At the moment, the award winning documentary show Dark Side of the Ring hasn’t been renewed for a fourth season yet.
It seems strange that they’re still in limbo given the critical and fan praise for the series, and that it’s regularly one of VICE’s top rated shows.
For three seasons, the show has pulled back the cover to show us the often unpleasant underbelly of professional wrestling as they’ve explored the stories we’ve only heard hinted at for the most part.
And while others were more well known, their dive into the behind the scenes helped flesh out more of the goings on we may not had been aware of.
Unfortunately, if the show is picked up, Jim Ross has stated he won’t return for any more interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGgYahBuZi4&t=4s
Misrepresented
JR talked about his decision on his podcast, Grilling JR as he explained his reason for not wanting to return.
Jim Ross is as legendary as an announcer as any in the business’ history, and he was an important part of Dark Side of the Ring’s third season as he appeared on the episodes about the Ultimate Warrior, Vince McMahon’s steroid trial, and the Plane Ride from Hell.
He talked about how he was misrepresented due to the editing done on his segments and doubts he’ll be part of the series again.
“Mixed, I have some problems with some Dark Side editing. I thought I was misrepresented a time or two on the edit. I admire those guys’ entrepreneurial spirit and I think it’s a good purpose, but I think sometimes they bite into the apple of the dirt and they narrowcast a little bit too much for me. I’m still going to watch their shows, and I’m not sure I’ll be on any more of them simply because I had such an unfortunate negative afterthought of it.
“Those guys are good guys, they mean well but I think the edit was a little bit callous and not well thought out. I hope they continue to do those shows and if they continue, I’ll continue to watch. They should get better at what they do, we all have to get better.”
Just watched DSOTR. Heavy. Some insight for those who can handle it-
1) I haven’t seen Ric Flair’s dick. My comment about fans shouldn’t see him doing the helicopter was a response to DSOTR telling me that’s what they were told. They shouldn’t. I don’t want to see it either.— Rob Van Dam (@TherealRVD) September 21, 2021
RVD had to clarify his statements
JR wasn’t the only one that had problems with their editing as Rob Van Dam took to social media to clarify his comments on the Plane Ride from Hell episode.
On Twitter, RVD stated: “Just watched DSOTR. Heavy. Some insight for those who can handle it- 1) I haven’t seen Ric Flair’s dick. My comment about fans shouldn’t see him doing the helicopter was a response to DSOTR telling me that’s what they were told. They shouldn’t. I don’t want to see it either.”
And then he commented on his comment about Flair “trying to make [the flight attendant] touch him:”
“2) I said “trying to make her touch him” referring to his body crowding her space and her backing up like bad breath was in her face.I thought maybe they were playing(from seeing a similar scene at the hotel bar)but I wasn’t interested in naked Ric. Still ain’t.I tried to sleep.”
I can confirm I didn’t see that and I didn’t say that.
Creative editing will have people hearing it different ways. https://t.co/ByzQNiVZci— Rob Van Dam (@TherealRVD) September 21, 2021
When he was asked a clear question about what he saw, he said:
“I can confirm I didn’t see that and I didn’t say that. Creative editing will have people hearing it different ways.”
While Dark Side of the Ring is a great series, these editing choices give us pause about what else they may have tweaked to get a better response or reaction.
Still, we’re curious to see what other stories they’ll do if another season is renewed. After all, we love to hear the stories and some of them need to have a light shined on them to bring them into conversation.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQp4S75KXI
