Beyond the Mat is a 1999 American documentary film directed, written, produced and narrated by Barry W. Blaustein. The film focuses on the lives of professional wrestlers outside of the ring, primarily Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Jake Roberts, as well as some aspiring wrestlers. It focuses on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during its rise in popularity, and many other independent wrestlers and organizations. The film was originally released by Lions Gate Films on October 22, 1999, and later on VHS and DVD.
Synopsis
Director Barry Blaustein discusses his love for professional wrestling and clips of him viewing employees of the World Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling. He then decides to travel the United States over a three-year period, endeavoring to understand the mindset of someone who would voluntarily choose to become a professional wrestler. Blaustein interviews a wide variety of wrestling personalities and ascertains their motivations.
Blaustein focuses on three famous wrestlers, one at the height of his career (Mick Foley, aka "Mankind"), one contemplating retirement (Terry Funk) and one at a career low (Jake "The Snake" Roberts). He begins by following Funk, a 53-year-old man in need of knee surgery who appears unable to retire, despite the mounting toll wrestling is taking on his body. His original budget was $500,000, funded by the company Imagine Entertainment. Blaustein approached the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) about involving the company in the film in 1997. Blaustein has stated the opposite. The film was later released on DVD, including extra footage and cast interviews.
Response
Critics
Beyond the Mat has an 82% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 67 reviews. Its consensus reads: "Even if you aren't a fan, Beyond the Mat provides a riveting, perceptive look into the world of professional wrestling by taking a closer look at the people beneath the personas."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly rated the film a B−, stating that "Beyond the Mat is entirely dependent on, and shaped by, the good stuff the director happens to get, rather than driven by hard questions a journalist might want answered." Paul Tatara of CNN wrote, "Blaustein seems to think that he's humanizing these guys by showing how "normal" they are out of the ring, but he unintentionally makes their penchant for self-mutilation all the more inexplicable. There are a couple of laughs in the movie, but the overall effect is much more depressing than it is humorous."
The film was named Best Documentary at the Cinequest Film Festival, and was also nominated by the Director's Guild Association for best documentary and best director.
Fate of the wrestlers profiled
In the years after the film was released, the three wrestlers primarily profiled continued their lives largely on the same path. Foley retired from full-time competition in 2000, at age 34, due to health concerns related to his hardcore style of wrestling, as well as him and his wife Colette (who was featured in the film with their two older children) having two more children after the film was released. He had, however, wrestled on occasion afterward, but retired from in-ring competition in 2012. Foley was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2013, and maintains a relatively successful circuit of stand-up comedy and speaking tours. He is also a New York Times Best Seller author.
As the epilogue of the film mentioned, Funk's retirement lasted three months. Funk went on to participate in several more retirement matches, the most recent on September 22, 2017, at age 73. Along with his brother Dory Funk, Jr., Funk was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Roberts' drug and alcohol use increased after the film was released. In 2004, Roberts faced a charge of "causing unnecessary suffering" after his snake, "Damien", was allowed to starve to death in the garage of his London Colney home. In 2007, WWE initiated a policy to pay all expenses for any former WWWF/WWF/WWE performer who needed to enter into any form of drug rehabilitation. According to various wrestling news reports, as well as his own MySpace page, Roberts was placed in a 14-week voluntary rehab program by WWE as of December 10, 2007. In May 2008, Jim Ross reported that, "Jake Roberts has been doing well the past few weeks, after completing a treatment program." In 2012, Roberts moved in with fellow wrestler Diamond Dallas Page to receive help with getting his life back on track. In 2013, Scott Hall joined Roberts' rehabilitative efforts by also moving into Page's home, which has been nicknamed the "accountability crib". This is documented in the film The Resurrection of Jake the Snake.
At WrestleCon 2013, Roberts announced his desire to return to WWE as a participant in Royal Rumble 2014, which did not happen. However, on January 6, 2014, Roberts returned on WWE television for the first time in almost nine years, as a part of Old School Raw at the end of the CM Punk vs Roman Reigns match, bringing out a new snake with him (an Albino Burmese Python) and aiding The New Age Outlaws and Punk in fending off The Shield. Jake is doing well and enjoying his newfound sobriety, although he was diagnosed with skin cancer, for which he has undergone successful treatment. He was announced as the second entrant of WWE's 2014 Hall of Fame Class. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling.
In 2007, Jim Bell, the former Vice President of Merchandising for the WWF who featured in the film, was sentenced for trying to defraud the company almost $1 million from 1998 to 2002 through illegitimate kickbacks. He received an eight-month prison sentence and three years of probation.
In 2014, Dennis Stamp published a book about his wrestling days titled The Stamp Collection: A Collection of Short Stories from the World's Most Famous Unknown Wrestler. That year he also refereed a main event for Scottish Wrestling Entertainment.
In 2016, Stamp announced that his cancer had returned. He died of lymphoma on March 13, 2017, after which wrestlers including Ted DiBiase and Tommy Dreamer paid tribute to him on social media.
In November 2017, Stamp was posthumously inducted into the Amarillo Pioneer Hall of Fame by the local Amarillo Pioneer newspaper.
Darren "Droz" Drozdov died on June 30, 2023, in New Jersey.
Terry Funk died on August 23, 2023.
Tony Jones died in 2024.
See also
- Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, another very well-received professional wrestling documentary from around the same period.
- Bloodstained Memoirs, a 2009 professional wrestling documentary.
- The Wrestler
- 1999 in film