“If someone asked me if wrestling is fake, after all of that, I wouldn’t even answer the question.”

Mickey Rourke

That’s the money quote for me, after all the hype, all the commentary, all the hoopla about “The Wrestler.” Until I read that (in the “SUN” I believe) – my expectations were that this might be an interesting film to watch, and maybe Marisa Tomei would be the main reason to get a good look.

We, the followers of Dave (and Bryan’s) site, can all readily admit to be unabashed wrestling fans…. well, far more than just a wrestling fans … call us insiders, or hardcores, or perhaps just call us  people who really appreciate the efforts, entertainment genre and artistry of the professional wrestling industry.

Problem is, as wrestling fans, some of us get over-excited at the notion of a movie being made about professional wrestling. Been there, done that. I’ve seen the quaintly interesting movies of the 1970’s, from that “I like to hurt people” to the one with Columbo managing a women’s tag team, breaking the “sunset flip” into the mainstream.

Yeah…. Right.

I’ve also seen what the WWE and WCW can produce, from the Hulk Hogan magnum opus called No Holds Barred to the equally problematic Ready To Rumble. Pro Wrestling movies tend to make idiots of us all. And I’ve not been one to fall for the hype.

But seeing that Quote from suddenly back to mainstream Mickey Rourke, in a film that just may threaten to put professional wrestling back in the mainstream, made me understand that Mr. Rourke didn’t just play a role in this movie.

He learned the lifestyle.

Sure, Rourke traveled many of the same roads as professional wrestling’s biggest stars. The Rock. Hulk Hogan. Chris Jericho. These guys plied their trade as professional wrestlers, enduring the pain, hardships and celebrity status, and then tried the acting profession, or the celebrity lifestyle, or attempted careers as rock stars.

Few have traveled the reverse path, and I’m for one glad it was Mickey Rourke.

Nicholas Cage was once slated to play the role of Randy “the Ram” Robinson. But Rourke brings along his baggage to the role, and in many ways, his baggage enhances the movie, the dynamics, the synergies.

As we all know, wrestling, as a mainstream fad, died out shortly after the new millennium: The Rock went Hollywood, Steve Austin tried the same, and the WWE became, by acquisition, the only major United States promotion. Like any other industry, domination breeds complacency, and no longer needing to compete, the creativity that spurred the fad of the 1990’s faded away, and worse, the need for fresh blood was no longer desperate. (Though, there’s a certain dangerous irony in that statement when over 100 wrestlers passed away in a 15 year span, due to the lifestyle, abuses of chemicals and likely medical malfeasance.)

Thus, we have the convergence of an aging actor attempting to return to the glory of celebrity status, playing the role of an aging pro wrestling thirsting for a return to the celebrity status he once had as a 1980’s superstar, in an industry that every day fades away from its faddish, celebrity status.

Call it nostalgia, call it timing, call it a weirdly fascinating dynamic, but watch it on the screen, and you’ll see a gritty, realistic, hard-hitting and bloody capture of what it means to be a professional wrestling fan, and what it is to be someone who, if confronted by the age-old question of fakery, simply walks away from the question.

Reality has no room for such stupid questions.

And thus, the quote from Mickey Rourke has my psyched. Walking away from a stupid question like ‘is it fake’ is the only real answer. Standing up on either side of the obvious answers only drags you down to the foolishness of the question. And, by the hype, the gritty reality and the hopefully true to the fans mentality of this film, a lot more of us can find the industry a little more respected, a little more appreciated … a little more mainstream once again.

Who knows how far this will go; who knows if the HBO series and other interests will be spawned; who knows if this will spark a renaissance of a new cycle of business.

The only thing I’m hoping for now is that this professional wrestling film “gets it right’

I’m hoping, because I’ve said “I hope they get it right” about a million times over the past decade, and we all know how wrong the powers that be can get it.

Joe Babinsack can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Got a sneak peak of something very good, and the DVD reviews are lining up big time. Drop me an email if you have any book suggestions. I need to restock my stack of stuff soon.