Dark Side of the Ring doesn’t seem to be progressing at Vice. Dark Side of the Ring was conspicuously absent from Vice’s 2022–2023 season programming slate, which was revealed last week. This is due to the network choosing not to commission a fourth season of the popular documentary series, claims pro wrestling insider Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
The announcement caught some people off guard because Dark Side of the Ring had surpassed all previous Vice seasons in terms of viewership. Even more episodes were ordered for its third season—14 in total—than its first two—10 for season 2, and only six for season 1. Critics and audiences alike have praised the docuseries.
What transpired, then? Meltzer asserts that the controversy surrounding season 3 is probably why the show was discontinued. Since there were “inconsistencies” in some of the claims presented during the “Plane Ride from Hell” episode, wrestlers may have confused information from that infamous plane ride with other events that occurred at the same time. Several wrestlers that were on the show, including Jim Ross, Tommy Dreamer, and Rob Van Dam, apparently weren’t pleased with how they were portrayed in the episode.
Vice hasn’t made any formal confirmations, but it’s conceivable that the network was afraid of delving into other contentious wrestling-related historical accounts and wished to prevent more outrage. In any case, the series’ conclusion would undoubtedly disappoint many wrestling fans because, aside from the controversies surrounding Plane Ride from Hell, the series had been acclaimed for shedding light on some of the most gruesome episodes in wrestling history.
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Evan Husney and Jason Eisener produced Dark Side of the Ring, which had its Viceland debut in 2019. Each episode tells a disturbing tale from the annals of professional wrestling from the viewpoints of numerous participants. The Montreal Screwjob, the terrible deaths of Chris Benoit and his family, Owen Hart’s deadly accident, Brian Pillman’s difficult life, and, of course, the Plane Ride from Hell were just a few of the subjects covered by the show’s authors over the course of 30 episodes.
Husney and Eisener will continue to work on Vice even though it seems as though Dark Side of the Ring is finished. A new wrestling-themed docuseries for the network is reportedly being created by Husney and Eisener in collaboration with Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions. It is supposed to be modelled by the era of pro wrestling’s early history, before Vince McMahon’s WWF (now WWE) fundamentally altered the industry in the 1980s. Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, Ted DiBiase, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts are some of the talent that will be present.
The investigation into the most sinister aspects of pro wrestling history by Vice is now complete, yet perhaps one day Dark Side of the Ring will return with fresh episodes. Hulu offers streaming of previous Dark Side of the Ring episodes.
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