The two-part Chris Benoit edition of Vice’s ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ documentary series set records and was highly praised, but many noticed one detail was missing.
Kevin Sullivan, who played such a big part in the careers and lives of Benoit and wife Nancy, didn’t appear to offer up his point of view of the story.
For those unaware, Sullivan is known for having ‘booked his own divorce’ by putting his wife at the time, Nancy, and Chris Benoit, in an on-screen relationhip, which ultimately led to them legitimately falling in love.
Dark Side of the Ring producer Evan Husney spoke with Conrad Thompson about the series, in particular the Benoit episodes, notably discussing Sullivan’s absence.
Husney said:
“Someone that we planned originally to have in the story was Kevin Sullivan. He was someone that we wanted to participate in the story. Mostly because you know he was there, you know, so early on in Nancy’s career.
“Highlighting Nancy’s career was such an important aspect of doing this project. As her legacy has been so tarnished and swept under the rug after all these events in 2007. We felt like it was really important to highlight that and Jason [Eisner] and I are just huge fans of Nancy’s and her whole era as the Fallen Angel especially. But also you know Woman and everything else that she did. We wanted to really spend a good amount of time on her career and also highlight the whole Fallen Angel era. Kevin is such a huge part of that.
“I also wanted to highlight aspects of their personal life and have him comment directly. I mean that was always the intention. When we reached out to him or, you know, when I did, and spoke to him about it? It was tough, because for him it was just like it immediately was a complicated family situation between him and Nancy’s family. And I realised that I was kind of stepping into something that was bigger than me and bigger than this project. It was unfortunate because I think that if Kevin participated, it would’ve lent his perspective. I mean of course we would have wanted that. So that was the only person I think that for us and I can think of that was hesitant to participate.”
Jim Cornette has since said that the reason Sullivan didn’t appear was “communication issues”, and he will be appearing on Cornette’s podcast soon. He made a point of saying Sullivan wasn’t trying to protect himself by not appearing, but instead protect others such as Nancy’s parents.
Thanks to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
