12 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: TNA (Parts 1 & 2)
10. Early Backstage Feeling Was NOT Positive
Hardcore original ECW fans will recall 'The Sinister Minister'. His demonic promos gave Paul Heyman's outfit a cartoonishly satanic edge (what a phrase!) towards the end, and he was over as a manager for guys like Mikey Whipwreck and Tajiri. Post-ECW demise, James Mitchell was looking for work but his options were limited.
TNA gave him a gig, and he was grateful for it. However, Mitchell chimed in on 'Dark Side' to reveal what the backstage atmosphere was like before Total Nonstop's first clutch of weekly pay-per-views. In a nutshell, it wasn't exactly positive. James remembered people behind the curtain saying: "We'll get 1-2 shows out of it".
That was how most viewed this TNA experiment. It was surely an impossible dream from Jeff Jarrett, and it simply couldn’t work. Being fair, Jeff had been hearing that since the get go and didn't let it weigh him down too much. Later in the doc, Mitchell said he’d never start a pro wrestling company even if he won $50 billion in the lottery. Why? “It is a pain in the ass”".
Tell us how you really feel, Sin-Min!
Mitchell's words perfectly illustrate the kind of pressure that was pushing back against TNA before things ever really got started. Failure was predicted, and quickly. Then, as they often do, the wrestling gremlins had their say and threatened to crash the not-so-speeding train pronto.
Just imagine how fraught things were behind the scenes when this happened before the very first show at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama on 19 June 2002.