WMG / Dark Side of the Ring

Topics for future episodes

• The Edge and Lita affair.
• Buck Zumhofe: A Glam Rock-themed wrestler who was known for his multiple bouts of sexual misconduct, including one incident where he tried to flee the courtroom he was in while he was being sentenced for his crimes.
• Bill DeMott: Known for his highly abusive behavior towards trainees at WWE's Performance Center, which the allegations would lead him to resign. The fact the allegations paint the opposite picture of someone who lost a daughter to a drunk driver and speaks out about impaired driving makes it more intriguing.
• #SpeakingOut: A movement that raised awareness of sexual misconduct in the wrestling industry, which led to many careers being ended, as well as the outright closure of the CHIKARA promotion. Constant contributer Jim Cornette was even briefly targeted, only for the accusations to die down.
• Hardbody Harrison: A wrestler who worked for WCW and was later sentenced to life in prison for partaking in a sex trafficking and forced labor ring.
• Abdullah the Butcher: A hardcore wrestling legend, his bouts of controversy came in the form of infecting "Hannibal" Devon Nicholson with hepatitis C after blading him in a match without his consent, which led to Nicholson winning a $2.3 million lawsuit against Abdullah over it.
  • Confirmed for Season 4.
• Heroes of Wrestling: A disastrous 1999 pay-per-view that was riddled with controversies, most notably showcasing a clearly intoxicated Jake Roberts.
• Hana Kimura: A joshi wrestler who worked for World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM and appeared on the reality series Terrace House, where she was involved in an incident which caused her to be cyberbullied, which in turn caused her to commit suicide.
• Scott Hall: Documenting the rise, fall, and rebirth of one of the founding members of the New World Order and one of the key players in the Monday Night Wars.
  • Is the subject of Episode 11 of the Dark Side of The Ring: Unheard podcast.
• Chris Candido and Tammy Lynn Sytch: A story of one of wrestling's most infamous couples, documenting their relationship from the time they met up to Candido's death, as well as Sytch's various run-ins with the law since the former's death.
  • Confirmed for Season 4.
• Ian Rotten: The founder of IWA Mid South, known for bloody and violent Hardcore Wrestling, which would lead to wrestling in Kentucky and Indiana having strict regulations.
• Matt Cappotelli: One of the two winners of the third season of WWE Tough Enough, whose career was tragically cut short due to a brain tumor that would, over time, eventually kill him.
• Mitsuharu Misawa: One of the greatest wrestlers ever, founded his own promotion in Pro Wrestling Noah after splitting from All Japan Pro Wrestling and kept wrestling longer than he should have, which resulted in his death in the ring in June 13, 2009.
• The Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation: Known for inventing the realistic shoot style wrestling, that had its fair share of controversies that led it to close, reopen, split off into multiple different promotions, had the wrestling style nearly die due to the rise of MMA and only survives today due to a niche/cult fandom.
• Muhammad Hassan: A controversial gimmick of a Arab-American superstar that eventually got the man potraying it fired from WWE when it became too controversial and quit wrestling after only a few years in the business.
• Teddy Hart: From his attitude problems that got him kicked out of WWE, his actions during a cage match in Ring of Honor that got him kicked out of that promotion, to his altercation in a restaurant with CM Punk that got him kicked out of TNA, seriously he has a lot more material to go through.
• The 1975 Plane Crashes That Almost Killed Pro Wrestling: The title almost writes itself. Plane Crash 1) February 20th, 1975 with Bobby Shane, Buddy Colt, Austin Idol, and ‘Playboy’ Gary Hart. Plane Crash 2) October 4th, 1975 with Ric Flair, Johnny Valentine, Bob Bruggers, Tim Woods, and David Crockett.
  • Partly covered in the "Tales of the Territories" spin-off, episode 9 ("Crockett: Evil Heels of the Carolinas").
• The Final Days of WCW: Chronicling the dying days of the once-powerful promotion, which could mainly focus on Eric Bischoff's attempts at purchasing it through his Fusient company with the intention of reviving it, it being ultimately screwed over by then-Time Warner head Jamie Kellner, and of course, its eventual purchase by WWE.
  • Seems to be confirmed with the announcement of the "Who Killed WCW?" spin-off.
• Inokism: The movement that almost killed New Japan Pro-Wrestling by trying to mix it with MMA.
  • Hell, Antonio Inoki himself probably has enough material for several episodes.
