Dark Side of the Ring/Nightmare Fuel

"You do not understand what kind of shithole I'm in here!"

As expected from a wrestling documentary show that covered a number of dark and depressing topics, and by taking them to context it is no stranger to the most disturbing and unsettling moments.

All spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2 will be unmarked. You've been warned!

Season 1

The Match Made in Heaven

• Jake "The Snake" Roberts recalling that infamous match with Randy Savage where the former's pet cobra chowed down on Savage's bicep in what is widely considered to be one of the most disturbing moments in WWE history.

The Mysterious Death of Gorgeous Gino

• Outside of the pro-wrestling life, "Gorgeous" Gino Hernandez had one obvious vice: his addiction to cocaine. This ultimately proved to be his undoing.
• The circumstances of Gino's death have been shrouded in mystery, with some of Gino's fellow wrestlers still believing to this day that he was murdered by drug traffickers via a forced overdose.
• The presence of a man named "John Royal" at Gino's funeral. Gino's loved ones were obviously distrustful of the man, and were uncomfortable with Royal and his associates overseeing the funeral proceedings.

The Fabulous Moolah

• The Fabulous Moolah may be one of the innovators of women's wrestling, but her legacy has come under intense scrutiny due to her activities behind closed doors, such as financial and sexual exploitation and using her backstage influence to ensure that other women wouldn't gain greater recognition.

Season 2

Benoit (Parts 1 & 2)

• As discussed on Chris Benoit's Nightmare Fuel page, his infamous Pater Familicide is one of the darkest incidents to ever happen in the wrestling world. A man who was known internationally as one of the greatest technical wrestlers to ever step into the squared circle suddenly murdered his own wife and 7-year-old son before committing suicide by hanging, in the process tarnishing his own legacy and destroying the business he so passionately loved and worked his ass off for in the ensuing aftermath of the tragedy.
  • The damage to Benoit's brain due to the repeated use of the diving headbutt and chair shots to the head confirmed that he had a horrific case of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death, according to former wrestler-turned-neuroscientist Christopher Nowinski. Based on his findings upon examining Benoit's brain, Benoit's Pater Familicide was originally attributed to anabolic steroid abuse, but a brain biopsy confirmed pathognomonic CTE tissue changes: large aggregations of tau protein as manifested by neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads, which cause neurodegeneration.
    • The fact that Nowinski volunteered in examining Benoit's brain makes a lot of sense, as he himself sustained a number of concussions in his WWE career, which forced him to retire from pro-wrestling.

The Life and Crimes of New Jack

• Everything about the Mass Transit incident in general. It doesn't help that New Jack's victim that night was a 17-year-old kid subbing in for another wrestler who no-showed due to travel issues.
• The fact that Eric and his father Stephen lied to Paul Heyman about Eric's age so that he could live out his dream of becoming a pro-wrestler. Eric gets beaten to a bloody pulp by New Jack for his troubles, and his father can do nothing but watch from the sidelines.
• The reason why Eric's family refused to take part in this show's episode is because they didn't want to relive the trauma of that night.

Jimmy Snuka and the Death of Nancy Argentino

• Jimmy's life outside of the ring is a combination of erratic behavior and drugs. What doesn't help is that he's often high on cocaine, much to the chagrin of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, who was his manager at the time.
• The Argentino family were frightened by Snuka's erratic behavior, as Louise, Nancy's sister, was violently grabbed by the throat and even given a pouch of cocaine as a peace offering by Snuka. Ultimately, it turned out that they were right to be wary of him...
• One of Nancy's sisters, Lorraine, described a disturbing incident at Nancy's funeral where Jimmy, accompanied by Buddy Rogers, appeared during the second day and approached her lifeless body lying in the coffin, where he touched her hands until the Argentino family patriarch had to pull him away. The Undertaker came over to their stepfather and explained how disturbing it was in that they were trying to make Nancy look good because of a bruise on her neck, as well as multiple cuts and abrasions all over her body.

