12 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: TNA (Parts 1 & 2)
Jeff Jarrett's emotional ties and Dixie Carter takes a beating as TNA's history is explored.
VICE could've spent the entire seventh season exploring TNA's history and impact (ahem) on 'Dark Side Of The Ring'. They won't, but they could've. Instead, they'll dedicate no less than 3 episodes to the 'little engine that could' to kick off the new series. It's been one hell of a journey since Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry schemed a WWE alternative in 2002.
Most of the first episode in the series focused on Jeff's own wrestling career and relationships within the industry. Basically, it took a while before the TNA chat dominated VICE's doc, but they got there eventually. Besides, all of the preamble about the Jarretts led to something monumental: A deep dive on Jeff's romance with Karen Jarrett (Kurt Angle's ex-wife) and the fallout that happened with Dixie Carter as a result of that.
The producers did a stunning job of lining things up for episode 3. That's set to blow doors off the hinges by going in-depth on all things Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, the Impact Wrestling change, TNA's revival and more, but we couldn't have reached that crescendo without proper context across several hours of fascinating footage.
VICE digging up some archived looks at TNA in the early days will be a dangling carrot to a lot of hardcore fans, but 'Dark Side' is a human story at heart. It always is, and you might just see a different side to ol' J-E-Double-F here. He's painted in a favourable light, and Dixie definitely isn't, so it's always wise to take things with a pinch of salt.
What a story though. Here's everything learned from the first 2 parts!
12. What Jeff Thought At The Last WCW Nitro
WCW always finds a way to sneak in there somewhere.
The first 20 minutes or so of the opening episode detailed Jeff Jarrett's upbringing in the industry, WWF runs and time in Atlanta. Then, after bashing viewers over the head with enough skimmed context to fill several books, VICE's doc zoomed in on the final episode of Monday Nitro in March 2001.
Jeff's head was swimming when he was driving home after it. Deep down, he knew he didn’t have a future in the WWF after Vince McMahon publicly fired him on air during the simulcast with Raw, but Jarrett also figured that Vince buying his own competition could be problematic for the federation longer term. It’d also leave a sizeable gap in the industry that had to be filled by…something.
Enter TNA. It's fascinating to think that Jeff was already starting to visualise the company at that point in March '01. He didn't have a clue what it'd look like really, but he did want to maintain some of the southern elements the NWA/WCW had been known for, and he thought teaming up with the NASCAR crowd would bag him some easy brownie points locally too.
That was about it. Jarrett didn't even have a name for his new venture yet. Hell, it wasn't even a new venture at that point - he was a wrestler battling an uncertain future. Whilst others looked forward to seeing what they could achieve on Raw and SmackDown, Jeff was scheming a way to prolong his career in the biz.