Who Killed WCW Creator Talks Ted Turner, How They Use WWE Footage, More (Patreon)

The creator of Vice TV’s docuseries Dark Side of the Ring and upcoming four-part miniseries Who Killed WCW, Evan Husney, joined Fightful for an exclusive interview. 

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp began the interview by asking Evan what led him to the WCW project. Evan said, “Anytime we were doing a new season of Dark Side of the Ring, we were putting it out on social media, what do you guys want to see on the next season.”

Evan would say nine times out of ten, we would get a response from people wanting us to cover the “Death of WCW.” Evan would say they looked into it many times but did not know how to do it in one or two episodes.

Evan told Sean that at one point, they thought about doing a podcast series on different wrestling topics. However, they thought it could be its own series after thinking it through. Evan said they had a working relationship with The Rock’s Seven Bucks Production after doing the series “Tales From The Territories” with them. Evan said they pitched it to both Seven Bucks and Vice, and they jumped on board. Evan said they began working on the project in December [2023] and that it has been a quick turnaround.

Sean asked how The Rock got involved in the project. Evan told Sean that it was nothing they planned on. Evan said they would send The Rock cuts from the series, and he was enthusiastic about it. Evan told Sean that after The Rock watched the first episode, Rock told Evan that he wanted to be interviewed for it.

Evan said almost everyone they interviewed for the series lived through WCW's demise. He emphasized that the whole point of the project was to break away from the WWE framework and present a unique perspective. Evan said they needed someone to speak “enthusiastically” about the good days in WCW, and nobody was better than The Rock for it.

Sean asked Evan about working with the WWE. Evan said working with The Rock opened the door to working with people in the WWE that they did not get to do with The Dark Side of the Ring. Evan says there have been times when things got heated regarding what they covered, but overall, he thinks it’s been pretty good. Evan said he didn’t know if it would ever become an official relationship with the company.

Sean asked if Evan had gone back and watched some of the WWE documentaries on WCW. Evan said he purposely did not go back to watch them going into the project. Evan mentioned reading the book “Nitro” by Guy Evans and that Guy was a part of the project

Sean mentioned that one of his dream interviews he wanted to have would be with Ted Turner, but it was no longer possible. Sean noted that Evan’s team spoke with Ted’s son regarding the project.

Regarding some of the people they interviewed for the project, Evan said he believes Kevin Nash will be the star of the series. Evan said it was important to Nash that they could tell the story from the perspective of the people who were there [WCW].

Evan mentioned that initially, his only project was “The Death of Bruiser Brody." Then things changed, and Dark Side of the Ring became a series. Evan mentioned that he had been with VICE since 2013.

Evan believes they could have done more than four episodes, but they packed a lot in, so four episodes was a good compromise. Evan mentions that episodes one and four have a lot of never-before-seen footage featuring Shane McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and Gerald Brisco. He also noted that they have three days' worth of footage leading up to the last Nitro held in Panama City.

In closing, Sean mentioned that many, from a general understanding, don’t know how they can use footage they do not own. Evan said they work within the parameters of fair use and their legal team.

The series “Who Killed WCW” debuts June 4th at 10 PM Eastern on Vice TV. If you aggregate or use any parts of this summary, we prefer that you wait until the full interview is released for full context. The link is here. https://youtu.be/C0Kcrs4cOhE