Director: Barry Blaustein
Starring: Terry Funk, Jake Roberts, Mick Foley, Vince McMahon
Professional wrestlers may be larger than life, but their seldom seen off-camera personalities are far more compelling. Director Barry Blaustein gained exclusive access to this private world and lived to tell about it. His testament, Beyond the Mat, is an ode not simply to wrestling, but to the hearts and souls of the industry's most prominent and unusual players.
Terry Funk, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Cactus Jack may not be household names to most Americans, but to wrestling fans worldwide they are nothing short of legends. To Blaustein, an admitted lifelong (though not always public) wrestling enthusiast, they are heroes. As such, Beyond the Mat is a personal, poignant and sometimes painful tribute to the mortals behind pro wrestling's mythical personas. More so, it is a story about a boy who grew up to meet his idols only to discover that they were men just like himself, yet different in more ways than he could have ever imagined.
At 53 years old, Texas born and bred Terry Funk is one of wrestling's "living legends." To his wife and family however, he is an athlete who continues to put his body (and their patience) on the line well beyond the point of sanity. To the camera, he is a combination of the two: a main event attraction and worldwide celebrity; yet more importantly, a man dangerously unwilling to let go of past glory despite the pain it costs himself (One doctor remarks that Funk's knee is permanently handicapped.) and those around him.
Like Funk, former 80's star Jake Roberts (real name: Aurelian Smith Jr.) also struggles to hold on past fame. Yet his demons -- notably drug abuse, infidelity and an inability to forge a relationship with his only daughter -- make the challenge virtually impossible. Through Blaustein's travels with Roberts, the camera remains unflinching. We see Roberts at his best: performing before small, but appreciative crowds throughout the midwest, and at his worst: reflecting upon his life's mistakes while in a crack-induced stupor. Though still a hero to Blaustein, he is clearly a fallen one. To the camera however, he is more junkie than former superstar: a tragic example not of the physical toll of professional wrestling, but of the mental cost of embracing an environment drenched in excess.
Unlike Funk and Roberts, Cactus Jack (aka New York Times best selling author Mick Foley) is a man at the apex of his career. Yet, like those before him, Blaustein's lens captures the physical pain (his own) and mental anguish (his family's) necessary to remain there. At the film's conclusion, Bluestein documents a beaten and bloody Foley moments after completing one of the biggest matches of his career: a WWF pay per view main event. Yet Foley's physical injuries are minor compared to the mental scars inflicted upon his wife and young children who witness their loved one battered for the sake of "entertainment." To the camera, Foley is a paradox: a man whose pride and ambition demands he sacrifice himself to remain top dog in the profession he loves, but whose commitments to his family insist he turn his back on the industry that has made him a star.
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