10 Subjects Dark Side Of The Ring Should Cover Next

3. The Rise Of The Shoot Interview

JBL WWE
NBC

"damm Dark Side of the Ring"

"lol ill pretend u said Light Side of the Ring"

This is an unrealistic pitch, since there is likely pollination between the talking heads and the cottage industry they would in theory analyse - but therein lies the intrigue.

In 2004, Rob Feinstein, the founder of Ring of Honor and RF Video, was ensnared by online vigilantes posing as a minor, whose age Feinstein infamously no-sold in a proto-meme. Feinstein escaped prosecution despite the damning, demonstrative evidence of the chat log since it fell under the murky area of entrapment.

Feinstein continued to operate his RF Video business after the scandal, and it was, for a time, a not inconsiderable commodity in the wrestling landscape, one that profited from revelations of the past, since there was so little work and money to be made in the monopolised present. The shoot interview industry was in no small part founded on complicity with an alleged monster, and built on wild rounds of slander - a fascinating subject and period to document in retrospect.

So many excerpts uploaded to YouTube find the subjects hunched over, quite clearly heavily under the influence. The fairly disgusting and exploitative manner in which the embers of kayfabe were forever and emphatically broken is an interesting point of discussion.

We should note for clarity that Feinstein himself has vehemently denied the allegations, as he would.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!