10 Things You Notice Rewatching Beyond The Mat
Revisiting Barry Blaustein's documentary in 2020 opens up your eyes to so many things.
While detailed wrestling documentaries are commonplace these days due to how the WWE Network serves up that sort of content on a monthly basis, that wasn't the case back in the '90s and into the 2000s.
Back then, two documentaries stood out as special pieces of film that gave wrestling fans glimpses behind the curtain that had never before been seen. Those documentaries, of course, would be Paul Jay's Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows and Barry Blaustein's Beyond the Mat.
Both of these films were true game-changers, and many traditionalists would argue that they're to blame for the cat being fully let out of the bag where it pertains to the death of kayfabe and to the inner workings of the business being exposed for all to see.
Regardless, both Wrestling with Shadows and Beyond the Mat still make for great viewing to this very day, over 20 years since each were first released.
With Beyond the Mat having now recently turned up on Netflix, it's the perfect chance to revisit one of pro wrestling's most successful documentaries - and in doing so, here are ten small details that you'll notice during that rewatch.
10. WWE Really Did Go On To Make Movies
One of the most memorable quotes of Beyond the Mat sees a smug Vince McMahon proclaim "we make movies", before he takes a well-timed, cocksure swig of water.
It was cringeworthy, it was eyerolling, and it was McMahon again reiterating that what he does is not professional wrestling - it's sports entertainment, pal!
The thing is, when you see this moment back during a rewatch of Beyond the Mat, you get a lightbulb moment at the realisation that the crazy old bastard actually did go on to make actual movies. Have they been particularly successful, well-received movies? Not exactly, but McMahon can still proudly say that he is well and truly in the legitimate movie making business.
Nowadays known as WWE Studios, WWE Films was first launched in 2002. McMahon had previously put together No Holds Barred back in 1989, but the creation of WWE Films saw WWE fully dive into the production and distribution of feature films alongside partnering companies.
As of this writing WWE Studios has been involved in the release of 65 films, with stars like The Rock, Steve Austin, John Cena, Randy Orton, Edge, Triple H, Kane, Big Show, and, err, Brodus Clay all having had leading roles in some of these pictures.