• The Harvesters of Sorrow: Or better known as The Eliminators, Perry Saturn and John Kronus. From Kronus’ death by heart failure several days after undergoing knee surgery at 38 years old, to Saturn’s controversial dealing with several enhancement talents, his punishment with the “Moppy” gimmick, getting shot while stopping a rape, dealing with addiction, homeless and disappearance from public view due to said shot, his brief return to wrestling and retirement due to brain injuries.
• Anthony Durante: Better known as Pitbull #2, his career and life that eventually ended in his death along with his girlfriend, Dianna Hulsey, both from a Fentanyl-induced overdose, while leaving their two children alone, a 21-month-old boy and 8-month-old girl.
• Chyna: Chronicling the troubled life of one of the most trailblazing female wrestlers, which includes her rise and departure from WWE, her bouts with drug addiction, her doomed relationship with Sean Waltman, her being reduced to doing pornography, and culminating in her death in 2016.
  • Likely jossed with a full-length documentary movie coming out in 2021, aired by Vice.
• Celtic Championship Wrestling: An Ireland-based wrestling promotion that lasted from 2012 to 2018, and was marred by, among other things, the actions of owner Lee Cahalane.
• CM Punk: One of the most popular wrestlers of the modern era, that retired from the sport at 35 due to WWE’s abysmal treatment that left him with no more passion for the sport and his failure of a MMA career afterwards.
  • As Punk recently returned to the ring in All Elite Wrestling, this is more than likely Jossed.
    • Due to his actions before and after All Out 2022 maybe not Jossed after all.
• TNA/Impact Wrestling from the Jarretts to Dixie Carter: It may seem like an easy target, but there are dramatic things beyond bad booking. Paying Reality TV stars hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for only a couple of appearances (or for none) while paying some talent so low they needed second jobs. An ill-fated attempt to start a new Monday Night War against the WWE. Jesse Sorensen breaking his neck, being promised that his medical care will be paid for and discovering it isn't leading to his family losing just about everything. Konnan successfully suing them for failing to deliver on the promise for his life saving surgery. Getting kicked off Spike TV for lying about re-hiring Vince Russo, a ruse exposed thanks to an e-mail mistakenly sent to Dave Meltzer. And plenty more.
• Tony Halme: Better known as "Ludvig Borga" in the WWF, Halme's post-wrestling career would be riddled with controversies, including calling then-President of Finland Tarja Halonen a lesbian, drug problems during his time in the Finnish Parliament, being committed to a mental hospital, and finally committing suicide via gunshot to the head in 2010.
• The Witcher/Love Machine (Art Barr), a mid-card performer in the States but one of the most revered Masked Luchadors in Mexico and the unsolved circumstances surrounding his passing in 1994.
• The Rise and Fall of ECW: Aside from the obvious, they could also discuss the promotion's disposition to push the limits of controversy on "what can be done in wrestling", covering on a wider scope cases as "The Mass Transit Incident" or "The Crucifixion of The Sandman" to name a few.
  • And talking about Fullington, the time he died and resurrected to attend a pending match could be also worthy to watch.
    • Sandman confirmed for Season 5.
• Lucha Underground: They could focus on the various problems that plagued the show behind the scenes. From their contracts that forbid the performers from appearing on American TV in any other wrestling promotion, and being binding until the season they are in is finished airing, to AAA owner Dorian Roldán's unfairly structured contracts and general interference, to El Rey Network causing delays due to disagreements over the budget for each season, Sexy Star’s actions that got her blacklisted from wrestling altogether, etc. There is a lot to unpack on this much beloved show about wrestling.
• The InVasion Angle: See their page for why it would make a suitable episode of the show.
• Wrestling Society X: Arguably the prototype to Lucha Underground, which had its own share of problems behind the scenes.
• WWE’s ECW on Sci-Fi: From the success of a WWE promoted ECW reunion show in the form of ECW One Night Stand in 2005, the WWE made plans to revive ECW as a third full-time brand. After a promising start with a follow-up event of the same name as the above in 2006, ECW began its life on the Sci-Fi channel of all things and despite concerns that it wouldn’t fit with the channel’s theme, it quickly became the highest rated show on cable in its time slot. Then came the December To Dismember PPV, where its problems backstage ultimately bled into the event and effectively killed the ECW push, Paul Heyman left in disgust and the show transformed into a by-the-numbers brand similar to Raw and Smackdown, before finally ending its run in 2010 and replaced by NXT.
