Now that March has arrived, pro-wrestling fan excitement is ramping up for the imminent arrival of the Super Bowl of sports entertainment, the show of shows, WrestleMania. Sure, wrestling can be a little corny sometimes, but millions of people love the over-the-top escapism. Let’s take a look at nine movies that laud that love in all of its glory and pain.
Ready to Rumble (2000)
This may not be a great movie to the average viewer, but it’s a fun love letter that celebrates the joy of pro wrestling fandom. It stars David Arquette (who would ride the wave of the film’s success to become a controversial WCW World Heavyweight Champion) and Scott Caan as two rabid fans who go all out to show their favorite wrestler, played by Oliver Platt, that he still has what it takes. It’s dumb fun, with a great cast of characters, and while it may be a little silly, it never mocks the sport. The best part is the cameos from WCW stars. Bill Goldberg, Randy Savage, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting all appear. It’s hard to be a fan of wrestling and not watch this with a smile on your face, especially now with twenty years of nostalgia thrown in.
Nacho Libre (2006)
Jack Black stars as Nacho, a Catholic friar who works at an orphanage as a cook and wrestles by night in order to raise money for the orphanage. Loosely following a true story, this is another silly celebration of wrestling, but this time it takes a more specific approach in its love for lucha libre, a type of Mexican professional wrestling all about masked stars and high-flying maneuvers. Director Jared Hess, best known for Napoleon Dynamite, gives us another bizarre film of offbeat characters. Not everything sticks, but Black’s ridiculous enthusiasm lands perfectly, especially in the wrestling scenes. This is an odd movie with all the potty humor you’d expect from Jack Black, but it’s a very sweet one as well that is all about love and finding a way to give back, while taking us into a world most of us are not familiar with.
The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015)
This powerful documentary follows the life of legendary wrestler Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Once a massive star in the 1980s, he fell into turmoil after multiple battles with drugs and alcohol. We now witness Roberts in his day-to-day life as he struggles to beat his demons and fix his body and mind. Fellow wrestler Diamond Dallas Page appears throughout. Now a yoga guru, he takes Roberts and another drug addicted superstar in Scott Hall under his wing. Interspersed with this is archival footage and interviews that celebrate his successes and his humiliating public downfall. What could have been a sad story, however, is instead a tale about determination and the fight to save your own life. At the end, Roberts is reborn. He gets one last moment in the spotlight with WWE and an induction to their Hall of Fame.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Shia LeBeouf and Dakota Johnson star in this critically acclaimed heartwarming adventure about a man with Down Syndrome (Zack Gottsagen) who escapes from an assisted living facility, so he can chase his dream to train to become a professional wrestler. Along the way he meets a fisherman played by LeBeouf. Rather than make fun of him, LeBeouf encourages him and helps him to get into shape. It turns into a buddy road trip movie as they make their way across the country to meet a wrestling trainer. Jake Roberts even has a small role, proof that years later, he is still going strong. An updated reimagining of Huckleberry Finn, this is a charming and sweet film that will make your heart swell and show even the most jaded viewer that anything is impossible if you have an unquenchable fight inside you.
Fighting With My Family (2019)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson produced this biopic about the rise of WWE superstar, Paige. Along with Midsommar, this role made Florence Pugh one of the breakout stars of 2019. She knocks it out of the park as a British teenager who wants nothing more than to be a professional wrestler. The viewer follows Paige as she struggles to make her dream come true. It’s the ultimate ironic fish out of water tale that finds Paige in WWE’s developmental brand surrounded by many women who come from the world of modeling and have zero wrestling experience, while Paige has been wrestling along with her family for years. After being berated for her looks and the way she talks, Paige decides to quit, but with her family’s support she fights through the fear and in the end becomes the women’s champion on her first day on WWE’s main roster. This is another great story about the power of perseverance.
Andre the Giant (2018)
In the 1980s no one in professional wrestling was bigger, literally or figuratively, than Andre the Giant. This HBO documentary explores the life and times of the Eighth Wonder of the World. While there are struggles he went through to be examined, such as the physical pain he endured from being so large, this film lives mostly as a celebration of the giant impact Andre had on the people around him. His WWF days are remembered in heartwarming interviews with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon, but we are also shown in remembrances with actors such as Billy Crystal and Cary Elwes how he crossed over into the mainstream, mostly for his unforgettable role in The Princess Bride. Andre was larger than life and impossible to look away from. This compelling documentary has the same effect.
Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows (1998)
This documentary about Bret “The Hitman” Hart does not find its focus on remembering Hart’s career. It puts us right in the middle of it, in what just so happens to become the biggest moment of his professional life. It’s 1997 and Hart is WWF’s top star. Ted Turner’s WCW is pulling many stars away from the WWF, however, and Hart agonizes on whether to stay loyal to a company he’s been with for over a decade, or to leave and try something new. We unwittingly become witnesses to one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history, known as the Montreal Screwjob, where Hart, having decided to join WCW, is screwed out of the WWF Championship in his final match in an angle so shocking that it’s still hard to believe it was all real. The end of the film sees Hart punching out the villainous Vince McMahon, then at peace as he’s ready to move on. To look at it now and know what would become of his WCW career and his brother Owen is to view the film as a tragedy, but in late 1997 this was the ultimate story of a man who stood up for himself and carved his own path, consequences be damned.
The Wrestler (2008)
No fictional film better represents the ups and downs of being a professional wrestler than this Darren Aronofsky directed drama. Mickey Rourke completely transformed himself, earning an Academy Award nomination, for his performance as a broken and aging professional wrestler who refuses to let go of the past and accept that his best days are behind him. It’s gritty and difficult to watch as we witness Rourke’s character live not only through the day-to-day drama of trying to reconcile with his adult daughter and finding love with a stripper (Marisa Tomei was also nominated for an Academy Award here), but also doing whatever it takes to hold on to his waning fame. There’s no holding back in showing his drug use, the steroid injections, all the while his body and heart breaking down. The movie was a hit not only with critics and fans, but also real life wrestlers who were overwhelmed by the passionate and accurate portrayal of their profession.
Beyond the Mat (1999)
No film whatsoever better shows how the professional wrestling business operates than this documentary. Released at the height of the pro wrestling boom, viewers are given in depth access like we’d never seen before or since into the real life world behind the curtain. We follow three wrestlers (Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Jake Roberts pre redemption), all in various stages of their career. Foley is enjoying massive success, Funk is on the verge of retirement, and Roberts, finding it so hard to let go, lives as if The Wrestler was about him. Their lives are shown opposite the rise of tomorrow’s stars, including Droz, who would later be paralyzed after an in ring accident. It’s an at times hard to watch documentary, so truthful and dark are some behind the scenes moments we witness, but it’s a passionate film that is all about what we will do for love, even if it’s killing us.