TNA’s “Dark Side” Legacy: The Parody We Actually Needed
I’ve been writing a lot of doom and gloom lately regarding the state of TNA—the roster cuts, the creative shifts, and the general "math" of the company’s future that just doesn’t seem to add up. It’s been a rough stretch of reporting.
But leave it to the guy at Eleets Wrestling Conversation to cut through the noise and show us how to actually process this TNA nostalgia-trip properly. If you haven’t seen their recent reels, do yourself a favor and watch the embed below.
This dude is hysterically tearing apart the recent Dark Side of the Ring TNA episodes by doing the only thing that makes sense: leaning into the absolute absurdity of that era with some spot-on impressions of Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Karen Jarrett and more!
The highlights:
The "Head-to-Head" delusion: "Fake JJ" perfectly captures the irony of a company born with the goal of not being a "joke" only to become the punchline.
The Russo Logic: "Fake Russo" pitching an "Abyss in the Abyss" segment every week ("It's a wrestling show, who cares, bro") is the most realistic thing I've heard all year.
The Karen Obsession: "Fake Karen" and her voodoo doll of Dixie Carter might be the best bit of the whole reel.
The "Return" Cycle: And my personal favorite—the "Fake JJ" realization that he’s leaving TNA forever, followed immediately by, "...then I came back."
Why I’m skipping the "Serious" talk:
I keep seeing articles like "Scott D’Amore explains what Dixie Carter did wrong." And honestly? Give me a break.
It’s easy to sit back and play Monday Morning Quarterback about how Dixie ran things, but let’s be real: TNA does not exist today without her stepping in back in 2003.
Was she the right person for the "wrestling" side of the business? Probably not. But she put her own money on the line—and her family's—when nobody else would.
And don’t get me started on seeing Tony Khan on Dark Side of the Ring. Why would I listen to a take on the TNA formative years from someone who wasn't even in the business at the time?
I don't care how stupid people think Dixie was—she stepped up when the ship was sinking. The guys talking trash today didn't put a dime into that company when it mattered.
Anyway, watch the reel. It’s much funnier than the "serious" analysis, and it’s probably the only way to look back at that era without losing your mind.
