Dark Side of the Ring spent three episodes telling the story of TNA Wrestling, but according to Matt Hardy, fans still didn’t get anywhere close to the full picture.
After watching the documentary come to an end, Hardy revealed there was a mountain of material that never made the final cut. Some of the biggest moments in TNA history—including The Hardys’ negotiations to stay with the company, Jeff Jarrett’s creative vision for the Broken Universe, Anthem’s plans to build the promotion around The Hardys, and even discussions about where TNA stands today—were all filmed, but ultimately left on the cutting room floor.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy admitted one of his biggest surprises was that none of his conversations with Jeff Jarrett about TNA’s current state were included.
“I wish they could have dug into TNA a little more of like what the current thing was because Jeff and I, we did comment on like where TNA is now and like how hard we work to get there and kind of how things happened.”
Hardy also expected the documentary to dive much deeper into the chaotic period surrounding Jeff Jarrett’s personal struggles because, behind the scenes, TNA was trying desperately to keep The Hardys. According to Hardy, he and Jeff had already committed to staying with the company, and Jarrett had ambitious plans for where the Broken Universe was headed next.
“There was also a part that wasn’t in there which I thought they probably would have used because they went into when Jeff, when his alcoholism got really bad and the whole AAA incident and everything else… But, you know, that was also where we were negotiating to re-sign with TNA and we were committed. We were all in and Jeff Jarrett had great ideas for Broken Universe stuff and different things we were going to do.”
Those plans weren’t just vague concepts either. Hardy recalled Jarrett pitching elaborate ideas built around his “King in Gold” character, complete with dramatic celebrations and major segments that never happened after everything fell apart.
“I remember he had written, he said he pitched for a big party when I was doing the King in Gold that I was like my first vessel again… ‘Oh I have this and we’ll do the celebration, we’ll bring these guys in and we’ll make it like this. It would be very dramatic.'”
The negotiations themselves were another major story Hardy thought would make the documentary. Instead, he said viewers never got to hear about the emotional roller coaster behind the scenes, including late-night messages that completely changed the tone of the talks.
“But then there would be times where at two in the morning he would send Jeff and I these really negative vulgar texts like, ‘If you don’t sign right now and take this money…’… We talked in great detail about that whole period too.”
Hardy was especially surprised that the documentary barely touched on The Hardys leaving TNA because, in his eyes, all the pieces were already there. The producers had interviews with everyone involved, the timeline lined up perfectly with Jarrett’s struggles, and Hardy believes their departure was one of the company’s defining moments.
“One of the reasons I thought they would probably include that is because you had all the components, you know, you had myself in an interview, you know, Jeff in an interview… But you tell that story of the AAA incident where Jeff was out of control or whatever… and also part of that in that time was myself and Jeff like leaving because they were going to build the whole company around us.”
He then revealed just how badly Anthem wanted to keep them. According to Hardy, then-TNA president Ed Nordholm personally came to The Hardys’ home multiple times because the company’s entire strategy revolved around locking them into new deals.
“Ed Nordholm… came here to our house to talk to us like a couple times because his whole goal was, they were like, ‘Get the Hardys. We have to get the Hardys locked down. That’s it. And we’re going to build the show around them because they’re so hot right now.’… That was a big part, you know. Us leaving was, I feel like, a pretty big blow to TNA at that time.”
Despite wishing those stories had been included, Hardy said he understands that the producers ultimately had to choose which direction they wanted to take. Even after three episodes, Hardy believes fans only saw a fraction of what was actually filmed.
“That I felt like was a good way of telling that story about Jeff reaching rock bottom with how all that stuff went. But, you know, it is what it is. They chose to go the direction they went and it was what it was. You honestly could have gotten two more hour episodes out of that. I mean, they could have gotten at least two more hour episodes out of that. It covered so, so much more ground.”
Hardy didn’t sound angry that his stories were cut. He sounded genuinely surprised. The way he tells it, everyone involved spent hours unpacking one of the wildest periods in TNA history, only for huge chunks of those conversations to disappear once the episodes aired. That’s why he keeps coming back to the same point: the documentary didn’t run out of stories. It ran out of screen time.
Which story do you wish Dark Side of the Ring had included? Let us know in the comments below.
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