Despite the similarities cinema and professional wrestling share — storytelling built on emotion and layered characters, for instance — they cross over less frequently than sports like football and basketball. Several wrestlers have become successful actors, and there are too many documentaries about wrestlers and the notoriously messy business to count, yet narrative features remain a rare and tricky beast. Perhaps part of it comes from a hesitance to break kayfabe (the act of presenting staged performances as authentic by remaining in character) and acknowledge that wrestling is scripted. Films about wrestling date back to long before Vince McMahon coined the term “sports entertainment” in the 1980s, but it was only in recent years that stories revolving around the squared circle grew more in demand, especially on the small screen with shows like GLOW and Heels.
Pro wrestling is set to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds courtesy of The Iron Claw, which stars Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson in a movie about the tragic true story of the Von Erich brothers. In honor of Sean Durkin’s tearjerker hitting theaters on December 22, we’ve rounded up some must-see non-documentary films about wrestling that anyone, wrestling fan or not, can enjoy.
Night and the City (1950)
Of all the entries in this list, Jules Dassin’s first film after getting blacklisted for being a communist is the one that stands out the most, and not only because it’s the oldest. A frantic and intense film noir set in the seedy British wrestling scene, this adaptation of Gerald Kirsh’s novel (by screenwriter Jo Eisinger) tells the tale of Harry Fabian (Richard Windmark), an American hustler living in London. Always on the run from his troubles, Harry attempts to make it as a wrestling promoter after pulling a veteran Greco-Roman champion (played by real-life wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko, who takes part in a memorable bout) into his scheme. The beauty of Night and the City is found in its careful construction, meaningful framing and visual flare, and nuanced critique of capitalism. Wrestling and noir is a match made in heaven, though definitely not a pairing we see often, and this triumphant picture is proof of its potential.
Paradise Alley (1978)
Prior to helming the Rocky sequels, Sylvester Stallone made his debut behind the camera with Paradise Alley. In this 1940s-set drama, Stallone steps into the shoes of Cosmo Carboni, a con man who, along with his hesitant war-veteran brother Lenny (Armand Assante), convinces their younger, beefier brother Victor (Lee Canalito) to take up professional wrestling in an attempt to make their fortune. The dynamic eventually shifts when Cosmo grows concerned with the toll the sport is taking on Victor’s body while Lenny pushes him further out of pure greed. Stallone (who also sings the corny theme song) writes and directs the hell out of this slow-burn whose scrappiness ends up being one of its biggest charms. The late, great wrestler Terry Funk choreographed the fight scenes, one of which features his Frankie “the Thumper” wrestling Victor in a heavy downpour. Paradise Alley never reaches the heights of the wildly successful Rocky franchise, but it serves as a great glimpse at Stallone’s filmmaking chops.
… All the Marbles (1981)
A wrestling film starring Peter Falk as the hot-headed manager of a women’s tag team named the California Dolls in the early ’80s should be an easy sell. The trio at the center of the film — Harry (Falk), Iris (Vicki Frederick), and Molly (Laurene London) — travel across the country for matches in the hopes of making it big and end up having to deal with a sleazy promoter (Burt Young) along the way. Director Robert Aldrich ended his career on a high note with … All the Marbles, a movie that approaches pro wrestling as if it were completely real and not staged or choreographed. Bringing to screen a concept that was rather fresh in cinema at the time, the filmmaker has a fantastic sense of what makes wrestling, and women’s wrestling at that, exciting. This is best showcased in the engrossing, nearly 30-minute-long final match that pulls out all the stops. London and Frederick, who would’ve become huge stars in a perfect world, performed their own stunts, and the payoff is huge. If you enjoyed Netflix’s GLOW, then ... All the Marbles will be right up your alley.
No Holds Barred (1989)
Made at the height of Hulkamania and seven years after Hulk Hogan’s appearance in Rocky III, No Holds Barred marks the wrestler’s first starring role. He plays World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion Rip Thomas, who is approached by the head of a rival television network, Brell (Kurt Fuller), to join his promotion. After Rip rejects the offer, Brell chooses to exact revenge by creating his own wrestling show called “Battle of the Tough Guys” that finds success following the introduction of Zeus (Tommy Lister Jr.), who Rip ultimately decides to fight in a no-holds-barred match. Vince McMahon went so far as to use the film as a launchpad for an actual feud between Hogan and Zeus in the WWF (now WWE) that culminated on a pay-per-view that screened the film in its entirety before the two wrestlers fought in a steel cage. No Holds Barred isn’t a good movie in the slightest, due to the poorly aged humor and performances that range from bearable to downright awful, but its lasting impact — for better or worse — makes it worth mentioning.
