Dark Side of the Ring is coming back this summer, and the new season is leading with its most ambitious project to date.

Vice TV has set a Tuesday, July 7 premiere date for the seventh season of the acclaimed wrestling docu-series, with two back-to-back episodes airing at 9 p.m. ET, according to a Variety exclusive. New episodes will follow weekly.

The season opens with a three-part deep dive into Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and co-founder Jeff Jarrett, the longest single-subject arc the show has produced.

Dark Side of the Ring season 7 episode subjects:

  • TNA Wrestling & Jeff Jarrett (Trilogy)
  • "Mr" Wonderful' Paul Orndorff
  • Big Boss Man
  • Missy Hyatt
  • Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe
  • Zach Gowen
  • The Renegade

The TNA Trilogy

The choice of subject is significant. Jarrett and his late father Jerry founded TNA in May 2002 in Nashville, launching the promotion as a weekly pay-per-view alternative to a wrestling industry that had just seen WCW and ECW collapse. The early years that the trilogy is set to cover include the original "TNA Asylum" venue, the X-Division revolution, the six-sided ring, and the messy 2002 sale of a controlling stake to Panda Energy after HealthSouth's funding fell apart.

Jarrett's own arc carries the season, from co-founding the company to being pushed out of his own promotion in 2013, the brief Global Force Wrestling era, and his eventual return to WWE in 2019. TNA itself, now under Anthem Sports & Entertainment, is in the middle of an active partnership with WWE, which gives the timing of this docuseries an added layer.

The Rest Of The Season

Beyond the Jarrett trilogy, season 7 will profile the late Paul Orndorff, Ray Traylor (The Big Boss Man), and longtime manager Missy Hyatt.

There is also an episode dedicated to the infamous 2005 IWA Mid-South match between Samoa Joe and Necro Butcher at the old ECW Arena in Philadelphia, a brawl that has been mythologized in independent wrestling circles for two decades.

Other episodes will tell the stories of one-legged wrestler Zach Gowen and Rick Wilson, the exotic dancer who briefly became WCW's Ultimate Warrior knockoff The Renegade.

What Vice And The Creators Are Saying

Vice TV president Pete Gaffney pitched the series as a fixture of the network's slate. "Dark Side of the Ring is one of our strongest franchises that speaks to our audience with its gritty exposition of the real emotional and physical costs behind professional wrestling," Gaffney said in the Variety announcement.

Co-creators and executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener framed season 7 as their most ambitious yet. "That's especially true with our three-part exploration of TNA Wrestling, where Jeff Jarrett's journey of redemption and resilience gives us a unique lens into the highs, struggles, and lasting impact of the foundational years of the company," they said.

Dark Side of the Ring is produced by Vice Studios in partnership with Bell Media's Crave, and distributed worldwide by VICE Distribution. The show has spawned the broader Dark Side franchise that now includes Dark Side of Football, Dark Side of the 90s, Dark Side of the 2000s, Dark Side of Reality TV, and Dark Side of the Cage.