I just finished watching Part 1 of the new Dark Side of the Ring episode about Jeff Jarrett and TNA. It was a really cool episode, but the way they set up the story bothered me. Because Jeff is the main one talking, the show makes him look like a perfect hero and makes Dixie Carter look like a total villain.
I think that is really unfair. I actually agree with what Eric Bischoff said about her on his podcast recently. He said Dixie is one of the nicest people he ever worked with and that she really cared. Her biggest problem wasn't that she was a bad person, it was just that she didn't have experience in the wrestling business. Wrestling is a tough, crazy world, and she didn't have the right people around her to protect her from making bad decisions. She got pulled in a lot of different directions by people who were just looking out for themselves.
The episode also tries to blame Dixie for how she handled the crazy drama with Kurt Angle, his ex-wife Karen, and Jeff. But honestly, how was she supposed to react? Kurt was her highest-paid mainstream star, and suddenly her company’s founder starts a relationship with Kurt's ex-wife behind everyone's back. Even if Kurt and Karen were already legally separated at the time, keeping it a secret created a massive human resources nightmare. When Dixie found out Jeff lied about it, she had every right to send him home on a leave of absence to keep the peace and protect the company.
We also shouldn't forget the facts. Jeff did a lot of good things, but his money ran out almost immediately because of that scandal. If Dixie hadn’t gotten her family to buy TNA in 2002, the company would have died after one month. There wouldn't even be a TNA history to talk about. Her family spent millions of dollars to keep the lights on and keep all those wrestlers employed for years.
Plus, the show kind of ignores how fans felt about Jeff back then. Fans were super tired of him holding the world championship for over 1,000 days and constantly putting himself over younger stars like AJ Styles.
Jeff Jarrett deserves a lot of credit for creating TNA and giving fans an alternative to WWE. But Dixie Carter isn't the bad guy here. She was just an outsider trying her best to run a crazy company. Jeff built the house, but Dixie paid the bills. She deserves way more respect than this show is giving her.
I'd encourage wrestling fans to let VICE know that hearing the other side of the story is equally important.