Beyond the Mat

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Movie
German title Beyond the Mat
Original title Beyond the Mat
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Barry W. Blaustein
script Barry W. Blaustein
production Barry W. Blaustein,
Barry Bloom ,
Brian Grazer ,
Ron Howard ,
Michael Rosenberg
music Nathan Barr
camera Michael Grady
cut Jeff Werner
occupation

Beyond the Mat is an American documentary by Barry W. Blaustein from 1999. The documentary shows the background and family life in wrestling based on the three wrestlers Terry Funk , Mick Foley and Jake Roberts .

action

Barry W. Blaustein explains how he became a wrestling fan and how he got the idea to take a look behind the scenes. The first stop on his journey is the World Wrestling Federation in Stamford (Connecticut) , where wrestler Darren Drozdov just had his try-out. Vince McMahon was very impressed with his ability to vomit on command and offered him a contract. He is to be introduced as "Puke". Finally, Vince McMahon lets the wrestler vomit into a trash can. The next path leads the documentary filmmaker to Roland Alexander's wrestling school and league “All Pro Wrestling”. He explains the school's “pay-to-play” principle and introduces some new talents. Michael Modest and Tony Jones now have a try-out on a WWF house show.

Next up is Terry Funk , who lives in Amarillo , Texas and serves as the king of hardcore wrestling and the star of the ECW . Some of his brutal matches are shown. Then the film shows scenes from the wedding of one of his daughters, during which Terry Funk has tears. He is escorted to the doctor who bluntly tells him that his knee joints are completely broken and that he should stop wrestling. A few days later, at the age of 53, he won the ECW championship belt in a rough hardcore match at “Barely Legal”, the ECW's first pay-per-view .

Next up is one of Terry Funk's best friends and students: Mick Foley , known in the WWF as "Cactus Jack", "Mankind" and "Dude Love". He is described by Blaustein as one of the most normal wrestling stars, who leads a happy family life and is a concerned and loving father. In stark contrast are his hardcore matches against Terry Funk in Japan and his beginnings as a backyard wrestler . In addition to this film material, excerpts from the Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker are shown. Mick Foley falls several times from a five meter high cage. After the match, his desperate wife tried to call him to see if everything was okay.

The next stop leads to Nebraska , where Jake "The Snake" Roberts competes for a small promotion. The man who was once one of the WWF's biggest crowd pleasers is completely shabby. A strong alcoholic who has broken with his family and is now marketing his talent that is still there for little money. Blaustein accompanies Roberts to his father Grizzly Smith , who grossly abused him in his childhood and who today can hardly look each other in the eye when visiting.

Blaustein now briefly portrays the life paths of Chyna , who is very feminine outside the ring despite her muscular appearance, Koko B. Ware , who fared similarly to Jake Roberts, and Jesse Ventura , who now works as a politician. Jerome Young, a convicted criminal who committed a "justifiable homicide," befriends the director and receives an audition from him in Hollywood .

Back in Amarillo, Terry Funk announces his departure from wrestling. One last match against Bret "The Hitman" Hart should take place. Terry Funk persuades his old companion to referee the unsuccessful Dennis Stamp after he refused to come to the show because he was not booked.

Mick Foley, meanwhile, takes his family to an "I Quit" match against " The Rock ", which is said to be more harmless than his previous matches. Shortly before the match, however, the storyline is changed. After seven chair blows on Foley's skull, his wife and two children leave the scene in horror. Mick Foley received a concussion and an open laceration that evening . A few days later he looks at the footage and is shocked how he could do this to his family.

Blaustein then accompanies Jake Roberts to his daughter, with whom he had not spoken for four years. This reunion is also less than satisfactory for the two of them. Jake Roberts locks himself in his hotel room and smokes crack there . Then he utters confused stuff.

The film ends with a brief review of what happened after the shooting was over: Terry Funk's “retirement” lasted about three months, Jerome Young now works for ECW and Jake Roberts was arrested for not paying his alimony . The two wrestlers who initially had a try-out were not invited back and now work in civil professions. Darren Drozdov was never introduced as a "puke" and worked as a Droz for the WWF until he sustained an injury in a match and is now in a wheelchair. Darren Drozdov remains paraplegic to this day and will probably never be able to walk again.

background

The production of the documentary took about three years. At first, Vince McMahon was enthusiastic and supported the filmmaker. But when he realized that his presentation in the documentation was not exactly an advantage, he turned around. After filming was over, he refused to work on the documentary and tried to buy up the film to keep it under lock and key.

The WWF also tried to boycott the film's advertising and banned some wrestlers from speaking about the film in public. Lions Gate Films then sued the WWF for breach of contract. Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan , Terry Funk and Roddy Piper, however, supported Blaustein on an edition of the talk show Larry King Live . As a result of the controversy, the film was tagged The film Vince McMahon doesn't want you to see .

Reviews and awards

In 1999 a VHS version of the film was released in German-speaking countries. Cinema magazine rated the film 100% and described it as "fascinating and very human". Apart from a gene republic, it hardly spread in Europe. A DVD release is still pending. The film received mostly positive reviews in the US and received several awards.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sheldon Harvey: SLAM! Wrestling - Barry Blaustein chat. Slam! Sports, accessed October 17, 2009 .
  2. ^ John Molinaro: Beyond the Mat embroiled in controversy. Accusations fly back and forth between filmmaker and the WWF. Slam! Sports, accessed October 17, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Criticism on Cinema.de. Retrieved October 17, 2009 .
  4. ^ Awards in the Internet Movie Database