Dark Side Of The Ring is set to feature the story of Nick Gage this week, and one of the show’s producers says he really enjoyed getting to learn more about ‘The God of Ultraviolence’ this season.
Evan Husney & Jason Eisener, co-producers of the show, spoke with WrestleZone ahead of the season three premiere of the series on VICE, and they were asked if there were any specific episodes that really resonated with them after filming. Jason Eisener said each story has its own charm, but Gage’s episode reverberated because he loved how the gimmick blurred the lines.
“It changes for me because as you’re working on episodes, it’s in our nature to become obsessed with the material. But for me, I’ve become obsessed with one kind of at a time, but I didn’t know much about Nick Gage before going into this season. I’ve never been a big fan of deathmatch wrestling, just blood, in general, it’s hard for me to watch some of that stuff. He’s such a captivating character. I became such a big fan of his and just fell in love with him as a person and a personality,” Eisener explained. “I love wrestlers that continue to blur the lines, and a character that is believable is Nick Gage. He is his character, like he’s someone I totally believe in his gimmick.”
Nick Gage’s devastating struggles with homelessness and addiction came to a head shortly before Christmas Eve, 2010, when he entered a bank in New Jersey.
All-new episode premieres Thursday, 9pm on @vicetv and @CraveCanada. pic.twitter.com/vkyDvfwg1k
— Dark Side of the Ring (@DarkSideOfRing) May 11, 2021
Eisener also said he’s excited about the episode centered around Grizzly Smith, who is also the father of professional wrestlers Jake Roberts, Rockin’ Robin and Sam Houston. Eisener noted how fans that have seen the infamous Beyond The Mat documentary will be familiar with the fractured relationship of the family, and it was interesting to learn more about one of the wrestling families that people don’t talk about.
“As a wrestling fan growing up as a wrestling fan when you saw the Beyond The Mat documentary and you saw that moment with Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and his father and just like how their relationship is so estranged and he mentions his story about his sister being kidnapped and possibly killed and it’s kind of just briefly mentioned in that documentary but we as fans have always wondered, ‘Whoa, what’s up with that story?’ There is probably a lot of trauma there that has probably leaked its way into Jake’s persona and so for us to dive down into that story and to meet some of his other family members like Rockin’ Robin and Sam Houston. You forget that Jake comes from a family of wrestlers. We always heard about the Hart family, the Guerreros, the Von Erichs, but the Smith family no one talks about them.”
Dark Side Of The Ring’s third season is currently airing on VICE.
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