Now that the second season of the Vice documentary “DARK SIDE OF THE RING” is completed. I thought it would be appropriate to re-analyze this season because I noticed a rather interesting trend tying through all the episodes.
That trend is Vince McMahon’s involvement in some rather shady shit for the sake of his wrestling empire.
The WWE Chairman’s name came up in numerous episodes throughout Season 2, having his own reenacted character on the Benoit episodes, the Jimmy Snuka and Nancy Argentino murder, the Brawl for All, the David Schultz-John Stossel incident, and of course, the Owen Hart tragedy.
When asked about what Vince McMahon was like, Jim Cornette said he either is a ‘genius or a demon’ because the man had almost nothing in his life besides wrestling. “I doubt he’s gone to a movie or the grocery store in the last 40 years,” Cornette said in one episode.
McMahon may be a genius and a demon, because according to Dark Side’s second season, it seems like he got away with some really shady shit. Let’s take a look at some of them.
The Brawl for All
According to Jim Cornette and Jim Ross it was really Vince Russo’s fault for coming up with the idea in the first place. But while Russo may have been the creator, ultimately it was McMahon who was in charge and could have stopped this absolute shit show at any time. The brawl resulted in legitimate injuries on wrestlers that otherwise could have been earning money for the company.
Talk about highlighting a moment when McMahon may have shot himself in the foot.
David Schultz slapping John Stossel
When Stossel asked if wrestling was fake, Stossel responded by slapping the reporter twice in the head. It was either the most real thing that Stossel could experience in wrestling, or one of the most elaborate works in the business’ history. McMahon was aware that someone from the media was doing a story and sent the ‘Doctor’ out there, knowing exactly what he could expect.
It may have been more of a business decision behind McMahon’s removing of Schultz from his company as WWE was transitioning into mainstream pop culture, but it is ironic that McMahon himself exposed the business to remove government regulations on wrestling after Schultz basically sacrificed his career for ‘protecting the business’.
Jimmy Snuka’s alleged murder of Nancy Argentino
In the Jimmy Snuka story surrounding the death of his then girlfriend Nancy Argentino, there was a moment when Snuka was being questioned by the police until McMahon intervened. There are no transcripts of what McMahon told the police behind those closed doors, but all we know is that after McMahon was finished, Snuka was released without further investigation.
It took some 30 years for the case to be reinvestigated, but by then Snuka had so much dementia he wasn’t aware enough of his own faculties for the trial to continue. Snuka died in 2017, with neither the Argentino family getting closure nor him being able to defend himself or clear his name.
But just think how far McMahon would go for the WWE and his business, which is basically his entire life, that people are even thinking that he could have helped in covering up a possible murder by one of his wrestlers is really out there.
Owen Hart
As for the Owen Hart tragedy, it’s not as though it’s Vince McMahon’s direct fault but negligence was certainly a factor…with the accusation of it on WWE’s part that contributed to Owen’s fall in Kansas City.
From the account from Owen’s widow Martha and her showing the harness that held up Owen from the rafters, it seems to me that WWE, at that moment, decided in the interest of saving some bucks went for a less experienced team that night at Over the Edge than the one that had coordinated the stunt which lowered Owen into the ring when he was the Blue Blazer.
Dark Side of the Ring was one of those bright spots during this pandemic that provided some interesting content to consume while we were all stuck in our homes. Season One may have foreshadowed McMahon’s shady dealings in the wrestling business with the Montreal Screwjob, but Season Two seemed to have doubled down on that assessment.
It doesn’t help to dispel that notion when you have Chris Jericho as the narrator; on his podcast Jericho has interviewed numerous former WWE talent like Jon Moxley, Brodie Lee, FTR (aka the Revival) and Lance Archer (when he did two years in WWE) and they all had weird Vince McMahon stories.
Those stories on the pod weren’t about McMahon doing anything illegal, but have the same guy doing these interviews be the narrator of your show highlighting all this stuff McMahon was involved in? If that’s not a jab, I don’t know what is.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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