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Season 3 of "Dark Side of the Ring" will be 14 episodes in length ...

https://deadline.com/2020/10/dark-side-of-the-ring-renewed-expanded-season-3-vice-tv-1234599662/

 

No word on any other episode topics outside the ones previously mentioned (Pillman, Jake Roberts and his family, the North Korea show)

 

UPDATE: Per Meltzer, it appears an episode may be in the works about Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington.

Edited by colonial
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  • 4 weeks later...

From the new WON

Quote

There is no scheduled start date for Dark Side of the Ring. The belief is that the next season will be a set of seven episodes, then some time off, and then another set of seven episodes. Some episodes have become public. There will be a Smith family episode focusing on Grizzly Smith but going into the entire family, which includes Rockin Robin Smith, Sam Houston and of course Jake Roberts. Eric Bischoff noted having done interviews for shows on Brian Pillman and the Collision in Korea show. I do know that Kim Wood did a five-hour interview on Pillman and he knew Pillman better than anyone, as did a number of members of his family. I’ve done interviews for two episodes and there is talk of a third one. I did one for the Pillman episode which left me almost an emotional wreck going back to that period and his death. I think after hours of talking about him the thing that hit me so hard is I truly believe that if he could have seen the future, and in particular the plight of his kids (who were the impetus really of everything he did) that it would have scared him straight even as bad off as he was at the end. The gist of the Pillman story is that, before the humvee wreck, he knew his body was breaking down from all the injuries from football and wrestling. He had five kids and was obsessed with getting a big guaranteed contract from WCW so he could be a main eventer, and provide for his kids. The idea was to create a bidding war with WCW and WWF, but to remain close with Bischoff in particular because he never wanted to leave WCW. He always felt WCW was the place and WCW was where money was guaranteed. But then he got in the humvee wreck and while he lied to everyone, he knew he was never going to be the same and the ankle that was shattered would never heal properly. The reason he went to WWF was because Vince McMahon guaranteed him a good salary. I believe WCW’s offer was higher but WCW had 90 day windows in the deal where they could cancel the contract. His fear was that they would cancel on him because he knew he couldn’t go at the level he wanted to. He was telling everyone he could but I later found out after his death that he was told differently. So he went with McMahon. Whether that changed the outcome of the story is something that we’ll never know. He was headed in that direction even before the wreck but the wreck is what changed everything for the worst. It was a tragedy for his friends and in particular his family, and we all knew it at the time, but as time played out, as much of a tragedy as it was at the time, it was far more in hindsight. Not all 14 episodes are decided upon and if people have ideas of subjects they think would be good, you can contact me and if I think they are interesting and stuff that hasn’t been thought of, I can talk to them about it

So just to pull out of that text block - the three "known" topics are

- Grizzly Smith & Family

- Brian Pillman

- Collision in Korea show

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/5/2020 at 8:07 PM, bazzil said:

Cornette alluded on his podcast that theyre doing one about or at least featuring Ultimate Warrior.

That would track with Bix working on the show. He did a deep dive or two into Warrior's horribleness.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/6/2020 at 7:59 PM, Brian Fowler said:

That would track with Bix working on the show. He did a deep dive or two into Warrior's horribleness.

Bix and Warrior, that's a fucking pair to draw to.

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They just put out a tweet that was "First Monday back hitting us like..." and then video of a guy getting a sheet of glass broken over his head. The guy having longish blonde hair, and wearing trunks with MOXLEY written on the back. So... Zandig? Nick Gage?

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18 hours ago, AxB said:

They just put out a tweet that was "First Monday back hitting us like..." and then video of a guy getting a sheet of glass broken over his head. The guy having longish blonde hair, and wearing trunks with MOXLEY written on the back. So... Zandig? Nick Gage?

The dude hitting "Moxley" looks a lot like Gage, too.

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Those seem like totally likely entries and they've got contact with Onita from The Wrestlers, so it could be true. Sabu probably figured he might get in trouble for spilling the beans so he tried to cover it up. 

XPW of course has a built in story but FMW has a lot of interesting routes. Not just the death match stuff and Onita's scandal but the Kanemura scandal, Hayabusa's injury and death, probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

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51 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

XPW of course has a built in story but FMW has a lot of interesting routes. Not just the death match stuff and Onita's scandal but the Kanemura scandal, Hayabusa's injury and death, probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

There's also the fact that FMW's money mark killed himself shortly after the dissolution of the promotion so his life insurance policy could pay off a chunk of Yakuza debt that he owed.

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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Those seem like totally likely entries and they've got contact with Onita from The Wrestlers, so it could be true. Sabu probably figured he might get in trouble for spilling the beans so he tried to cover it up. 

