Previewing Season 5 of Dark Side of the Ring

The fifth season of VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring is coming on March 5, and running weekly for a dozen weeks.

SlamWrestling.net has been calling around and asking who all was filmed for the series, and here’s our take on what to expect with the individual episodes:

Chris Colt will be the best episode of the season, just because he remains a mostly unknown character to the bigger wrestling public, and his story hasn’t been told hundreds of times, like, say, Brutus Beefcake’s parasailing accident which happened when he was at the height of his stardom in WWF. Dark Side won’t shy away from Colt’s gay porn side, either — which SlamWrestling featured in the definitive piece by Jon Plomdon: Colt’s gay films a purposeful dig. We know who won’t be on camera even though he has great Chris Colt stories, and that’s “Handsome” Johnny Bradford, who shared some stories with our site under his Brad McFarlin byline in the great piece, Mat Matters: When Chris Colt met Joe Cocker. I’m hoping that historian Tom Burke makes an appearance too, but I doubt it.

Chris Colt at a Bearman McKigney show in southern Ontario. Photo by Terry Dart

Sensational Sherri, who died in 2007 when she was only 49, will be represented by those who knew her in the business, but also her son, Jarred Gonzales, who has had some of his own health issues in recent years. We are wondering how much Dark Side will go into her past as an adult dancer before getting into pro wrestling. I doubt that Shawn Michaels will be interviewed, though Scary Sherri was at his side for a long time. I’ve long thought she as one of the best woman wrestlers of her era, and, having worked with Madusa on her book, find Sherri Martel to be an intriguing figure.
Chris Adams died in 2001 (see Chris Adams’ life was a roller coaster). While never a truly major national star, even with time spent in WCW, he has some name value. There are lots of people to talk to who can give some insight. Death by gunshot is always compelling.
Terry Gordy, who died in 2001, lived a wild life. Who’s left from the Fabulous Freebirds to interview? Michael “P.S.” Hayes, but he’s a WWE guy, and their associate Jimmy “Jam” Garvin. Buddy Roberts is long gone, and he was always a hoot to talk to. Gordy’s long-time partner in Japan and in WCW, Steve “Dr. Death” Williams, is gone too. Hopefully Dark Side has made up with Jim Ross, who was upset over the “Plane Ride from Hell Episode” and that Bill Watts is interviewed (Watts contributed to the SlamWrestling obit: Terry Gordy remembered as a great talent). No doubt, both of Bam Bam’s kids, Ray Gordy and Miranda Gordy, will be talking heads, as both wrestled too.
Brutus Beefcake and his wife Missy stood out last season in the episode about Marty Jannetty, not necessarily for the right reasons. It will be a bit of a train wreck, I suspect, with their trailer-park lifestyle on display. Will Hulk Hogan appear, brother? Few wrestlers are quite as intertwined as Brutus and the Hulkster. (See our Beefcake archive if you want proof.)
Speaking of train wrecks, Buff Bagwell has the potential for the Marty Jannetty-like episode of the season, the one we all end up talking about … Just how did he end up like that? Bring on the gigolo stories! Alas, Judy Bagwell has passed so can’t be on-screen scolding her son for life choices.

Tod Gordon at the Icons of Wrestling Convention & Fanfest on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at the 2300 Arena, in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by George Tahinos, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com

The Sandman doesn’t excite me that much. I never saw his appeal in ECW, but then I never fully drank the E-C-Dub Kool-Aid, and never really watched it until it was (slightly) toned down on TNN. Smoking, drinking, violence, crucifixion, what more could you want? Wait, maybe you want our Sandman story archive.
Even when Harley Race was zooming around in his mobility scooter at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunions in Las Vegas, he exuded toughness. I knew I could outrun him, but if he caught me, I’d be toast. By this point, Harley’s tales are just part of wrestling lore, from having to wash the massive Happy Humphrey to pulling a gun (again and again) on opponents and promoters. There’s plenty of sadness in his story too, including his first wife’s death in a car accident. I’d expect his kids to be front and center. (See our Harley Race archive to get caught up.)
Black Saturday is probably the episode I’m least excited about. It’s all backstage shenanigans, and we detailed it at length in a story by John Molinaro from 2001, End of an era on TBS: Solie, Georgia and ‘Black Saturday’. Of course, Jerry Brisco is always fun to listen to, and he’s the most prominent name still around — unless Ted Turner comes on camera … or Vince McMahon, which is way less likely than Turner!

John Tenta as a sumo wrestler in Japan.

The outlier, the “one of this things that isn’t like the others,” is the episode on Earthquake. John Tenta was a sweetheart of a man, a gentle soul who came out of sumo wrestling and became a reluctant star. There won’t be much “dark side” in this one, just sadness, with his family and friends reflecting on a life that ended way too soon, in June 2006, from bladder cancer.

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