Now we’ve reached a pair of movies dealing with a subject about which I’ve been passionate since the age of 10-professional wrestling. In fact they complement each other nicely-one is about a young lady idolizing the business and seeking to break in despite hearing about its downsides; the other is about an old man who spent decades dealing with the downsides of the business but still idolizes it because it’s all he has left.
I’ll start with the current release. I was rather surprised when I first heard about the Paige biopic in the works; biographical films don’t tend to get made about 24-year-olds only a few years into their careers. Looking at Wikipedia now I found out the reason for this movie is that a TV documentary was made about Paige’s family in their native Britain and after watching that The Rock decided to acquire the feature film rights.
I’m glad he did! Not just because I was in the crowd when they shot the wrestling scenes (I attended an August 2016 Monday Night Raw taping where The Rock came out afterwards and explained that we were all extras!) but because it’s a wonderful movie.
Although we see a lot of actual WWE footage from the time period (and hear the real commentary over the one match being reenacted) The Rock is the only person actually playing himself. It’s entertainingly surreal seeing a guy who’s become such a prolific movie star go back to his roots in a wrestling movie-as himself no less! However, the lack of other real WWE stars as actors or even as characters in the story (other than Paige’s opponent in the climactic match, A.J. Lee) means wrestling fans shouldn’t be watching this hoping to see familiar faces. The movie has to work on its own terms for us almost as much as it does for anyone else.
Does it? Heck yes! Going back to my previous points, I was particularly surprised Paige wasn’t playing herself given how close she was in age to…well, herself in the story. I understand much more after watching the movie. It’s the proverbial ugly duckling tale and Paige, as a stunning woman years into her 20s, wouldn’t have worked in the lead role.
To further push that narrative, the filmmakers gave the lead role to Florence Pugh. While cute in her own right, she is considerably shorter than the real Paige and doesn’t have her statuesque figure. Although the real Paige (or the real Saraya, if you will) is extremely pale I’ve never heard anyone deny her sex appeal. The scenes of audience members taunting her for not looking like her glamorous opponents or her feeling insecure about her appearance resonate much more with the talented Ms. Pugh in the role.
It’s not just how she looks that’s explored though; it’s her roots (I’ll avoid making a bad pun as I mention that at one point she dyes her hair blonde to fit in). The scenes with her family (including Game of Thrones star Lena Headey looking unrecognizable as a readhead) are hilarious; it was like watching The Osbournes. We also see the relative squalor she lives in compared to the glamorous life of WWE stars-albeit only the top ones, which is a major point of the film. Furthermore, it’s made clear how much wrestling is looked down upon by people outside the industry in her native town (basically as much as it is everywhere else unfortunately).
The point is this family breathes wrestling, something that doesn’t have transferrable skills, and if any of them are going to ascend from their working class roots it’s via wrestling. We see that is much, much easier said than done and although the trailer shows that Zak doesn’t get to do it his little sister does. It’s such a joy watching Saraya/Paige reach the pinnacle of the business.
As a wrestling fan I need to mention that although Paige hit the ground running, winning two WWE Divas (Women’s) Championships her first year, that was followed by a year and a half of championship drought, a year and a half of being out injured, and finally retirement due to a vicious kick from rival Sasha Banks.
The movie deals with none of that though, focusing simply on Paige’s meteoric ascent. I can definitely appreciate that; in this world we need inspirational stories. However short her career was, Paige went much further than one could have ever expected out of an unconventional looking girl from the slums in Norwich, England. Moreover, her impact is still being felt given that she was one of the pioneers who helped make women’s wrestling bigger than ever in America, to the point where women get their own pay-per-views and even get to headline some pay-per-views they share with the men!
Plus during her career Paige got to meet one amazing fan. Check out the picture from a Party City event in 2015!
Next up: The Wrestler
Final Verdict: All of you should watch this! If you’re a wrestling fan you need to be ashamed for not having already done so, LOL.
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