Anyone watching this? I’m very into pro wrestling, and I know there’s a lot of criticism that this series is catered toward non-fans and just rehashes a lot of stuff that knowledgeable fans already knew. I think that’s accurate, but I also think these stories don’t get old no matter how many times I hear them. It does seem like a major limitation that it was mostly filmed before all the sex trafficking stuff came out - just a giant elephant in the background that it’s not possible for the series to address…but then again, I haven’t made it to the last episode yet, so will be interesting to see how it gets handled there.
Some other random observations, based on this plus the million other wrestling documentaries I’ve seen:
*Eric Bischoff seems legit retarded. I know he fancies himself this genius who outcompeted McMahon for 83 weeks, but honestly he sounds like an idiot, and he himself tells story after story where he basically gets taken advantage of by other people (Brian Pillman, the North Korean government, etc.) because he’s kind of a gullible rube. The disconnect between that and how he perceives himself is kind of shocking.
*Bret Hart - great wrestler, total mark for himself. He’d benefit from taking himself a little less seriously, and maybe being reminded that wrestling is scripted.
*Tony Atlas - comic genius. This guy pops up in various docs and is consistently hilarious. Pat Patterson “grabbed mah peckah”. Dying. His iron sheik impersonation is also fantastic.
*Triple H - I think he’s an opportunistic douche and was overrated in the ring and on the mic, but he comes across as if he has more than two brain cells to rub together, which is a feather in his cap.
I’m sure I’ll think of more hot takes, but interested to hear if other people have been watching.
Undertaker was popular because he had a gimmick that was really cool to kids, and he embodied it enough that it never came across as cringe. And then he kept it well into the era where every single wrestler was "MUSCLE DUDE #12" with no ability to distinguish them beyond their boring personalities (like HHH).
Watching him and Kane do wild shit in the ring is inherently more interesting than almost anything from the post-Attitude era, and it was strong enough to carry him through his retarded Biker gimmick.
Add in that he was never revealed to be controversial or difficult to work with, so nobody ever had a reason to hate him personally.
Kane is such an underrated character and worker. I still don't think people really appreciate what he did in the WWE
We are only just getting to the point where Wrestling fans feel safe even admitting to existing without feeling embarrassed, so it'll be sometime yet before people can come around to "the goofy gimmicks were actually the best fucking part."
Unfortunately, in order to reach that level we also had to let in a lot of CM Punk types who jam it full of wokeism and people embarrassed to be seen as non-progressive. So its a mixed bag.
Plus Taker is a born-again Christian and a Trump voter/donor in real life.
Yeah, the former surprised me too, even if it did happen basically as his career ended.
Mark Calloway was one of the most ardent supporters of kayfabe for most of his career. He made that one documentary a few years ago about his coming back from injury. And that was pretty much the point at which he dropped kayfabe.
Yes, he was a very private man until he retired.
And I have to say it--it's spelled "Calaway." Not a common spelling, but that's the name.
Okay, noted.