Poll Position: Beyond the Mat (1999)

Today I complete my commitment to the poll, and my promise to all those who carried the flag for the underdog movie Beyond the Mat. It was a hard fought match with Nacho Libre, but you made your voices heard, and I have listened. Who says a single vote can't make a difference? Beyond the Mat is a documentary that takes a hard look at the WWF and the men and women who live fully devoted to wrestling. What are their lives like? How do their families feel about it? What are these men really like, outside of the ring? And most importantly, did I like this movie? Hit the jump to find out!


When I started Beyond the Mat up, I was a little taken aback by what appeared to be quite a low quality documentary. It just didn't have the polished look of some other documentaries I've seen lately like Metal: A Headbanger's Journey or The Cove which I also made Puneet watch for the site. It definitely took a little while for it to find it's feet, but once it got moving, I realized that this wasn't just some cheap film, and it has quite a lot of heart put into it. Just like Sam Dunn's films about the heavy metal world, Barry Blaustein really gets into the world of wrestling and gets to meet, interview, and even become friends with some big names in wrestling.

The most notable portions of the film document the personal lives (as of 1999) of Terry Funk, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and Mick Foley AKA Mankind. There are some really interesting stories about unknown wrestlers trying to make it into the WWF, but the meat of the movie is with those three. It really gets into their personal lives and there's some really true, honest, and some shocking confessional from some of them, particularly Jake Roberts.

When I was growing up, I loved wrestling. I was enamored by the stories of good vs evil, the rivalries and friendships. Sure the fighting was cool, but what I loved most were the characters. They were all different, and the best ones all seemed to have something like a superpower. My favorite above all of them, even above Hulk Hogan, was Jake "The Snake" Roberts! I'm not up on wrestling anymore, but I always wondered what happened to good ol' Jake and his bag of serpents.

Time has not been kind to my favorite wrestler, Jake "The Snake" Roberts

In Beyond the Mat, we find out in a big way. And it turns out the story is a really tragic and depressing one. The story seems to be repeated over and over again with the likes of Terry Funk and others. It really makes me think that Darren Aronofsky must have seen this documentary as some kind of inspiration for The Wrestler. So many qualities and scenes from that movie seem to be direct recreations of scenes found here, except now these are real people.

What I didn't expect, however, was that the I would find the most emotional part of the movie to be with the story of Mankind, Mick Foley. He's one of those wrestlers that does those crazy cage matches and fights with ladders and barbed wire. He ends up a bloody mess by the end of these matches and many people think he's honestly crazy and has a death wish. As it turns out he has a nice family with 2 young children and a loving wife, and he's possibly the most polite wrestler in the world. Once you get to know the real man behind the mask, it becomes a heart wrenching affair when they show his big title match against The Rock, with his wife and kids in the crowd.

Mick Foley is just a regular man who wants to give his fans a good show

If anyone out there is a fan of wrestling, or used to be a fan as a kid like I was, do yourself a favor and check this movie out. The insights into this form of entertainment are wonderful, and it's so weird, yet fascinating to see these characters you think you know, totally out of character. Also, can I just say how tiny The Rock looks in this film? He's gigantic now, as seen in Fast Five, but back in 1999 he looks so slim and, well, small. Beyond the Mat won't win any awards for how it looks, which is pretty dated now, but wrestling fans will probably hold it up as one of their favorite documentaries of all time.