The Assassination of Dino Bravo

• Dino Bravo was an Italian-Canadian wrestler who worked in the WWE from 1985 to 1992. On March 10, 1993, Bravo was shot 11 times (7 shots to his head and 4 in his torso) in his home whilst watching a hockey game - his murder remains unsolved to this day.
  • It should also be noted that Bravo was the nephew-in-law of Vic "The Egg" Cotroni, The Don of Montreal, Quebec's Cotroni family, and was reportedly involved in a contraband cigarette smuggling operation.
  • According to Bret Hart's book Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, a few days before he was shot dead, Bravo told some of his close friends that he feared someone was coming after him...

Cocaine & Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story

• Another underlying moral of the episode is that Drugs Are Bad. Case in point, Herb Abrams' cocaine addiction became not only detrimental to himself, but to his own business as well. It's made even worse that his addiction caused him to become increasingly paranoid and lose sight of reality.
• What doesn't help is that several wrestlers have died prematurely as a result of drug overdoses - with Miss Elizabeth, the aforementioned Gino Hernandez, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow and "Sensational" Sherri Martel being some notable examples.

The Last Ride of the Road Warriors

• If you thought Herb's addiction was bad, then Mike "Hawk" Hegstrand had it worse. Once he and Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis made their presence known in the WWF, Hawk's alcohol and drug addictions created a rift between him and Animal.

The Final Days of Owen Hart

• Owen Hart falling to his death as the result of a stunt gone tragically wrong. Everyone who witnessed Owen's fall during the Over the Edge pay-per-view was left utterly shocked and speechless.

Season 3

Brian Pillman (Parts 1 & 2)

• Brian developed multiple throat polyps that scraped his vocal cords during his childhood. Even after this was circumvented through 36 throat operations, it still sounds rather disturbing.
• The infamous "Pillman's Got a Gun" angle between Brian and Stone Cold Steve Austin which saw Brian pulling out a 9mm pistol and opening fire on Stone Cold as he tried to break into the Pillman family home. While overlapping with Moment of Awesome, even Vince McMahon found the segment unsettling and had to apologize for the incident.
  • Not to mention, you can hear Melanie screaming in horror the instant Brian starts shooting.
• The unimaginable horror of Brian's car accident... As his sister Linda summed it up, Brian's head was swollen up like a beach ball and it took six individual doctors to fix parts of his face. The real kicker when the metal plates are put into his face, the doctors had to cut and peel down his face to do so. Even WhatCulture.com's review of the episode described it as a scene taken from a horror movie.
  • Even Melanie could barely recognize her husband after seeing both his eyes and hair dyed blood red when visiting him at the hospital.

The Ultraviolence of Nick Gage

• Deathmatch wrestling makes the "No DQ", "Falls Count Anywhere" and "Street Fight" matches that most wrestling promotions use in wrestling feuds look like child's play. Kayfabe is non-existent, ultraviolence, blood and even, if possible, murder is on full display, and the weapons used in this type of match (e.g., fluorescent bulbs, barbed-wire baseball bats and staple guns) are far more lethal than your typical steel chairs and wooden tables.
  • It should be noted that fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which, when inhaled, can destroy a person's internal organs from the inside-out and result in an immediate (or, if you're really unlucky, slow and painful) death.
  • Nick Gage getting a shard of fluorescent tube lodged in his armpit during his bout with Thumbtack Jack, resulting in a lacerated carotid artery and massive exsanguination that almost killed him.

