Dark Side Of The Ring season 4

[joestevens29]

Hogan is such a god damn dickhead, man. I could only imagine how difficult it was to work with him back then.

Bischoff and Russo both came across as liars, IMO.

I think Jarrett was being honest, but he clearly seems to be more on Russo's side.

At the end of the day, Hogan, Bischoff and Russo are three scumbags.

I rarely side with Russo as the guy is a complete jackass, but he wasn't wrong in this episode.

Him actually throwing Hogan under the bus at the event was good. Someone needed to stand up to him.

The whole laying down to win or lose a title is complete BS. Nash and Hogan did it a year or so sooner and people thought it was stupid. It's just a disgrace to fans, but to do it on a PPV yet is just a slap in the face.

I almost partially am wondering in hindsight if guys were trying on purpose to sewer the WCW. Considering Bischoff tried to buy them it wouldn't really surprise me. Then again I think a lot of the brain power at WCW was playing it as if it was an old boys club just doing whatever they felt like doing for fun, regardless of the actual impact it had on the business itself.

 

[Bondurant]

Meltzer looks like a Dick Tracy villain.

 

[Grackle Party]

That episode gave me a new appreciation for Double J

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

IDK if he got more like-able with age or something but Jarrett is definitely a lot more like-able now than ever before. His AEW run honestly hasn't been bad and he came across well in that ep.

 

[CDJ]

Cornette made a funny point- 5 years prior Russo was managing a video store and he felt like he could give Hulk Hogan ultimatums lmao

Russo is one of the more delusional people I’ve ever seen. I think the difference between Russo and Bischoff is that Russo actually believes the shit he says. Bischoff absolutely does not, he’s just a used car salesman.

I genuinely believe Russo thinks he himself was more responsible for the late 90’s wrestling boom than Rock and Austin

 

[McGarnagle]

The Bash at the Beach episode was fun because you basically had two compulsive liars telling their side of the story.

The thing about Russo is that he can write some really good stuff and has an immense talent for that - provided that someone is in a position of authority over him checking him and preventing him from going too far. But he's really his own worst enemy.

That's why WWF was great in the Attitude Era, Russo wrote some amazing TV with compelling storylines that intertwined, etc. But whenever he went too far, whether it was over the line of taste or just ungrounded fantastical booking, he had Pat Patterson, Bruce Prichard, and most importantly Vince McMahon to stop him. Also I believe having Corny there pulling in the opposite direction at least kept them somewhat centered. But when he went to WCW he lost the support structure to check him and he went crazy - though as I said in the other thread about unpopular opinions, I think his early WCW run from October 99-January 2000 was shaping up to be good until Hart, Goldberg, and Jarrett all got injured at the same time and blew up his storylines. It was after coming back with Bischoff (who is a professional liar and was firmly hanging onto Hogan's coattails at that point) and especially after Bash at the Beach where his booking went straight up inane.

If they do a Mike Awesome episode they should get into the rumor that Vince Russo buried him and put him in high profile embarrassing gimmicks to send a message because he's tangentially related to Hulk Hogan (I believe Mike Awesome was cousins with Horace Hogan on their maternal side).

 

[McGarnagle]

The Marty Jannetty episode was hilarious

I didn't murder that guy, it was just a wrestling storyline...but if I did *hypothetically* this is the exact detail of what happened and I'll take you to the bowling alley where it took place and the river that we hypothetically dumped the body. And Al Snow confirms he told him the same story back in the 90s.

Dude's out of his mind, I feel bad for him but he's very entertaining.

 

[Transplanted Caper]

Imagine the kind of things you'd have to be doing for the 1990s version of Shawn Michaels to be sick of dealing with?

 

[Sheppy]

The Marty Jannetty episode was hilarious

I didn't murder that guy, it was just a wrestling storyline...but if I did *hypothetically* this is the exact detail of what happened and I'll take you to the bowling alley where it took place and the river that we hypothetically dumped the body. And Al Snow confirms he told him the same story back in the 90s.

Dude's out of his mind, I feel bad for him but he's very entertaining.

Didn't he even change it afterwards? He's like "Well, actually, we didn't dump the body, we burned it"

 

[McGarnagle]

Didn't he even change it afterwards? He's like "Well, actually, we didn't dump the body, we burned it"

Yeah, I think he corrected himself like "actually we couldn't dump it so my family member and I burned it here"

But then the other interviewees pointed out that burning the body would leave significant residue that there's no evidence of.

I'm left unsure of whether it happened or if he's just been working the boys so long that he's convinced himself of the story. The police have no cold cases or missing persons from that time to link it to, but Marty's been telling the story to people in the business since at least the mid-90s as Al Snow recalls, and he tells it in specific detail.

I'm no psychologist, but pretty convinced that he was sexually abused as a young teen by someone at that place and time, I feel the whole making him disappear thing may have been his way of coping with the trauma and reclaiming the power he lost by inventing this elaborate story of murdering the guy and dumping the body and he internalized that to the point where he believes it's real, but also has to present it as hypothetical for legal reasons.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Why, I buy the abuse too. When he tells it, he seems sincere.

The killing the guy thing? He starts fooling around and smirking.

 

[Sheppy]

DSOR only got renewed for season 4, right? I wonder if they have enough material for another season.

Chyna?
Droz? - I don't think he has a dark history or anything other than his accident and death.

 

[Brodeur]

I think Vice already did a separate documentary on Chyna, so I'm not sure if a Dark Side would be required. There are interesting anecdotes (Sid/Arn fight off the top of my head) that wouldn't fill a 40 minute episode though. Maybe a Mike Awesome episode?

