WWE Exec Bruce Prichard Blasts Wrestling Docuseries Dark Side Of The Ring
"Dark Side of the Ring" has generated plenty of attention and an equal amount of controversy during the TV series' run, both for its subject matters and the way it's approached them. One of its biggest critics is WWE Executive Bruce Prichard.
Prichard's criticism stepped up over the past week, with him declaring he'd never be associated with the program again. On the latest episode of "Something To Wrestle," Prichard responded to a question about his previous remarks, citing the show's reliance on a certain wrestling journalist, and other factors.
"It's my show, it's my opinion," Prichard said. "My opinion is I don't want to deal with the negative, I don't want to deal in things that are just blatant, out and out wrong, bad, bad journalism, bad television when they had the truth, and they just chose to ignore it. That's all. The human beings, I like them both. But I don't like it, and guys, if you're listening, I told you that from day one. We sat down and you guys went through this s**t, and I told you, 'Yeah, that's not how it happened. This is how it happened, and here's what nobody else will tell you.' And when you choose to go on and believe people like Dave Meltzer, who has never spent one day in this business working. He is a reporter – great reporter. But he's not an expert. He's an expert on rumor and innuendo, he's an expert on stirring s**t.
Prichard Takes Issue With Several DSOTR Episodes
"So when you make the choice to use him as your source, then your entire product suffers because of lack of credibility from someone who's never, ever worked in the business, who doesn't really know, who has only heard about certain things, and only reported what he wanted to report, because of personal bias one way or the other. So that's all .... that's all. The human beings? Got no problem with them. The show itself I think went from a place of an investigative show to a place of a 'Gotcha!' show, and, 'Let's see who we can tear apart, dead or alive with rumor and innuendo."
In terms of the most egregious examples of what he was talking about, Prichard pointed to three specific "DSOTR" episodes.
"The Plane Ride from Hell, where they took several different plane rides and presented them as one," Prichard said. "Again, not fair in narrative they were warned about. That one they were warned about. Owen Hart's tragic [death] ... there's two right there. It's been a few, it's really been a few. Gino [Hernandez] may have been one ... it's just ... that may be nothing more than an old man yelling at clouds. But I'm an old man, and I have a right to yell at clouds."
If you use any quotes in this article, please credit "Something To Wrestle" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.