Collision in Korea

• WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling's infamous Collision in Korea pay-per-view being held in, of all places, Pyongyang, North Korea. The fact that Antonio Inoki organized this event in a bid to save his political career doesn't help matters, either.
  • Not to mention, this WCW-related event is not even included in the WWE Network's archives.
  • Also, as North Korea is infamous for being one of the most authoritarian countries on Earth, simply talking smack about the government will result in you either being thrown in prison or executed. Ric Flair barely made it out of the country once the event was over, and Scott Norton found out the hard way when, during a phone call with his wife, she accused him of partying and cheating on her, only for Norton to lash out and tell her that North Korea was a "shithole" country... and his phone immediately went dead.
    • The real kicker is that the paranoia the North Korean government inspires meant Norton was convinced that his call was going to be monitored. He wasn't wrong, and that phone call mentioned above got him kidnapped and interrogated (pictured above) - an interrogation that was interrupted by an official looking disgustedly at Norton. That means, any slightest act of speaking negatively about the North Korean government could land would-be dissidents and foreigners behind bars. Luckily for Norton, he was let go after the authorities gave him a stern warning.
    • Throw some Fridge Horror into the mix as a "What If" scenario related to the above: imagine if Scott Norton had been tortured or even executed by the authorities for what he said against the North Korean dictatorship. This would almost certainly spark an international incident that would not only destroy the reputations of both WCW and New Japan, but also result in Antonio Inoki facing criminal charges due to the fact that he organized the event.
  • Also, the fact that the citizens of North Korea must be obliged to do as what the dictatorship tells them to do such as paying respects to their fallen leader (in this case, Kim Il-sung, who died eight months prior), refusal to do so could mean an immediate death sentence. The same can be said with the wrestling event itself, Ric Flair's shocked reaction upon looking at the "forced attendance" as if the people had no free will their own is astounding. Not to mention, North Korea is still reeling from a famine and economic crisis at the time.

In the Shadow of Grizzly Smith

• Let's just say that the entire episode as a whole is full of this. Grizzly Smith's offspring (Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Sam Houston and Rockin' Robin) have truly been through a lot. Their ordeals are not only filled with tragic turns of events in their respective lives, but also contain thought-provoking horrors courtesy of their upbringing under their abusive father.
• Grizzly Smith himself. While the Abusive Parents trope is on full display in this episode, we also learn from both Jake and Robin that they themselves were sexually abused by both him and, in Jake's case, his stepmother Marcia Smith at one point.
  • Not to mention, the guy made important connections inside and outside the wrestling industry and used this influence to keep his secrets in the dark.
• The kidnapping (and probable murder) of Jake, Sam and Robin's sister Jo Lynn. The culprit was arrested, but what exactly happened to Jo Lynn remains unknown to this day, and her body has yet to be found.
  • If you take Michael Nabors and Robin Smith's perspective into account, they have a hunch that Grizzly Smith set up Jo Lynn's abduction to keep anyone within his family from exposing his extensive history of pedophilia.
• Jake's infamous match at the Heroes of Wrestling PPV where the supposed "main event" involving him and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart saw Jake make his way to the ring whilst completely inebriated. The real kicker is that Jake had suffered a relapse and, because he was too intoxicated to compete, he started exhibiting bizarre behaviors from forcing a female fan to grab his nipples to him simulating "plucking the pickle" with his pet snake. Cringeworthy? Yes. Disturbing? Most definitely.

The Plane Ride from Hell

• Having a number of wrestlers binge-drinking in the middle of a seven-hour flight delay and the consequent Alcohol-Induced Idiocy created a perfect recipe for disaster. But what stands out is Curt Hennig's prank on Brock Lesnar that went horribly wrong, as Lesnar is most likely the last person you want to piss off in real life... something Hennig and the flight crew found out the hard way when Lesnar grabbed Hennig and slammed him against the plane's emergency door.

Blood & Wire: Onita's FMW

• Let's just say that the entire episode as a whole is full of this. FMW is basically a fusion of Mortal Kombat and professional wrestling that makes ECW look like a WWE program in comparison. The entire promotion's battleground is rigged with booby traps, such as barbed wires that electrify and explode on contact. Just how crazy is Atsushi Onita at finding joy in the pain he inflicts on both himself and on others?