Dark Side of the Ring is back with a season filled with fascinating new stories, along with fresh, new takes on some classics.
WrestleZone spoke with Dark Side of the Ring Executive Producer and Co-Creator Evan Husney ahead of the season six premiere on VICE. This season, the show has ten episodes with topics ranging from Muhammad Hassan to Ludvig Borga, as well as a season premiere that looks back on the Hell In A Cell match. Many people have heard Mick Foley and The Undertaker talk about their experience in the Cell. However, this episode offers a new perspective on not only the match itself, but Mick Foley’s desire to grab the brass ring and the origin of his appetite for violence.
Husney shared his excitement for finally creating an episode based around Foley, someone he’d wanted to work with from the beginning. Foley was originally supposed to be the narrator of the series (instead of Chris Jericho). However, outside variables prevented it from happening. Now that Dark Side of the Ring has more credibility six seasons in (as Husney put it), they got a chance to work with Foley and tell a more psychological story about Hell In A Cell.
Dark Side of the Ring took a “psychological” approach to telling Mick Foley’s story
“We’ve always wanted to try and get his story, for him to be an actual subject of this show. And it has taken us several seasons in order to convince him of that,” Husney explained. “I always felt that while there are a lot of stories about Mick Foley and even stories about the Hell in a Cell that have been told prior, I don’t feel like a lot of those other pieces have gone really deep enough in terms of Mick’s sort of psychological philosophy in how he approaches the weird and wild, wacky art of professional wrestling. He is one of those small few that looks at it with the eyes that he does in terms of his commitment to his characters, to the art of performance.
“Granted, his art of performance is very brutal, theatre of pain, theatre of cruelty, self-sacrifice style. But it’s very deeply deeply important to him,” he continued. “And that is his art you know, in terms of what he does. But I think to most people, especially the uninitiated, they’re like, ‘Why would you do this and put yourself through this?’ So, for him to articulate that and the need to sort of put himself through that through acceptance and what he wants to get from an audience and also make sure that an audience feels fulfilled at the end of the day, I think is very compelling. And so, we took a very psychological approach to Mick’s [episode].
Evan Husney wanted to focus on Mick Foley’s iconic moment
Husney considers Foley’s first Hell in a Cell match to be “one of the more transcendent moments” in pro wrestling history as it highlights an incredible story. He knows hardcore matches might not be everyone’s favorite. Despite that, the challenge was to examine the dramatic stakes surrounding a unique match like Hell In A Cell.
“Even though Mick’s life is completely at risk. ‘Is this guy going to survive this?’ But just the stakes of that match have never felt higher in terms of the storytelling and how they were still able to [finish the match],” he explained. “Things are going off-script, things are happening that nobody anticipated. Some people weren’t told everything that were going to happen. All these elements are kind of left up to this high-risk level of chance. But at the same time, all the performers within it are able to construct this unbelievable story of like a guy, going through this match and coming out the other side. And to me, it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime type of match.”
Husney knows that they could have picked a few other moments from Foley’s career, highlighting some of the crazy things he did in Japan. However, he knew Hell In A Cell is the moment fans will remember forever, whether Foley likes it or not.
Dark Side of the Ring also highlights the effect Foley’s work had on his family
Husney saw Hell In A Cell like a microcosm that highlights Foley’s entire philosophy on pro wrestling. He applauds Foley for approaching it like a performance art and wanted to highlight that, as well as the level of danger and how it affects his family.
“We’ve all seen Beyond the Mat and those scenes where he brings his family to ringside, [the 1999] Royal Rumble match. That always resonated with me and cut deep. That was our first glimpse of feeling like, ‘What do family members think of their dad or their husband?’ This is how they go to work. And this is how they put the food on the table and how scary that is. And so, it is something that we wanted to continue to explore here,” Husney said.
“It is very powerful hearing his daughter Noelle talk about how she’s blacked out all of her dad’s matches. And how when, certain things weren’t communicated to his wife on what he was going to do. And she’s having to watch it on TV and find out for the first time. These are just things we don’t think about as fans,” he continued. “We just think about, ‘Oh he’s our wrestling hero’ and ‘wow, he put a great show on for us.’ But we don’t really understand at what cost, right? And so, I think that’s something we really wanted to highlight. That’s what makes it a human story and not just a wrestling highlight reel.”
Has Dark Side of the Ring tried to get more WWE talent involved in the show?
Dark Side of the Ring does have some loose ties to WWE (Husney worked with The Rock on Tales From The Territories), but the show has largely succeeded without WWE’s involvement. Husney stressed that he can’t definitively say why, but feels like WWE might be in an awkward position with some of the stories the show covers.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people over there, without naming names, [who] are fans of our show. They like the show and they watch it every week. I hear that a lot from the people over there,” Husney said. “But it’s just like in an official capacity, it kind of sets up a precedent that it might be a little bit awkward between our show and what we’ve done in the past, what we want to do in the future.
“It’s tricky. I mean… I’d love to [have them involved]. There’s so many opportunities where having some of those voices that are still currently in the WWE ecosystem would lend so much,” he added. “There’s been exceptions. Stone Cold Steve Austin technically I’m sure has some arrangement with them. But was in our Brian Pillman episode in Season 3. So, there’s no hard and fast rule. Sometimes things can happen and sometimes not.”
The sixth season of Dark Side of the Ring premieres on VICE on Tuesday, March 25. Watch our full interview with Executive Producer and Co-Creator Evan Husney below:
