The 2nd half of Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring season 3 begins airing tonight. Tonight’s episode will be focused on the infamous “Plane Ride From Hell.” Jim Ross was interviewed for the show. He also spoke to Sports Illustrated recently about what went down on May 5th, 2002 as the WWE roster flew home from a European tour.
“There was just such a lack of respect on the flight,” said Ross, who at the time was WWE’s head of talent relations. “We made significant changes because of it. Guys lost their jobs and it hurt people’s reputations. They acted so wrong. We couldn’t do business with people like that, and we rebuilt our locker room after that.”
Ross continued to admit that the open bar provided for the wrestlers on the flight was probably a bad idea.
“The bottom line is I was very upset in how the talent conducted themselves,” Ross continued. “We made mistakes from a management standpoint. We had wanted to make the trip as comfortable as possible, so we chartered a sports plane with first-class seats and upgraded the food. But the open bar was obviously a mistake. It went off the rails, with a small group of guys that just went crazy. It is still a black eye to be affiliated with the Plane Ride from Hell.”
A flight attendant who sued WWE for alleged sexual harassment stemming from the flight will also be interviewed for the episode. Also interviewed were Terri Runnels, who was serenaded by Dustin Runnels over the PA system during the flight. Former WWE/ECW stars Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, and Justin Credible were also interviewed.
Next week’s episode will focus on the life and career of Chris Kanyon. Other episodes set to air cover Luna Vachon, FMW, XPW, and the Vince McMahon steroid trials.