• Ed Farhat: The Original Sheik, one of the innovators of hardcore wrestling, and uncle of Sabu. From reports that he basically lived his gimmick as an Arabian madman, had a match so bad that it basically killed Tiger Jeet Singh’s career in the states, his bad booking decisions as the booker of the NWA promotion in Detroit, and wrestling way past his prime due to bad investments, til his death by heart failure in 2003.
  • Speaking of Sabu, his own career could be worth an episode, due to the sheer amount of injuries he racked up over it.
• Marty Jannetty: Once known for being one half of the memorable tag team The (Midnight) Rockers and was considered at one point in being equal to his partner Shawn Michaels in terms of wrestling ability. However, due to his love for partying and other bad choices in his personal life, his legacy is best known today as the poster boy of being the one lost in his partner's shadow.
  • Confirmed for Season 4. With some follow up on Episode 6 of the Dark Side of The Ring: Unheard podcast.
• The Kliq: A powerful backstage group with Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid, Syxx, X-Pac) as its members, who would later form two of the most successful factions during the Monday Night Wars, the New World Order and D-Generation X. They were accused of using their clout to hold back any wrestler they perceive as a threat to their positions, and they also have huge influence over their bookings due to their success.
• Kurt Angle: It would document his success in the 1996 Summer Olympics, his runs in WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling, a laundry list of legal issues in the early 2010s (including the real-life controversy between him, ex-wife Karen, and Jeff Jarrett), and his return to the WWE, as well as his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
• "Gentleman" Chris Adams: One of the most popular stars of World Class Championship Wrestling during its heyday in the 1980s, as well as the trainer of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Adams' last years in life would be mired by many controversies and misfortunes. These include his mishandling during his time in WCW, him being indicted on a manslaughter charge over the death of his then-girlfriend, Linda Kaphengst, and finally being fatally shot in a drunken brawl in 2001 whilst awaiting trial.
  • Confirmed for Season 5.
• Shad Gaspard: A wrestling star who found fame in the WWE as a part of the controversial Cryme Tyme tag team alongside JTG and had a budding career in Hollywood before his untimely death in 2020 due to drowning while saving his son.
• Alberto Del Rio: A once-popular AAA and WWE wrestler who suffered from both overexposure and racism within the latter company which would get him fired after a physical altercation with one of the offending staffers. He would then embark on a forgettable stint in MMA and his career would be largely overshadowed by his troubled personal life, namely his sexual assault charges and his tumultuous relationship with fellow wrestler Paige.
• The Renegade: A wrestler who was brought into WCW in 1995 and had emulated the Ultimate Warrior after attempts by the company to sign the latter had fallen through, during which the Renegade himself would go on to have a six-month winning streak and won the WCW Television Championship. However, his inexperience and resentment from others in the locker room led to him being depushed and buried by his former manager Jimmy Hart on live TV. The Renegade would later fall into a deep depression as he for the next three years was sparsely used at shows and events, tragically leading to him committing suicide in 1999 after being released from WCW and unable to find work from any other promotions.
• The Rise and Fall of WCCW: A once-popular promotion during the territory days, a series of tragedies and poor decisions made by owner Fritz Von Erich would lead to its eventual downfall and rebranding as USWA.
  • This is covered in the spin-off series "Tales From The Territories" episode 8 ("WCCW: Wrestling's Lone-Star Legacy").
• The Authority: One of the most polarizing angles that saw the McMahon family become a whole faction of unstoppable authority figures, constantly screwing over faces and getting away with it, damaging WWE's reputation beyond repair and leading to the downfall of the authority figure role, as AEW does not use an authority figure, and if the McMahons do show up on current programming, they usually don't directly get involved in storylines. The angle became a turning point for WWE in the view of many fans and learning what exactly went on backstage at the hands of the wrestlers who agreed to keep being screwed over could be interesting. Key interviewees would be Scott Armstrong, a referee who allied with the Authority early on, Paul Wight, who jumped back and forth between helping and hindering them, and Bryan Danielson, who was the main victim of their burials for the first bit of the angle. It could also be divided into two parts based upon its length- the first part covering 2013-2014, and the second part covering 2015-2016.
