporting. Professional wrestling struggles to hold its bad actors accountable and information from Dark Side of the Ring helped as a step in the right direction.