History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment, 2013.
Starring Vince McMahon Jr., Triple H, The Rock, John Cena, CM Punk, Harley Race, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Hulk Hogan.
SYNOPSIS:
A documentary on how World Wrestling Entertainment went from its roots as a regional US promotion to the global juggernaut it is today.
This documentary, on World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) 50th birthday, details the company’s rise from its humble beginnings to the worldwide behemoth it is today.
The story is told chronologically through archive footage, guided through the years by a deeply-masculine narration and a bunch of talking heads. The range is impressive, from wrestlers past and present – Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, Daniel Bryan, a rare out-of-character Undertaker (Mark Calaway) – to celebrity fans – Mike Tyson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ozzy Osbourne, Kid Rock. Unfortunately, each interviewee appears before the same hideous curtain backdrops.
Tracking the company’s growth through its various eras is fascinating, if a little brief (they’re covering half a century, to be fair). The archive footage breathes life into the narrated stories, the highs (the first Wrestlemania and Monday Night Raw) and the lows (the steroid scandal and Montreal Screwjob). Each wrestling fan will have their own nostalgia ‘pop’. Mine was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of the Attitude-era, Stevie Richards-led faction Right to Censor.
There is, however, a central problem.
This is a winner’s retelling of history. The name of the DVD says it all: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment. For what is essentially a ‘wrestling’ documentary, here that term feels like a dirty word. The wrestler talking heads have ‘Superstar’ underneath their name and developments in wrestling’s craft are ignored (Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage at Wrestlemania III isn’t even shown, let alone mentioned, stinking of McMahon’s real-life animosity towards the Macho Man). The focus is far more on the company as a business. PPV buy rates, merchandise, going public, the setting up of a film production arm.
Even the more favourable moments are airbrushed. Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan (also at Wrestlemania III) is shown entirely from the hard camera’s point-of-view to ‘edit’ out Mel Phillips, a former-WWE employee who was later exposed as a pedophile.
Arguably the most significant event of the last ten years is also omitted: Chris Benoit’s murder of his wife and child, and his resulting suicide. It profoundly affected the mainstream’s perception of professional wrestling, and the business had to change accordingly. A true, warts-and-all history would address this.
But fair enough. Benoit has been edited out of WWE’s history books anyway. He no longer appears in matches, his name erased from their tomes. His absence isn’t surprising, but it does make for a glaring blind spot in the documentary’s rose-tinted glasses. Like a large smudge of JR’s BBQ Sauce.
Besides editing out history, the events that are addressed are one-sided. Vince McMahon Jr. is portrayed as the steroid scandal’s victim and eventual hero. Likewise with the Montreal Screwjob, where Shawn Michaels utters in a talking head, “Bret didn’t give him a choice.” The argument’s other side is ignored. And afterwards, Vince’s manipulation is hailed as a genius move to create the Mr McMahon character.
It’s an idealised, dream-imagining of the past – like a North Korean school textbook – just to promote the WWE brand. The documentary’s true audience seems to be WWE’s shareholders, potential sponsors or television network executives. When discussing recent years, the actually narrator uses this actual phrase: “WWE’s growth has been exponential over digital media.” It’s a promotional video. A corporate circle-jerk.
It’s the History of WWE: 50 Sugar-Coated Years of Sports Entertainment.
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
Originally published December 2, 2013. Updated November 28, 2022.