XPW of course has a built in story but FMW has a lot of interesting routes. Not just the death match stuff and Onita's scandal but the Kanemura scandal, Hayabusa's injury and death, probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

Which Kanemura scandal? The sexual harassment stuff was long after FMW closed down. Was he involved with another scandal? The same is true for Onita's sex scandal (though at least Onita is so central to the history of FMW that it would fit into an episode about the promotion).

Edited by Robert s
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I only know of the one Kanemura thing, but regardless of timeline, he was part of the promotion. Team No Respect was a big deal there (underwear falling from the ceiling would be fun to see them recreate, btw). 

EDIT: Man have we even thought about lucha? What's the biggest scandal they could talk about from Mexico?

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Out of ring deaths too. The murder of Abismo Negro?

EDIT: Huh, after looking it up apparently he just drowned. I thought he mysteriously died and it was murder. This is pretty fucking scandalous though: 

Quote

On Saturday March 21, while Palomeque was either lost in the hills or already dead, someone worked as Abismo Negro on an AAA show in Cancun. In the past, the wrestler known as Black Abyss had worked as Abismo Negro when Palomeque failed to show, but this time Black Abyss was not the man behind the mask, as he was on the opposing team that night. Following the discovery of Palomeque's body, the deception in Cancun received national coverage in Mexico and the local promoter responsible for the show, Renán Martínez, was suspended for two years by the Benito Júarez Boxing and Wrestling commission.

 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Pillman leads off Season 3.

https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/brian-pillman-episode-kicking-dark-side-rings-third-season-330236

Quote

The premiere episode of Dark Side of the Ring's third season will be focused on the career and passing of Brian Pillman.

Steve Austin revealed the news on a Vice podcast Thursday, adding that he was interviewed for it. Austin and Pillman had an extensive history together, including a run as the Hollywood Blonds tag team in WCW and as rivals during the early portion of WWE's Attitude Era. 

Pillman was just 35 years old when he died of a heart attack in a hotel room in Minnesota while still with WWE. Austin later said Pillman had the same heart disease as his father, but it was undetected.

Our Dave Meltzer was also interviewed for the episode.

Vice announced last October that Dark Side would return for a third season. The 14-episode run will kick off at some point this year with focuses on the Dynamite Kid, Grizzly Smith, XPW, and the WCW/NJPW show in North Korea.

 

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Add the Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam one as all but certain.

From the new WON

Quote

It appears there will be a Dark Side of the Ring episode on Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam, a former wrestler who was involved in tons of mob activities including being accused of a murder. He was a pro wrestler who worked for years as an enhancement guy for WWF and was a pushed top star for Jim Cornette in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Former wrestler Mickey Doyle reported this. It makes sense because they love Cornette and Cornette could tell all kinds of stories. It can be another New Jack style episode which was one of the most popular episodes they did.

 

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@Curt McGirtis it possible you were thinking of the murder of Espectrito II and his brother?

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Alejandro Pérez Jiménez, along with his twin brother Alberto, were found murdered on June 29, 2009. It was reported that the two brothers checked into a hotel after a Sunday night show. Allegedly two female prostitutes approached the wrestlers, and were invited back to their hotel room. There the two women spiked the men's drinks with what was believed to be eye drops mixed in with alcohol.[8] When the two brothers passed out, the two women, allegedly part of a group named La Filtracion, robbed them of their wallets and cell phones. The Jiménez twins died from the drugs added to their drinks. Usually this procedure does not kill the victims of the La Filtracion women, but the size of the victims played a part in their death.[8] On July 22, 2009 it was reported that the Mexican police arrested one of the two women suspected in the death of the Jiménez twins. Police traced the whereabouts of the woman by tracking one of the Jiménez' twins cell phone which she used. The woman admitted to going to the hotel room with the Pérez Jiménez twins but denied being involved in their death.[8] On August 12, 2009 Mexican police arrested the second suspect, tracking her down in Hidalgo and arrested her. The second suspect admitted to being at the crime scene but maintained that it was her accomplice that administered the drugs that killed Alejandro and Alberto Pérez Jiménez.[9] The two women were later found guilty and, on July 12, 2010, sentenced to 47 years in prison.[10]

The story of the Jiménez twins' murder was the subject of an episode of Tabloid with Jerry Springer that shows a dramatized version of the events including an interview with their mother Maria Elena Jiménez and brother Juan Jiménez. The episode revealed that Alberto was starting to become involved with local politics, but did not reveal any actual links between their death and Alberto's political aspirations.[11]

 

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