Movie Review - The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke plays aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson and we follow him in his twilight years, 20 years past his peak but still wrestling in High School gyms and small arenas. It's a bit of a weird movie, it gives good insight into how wrestling works behind the scenes (Mickey does actually blade in the 1st match you get to see him do it) and there are real wrestlers playing minor parts (I recognised former TNA and current ROH star Austin Aries at the 1st arena). Ram kind of reminds me of Jerry Lynn (from his general look).

ROH is mentioned in the film so they are occupying a space in the real world even if Ram isn't a real wrestler. Marisa Tomei plays Randy's stripper girlfriend (I dont really know her from anything apart from The Guru). The issue of drugs is dealt with very openly as Ram is seen both buying and using them. After seeing Ram buying props for what could only be an upcoming hardcore match you get to see him talking with Hardcore Icon The Necro Butcher (wow is he different out of the ring) and you get to see the closing seconds of that match with him (which it looks like it was done with CZW so yet another real company being used and referenced), Blue Meanie is visible in the dressing room afterwards.

Bits of the match are shown and Ram takes staple shots, a shot into glass and several barbed wire hits. The move of the match for me had to be Ram putting Necro into a barbed wire table off a ladder.

Ram collapses in the dressing room and wakes up in a hospital bed having suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, it turns out to have been quite literally a near death experience and he is told to stop using steroids and not wrestle any more. Randy tries to speak to his estranged daughter but she doesn't want to know him (shades of Jake The Snake there?) and then he attends a very quiet Fan Fest (were any of the other wrestlers there real wrestlers?).

Unable to wrestle he is forced to look for extra work at the supermarket where he was working part time where he ends up working on the deli counter. There's lots of very dull and extremely long winded stuff about his relationship with his daughter and the stripper, Ram eventually ends up going to watch a match (Ron Killings is involved) and ends up hooking up with a fan who he ends up having sex and doing some coke with, the aftermath of which results in him missing time with his daughter.

After being recognised at the supermarket Randy cuts himself on a meatslicer and quits his job then decides to get back into wrestling for 1 last hurrah - a match against his old nemesis The Ayatollah (played Ernest "The Cat" Miller best known from his WCW days) in an ROH fan fest (where you also get to see British ROH star Nigel McGuinness). Pam the Stripper leaves her job to go and see his match to try and persuade Ram not to fight because of his heart but he goes on anyway and cuts a nice promo before the fight.

Its a decent match and the 2 moves Rourke definately does NOT do is the dive over the top rope onto Miller outside the ring (you can tell by the angle and the cutaway shot) and the Ram Jam finisher, its tough to watch Rourke playing Ram with a bad heart in the closing part of the match as he's very convincing indeed but he still manages to pull his finishing move and your left to wonder does he win the match, does he die in the ring.

It's a good movie, the wrestling is well done but its very slow in places (generally the emotional stuff with his daughter and Pam) but it's worth a look.