10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring's Evan Husney

2. There Were Tentative Plans For A Benoit Documentary Series

Woman Nancy Chris Benoit
VICE

Season 2 of Dark Side of the Ring kicks off by exploring the Benoit Tragedy in a way never seen before. Respectfully presenting the most darkest of times in the wrestling business, this two-episode offering speaks to those most closely affected by the events of that June 2007 weekend, while also bringing to light details and imagery never made public until this point.

Never forcing a narrative, Dark Side of the Ring's handling of this topic is one that, like other episodes, lays the facts out in front of its audience and allows them to make their own minds up on just why this tragedy occurred.

Originally, Evan Husney and Jason Eisener wanted to cover the Benoit Tragedy in the show's first season. As Evan himself admitted during our interview with him, they realistically weren't ready or prepared enough to cover this topic in that debut season. But should a second season of Dark Side of the Ring had not been ordered by VICE, Husney and Eisener had already begun making tentative plans to do a documentary series on the events surrounding this tragedy.

Husney revealed, "We had a back-up plan. If Season 1 tanked and didn't work and no-one cared, or if VICE decided they didn't want to do a Season 2, the plan for us was to actually develop a Chris Benoit documentary series that we would just bring to somewhere else."

That elsewhere could've been a Netflix, an Amazon, a HBO, or one of the various platforms that are out there in 2020. And likewise, deep research on the Benoit Tragedy had already begun to take place five or six months before Season 2 ever began filming.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.