Major League Wrestling and Vice TV announced a new weekly television deal tonight via a YouTube announcement.
Details are unavailable as to what the time slot will be, but it will be a weekly show that will start up with archive content to expose the key talent before going with new tapings that will be announced shortly.
The announcement said “coming this spring.”
The deal is not exclusive as MLW will continue with both programming on BeIn Sports as well planning for special live events on DAZN which haven’t started yet due to the pandemic. Library content will also remain on DAZN. The company is also in talks for a new streaming deal.
Vice TV has had great success with Dark Side of the Ring, the most popular show in the history of their network, but this will be the first time they have expanded to add a regular weekly pro wrestling show. Those shows will cross promote each other.
Vice TV has revealed the premiere date for Dark Side of the Ring season three.
It was announced today that season three of Dark Side of the Ring will premiere on Vice TV at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, May 6. Six of the topics that will be covered in season three were also confirmed. They are: Brian Pillman, Nick Gage, Collision in Korea, The Ultimate Warrior, Grizzly Smith, and Dynamite Kid.
Season three of Dark Side of the Ring will feature 14 episodes in total. The Pillman episode will be the season premiere. Vice TV noted that an announcement revealing more of this season’s “electrifying roster and explosive storylines” will be made later this month.
“Dark Side of the Ring, VICE TV’s most watched show of all time, exposes the hidden, heartbreaking, and untold stories of professional wrestling with intimate access to its subjects. The series chronicles the deeply personal and often controversial legacies surrounding the larger-than-life brawlers of the wrestling world, in a sport that draws tens of millions of fans around the globe to this day,” Vice TV wrote.
“This season will continue the rich storytelling that defined seasons one and two, exploring some of the most dramatic moments in wrestling history with a compelling cast of insiders, many of whom are baring their souls on camera for the very first time.”
Interviews with Chris Jericho, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, Jon Moxley, Eric Bischoff, Jim Cornette, David Arquette, and Shari Tyree (the former wife of Ultimate Warrior) are featured in the trailer for Dark Side of the Ring season three. The trailer is available to watch below:
Dark Side of the Ring is adding a new talk show that will premiere next week.
Dark Side of the Ring: Confidential will premiere on Vice on March 9. The show, which will consist of eight 90 minute episodes, will take a look into episodes of the past two seasons of Dark Side of the Ring. A roundtable, featuring creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisner and hosted by Conrad Thompson, will explore unanswered questions and secrets.Guests will include Tommy Dreamer, the Blue Meanie, Savio Vega, and former WWE referee Mike Chidoa. You can watch the trailer for the premiere below:
Previous subjects explored in those episodes include The Montreal Screwjob, Gino Hernandez, and the Von Erichs.
Dark Side of the Ring’s third season is slated to premiere later this year. Topics confirmed for the season include Brian Pillman, Dynamite Kid, Collision in Korea, Nick Gage, Chris Kanyon, XPW, the Smith family (Grizzly Smith, Rockin’ Robin, Sam Houston, and Jake Roberts), and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling.
Dark Side of the Ring is officially returning for a third season.
Vice TV made the announcement today that Dark Side of the Ring has been renewed for season three. The season will premiere in 2021 and will feature 14 episodes.
Dark Side of the Ring is the highest rated show in Vice TV history. Season one aired in 2019 and had six episodes. Season two then debuted this March and had 10 episodes, including a two-part documentary on Chris Benoit.
“‘Dark Side of the Ring’ is a knockout show for Vice TV. The tag-team executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener are true heavyweight champions of the world (of TV), and we are so excited to pin down a third season of this incredible series,” said Morgan Hertzan, executive vice president and general manager of Vice Television. “Seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ are examples of the compelling, thought-provoking, and engaging storytelling we champion here at Vice TV. We can’t wait to see what the series will throw down in the third round!”
