Body Slam is a fun little good-guys-versus-bad-guys underdog movie in the style of Karate Kid. If we tell you that its directed by the guy that brought the world the Smokey & The Bandit and Cannonball Run movies, you should know what to expect. Dirk Benedict, famous for portraying Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica and Templeton Faceman Peck in The A-Team, plays the Burt Reynolds role here: a down-at-heel music promoter whose business gains a new lease of life when he accidentally begins to represent a professional wrestler (played by Rowdy Roddy Piper), and decides to combine rock n roll and wrestling on the same card. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG9r7e6hdnw Bringing MTV and WWF the Rock N Roll Wrestling Connection together was pretty much the story of the previous few years of American professional wrestling, so its ironic that this film is based around a territorial model of professional wrestling promotion that Vince McMahons WWF was in the process of stomping out. Funnily enough, the man pivotal to the creation and success of the WWFs cross-promotion with music, Lou Albano, plays the villain in Body Slam. Other wrestling luminaries appearing include three members of the Anoai family, Sam Fatu and the Wild Samoans Afa and Sika Anoai and Sione The Barbarian Vailahi, with walk-ons from Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino and Classy Freddie Blassie.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
