Beyond the Mat (1999) on Netflix

R19991h 42mBiography Documentary Sport

A documentary follows professional wrestlers Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Jake Roberts. One is at the peak of his career, one is contemplating retirement and one is at a low.

Netflix3.7/5
IMDb7.6/109,801 votes
Rotten Tomatoes82%

Trailer

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Plot summary

A filmmaker spends several years following professional wrestlers on the road and at home, asking why anyone would choose the work. Mick Foley is at the height of his fame but keeps taking hard falls and blows to the head. Terry Funk, 53, needs knee surgery yet cannot bring himself to retire. Jake Roberts, famous in the 1980s, now wrestles small-town shows and is a crack cocaine addict. Newcomers chasing a break appear too, among them two men hoping for a tryout and a former football player whose new persona rests on an unusual talent. Interviews with families describe what it is like to watch a father risk his body while other children call him a fake.

Cast

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Beyond the Mat (1999)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Blaustein said Vince McMahon ordered his wrestlers, including Mick Foley, not to speak about the film publicly; Foley went on Larry King Live with Blaustein anyway, and the tagline became "The Movie Vince McMahon Didn't Want You to See!".
After seeing the film, Vince McMahon pulled all WWF advertising for it, and distributor Lions Gate Films considered suing for restraint of trade.
WCW refused to take part, and although WWF chairman Vince McMahon first gave director Barry Blaustein full behind-the-scenes access, he later tried to pull out of the deal.
Jim Bell, a former WWF vice president of merchandising who appears in the film, got eight months in prison and three years' probation in 2007 for defrauding the company of almost $1 million through kickbacks.
In 2004, Jake Roberts, one of the three wrestlers the film profiles, was charged with causing unnecessary suffering after his snake Damien was left to starve to death in his London Colney garage.