"Beyond The Mat" Review

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

I have always heard that "Beyond The Mat" was among one of the best professional wrestling documentaries of all time, so I thought it was high time I checked it out. It definitely disappoint, either, despite the fact that it was made close to 15 years ago. For those unaware, this documentary was not produced by WWE, but instead by a longtime fan that had pursued other endeavors and wanted to go behind the scenes of pro wrestling. Essentially, this was one of the first wrestling documentaries ever released, much earlier than when the fantastic career retrospectives of CM Punk, Edge, Chris Jericho were available to the masses. Instead of looking back on the career of a single Superstar, it gives viewers an in-depth look on what goes on outside of the ring and highlights the history of the sport entertainment featuring the likes of Mick Foley, Jake "The Snake" Robert, Terry Funk and others.

Early on in the video, Barry Blaustein (the man behind the documentary) follows two aspiring wrestlers hoping to land a spot in the WWE (or the WWF as it was called at the time). The two wrestlers trained hard with their mentor at their wrestling school for many years before being called by WWE for tryout. Despite impressing the officials during their match in front of the live crowd, they were not ultimately given a contract as revealed at the end of the film. This still rings true many years later, as I have heard of many young athletes having great matches before backstage officials but not given a contract for one reason or another.

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Terry Funk is one of the first wrestlers that is analyzed in the movie. Over the course of the film, Funk contemplates retirement at old age and his family shows concern for his health. He goes out on a high note after having a memorable retirement match and subsequent ceremony, but all of it is soon forgotten after it is revealed in the epilogue of the documentary that Funk was came out of retirement a mere three months later. Funk has retired several times over the last 15 years, with "retirement" feeling less meaningful than the last. This goes to show that many wrestlers find it hard to let go of the wrestling business as they grow older, which Funk clearly stated at one point in the film.

The next sad story of wrestling comes in the form of Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Once a beloved figure in the WWE as one of its biggest names, Blaustein finds Roberts in a horrendous state of mind as a shell of his former self. At the time this movie was filmed, Roberts was still wrestling on the independent scene in high school gyms, which Blaustein said is the lowest point any wrestler could go to "without starting over". Roberts is said to have problems with drugs as well as with his estranged daughter, who he rarely sees. He entered WWE rehab shortly following the making of this movie and is still struggling with those same issues together. It is encouraging to know that he is currently on the road to recovery with Diamond Dallas Page as his helper, but it is also a scary thought that it took him close to 15 years to finally overcome those demons.

The third and final wrestler whose life is televised for the whole world to see is Mick Foley. He may not have had any issues growing up, but his problems lie in his wrestling style. Similar to Funk, Foley puts everything on the line every time he goes out to compete and damn near kills himself each time he does. As a husband and father of two kids, Foley is putting an immense amount of pressure on his family watching at home every time he competes. One match that the camera catches in this documentary is Foley's "I Quit" match with The Rock for the WWF Champion at 1999's Royal Rumble event. 

Since Foley's family was in attendance, the camera caught up with them to film their reactions to the matchup as it unfolded. Over the course of the contest, Foley was beaten to a bloody pulp at the hands of Rock, much to the chagrin of Foley's wife and kids, who had to leave ringside due to being scared by what might happen to him. Foley watched the footage of the match and the reactions of his family later on and admitted that he can't keep doing this for a living, saying that he took that much of a beating in every match he took part in, he would be dead. Sure enough, Foley retired from in-ring competition in 2002, although he had a few matches here and there in the decade that followed.


I am not sure if this movie was supposed to come off as depressing, but it certainly had that tone to it. It exposed the business for what it was and even featured exclusive interviews with the likes of Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman (this was when ECW was still in business). Apparently, after doing research following my viewing of the film, McMahon heavily promoted the movie prior to its release, but ceased to acknowledge it after viewing it. This was supposedly due to the fact that Linda McMahon (Vince's wife) thought the documentary focused too much on the bad aspects of wrestling rather than the good. I can understand that sentiment, but then it wouldn't have been truthful, ruining the entire purpose of the movie.


Regardless, it was critically acclaimed by many and even landed a spot in the book entitled The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen. As a die-hard wrestling fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it to be extremely well done. Of course, it was sad to see how the lives of some of the wrestlers turned out, but that is simply the nature of the business, and it is good that Blaustein exposed that for the world to see. Some people just don't realize what toll it takes on the wrestlers, so this is quite the eye-opener of the movie, especially for those who wish to one day become a pro wrestler. I hope a follow-up movie is made at some point, especially since pro wrestling has changed drastically since the time this film was first released in theaters.

Should you see this movie? Yes.