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5 Movies Every Wrestling Fan Needs To See

The other day we're doing an episode of Powerbomb Jutsu and Taiwan states that he rarely watches movies. We took the moment to start working on a list of the best wrestling films. When I say best, I don't mean good. Some of these movies are so bad that they're good. Don't get me wrong there are some genuinely good films. No I'm not putting Nacho Libre on this list. Not now, not ever. Down with Jack Black. He has to go.


5. No Holds Barred

No Holds Barred is a thing. It's a bad thing. So bad it's good. It's still not good, just bad. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Dave Batista are hardly the first wrestlers to attempt to make it in Hollywood. The difference is they were all good at it (Austin is actually pretty bad but he kicks ass in action movies). So what happens when someone is bad? You end up with Hulk Hogan starring in No Holds Barred. The movie is bad, it features an attempted rape, an electrocution and sadly real life. What do I mean real life? This movie actually crossovered into real life, this movie became the story behind a match between Hogan and Zeus. This is all bad, but you have to watch it first in order to appreciate the rest.




4. Enter...Zombie King

So this is a horror movie. By horror movie I don't mean a Kennel From Hell Match followed by a Punjabi Prison Match. It's a movie about zombies vs luchadors... in Canada. Why are Mexican wrestlers in Canada? Don't know but it's a good movie. It's also intensely bad with the dubs. On purpose because in Mexico they have actual luchador movies that somehow end up elsewhere with really bad dubs. Like karate flicks. A cool point about this movie is they didn't have enough time to train the actors to wrestle, so they rewrote the script so the stuntmen (Actual wrestlers) could have more time to show their wrestling ability. It's not really scary, in reality it's pretty funny. Jim Neidhart is in it if you want to see him sober for once. I hope he was.


 
3. Beyond The Mat

This one isn't so much a movie as it is a documentary. It takes a look at the lives of professional wrestlers and their daily struggles. The reason this one is cool is because it's a bunch of big names from the attitude era being honest about it. Wrestling is real, it hurts, but the stories are fake, the characters are fake and at the end of the day they're just regular people. The main problem with the film is Vince McMahon keeps popping up to talk about how he's not the shady businessman people claim he is. Some touching stuff in here, Mick Foley's kids basically think he's going to die every night. Rightfully so, that man did some crazy things just for the sake of a crowd reaction.





2. Ready To Rumble

This one is my personal favorite wrestling movie. It's horrible. It's so horrible. The acting is bad, the story is bad. But it's a comedy movie and it's comedic. It's basically Harold and Kumar go to Wrasslin. I say wrasslin because it's not even a pay per view (You'll get that joke when you watch the movie) The movie is filled with references to famous events in wrestling like the Montreal Screwjob. It also features a ton of WCW talent back when it was still a good thing. It's the funniest movie on the list. Not because it set out to be bad but because it set out to be funny. It was, but there's also moments where it's so bad it adds to the comedy.





1. The Wrestler

This is the good one. I mean it's really good. It's not all about the lights and cameras of pro wrestling. It's about what happens when the match is over. What happens to old guys when their run is over. Some people may think the movie is too fictional to be true but look at it. Drug addictions, family issues, trying to grasp fame for one last time and trying to reenter normal life. It's all there and we know wrestlers struggle with these things. Ric Flair is the definition of family issues, Hulk Hogan is still trying to have one more match and grasping at fame, X Pac and countless others have had public struggles with drugs. It's all there. It's a good movie that features cameos from a lot of wrestlers and actual fans at actual shows. If you only watch one movie on this list, make it this one. You don't even have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy this one. It's the wrestling equivalent of Rocky, without dragging it out for decades.

You can hear Darrell on the Powerbomb Jutsu and CP Time podcasts

Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

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