• ON THIS DAY IN NWA HISTORY (May 7, 1988) – NWA PRO Wrestling
On this day in 1988, Jim Crockett Promotions aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘NWA PRO Wrestling’.
This episode featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘NWA The Great American Bash 1988’ PPV.
The card can be found below:
– Nikita Koloff vs. Barry Collie
– Al Perez vs. David Isley
– Sting vs. Trent Knight
– Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner vs. Curtis Thompson & Joe Cruz
– Steve Williams vs. Max McGyver
– The Midnight Express vs. David Diamond & Tony Bowen
• Dark Side Of The Ring Producers Reveal Why Kevin Sullivan Didn’t Appear In The Chris Benoit Episode
The episode on the Chris Benoit tragedy brought in the most viewers for the Dark Side Of The Ring series.
However, fans noted that one important personality, who is associated with several conspiracy theories about the events that occurred in 2007, was missing from it.
The producers of the show, Evan Husney and Jason Eisener, discussed the absence of Kevin Sullivan (Nancy Benoit’s ex-husband and WWE producer) from the show:
“The only person who was on the list that we wanted to have in the story and someone that we planned to have in the story was Kevin Sullivan,” said Evan. “Mostly because he was there so early on in Nancy’s career and highlighting Nancy’s career was such an important aspect of this project as her legacy has been tarnished and swept under the rug since the events of 2007…
We wanted to highlight aspects of her personal life and have him commentate directly. That was always the intention. When we reached out to him, it was tough because for him it was a complicated family situation between him and Nancy’s family.
He’s a fan of the show, but for him I think his participation…I just realized it was a much more complicated situation than as simple as a yes or no,” stated Evan before adding that he got the impression that Kevin didn’t want to upset Nancy’s family by appearing in the episode.
“In our piece, we don’t even really dive into conspiracy theories like people thought Kevin Sullivan was involved in the murder,” said Jason. “When you really sit down with the people involved and who were there, and when you come out of the experience when watching our episode, I think it leaves zero doubt in what happened and how it really affected people. The wrestling audience is seeing the ramifications after all of these years, the people closest to the story are affected every day.”
“In the early cuts of the episode, we did have a section that addressed the conspiracy theories,” revealed Evan. “When we talked to Nancy’s sister Sandra or we talked to David [Benoit] about it, it was a pain for them for that to keep coming up again. It makes it harder in their grieving process and coming to terms with all of this…I felt like when it was in there, giving any credence to this just didn’t feel appropriate.”
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