The True Story of WrestleMania

Prior to sticking the blu ray on eBay, I decided to watch this WWE produced documentary about the history and coming together of Wrestlemania. Whilst it was obviously never going to be a frank and honest investigation into what went on, there is some interesting insight from the players involved and behind the scenes footage.

Vince McMahon, having purchased the New York wrestling territory from his father, sets about establishing the World Wrestling Federation as the first nationwide promotion. The centre piece of his plan is a new historically unprecedented large-scale wrestling event, to take place at Madison Square Garden and to match the titans of the wrestling world, with iconic figures of pop culture. As well as the capacity crowd, the plan is to show the event on closed circuit television in a number of venues across the country. The expense of the event though risks the very future of the company.

I think, having watched the documentary, is that I'd have preferred a much deeper analysis of what went into the early Wrestlemanias, rather than a bit of focus on the first one and then a scattershot approach to various bits and themes from the twenty odd that had followed, at the time this was produced. There is some talk about the regional promotion / NWA world that existed before Vince took over in the North East. There is talk that the rock and wrestling crossover was taking place, but there isn't the detail or the specificity that I'd have liked to have seen. How did they get a certain person involved? Who told them no? What venues turned them down?

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't anticipating much more than a relatively light "isn't Wrestlemania great" piece, so that just makes the odd little behind the curtains moment you get all the more frustrating. It remains though, a fun trip down memory lane and a chance to relieve a few classic moments.

This had the potential to be a really insightful glimpse into the deep personal risks Vince McMahon took in launching the first world-scale wrestling show, as well as the dozens of twists, turns and tidbits of backstage drama that transpired at each subsequent event. Instead, the narration merely grazed the surface of those untold stories before leaning back into a gentle, easygoing fluff piece. The few peeks we get behind the curtains, like Mean Gene cracking up in an interview with William "Refrigerator" Perry or Vince critiquing the art direction during the WMIX build, were my favorite bits. That's the kind of stuff I really wanted to see, not another recap of the wrestlers' favorite main events and some classic lessons in revisionist history. This may have been better served as the story of the first ten (maybe even five) WrestleManias, too, as trying to cram commentary on twenty-five different events results in a monotonous pace and forced ignorance of several legendary moments in the show's dazzling history.

Ever since 1985, when Vince McMahon made the leap from regional operating to national enterprise, Wrestlemania has been THE fixture on the pro wrestling calendar. This documentary gives a great history of the event.

The history given in this show is very comprehensive; I never felt as if one time period was given short shrift over another. A few areas like the early few events, the Hulkamania phenomena, the "Attitude Era" (Mike Tyson, Shawn Michaels, DX), and Steve Austin's reign of dominance are touched on more than others, but I never felt as if I were missing anything really important.

On a brief note, a bit of gravitas is given to the show due to the narration from David McCullough of Ken Burns documentary fame. There is not better voice for that kind of job.

Overall, this is a great piece of history for WWE fans both past and present. I've watched a good deal of these types of shows over the years and can say with confidence that this one is the best so far.