Vice TV hasn’t announced the topics that Dark Side of the Ring season three will be covering. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter last week, Dave Meltzer gave an update on some of the episodes that are being worked on:
Vice is working on a third season of Dark Side of the Ring after the second season set record viewership numbers for the station. Vice is also coming off this commissioning a first season of Dark Side of Football. The idea the station has is Dark Side of Wrestling worked because it was a deep dive on nostalgic subjects as opposed to the idea wrestling in the past wasn’t well covered mainstream so most viewers knew next to nothing behind-the-scenes on these subjects. But it was notable that those at Vice were not interested in a pro wrestling television series based on the ratings of Dark Side and instead chalk this up to interest in as many different Dark Side subjects as they can. We know they are working on shows on Brian Pillman (I’d say the key people to get would be Kim Wood, Mark Madden, Brian Jr., Melanie Pillman, Liam O’Rourke and myself but obviously I’m not going to be asked but without Wood or O’Rourke it’ll be filled with flaws because O’Rourke is the student of Pillman and Wood worked with him on all his ideas), Dynamite Kid (Bret Hart hasn’t been interested in their shows in the past because of how Montreal was covered and he would be by far the best person to talk with, with Ross Hart second so hopefully they’ll at least get Ross), Grizzly Smith (getting family members which will be one dark story) and going back to WCW talking about the two shows in North Korea in 1995, which really is a fascinating story. I don’t think they can get Ric Flair, who would be tremendous, because WWE doesn’t allow its talent to participate in that series, but Scott Norton is somebody they need to talk with on that one, as well as Eric Bischoff and some of the other guys like Too Cold Scorpio who were on the trip or Antonio Inoki, which at this stage would be very difficult.
With the season now over, Vice TV is touting the ratings success of Dark Side of the Ring season two.
Dark Side of the Ring is the highest rated series in Vice TV history, and last week’s season two finale on Owen Hart is also the highest rated show in the history of the station. Variety wrote today that season two averaged 485,000 total viewers and 288,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo through May 19 in Nielsen live-plus-three data, which includes the same-day ratings and three days of DVR and on-demand viewing.
That total viewers number is up 52 percent from season one, while the 18-49 number is up 73 percent from the first season.
In the live-plus-three data, the Owen Hart documentary drew 626,000 viewers and did 390,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo.
“We are absolutely ecstatic with the success of Dark Side of the Ring,” Vice TV executive vice president and general manager Morgan Hertzan said. “Audiences respond to our courageous compelling storytelling, and this series has proven to be heavyweight in the television landscape. I am very proud to partner with the incredible creatives at Vice Studios, and tag team executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener who have so skillfully crafted this show. It is in every way the no holds barred type of programming that you can expect to see on Vice TV. Looking forward to the next KO!”
“A third season is something everybody involved wants to do,” Husney told Sports Illustrated. “Vice wants to make a Season 3, we would love to see it happen, and we’re in those stages of conversation. Right now, there are just a lot of question marks about the future of production, and even the future of the world. Our show deals with a lot of travel, and we’d love to go international to places like Japan in Season 3, but there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of that.
“I can say that all parties want to see this happen, and there is no shortage of stories for us to cover. We’ve put a lot of thought into it already, and we’re getting ideas from people every minute on social media, which is awesome.”
Dark Side of the Ring closed out its second season by drawing the best ratings in series history.
Last night’s Dark Side of the Ring documentary on the final days of Owen Hart averaged 349,000 viewers on Vice TV. In the 18-49 demo, the show drew a 0.18 rating. The rating in the 18-49 demo placed Dark Side of the Ring 31st overall for the night in the cable TV rankings in that category.
The viewership number and 18-49 rating both topped this season’s two-hour premiere on Chris Benoit for the best numbers Dark Side of the Ring has done.
The Benoit documentary was previously the highest rated show in Vice TV history.
The After Dark post-show for last week’s Road Warriors episode, which premiered right before Dark Side of the Ring last night, averaged 95,000 viewers. It drew a 0.03 rating in 18-49.
Here’s a look at the ratings for Dark Side of the Ring seasons one and two:
Season one —
Macho Man & Ms. Elizabeth — 154,000 viewers, 0.06 rating in 18-49
The Montreal Screwjob — 181,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Bruiser Brody — 214,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
The Von Erich family — 234,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
Gino Hernandez — 225,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
The Fabulous Moolah — 200,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Season two —
Chris Benoit — 320,000 viewers, 0.14 rating in 18-49
New Jack — 229,000 viewers, 0.11 rating in 18-49
Brawl for All — 226,000 viewers, 0.09 rating in 18-49
Jimmy Snuka and the death of Nancy Argentino: 209,000 viewers, 0.09 rating in 18-49
Dino Bravo — 221,000 viewers, 0.10 rating in 18-49
David Schultz — 255,000 viewers, 0.11 rating in 18-49
Herb Abrams — 246,000 viewers, 0.10 rating in 18-49
The Road Warriors — 264,000 viewers, 0.12 rating in 18-49
This week’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring drew the second-best ratings in series history.
Last night’s Dark Side of the Ring documentary on The Road Warriors averaged 264,000 viewers on Vice TV, up from the 246,000 that last week’s Herb Abrams episode drew. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.12, which was up from last week’s 0.10.
