10 Wrestling Movies That Should Be Made
2. ECW: Welcome To The Dance
Widely regarded as one of the best wrestling documentaries of all-time, 2004’s The Rise & Fall Of ECW provided a surprisingly balanced take on what made Paul Heyman’s promotion so iconic, and the factors leading to its eventual downfall. Its sales were so strong that it provided the impetus for the One Night Stand pay-per-view the following year, and while its dramatisation would bring little mainstream appeal, it’s a fantastic story that wrestling fans would lap up.
Looking at ECW’s rise from territorial obscurity all the way to the first pay-per-view in 1997 (Barely Legal), it would focus primarily on Heyman’s relentless drive to establish an extreme alternative in wrestling. Barely Legal would be the perfect finishing point, closing the film on a high note, and giving whoever played Paul’s character an Any Given Sunday moment by recreating his famous “welcome to the dance” speech:-
ECW’s rise shows that with time, effort, and sacrifice, a red-headed stepchild can stand up against its more refined siblings, and thrive. The promotion’s journey mirrors many of the misfit toys that comprised its roster, and while ECW eventually ended in financial ruin, their journey to the top contains enough struggle to make a compelling dramatisation.