Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling recently interviewed “Beyond The Mat” director Barry Blaustein, and below are some interview highlights:
The concept of Beyond The Mat being something insiders didn’t want the public to see and helping spread awareness of struggles and misconceptions surrounding the industry:
“I do find it funny and as I was listening to your intro that it’s stuff they didn’t want you to see and after the movie they showed everything and went much further than I would go in showing stuff. I don’t know what I brought is a good thing or a bad thing. People would go, ‘It’s fake’ and I’d say well it’s predetermined but the fans know that and it’s a suspension of disbelief. Wrestling fans are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. I go to watch an Action movie or a James Bond movie and I know a car can’t fly off a building and someone’s survives but I suspend my belief so I can enjoy it. I know that a lot of what I am seeing is planned, pre determined and everything but I know how much these guys get hurt and also the psychological implications of pretending to be somebody you are not and sometimes becoming that person.
Still watching the WWE product after all these years and the ratings dropping:
“Wrestling is this weird hybrid of entertainment and athleticism and that’s why I really like it. I still watch it, still watch it avidly and most of the time I can’t believe I am watching it and I can’t believe I like it but there is that 10% of me that says I can’t believe everyone doesn’t see what I see in this. I was watching RAW the other week that Vince came back to confront Roman Reigns and I thought this is great and he is such a great hammy performer. How do people not love this? I think they lost a lot of people to the Network. People feel like it’s not that important to watch RAW. But every TV show has gone down and down and down. With internet, video games and all different sources of communication I don’t know if the wrestling ratings have gone down more proportionally compared to other TV shows proportionally. When I started at Saturday Night Live if we had the ratings that the show has now we would have been cancelled. You can’t judge (ratings) on what they were ten years ago because it’s changed and the different media available to watch is just so much more.”
Getting to see the REAL Vince McMahon and Vince’s attempt to block the film’s release:
“We were done shooting and the cameras had gone away, we were shooting in Sacramento and it was at a RAW taping and Vince came back and it was after he started his feud with Steve Austin and had been beaten up. He was battered and they were taking down the ring and he had a beer and was wearing a sweatshirt and he said ‘I LOVE this business’. That’s the Vince that I wanted to capture on camera because he does love this business. He has an incredible passion for it and I think Vince is great. When the movie came out Vince had called me a couple months before and said this is nothing personal, I like you but I am going to do everything to stop this movie from being seen. It was simply because he wanted a piece of the movie and Universal didn’t want to give him a piece of the movie. He hated that a film company was profiting off his characters he created and I understood that and he kept saying he didn’t care and I could make as much money as I want and I said Vince you can say whatever you want and I’ll come back at you and none of it is personal.”
The process of selecting the “NEW” WWE talent to be spotlighted in the movie:
“I knew Droz’s history before hand. I was given a bunch of wrestlers and I said I wanted to follow a young wrestler as he was given his break. I was given him (Droz), Matt Bloom, who is now a trainer at NXT and Edge. I remember talking to Edge and he was uncomfortable with being in it. People who were uncomfortable and I would always tell the wrestlers if you don’t want to be in it please tell me and I am not going to put you in it and Darren seemed the most comfortable. Did I expect Vince to ask him to show up and throw up, NO. Was i surprised? No because Vince is a performer. Like most actors who are performers you have a hard time telling the differance and the showman in him made him want to teach him to throw up. Sometimes I say, I should have gone with Edge but he was uncomfortable and I don’t know how good he would have been on camera at that point.
The WWE Network’s Breaking Ground almost being a weekly Beyond The Mat:
“I like that show but it’s very reality show-ish for my taste and is a little too life and death and William Shatner.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
