1. Beyond The Mat
In my opinion (and if you disagree, write your own article), the best wrestling movie ever made is Beyond The Mat. Released in the final days of the 20th century, Beyond The Mat was a labour of love undertaken by Hollywood screenwriter and lifelong wrestling fan Barry W. Blaustein. Although a writer by trade, Blaustein proves himself to be an excellent director, especially when it comes to handling human drama. Delivered with personality, humour and an underlying sense of pathos, Beyond the Mat emerges as easily the definitive wrestling documentary. This movie represents the high water mark in wrestling movies. Put simply: it is the one to beat. BTM is consistently fascinating from start to finish. Like a nature documentary, we switch between several "characters", forming a narrative structure that is as clever as it is compelling. Blaustein understands that observation is only the first step towards making a good documentary film. By interweaving personal profiles of several wrestlers (in particular Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Mick Foley, Droz, Chyna, Terry Funk and New Jack), he is able to avoid turning the film into a study of any one person and instead shines a light on the entire wrestling industry. The narrative succeeds by interweaving autobiographical elements from Blaustein's own life ("growing up, my favourite wrestler was Terry Funk", he tells us, before we meet Funk for the first time) with his own responses to what his camera captures (his concern for Mick Foley's well-being still appears to be 100% genuine, even all these years later). In this way, Blaustein adds a personal flavour to his film, putting us in his place behind the camera, rather than forcing us to simply observe the (sometimes harrowing) goings on. Blaustein also conducts superb interviews, getting very personal discussions out of people who are usually a lot more tight-lipped with outsiders. Jake The Snake appears at his most tragic and cathartic, caught in a freefall of cocaine, family problems and aching regret (although, I am delighted to point out that Mr. Roberts has since bounced back and is petitioning WWE to appear in next year's Royal Rumble PPV sign the petition
HERE). Terry Funk is seen openly weeping at his daughter's wedding and Mick Foley is candidly captured playing with his children in scenes that are especially sweet when juxtaposed against brutal images of the proud dad having his head split open by The Rock and being thrown from the roof of the Hell in a Cell structure by the aptly-named Undertaker. Elsewhere, we see great interview footage of Vince McMahon, as well as rare glimpses of Stone Cold Steve Austin out of character. A personal favourite moment is the circular conversation (that my brother and I love to re-create) between Terry Funk and "The Cockroach King" Dennis Stamp, it goes something like this...
Terry: "I want you to be there, why won't you be there?" Dennis: "I'm not booked. I'm not on the card." Terry: "But I want you to be there. Please be there." Dennis: "I told you, I'm not booked." Terry: "But I want you to be there, why won't you be there?" Dennis: "I really have to be involved in some way, and I'm not." Terry: "But I really want you to be there." Dennis: "I'm not booked!" Etc, etc...
We also get to go behind the scenes at ECW's first-ever pay-per-view, as well as numerous Indie shows, as Blaustein interviews wrestlers, promoters and managers from all levels of the sport, with profiles ranging from starstruck dreamers to retiring legends, all handled with care and dignity. In my opinion, no wrestling film has been as hard-hitting, as honest, or as savagely compelling as Beyond The Mat. This is truly a thorough, passionate dissection of the modern wrestling business by a very gifted film maker. At its core, however, Beyond the Mat is just the story of a true wrestling fan trying to do justice to the business he loves, (and, in turn, trying to explain why he loves it, both to himself and to his audience). There may be a lot of blood, guts, barbed wire (and even fire) in this movie, but beyond all of that is a beating, human heart, a heart in love with wrestling. So that's it, the top 5 wrestling movies that every fan should see. Have I missed any out? Or do you just hate the movies I chose? Let me know in the comments section (steel chairs provided as you sign in, courtesy of the management).