 

[Unholy Diver]

DSOR only got renewed for season 4, right? I wonder if they have enough material for another season.

Chyna?
Droz? - I don't think he has a dark history or anything other than his accident and death.

Some of the stuff from this season was more tragic than "dark" already, I'm sure there are a ton more scumbags that they could do stories on but would anybody tune in to hear about the guy who raped or molested people in a territory nobody remembers?

There are still a handful of more notable ones but maybe the show has run its course

Hardbody Harrison

The ring boy / terry garvin scandal - this wasn't already done was it?

Buck Zumhoffe

Mike Awesome

 

[Sheppy]

Some of the stuff from this season was more tragic than "dark" already, I'm sure there are a ton more scumbags that they could do stories on but would anybody tune in to hear about the guy who raped or molested people in a territory nobody remembers?

There are still a handful of more notable ones but maybe the show has run its course

Hardbody Harrison

The ring boy / terry garvin scandal - this wasn't already done was it?

Buck Zumhoffe

Mike Awesome

I specifically remember at one of those ONS PPV's Joey Styles saying one of the most questionable calls I've ever heard uttered on TV when Awesome did that dive to the outside.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Marty has to be near the top of guys who somehow kept being given chances by promotions despite his constant f*** ups

 

[Transplanted Caper]

I think DSOR has probably run its course. It's had its ups and downs, but the more it relies on allegations without real substantiation the more its storytelling becomes really hazy and hard to glean the truth from. A few people - including Jim Ross - have stopped participating in it. Surprised people like Foley and Meltzer still do.

 

[McGarnagle]

I think DSOR has probably run its course. It's had its ups and downs, but the more it relies on allegations without real substantiation the more its storytelling becomes really hazy and hard to glean the truth from. A few people - including Jim Ross - have stopped participating in it. Surprised people like Foley and Meltzer still do.

The well's run dry for original stories they could do. Like 3/4 of the current season was just "this wrestler had a drug problem and it led to a tragedy". There's only so much they can fill an hour with.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think DSOR has probably run its course. It's had its ups and downs, but the more it relies on allegations without real substantiation the more its storytelling becomes really hazy and hard to glean the truth from. A few people - including Jim Ross - have stopped participating in it. Surprised people like Foley and Meltzer still do.

The later seasons have relied on less reliable sources with people backing out which hurt the product.

Somewhat unrelated but The plane ride from hell episode deciding to give Dustin a free pass was always kind of weird to me. I think the stewardess he harassed raised a stink on twitter about that

 

[Emperoreddy]

Cornette made a funny point- 5 years prior Russo was managing a video store and he felt like he could give Hulk Hogan ultimatums lmao

Russo is one of the more delusional people I’ve ever seen. I think the difference between Russo and Bischoff is that Russo actually believes the shit he says. Bischoff absolutely does not, he’s just a used car salesman.

I genuinely believe Russo thinks he himself was more responsible for the late 90’s wrestling boom than Rock and Austin

Oh its a fact that Russo believes he is a major major reason for the late 90s boom period and he is absolutely delusional.

Was it the Screw job episode that just devolved into 10 minutes of Cornette and Russo just shitting on each other?

 

[OKR]

I would like to see it renewed for 5th season, while it’s not as great as it originally was t’s still good for entertainment purpose imo.

There are still lot of stories people would be interested in hearing more about, they don’t even have to be some groundbreaking revelations but deep dives in to more known cases.

About Russo, he absolutely did have a huge part in the 90s boom, that’s undeniable. Attitude era was such a drastic change to eras prior and after it, and Russos ”crash-tv” view of wrestling was such a defining part of it.

 

[joestevens29]

Marty has to be near the top of guys who somehow kept being given chances by promotions despite his constant f*** ups

As it Al Snow that referenced him and Iron Sheik as guys that got the most chances ever?

 

[joestevens29]

I think DSOR has probably run its course. It's had its ups and downs, but the more it relies on allegations without real substantiation the more its storytelling becomes really hazy and hard to glean the truth from. A few people - including Jim Ross - have stopped participating in it. Surprised people like Foley and Meltzer still do.

To me Foley seems like a guy that just loves to talk Wrestling so if someone approaches him he's going to talk. For Meltzer could be about free promotion/advertisement.

I would like to see it renewed for 5th season, while it’s not as great as it originally was t’s still good for entertainment purpose imo.

There are still lot of stories people would be interested in hearing more about, they don’t even have to be some groundbreaking revelations but deep dives in to more known cases.

About Russo, he absolutely did have a huge part in the 90s boom, that’s undeniable. Attitude era was such a drastic change to eras prior and after it, and Russos ”crash-tv” view of wrestling was such a defining part of it.

I like the show just as it's nice to sit back and hear about wrestling history.

With that being said I don't know what else there is to talk about.

 

[joestevens29]

So why was Jannetty and his lady friend of 30 or 40 years making comments about how Shawn Michaels got off without any repercussions for the Chuck Austin incident?

Like what did Michaels do that broke Austin's neck?

On a side note after watching that episode and then looking up his age I was kinda shocked Jannetty is still alive. Talk about a rough life full of drugs and injuries

 

[Sheppy]

So why was Jannetty and his lady friend of 30 or 40 years making comments about how Shawn Michaels got off without any repercussions for the Chuck Austin incident?

Like what did Michaels do that broke Austin's neck?

On a side note after watching that episode and then looking up his age I was kinda shocked Jannetty is still alive. Talk about a rough life full of drugs and injuries

Seriously. This is what I was saying...

"Of course, Shawn gets off"