Chris Jericho On How Dark Side of the Ring’s Benoit Episode Covers Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero Helping Produce the Episode

Chris Jericho spoke with Sports Illustrated for a new interview promoting the return of Dark Side of the Ring and the premiere episode focusing on Chris Benoit. You can check out the highlights below:

On his involvement in the episode: “I didn’t want to hear how I was glorifying a murderer. I don’t want to hear that I’m ignoring this murder. I wanted to talk, specifically, about his life and times, his intensity, and his successes within the ring. We’re not glorifying a murderer. We’re telling the full story. It was done properly, it was done for the right reasons, and we were able to portray the full story, emphasizing the tragedy that much further.”

On the episode also telling the story of Eddie Guerrero’s death: “There was a huge connection between Chris’ life and Eddie Guerrero’s life, and his death, so half the story is the story of Eddie and the other half is of Chris. I think we did the right way of portraying this, reminding everyone there were people behind this, not just sensational murder coverage. There is a story to tell of a friendship and a family, and a guy that was not a monster. This was someone you could trust and that was very respected in the wrestling community amongst his peers.”

On Chavo Guerrero’s involvement in the episode: “Chavo Guerrero helped produce it, and he’s the reason I decided to do it. His mindset was, ‘If we don’t do this properly, it’s going to get done anyway. Let’s do it for the right reasons and do it the right way.’ I think he was spot on with that. Chavo was involved, which got me involved, and David Benoit and Nancy’s sister were involved, then I was able to get Dean and Dean’s wife, and Vickie. Suddenly it became this noble project instead of a hack job, which is what the media tends to do in situations with someone they don’t know. We knew the person behind this, not just the murderer.”