HeelByNature.com is reader-supported. When you click on links or make purchases through our site, we or our affiliated partners may earn a commission. Additionally, our site features Sponsored Content, which helps us maintain and operate the website.
Yesterday, VICE TV revealed the lineup for season three of ‘Dark Side Of The Ring’, a docuseries that explores professional wrestling’s untold stories of the past.
Chris Jericho will be returning to his role as the narrator for the series, along with a star-studded cast, which includes: Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, Jon Moxley, Mick Foley, Diamond Dallas Page, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, David Arquette, Antonio Inoki, Rob Van Dam, Terry Funk, and the former wife of Ultimate Warrior, Shari Tyree.
The series, which consists of fourteen hour-long episodes will premiere on Thursday, May 6th, at 9 pm ET. The first episode, which unlike the rest of the series will run for two hours, focuses on the life of Brian Pillman.
The remainder of season three will be split into two halves, with the first half airing in weekly hour-long episodes immediately after the season premiere on Thursday, May 6th. Details on the topics covered can be seen below.
Collision in Korea, where, in one of the most bizarre acts of political theatre ever, professional wrestlers were deployed to North Korea faced a terrifying ordeal that had them fighting for their lives; the self-proclaimed king of deathmatch wrestling Nick Gage; the divisive force in and outside of the ring known as Ultimate Warrior; The Grizzly Smith story, which will detail how Jake “The Snake” and his siblings have struggled to reconcile their past after surviving horrific abuse at the hands of their father and the mysterious abduction of their sister; and The Dynamite Kid, whose riveting, self-sacrificing style earned him global fame but violent confrontations outside the ring would destroy his family, his body and his legacy.
The second half of season three begins in late summer, and will explore the WWF Steroid Trials of the mid 1990s, along with several other topics which you can read below.
“The Steroid Trials, where, in the mid-1990’s, wrestling titan Vince McMahon was accused of a plot to provide his wrestlers with performance enhancing drugs. With a guilty verdict threatening to force the WWF to consider running their business from a prison cell, McMahon assembled a powerhouse legal team to dismantle the prosecution’s case. Other gripping installments will cover the story of FMW, created by Japan’s Atsushi Onita, which featured spectacular matches and gratuitous gore but took a dark turn in the hands of Onita’s protégé; the groundbreaking talent known as Luna Vachon, who faced immense personal loss and battled addiction while making her mark in wrestling history; The Plane Ride From Hell, the infamous party onboard a private 757 charter high above the North Atlantic that spiraled dangerously out of control, forcing the WWE to reprimand some of its biggest stars; XPW, which merged Rob Black’s passions for porn and wrestling, but a fallout with a young wrestling upstart started a chain of events that led to a jealous rage and a terrifying amputation; and, in a wrestling world that celebrated machismo and used gay stereotypes to label characters as quirky or immoral, the incredible story of Chris Kanyon, who kept his own sexuality a closely guarded secret for decades.”
Dark Side Of The Ring Season 3 Topics
- Pillman
- Nick Gage
- Collision in Korea
- Ultimate Warrior
- Grizzly Smith
- Dynamite Kid
- Johnny K9 aka Bruiser Bedlam
- The Steroid Trials
- FMW
- Plane Ride from Hell
- Luna Vachon
- XPW
- Chris Kanyon
Co-Creators and Executive Producers of the show, Jason Eisener, and Evan Husney commented on the unveiling of season three.
“With this epic, fourteen-episode season, we’ve had the opportunity to push the series to new heights and dig even deeper into a world that has captivated us our entire lives. We’re excited to unveil a season that encompasses a whole new spectrum of stories, ranging from legendary icons of the past, to contemporary snapshots from wrestling’s underground, to mind-blowing sagas overseas.” Dark Side Of The Ring Season Three premieres on Thursday, May 6th, at 9 pm ET on VICE TV.