10 Greatest Wrestling Documentaries

3. Beyond The Mat (2000)

The movie “Vince McMahon doesn’t want you to see” teased the marketing approach to Beyond the Mat, a documentary released in 2000. It's perhaps understandable why for one scene alone: Vince cheering on Droz, again and again, to puke into a garbage can in his office.

The film also features a boastful Vince claiming that his company wasn’t really a wrestling company. They make movies. Nearly two decades later, no one is really buying that claim (even if they now do have their own film studio). That continual quest, though, to make his company more than a simple rasslin' promotion goes back many years.

Beyond The Mat is perhaps most well-known for its devastating portrayal of a drug-addled Jake Roberts, the absurdity of Terry Funk’s retirement (which quite a few people actually bought into at the time) and for Mick Foley getting the holy hell beat out of him by The Rock in front of his terrified family. But it’s an in-depth look that spans the entire gamut of the business.

We’re introduced to a pair of independent wrestlers trying to break into the WWF, we see Foley in his prime, Funk in his twilight, and the rebellious ECW trying to make a name for itself. The film is a fascinating exploration of the late ‘90s wrestling scene and a great view of Vince’s empire about to change from the wild west to a corporate monolith trying to portray a family-friendly business.

The film is at times heartbreaking, often funny, but always interesting. It remains perhaps the most famous wrestling doc yet. Come for the backstage intrigue, stay for Dennis Stamp’s trampoline workout.