YMMV / Dark Side of the Ring

• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • New Jack getting heat by thanking O. J. Simpson for killing two white people? Despicable. Doing it with a complete straight face without cracking up? Hilarious.
  • Jacques Rougeau tricking the Dynamite Kid into believing the former had mafia connections that would come after the latter if there was retaliation for the roll of quarters incident was very clever, but not particularly funny considering how much it frightened Kid and his family. Jacques's casual "oh yeah" remembrance of the incident and his glee in recounting how he pulled it off turns it into black comedy gold.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The XPW episode has New Jack (filmed in early 2021) discussing his infamous fall off a scaffold and ends with him saying "So, I lived." The episode aired in October 2021...five months after New Jack's death.
  • The Road Warriors episode (mostly centered on Hawk's personal issues) would mark Animal's final appearance, as he would pass away four months later. The episode is already sad itself but also doubles as Heartwarming in Hindsight (depending on one's beliefs) now that the two wrestling legends are Together in Death.
  • The 1994 steroids trial against Vince McMahon was the first known time the WWE chairman would be embroiled under public scrutiny. A year after the episode about the steroid trial aired, Vince and John Laurinaitis would find themselves under investigation over allegations of hush-money agreements and sexual harassment in the workplace, ultimately leading to Vince retiring from the company in disgrace. While Vince would return as an executive chairman in January 2023 in preparation for the company being sold to Endeavor (merging with the UFC in the process), it would be later reported that Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel forbade Vince from having any creative say in the company, all but ensuring that his legacy remains forever tainted by the aforementioned hush money scandal. In 2024, McMahon would be once again embroiled in another allegation of sexual misconduct, forcing him to resign his position as CEO of WWE and TKO.
• Seasonal Rot: The fourth season's reception was mixed in comparison to its predecessors, with many fans criticizing the number of biographical "rise-and-fall" episodes as being formulaic and without the verve and hook of prior episodes — leading some to wonder if the showrunners are under greater scrutiny by the wrestling business and with less freedom as a result, causing them to rely on comparatively safer and less controversial stories of deceased wrestlers.
• Unexpected Character: There were actually quite a few people surprised to see Luna Vachon's son show up, especially since her son is Hell's Kitchen fan-favorite, Van Hurd.
• Values Dissonance:
  • The mere concept of Collision in Korea is something that could never happen today. In 1995, knowledge about how closed off and incredibly totalitarian North Korea was not as widespread as it is now, as the WCW team that went there learned the hard way. Inversely, North Koreans were confused and terrified at meeting the Americans and had no idea what professional wrestling was.
  • Grizzly Smith's predilection for underage girls isn't just an open secret backstage; it's a source of jokes as Jim Cornette found out when he broke into the business. There is absolutely no way a known child rapist would be employed by any company today, no matter how small, if only for the bad press it would bring, let alone the ethics.
  • The "Plane Ride From Hell" has often been bandied about in a comical manner. Then the episode on it aired and finally showed the perspective from someone (specifically flight attendant Heidi Doyle) not in the wrestling business. Public perception of the incident turned immediately, with Ric Flair falling under immense scrutiny and Tommy Dreamer getting suspended from Impact Wrestling for trying to minimize the incidents that happened during the flight.
• Vindicated by History: For over a decade, Dr. Martha Hart was one of the most despised people in wrestling due to her refusal to allow her husband Owen Hart to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. However, after the episode that focused on Owen's death aired, which showed her point of view, many fans sympathized with her, some even agreeing that Owen should and would never be in the WWE Hall of Fame.^note It helps that the episode aired during a time where negative opinion of WWE (or at least Vince McMahon) was at an all-time high due to questionable decisions such as their business deal with the regime of Saudi Arabia and firing people in the middle of a global pandemic despite setting profit records, and as such, at that point very few people were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It also helps that the episode showed that she has no issues with other pro wrestling companies or even pro wrestling in general as a result of Owen's death (an assumption mistakenly held by some beforehand), she just has issues with the WWE (as she considers that their lack of safety precautions led to her husband's death), even giving All Elite Wrestling permission to hold a Owen Hart Cup honoring her late husband.

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