Jeff Jarrett Says TNA Dark Side of the Ring Was Originally 7 Episodes

The three-part Dark Side of the Ring on the rise and fall of TNA has been generating more talk than usual, especially with Jeff Jarrett making the round to do publicity for it. And it’s possible the network missed a shot at even more content right off the bat.

In an appearance on the Wrestling Classic, Jarrett reveals that he was initially approached with seven episodes in mind. One would be just about him; the other would be a six-part TNA series, riffing on TNA’s unique six-sided ring.

“The original concept was maybe a Jeff Jarrett Dark Side, but also a standalone six sides of TNA, so six entire episodes, that [producer] Evan [Husney] and them had, and then the network approached them and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you combine them?’ And so they landed on three episodes and obviously, I’m involved with that in in in a deep way. So as far as the timing, I believe that God, you know, and the powers that be that kind of put all this together because I had nothing to do with the timing.”

Jarrett noted that he had been a longtime viewer of the show, and especially enjoyed working with the team on Tales From the Territories, which he called, “one of the greatest experiences of my entire life in in the wrestling space, because um it came at a time when me and my dad had really just reconciled and reconnected, [so] to get to be the moderator of of a program with Dutch Mantell, Jimmy Hart, Jerry Lawler, and Jerry Jarrett, that is Memphis wrestling in so many ways. So to be a part of that, I’d gotten to know Evan and the team on a personal level. And when they kind of laid out and they said, ‘Hey, Jeff…’ the original request was, ‘We’re going to do a dark side on you.'”

Considering the positive response, nobody should bet against more episodes on Jarrett and/or TNA in the future.