Former Denver Bronco Darrin Drozdov had an unusual talent: the ability to vomit on command. That might not have been his ticket to a job in Hollywood or a gig with one of the networks, but it was enough to attract the attention of World Wrestling Federation czar Vince McMahon, who had big plans for "Droz."
McMahon dubbed him Puke and planned to make him a star in the WWF. Excited by the job offer, Drozdov called home. "You'll be real proud of me, Mama," he says. "I'm now known as Puke."
Drozdov's is one of several funny/sad stories told in Barry W. Blaustein's powerful documentary "Beyond the Mat," which looks not only at the WWF, but also smaller establishments such as the All-Pro Wrestling School (run by a rotund accountant who looks like a giant Weeble) and Philadelphia's outrageously savage Extreme Championship Wrestling, which Blaustein calls "the Ellis Island of wrestling, where old wrestlers go to be reborn and new wrestlers go to be discovered."
Although the subject matter may not sound tremendously appealing to non-fans of the showy sport, "Beyond the Mat" turns out to be less interested in the cartoonish brutality of pro wrestling than it is with the lives of the people who make their living in the ring. Much of the violence is either carefully choreographed or faked, but when they're not in the spotlight or in front of throngs of screaming fans, the wrestlers themselves turn out to be candid, surprisingly low-key guys.
The most pathetic of the bunch is former "Wrestlemania" superstar Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who once fought in front of 80,000 people at the Pontiac Silverdome and now can be found performing in cut-rate shows in places like Kearney, Neb. Roberts blames his squalid family history -- he says he was conceived when his mother, then 13, was raped by her mom's boyfriend -- and his frosty father for his drug problems and his inability to reach out to his college-aged daughter, a psychology major who acknowledges "he makes me nervous and I make him nervous."
Other potentially troublesome father-child relationships are brewing in Mick Foley's household. Just prior to a showdown with an opponent who calls himself The Rock, Foley, known to WWF followers as Mankind, is seen reassuring his young son Dewey and daughter Noelle that Daddy won't get hurt at work. Sitting at ringside, however, the kids get to see their father hurled into a column of speakers and beaten into submission with a metal folding chair upside the head. Backstage, while a plastic surgeon sews Foley's scalp back together, the wrestler tries again to explain to Noelle that the gashing wound is "just a boo-boo."
Why would a grown man keep on doing this kind of thing? Perhaps the answer lies in the life of Terry Funk, a legendary figure in wrestling circles. Against his doctor's advice and his family's wishes, the 53-year-old insisted on continuing his career because vanity and pride demand it. If there's a recurring theme in "Beyond the Mat," it's that these men will always run to the limelight, even if they have to trample on the feelings of those around them to get there.
And, wherever guys are willing to put their bodies on the line, you can bet there will be producers like McMahon ready to exploit and promote them. McMahon, who reportedly tried to suppress the movie, comes across as the consummate opportunist, a man who runs new talent through the mill, feasts on the results and tosses out the leftovers. Even when he's smiling and lighthearted, there's a fierceness in his eyes that's downright spooky.
Blaustein, who wrote the screenplays for Eddie Murphy's "The Nutty Professor" and "Coming to America," has a sharp eye and a knack for getting his cameras in the right place at the right time. For instance, rather than shooting the big match between The Rock and Mankind, he instead turns his focus to the horrified reactions of Foley's wife and children, all of whom are in tears long before the finale. The resulting footage is absolutely heartbreaking, a reminder that even phoney battles can provoke some very real emotions. James Sanford
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