• The WWF Ring Boy Scandal: A series of allegations surrounding wrestlers and employees demanding sexual favors in exchange for (or in some cases, keep) a job. Particularly young boys who worked as part of the ring crew. Terry Garvin, Mel Phillips, and the late Pat Patterson would be at the center of this.
• Mr. Niebla: A Luchador who wrestling for Mexican promotions such as CMLL and AAA would look to be a breakout star. But his addiction to Alcohol and Drinking habits which included working several matches while drunk or intoxicated would derail any push and get him fired from promotions. In his later years he would wrestle primary in the undercard until dying in 2019 due to septic arthritis.
• Jinder Mahal: A wrestler still employed by WWE who was given the WWE Championship in 2017 as part of a promotional stunt for the Indian market. However, virtually everything that could have gone wrong did, as Jinder suffered from many issues, including the rapidness of the push, extremely racially charged promos, and routinely winning his matches via help from others. In turn, the all-important tour in India fizzled out to one show, where Jinder was buried by Triple H, and had lost the title beforehand. The wrestlers who helped him, the Singh Brothers and The Great Khali, could serve as the key interviewees.
• Vince McMahon's hush-money scandal: The most recent controversy involving Vince McMahon since the Steroid Trials that ultimately tarnished his reputation and consequently retiring in disgrace. In April of 2022, WWE's board of directors began investigating a $3 million hush-money settlement that McMahon paid over an alleged affair with a former employee of the company. The investigation also revealed other nondisclosure agreements related to misconduct claims by other women in the company against McMahon and executive John Laurinaitis, totaling $12 million. Laurinaitis would be fired from the company a month after Vince announced his retirement.
  • Covered in the "The Nine Lives of Vince McMachon" special.
  • With the 2024 scandal, we would have enough material for Vince-based mini-series.
• The real-life animosity between Jim Cornette and Vince Russo: Two polarizing figures in the business have a personal beef with one another that goes beyond their appearances in the Montreal Screwjob and Brawl for All episodes. One that stands out is Cornette being infamous for making death threats towards Russo and his family.
  • Is the topic of Episode 8 of the Dark Side of The Ring: Unheard podcast.
• Jerry "Mr. X" Balisok: A former "jobber to the stars" from Georgia Championship Wrestling who had been indicted for the FBI for using forged checks to pay for his motorcycle shop in Alabama. He skipped bail, convinced the authorities that he had died in the Jonestown massacre, and stole the identity of his cousin Ricky Allen Wetta before moving to Washington State. He was found by the FBI in after being arrested for attempted murder and served a 13 year long sentence. After his release he changed his name to Harrison Rains Hanover, moved to Nicaragua as part of his job, and married a local woman before he was arrested again for sexual offenses. He died of heat stroke in prison.
• Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling: Riki Choshu’s attempt at running an independent promotion after he was removed as head booker of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and angrily left the promotion after that. Things already began going wrong with their first show having to be postponed multiple times due to some their wrestlers contracts with NJPW, as well as competing with both Pro Wrestling Noah and K-1 holding shows on the same day. Choshu himself got injured during the third match of his planned six-match series with Genichiro Tenryu and in addition, Atsushi Onita withdrew from all future events due to commitments to his political career. It also began pushing Kensuke Sasaki as their top star but struggled to gain a fanbase, and attendance and interest soon began to dwindle since they neither had the star power or the match quality. It struggled to turn a profit with any shows they ran, and Choshu's excessive spending soon became a problem; this had been a worry of investors for months, as Choshu had spent over ¥200 million ($1.8 million USD) before they had even run a show on building a dojo, a tour bus, a new car for himself, and an expensive year-end party attended by many celebrities and high profile figures. The death of MMA fighter turned pro wrestler Takayuki Okad,a better known as Giant Ochiai, after he collapsed in their dojo got the promotion under severe media scrutiny for refusing to accept responsibility for the incident. The final straw was the creation of X1, a sister MMA promotion which drew some attention after they announced Katsuhiko Nakajima, then 15 years old, would debut as the youngest MMA fighter ever on the card. Despite the attention, the show was heavily panned by fans who criticized the inexperienced fighters and low level of competition. In addition to this, the cage itself began to collapse during the show and had to be held up by ringside assistants during the last fights. Choshu himself walked out of the event and refused to talk to the media before the end of the show. After that events would be promoted, only to be cancelled just days before the dates, later revealed that they either lied about booking the venues or not paid the money owed to hire them and the end result was Choshu losing quite a few friendships by the promotion’s closure.
