To promote season three of Dark Side of the Ring show creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener spoke with VICE about possibly doing an episode on last year's #SpeakingOut movement, and share a story about Brian Pillman Jr. thinking that his dad's death, which is covered in the season three premiere, was all apart of an angle. Highlights are below.
Evan Husney says that they are considering doing an episode on the #SpeakingOutMovement:
We were definitely paying attention when that was happening, and it’s definitely something we’re interested in covering. In fact, there’s one story that I was quite passionate about that exemplified aspects of that movement, but the access to that story wasn’t there yet. It might be something we could possibly do down the line, but there are a lot of stories that we do pursue that don’t work out for access reasons. You don’t want to make a talking head piece that’s impersonal. For us, it just wasn’t the right time.
Jason Eisener recalls Brian Pillman Jr. thinking his dad's death was apart of an angle:
Yeah, it’s kind of what Evan was talking about—what are the ramifications of living a gimmick and how does that impact the family? It was such a powerful moment to hear Brian Pillman Jr. talk about how when he was a kid and his dad passed away, he thought it was just part of the angle and he was just waiting for the cameras to pop up and for his dad to come back. I can’t think of any other sport or art form where families have to navigate those blurred lines. When you watch our shows, you’re seeing people grieve in different ways, and I think that’s really important.
