There’s two theories about Troy Aikman’s retirement. The first one is a run-of-the-mill tale about a quarterback’s career meeting a natural end. The second story, though, turns darker. Jerry Jones had two options in 2001: Pay the concussion-plagued Aikman (with a severely aching back) a $7 million bonus the next day and extend his contract through 2007 or waive him for fresher talent. It doesn’t take a genius to guess which option the billionaire owner picked. But thanks to that decision, Jones now has another man he can call a frenemy for life…

…A frenemy who isn’t complaining about Jones’ mishandling of coaches or about the team’s direction this time. Instead, Aikman is more ticked off with how his former boss decided to portray him in his latest pet project, “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys”.

“Jerry had editorial rights,” Troy Aikman said recently on the Rodeo Time Podcast. “So, I think whenever anyone has editorial rights, it’s probably not a good thing that someone gets to slant the narrative in their favor, or however they want it told. What I noticed was that there were sound bites that were used just randomly, like when they wanted those used, like, ‘Oh, that’ll work well here.’ But that’s not when it was said. So that’s what bothered me, and of course, I’m sensitive to how it reflected on me.”

To explain his point further, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback even shared examples.

“We lost to the 49ers in the 94 championship game at Candlestick, and they cut to a press conference, and they implied that it was the press conference immediately after that game,” Aikman shared. “And they had me joking about something. I can promise you, you can go back and watch that, and there were no jokes that I was telling or in a good mood at the end of that ball game. That one bothered me. There was another one where we’re getting ready to play the Eagles in my first playoff start, and it had me saying how nervous I was before the game, and [that’s] not accurate.

“I mean, that came about before the Super Bowl, our first Super Bowl. So it’s just little things like that. It’s nitpicking. I think in general, the experience that I’ve heard from people who watched it, they really enjoyed it, and learned a lot. And I think by and large they did a good job of telling it.”

Interestingly, Aikman is just another name in the growing list of detractors with the same complaint. As per sportswriter and author of the book “Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty”, Jeff Pearlman, the Cowboys’ documentary might as well be the worst watching experience of his life.

“So I’m watching the Netflix documentary on the Dallas Cowboys and I actually feel like throwing up. I actually do,” he said. “Jerry Jones taking credit for the Herschel Walker trade is ridiculous. It was not a ‘we.’ It was 100 percent Jimmy. It was zero percent Jerry. Jerry didn’t even know what the hell was going on. It was a Jimmy Johnson trade. The organization of the trade was Jimmy. The value for the picks for the players they acquired was Jimmy.”

Jerry Jones reportedly wanted to participate in the project about his Cowboys legacy and had significant involvement in the documentary’s production. The series focused on how the Cowboys captured three Super Bowl titles from 1992 to 1995, a run of dominance not seen since the era of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. Yet even during those championship years, tensions and controversies simmered beneath the surface in Dallas. The documentary also attempted to highlight both the triumphs and the turmoil of that era.

Does the Cowboys documentary only tell Jerry Jones’ version of things?

One of the central storylines in “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” explores the complex relationship between Jerry Jones and former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson. Their partnership produced championships, but it also produced one of the NFL’s most famous power struggles. The documentary revisits their disagreements over credit for the massive Herschel Walker trade and the Cowboys’ rapid rise back to championship status. But last year, after watching parts of the documentary, Johnson hinted that the series leaned toward Jones’ perspective.

“We were in Carolina when we were announcing that I was going to go in the (Cowboys’) Ring of Honor, and he told an off-color story,” Johnson said last year at a speaking engagement for the Little Rock Touchdown Club. “I said, ‘Jerry, Jerry.’ He says, ‘No problem. I got final say on editorial content.’ Well, watching the Netflix [documentary], he had final say on what was put in the Netflix documentary. It was definitely the Jerry Jones Documentary.”

Johnson and Jones famously clashed during their time together in the early 1990s, despite winning two Super Bowls in five seasons. Their disagreements eventually forced Johnson out of the organization, and the two men spent years barely speaking. Only recently have they repaired that relationship, and Johnson revealed that they have formed a friendship off the field, something that even the documentary highlights.

“We’re really good now,” Johnson said. “We see each other, it’s like we’re best friends. It’s all good.”

Interestingly, Jerry Jones himself later admitted that one storyline he expected to appear in the documentary series never made the final cut. That suggests Jones may not have controlled every detail after all. But ultimately, the documentary portrays the Cowboys’ 90s dynasty in a positive light.