BEYOND THE MAT

Year: 1999
USA: Universal Studios
UK: UIP
Cast: Terry Funk, Mick Foley, Jake Roberts, Vince McMahon, Roland Alexander, Collette Foley, Dewey Foley, Noelle Foley, Brandy Smith, Paul Heyman, Tony Jones, Mike Modest, Darren Drozdov
Director: Barry W Blaustein
Country: USA
USA:102 mins
UK: 103 mins
USA Rated: R for language and violent content
UK Certificate: 15 for strong language and violence
USA Release Date: 17 March 2000 (Limited Release)
USA Release Date: 3 March 2000 (Limited Release - Los Angeles, New York, Memphis, Charlotte)
UK Release Date: 30 June 2000

Synopsis

BEYOND THE MAT, Barry Blaustein's honest, intimate, revealing, highly entertaining, and critically acclaimed documentary about the inner workings of professional wrestling, and takes viewers beyond the ring and into the lives of the men and women who inhabit this colorful, competitive, and surprisingly complex world.

The combination of personal and professional struggle is the core of BEYOND THE MAT. Blaustein spotlights professional wrestlers who are best known for being exaggerated figures, always larger than life, and shows us their humanity. Focusing on Mick "Mankind" Foley, Terry Funk, "Jake the Snake" Roberts, the Rock, Chyna, and other wrestlers, BEYOND THE MAT depicts remarkable, unscripted moments in lives that are often built on illusion.

During the five years he spent working on the film, Blaustein discovered that the control wrestlers exert in the ring is often contrasted by the lack of control they have in their own lives. Blaustein travels on the open road with the wrestlers, shares their most intimate moments with their families, and witnesses their victories and defeats in the ring. Capturing the grit and the glory and the humor and the pathos of wrestling, Blaustein takes us beyond the spotlight, beyond the pain, BEYOND THE MAT.