The Foul King (2000)
Before Kim Jee-woon became revered for his darker filmography, he made a brilliantly underrated wrestling film that stands the test of time. The South Korean comedy stars the GOAT Song Kang-ho as Lim Dae-ho, a disgruntled bank clerk who decides to become a wrestler as a response to his boss’s incessant bullying. As he trains and grows more well-versed with the sport, Dae-ho transforms into a masked luchador who, at one point, imagines himself in the ring as Elvis Presley. Showcasing a blend of the lucha libre and Japanese puroresu styles, The Foul King nails the technical elements of wrestling and delivers some of the most thrilling and impressive match sequences put to screen. In his first leading role, Song perfectly strikes the balance between absurdist comedy and the physicality of the role — going so far as to do his own stunts — in a performance that elevates the movie. Dae-ho learning a suplex by watching a Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker match rules, and so does The Foul King.
Ready to Rumble (2000)
This list would be incomplete without the inclusion of Ready to Rumble — not because it’s necessarily good but because of its historical significance of capturing a bygone era of both wrestling and early-aughts cinema. David Arquette and Scott Caan play Gordie and Sean, sanitation workers and best friends who develop a plan to get their favorite wrestler, Jimmy King (Oliver Platt), back in the ring after watching him suffer a humiliating defeat to real-life wrestler Diamond Dallas Page in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). As a promotional tactic for the film, Arquette was brought into a WCW story line that led to him becoming the World Heavyweight Champion in one of the company’s most controversial moves. Because of this and the degree to which Ready to Rumble flopped, it has often been credited with contributing to the dissolution of WCW. Nonetheless, it’s a silly and nostalgic comedy that pokes fun at wrestling fandom and makes for a great guilty pleasure (if you believe in that sort of thing). Plus plenty of wrestlers round out the cast, including Sting, Goldberg, Sid Vicious, Randy Savage, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from John Cena a few years before he debuted for WWE.
Nacho Libre (2006)
The world was a much better place when Jack Black was the go-to leading man for comedies. One such flick that perfectly taps into his comedic style and range is Nacho Libre, Jared Hess’s underappreciated follow-up to cult hit Napoleon Dynamite. Drawing from the true story of monk Fray Tormenta, it focuses on Black’s Ignacio, a Catholic friar who becomes tag-team partners with a mugger (Héctor Jiménez) and begins moonlighting as a luchador under the moniker “Nacho” in order to raise money for the orphanage he works at and impress the nun (Ana de la Reguera) he likes. Nacho Libre has Black running around in a mask and spandex, which automatically makes it peak cinema. Beneath its overall silliness though (it is a Nickelodeon co-production after all), the movie sticks out for its genuine understanding and respect for the vibrant, acrobatic spectacle that is lucha libre.
The Wrestler (2008)
Love him or hate him, it’s undeniable that Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is one of the best pro-wrestling films ever made. It centers on Randy “the Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a past-his-prime wrestler consumed with recapturing his glory days on the indies until suffering a post-match heart attack that forces him to confront the reality that he must retire. Revealing the gritty underbelly of the wrestling world, Randy struggles with drug addiction and puts his body through so much abuse for the love of the game. Aronofsky has become synonymous with borderline-cruel depictions of humanity, but The Wrestler stands out as his most empathetic and restrained work to date. Adding another layer of authenticity, the ensemble is packed with over a dozen real-life wrestlers, including Necro Butcher, Claudio Castagnoli, Ron Killings (a.k.a. R-Truth), Nigel McGuiness, and John Zandig. Rourke, once a professional boxer who also fell from stardom, gives a tour de force performance that earned him an Oscar nomination and a brief career resurgence. If there’s one wrestling movie that should be considered a masterpiece, it’s The Wrestler.
Fighting With My Family (2019)
The film that kickstarted an incredible 2019 for Florence Pugh, Fighting With My Family is one of the few good movies to come out of WWE Studios. This Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson–produced biopic based on the 2012 documentary of the same name captures the journey of British wrestler Saraya “Paige” Bevis, who played an integral part in the Women’s Revolution of the mid-2010s. It charts her rise from working in the independent wrestling scene alongside her family to earning a WWE contract and having to navigate their development brand’s beauty standards up until making her main roster debut, where she won the Divas Championship on her first night. Director Stephen Merchant takes several liberties with Paige’s story by excluding pivotal moments in her career, like becoming the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion and her retirement from in-ring competition in 2018 following a neck injury (though she now wrestles in All Elite Wrestling under her real name). And while we’ve seen stories about outcast athletes a million times, Fighting With My Family manages to rise above the mold to be a heartwarming coming-of-age family drama that makes you care about its characters.
Cassandro (2023)
Seven years after the release of The Man Without a Mask, director Roger Ross Williams made the jump to narrative features with Cassandro, a biopic about Saúl Armendáriz that expands upon his 2016 New Yorker documentary short. Gael García Bernal delivers a fabulous performance as the titular character, a gay Mexican wrestler from El Paso, Texas, who rose to fame in the 1980s through his creation of a flamboyant exotico who changed the Mexican wrestling landscape forever. A story about self-acceptance amid the homophobia that exists within sports, Cassandro is a big-hearted celebration of a man who triumphs in an environment with an inherently hypermasculine culture. I can’t go without mentioning that Bad Bunny, who has been maintaining a side gig in recent years of showing up in WWE to casually deliver unforgettable matches, appears in a supporting role. Cassandro may not reinvent the sports-underdog-biopic genre, but it succeeds at doing it incredibly well.
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