Dark Side of the Ring ranked 68th in the 18-49 demo in last night’s cable TV rankings.
The only Dark Side of the Ring episode that did better ratings was this season’s two-hour premiere on Chris Benoit.
Here’s a look at the Dark Side of the Ring ratings for seasons one and two:
Season one —
Macho Man & Ms. Elizabeth — 154,000 viewers, 0.06 rating in 18-49
The Montreal Screwjob — 181,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Bruiser Brody — 214,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
The Von Erich family — 234,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
Gino Hernandez — 225,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
The Fabulous Moolah — 200,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Season two —
Chris Benoit — 320,000 viewers, 0.14 rating in 18-49
New Jack — 229,000 viewers, 0.11 rating in 18-49
Brawl for All — 226,000 viewers, 0.09 rating in 18-49
Jimmy Snuka and the death of Nancy Argentino: 209,000 viewers, 0.09 rating in 18-49
Dino Bravo — 221,000 viewers, 0.10 rating in 18-49
David Schultz — 255,000 viewers, 0.11 rating in 18-49
Herb Abrams — 246,000 viewers, 0.10 rating in 18-49
The Road Warriors — 264,000, 0.12 rating in 18-49
Next Tuesday’s Dark Side of the Ring is the season two finale. The death of Owen Hart is the subject of the episode.
Viewership for Dark Side of the Ring’s Brawl for All episode stayed pretty much even with last week.
Dark Side of the Ring averaged 226,000 viewers on Vice TV last night, down slightly from last Tuesday’s 229,000. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.09, down from last week’s 0.11.
The Brawl for All documentary did the fourth-most viewers in Dark Side of the Ring history, trailing this season’s two-hour Chris Benoit episode, season one’s episode on the Von Erichs, and last week’s New Jack episode.
Here’s a look at the ratings for Dark Side of the Ring season one and the first three episodes of this season:
Season one —
Macho Man & Ms. Elizabeth — 154,000 viewers, 0.06 rating in 18-49
The Montreal Screwjob — 181,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Bruiser Brody — 214,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
The Von Erich family — 234,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
Gino Hernandez — 225,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
The Fabulous Moolah — 200,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
Season two —
Chris Benoit — 320,000 viewers, 0.14 rating in 18-49
New Jack — 229,000 viewers, 0.11 rating in 18-49
Brawl for All — 226,000 viewers, 0.09 rating in 18-49
Last night’s After Dark post-show for Dark Side of the Ring didn’t rank in the top 150 for the night in the 18-49 demo.
WWE Backstage averaged 140,000 viewers this week, which was up from last Tuesday’s 134,000. The rating in the 18-49 demo stayed at a 0.04.
Backstage has been boosted by having WWE programming leading into it. This year’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view aired on FS1 before Backstage last Tuesday, while three WWE 24 documentaries led into Backstage this week.
The WWE 24 episodes that aired last night were focused on WrestleManias 31, 33, and 34. They averaged 183,000, 232,000, and 232,000 viewers respectively. The ratings in 18-49 were 0.05, 0.07, and 0.07.
The season two premiere of Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring set a new ratings high for the series.
Last night’s Dark Side of the Ring season two premiere averaged 320,000 viewers on Vice TV. The episode was a two-hour special focused on the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide.
In the 18-49 demo, the episode drew a 0.14 rating. The show finished 80th for the night in that category.
Leading into both parts airing last night, part one of the season two premiere had been uploaded to YouTube last week.
“The Last of the Von Erichs,” which averaged 234,000 viewers, was the highest rated Dark Side of the Ring episode in season one. That episode and the documentary on the death of Gino Hernandez both drew 0.08 ratings in the 18-49 demo.
Vice’s after show for the Dark Side of the Ring season two premiere averaged 127,000 viewers. The rating in 18-49 was a 0.05.
Vice touted that the first season of Dark Side of the Ring was the most watched show in Vice TV’s history. Here’s a look at the ratings for each episode:
Macho Man & Ms. Elizabeth — 154,000 viewers, 0.06 rating in 18-49
The Montreal Screwjob — 181,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
The killing of Bruiser Brody — 214,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
The Von Erich family — 234,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
The death of Gino Hernandez — 225,000 viewers, 0.08 rating in 18-49
The Fabulous Moolah — 200,000 viewers, 0.07 rating in 18-49
New Jack is the subject of the next Dark Side of the Ring episode for season two. It will air at 10 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday.