• Kamala: Known as the "Ugandan Giant" and had his heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, the show could focus on his poverty-ridden upbringing, losing both of his legs to diabetes, and his death in 2020 from complications of diabetes brought on by COVID-19.
• The Reign of Terror: Triple H's infamous title reign as World Heavyweight Champion from 2002 to 2004, which included several notorious angles made in poor taste, such as his feud with Kane that featured him having sex with the corpse of his deceased girlfriend Katie Vick (Promo that took place on a real funeral parlor, where an actual funeral as taking place in the room right next to it), to several racially-charged promos against Booker T.
• Takeshi Morishima: A once promising Japanese wrestler from Pro Wrestling Noah, but in 2015 he had to suddenly retire due to being diagnosed with an abnormally high glycated hemoglobin that suggesting diabetes, which led a severe mental breakdown since he basically had nothing in his life except wrestling. This led to him never getting a proper retirement match as it had to be delayed due to his issues until his contract officially expired, his failed attempt at a comeback in 2018, his struggles in life outside of wrestling and the scandal of him punching a taxi driver since he could not pay the taxi fare.
• Hulk Hogan: The biggest icon in wrestling himself. How could we not have an episode or a few on the hulkster and questionable things he did in his career?
• Abismo Negro: Mexican luchador whose mysterious death in 2009 which still has many unanswered questions. How he was on a bus heading to a show when suddenly he panicked demanded he be let off and when he did walked off into the hills and disappeared. His body was later found in a river. While his death was listed as having drowned, there are still many who wonder what just happened that caused it.
• Koji Kitao: A former grand champion (Yokozuna) of Sumo Wrestling that entered the world of puroresu after a scandal between him and his stablemaster’s family. He got pushed with high hopes, but a horrible work ethic and racism got him fired from NJPW. In SWS he broke kayfabe by trying to shoot on John Tenta then got on the mic to proclaim wrestling is fake when that failed and got fired from there as a result. He made a comeback with the shoot style promotion UWFI, got shoot kicked in the face, but surprisingly took it with grace and actually went around to repair his strained relationships in the business and even had his own dojo and promotion before retiring in 1998. He even became a sumo coach when his scandal case was reopened and he was found to be innocent before health issues caught up to him and finally died due to renal failure in 2019.
  • John Tenta himself should have an episode covering his own sumo career, the bad gimmicks he had, his friendship with WrestleCrap founder R.D. Reynolds and his unsuccessful battle with bladder cancer.
    • Earthquake confirmed for Season 5.
• Bob Sweetan: A Canadian professional wrestler who was known for being as despicable outside of the ring as he was inside. Incidents include, but aren't limited to, his bullying behavior in the locker room (including his rough handling of a young Jim Ross), drug abuse, and most shocking of all, the sexual molestation of his then-15 year old daughter.
• Ashley Massaro: Considered as one of the worst in-ring performers back in the 2000's that led her to be prone to injuries, as well being sexually assaulted in the workplace behind the scenes during the course of her career, and her eventual suicide in 2019.
• The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper): Chronicling the successful careers of Windham Rotunda (aka Bray Wyatt) and Jon Huber (formerly Luke Harper, later Brodie Lee) from their time as members of the Wyatt Family, respective singles runs to Huber's departure from WWE to AEW until Huber's untimely demise in 2020 while battling a life-threatening illness at the age of 41. Three years later, Bray Wyatt would soon pass away at the age of 36 from a heart condition due to COVID-19 complications that exacerbated his aforementioned heart condition.
• AEW All In 2023 Backstage Footage of the Altercation of CM Punk and Jack Perry: In the April 10, 2024 episode of AEW Dynamite, Tony Khan and The Young Bucks released the footage of the 2023 All In PPV where Punk and Jack Perry had an altercation which led to Punk being fired from the promotion before returning to the WWE. This was more of a smear campaign against Punk on Khan's end in response to Punk's interview with Ariel Helwani a week prior. The debacle caused online backlash and harsh criticism from wrestling figures like Jim Cornette and even Vince Russo out of all people.
  • And speaking of Tony Khan, who couldn't deny that some of the interviewees that appeared in the show — namely Jim Cornette and Eric Bischoff are staunch critics of Khan's poor management style and bad booking that proved to be way worse than Vince McMahon, and is regarded as one of the worst promoters in wrestling history since Dixie Carter.

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