"It was a pretty intense experience" – Dark Side of the Ring producer stands by controversial Ric Flair story (Exclusive)

Ric Flair came under scrutiny in 2021 after being featured on an episode of the popular VICE TV series Dark Side of the Ring. Evan Husney, the show's producer, recently reflected on the fallout from the controversy.

On September 16, 2021, Dark Side of the Ring told the story of the infamous Plane Ride from Hell after WWE Insurrextion 2002. During the episode, flight attendant Heidi Doyle accused Flair of sexual assault. Although the 16-time world champion denied Doyle's claims, he was removed from WWE's signature introduction after the episode aired.

Some contributors disliked how the Dark Side of the Ring producers edited the show. However, in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Riju Dasgupta, Husney confirmed he stands by the team's production of the story:

"It was a pretty intense experience. I think that episode came out at a time where stories like that would cause an uproar on social media and backlash, if you will, from the people that are participating in it. Me, personally, I stand a hundred percent by the things that are in that episode, and what people said is what they said. I think there was a lot of backtracking that was going on based upon the pressure or the heat, to use a wrestling term, that people were getting, and I can understand that from a public point of view, I guess, but yeah, that was really tricky." [26:51 – 27:46]

Watch the video above to hear Husney explain why Dark Side of the Ring has not created an episode about the Vince McMahon scandal.

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Dark Side of the Ring did not purposely make Ric Flair look bad

The VICE TV series focuses on controversial topics throughout wrestling history. The sixth season, which premiered on March 25, began with the story of Mick Foley's Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998.

While some critics have accused Dark Side of the Ring of "burying" wrestlers, Evan Husney says that is not the show's aim:

"It was intense, that's for sure, but yeah, it was frustrating to see how people went back on the things that they said, and yeah, and us knowing the truth [laughs]. That was tricky, but of course what are you gonna do? We're never out to intentionally make anyone look bad. That's not our job. I think there's a knee-jerk [reaction] in the wrestling business about, 'Well, they buried that guy, they buried this guy, they buried X, they buried Y.' That's not how we approach when we tell our stories is to bury anybody. We're telling the story as it's being told to us." [28:14 – 29:06]

Husney added that he felt like the series had to regain the audience's trust after the Plane Ride from Hell episode backlash.

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The sixth season of Dark Side of the Ring airs every Tuesday on VICE TV. You can also check out new episodes of the Dark Side of the Ring Unheard podcast on the VICE TV YouTube channel every Wednesday.

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Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.