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DARK SIDE OF THE RING S1, E1
THE MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

Starring: Dutch Mantell (Narrator), Jake Roberts, Scott Hall, Linda Bollea, Eric Bischoff, Lanny Poffo, Jimmy Hart, Bruce Prichard
Director: Jason Eisner
Producer: Ed Hatton

Last week, the wrestling documentary series Dark Side of the Ring made its debut on Viceland. The series creators have stated over the six-episode run, they will delve into some of the most tragic stories in wrestling history. When it was originally announced, the first episode was going to be The Killing of Bruiser Brody. At some point, it was decided to move that to episode three. Instead, the premiere of the series starts with The Match Made in Heaven, which tells the story of Randy Savage and Ms. Elizabeth.

The episode picks up with Randy Savage already in the midst of the beginning of his career within his father’s wrestling organization. Within a few months, Elizabeth had joined the organization, working in the office and serving as a ring announcer at live events. Skipping both of their lives before getting into wrestling and instead focusing on their time together was a choice that makes a lot of sense. People that are tuning into The Match Made in Heaven want the history of the couple, not their upbringing.

While we get a brief introduction to their lives during the territory days of wrestling and their marriage before they had even debuted in the WWF, the story quickly shifts to their lives and careers within the WWF and beyond. It is here where we get a more in-depth look at the relationship between Savage and Elizabeth, both on and off-screen.

One of the themes mentioned through the documentary is that Savage was very protective and controlling of Elizabeth while also dealing with thoughts of paranoia. It was a part of their relationship that, very early in their WWF career, made its way into their on-air persona. Across the board, the panel of commentators defended Savage’s actions towards Elizabeth. It is important to note that at no point had there been any accusations of physical abuse. The wrestlers interviewed across the board agreed that, because of the way other wrestlers acted backstage, they would have had many of the same attitudes that Savage did.

The Match Made in Heaven briefly talks about the eventual on-air breakup and then reuniting of the couple on WWF television, before the eventual exit from the company for both. Savage’s career then sent him to the rival WCW. It was revealed that despite being in the middle of divorce proceedings, Savage helped Elizabeth also get a contract with the company. At the time, it would seem that is was a selfless move by Savage, a theme that is touched on throughout the second half of the episode. Unfortunately, many of the fears that Savage had for Elizabeth came to pass during her time in WCW. She got mixed up with wrestlers that did not have her best interest in mind, which eventually lead to her death in a drug overdose.

While The Match Made in Heaven does a great job telling the story of the complicated and sometimes toxic relationship between Savage and Elizabeth, it feels as if there was so much more that was glossed over. Several times throughout the episode, I found myself wanting them to dig deeper into some of the topics. One of the areas that could have used a brighter light shone on it was the formation and eventual breakup of the Mega Powers.

Linda Bollea, the ex-wife of Hulk Hogan, was one of the people interviewed throughout the episode because of her close friendship to Elizabeth. It would have been interesting to hear her take on the jealousy that Savage had towards Hogan’s relationship with Elizabeth. Also, if she ever felt there was more to the relationship of then friendship. Speaking of Hogan, his lack of presence in the documentary is glaring as it meant that the long-lasting feud between he and Savage were not even touched on other than in passing.

If your knowledge of Savage and Elizabeth starts with the on-air relationships and ends with knowing they eventually divorced in real life, then The Match Made in Heaven is the perfect place to begin to expand your knowledge. However, if you are a fan who has always had their pulse on the backstage stories and rumors, then nothing revealed here will be mind-blowing.

For me, the most interesting of the expanded stories had to be that of the story behind Savage allowing Jake Roberts’s snake to actually bite him on television. The episode would have benefited being a bit longer. This, in turn, would have allowed the producers to delve much deeper into some of the themes and stories that were only briefly explained. Even with its shortcomings, The Match Made in Heaven is very well done. It has long been known that it is hard to separate the business from real-life, something the producers of the show do an admiral job of portraying.