5 Wrestling Movies You Need To See

#2 Beyond the Mat

Beyond the Mat revealed an uncomfortable look at life after wrestling for stars like Jake Roberts.

While The Wrestler is widely credited as the best modern movie about wrestling, Beyond the Mat deserves its share of credit as well. Unlike the other entries in this article, it’s a documentary, and the success of it arguably responsible for the proliferation of wrestling documentaries to follow over the years.

Beyond the Mat follows Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Jake Roberts, capturing the three in the twilight of their time in the business, and depicting what the business has left of them. Roberts’s leg of the film may be the most difficult to swallow, for how heartbreaking it is to see him try to suppress his personal demons to redeem estranged familial relationships and rebuild a life outside the squared circle.

For anyone who questions the sacrifices wrestlers make or the reality of how hard their lives can be after leaving the business, this documentary demonstrates the harsh realities like none other.