You’ve probably already heard about The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky’s (director of Requiem for a Dream, Pi, and The Fountain) new motion picture about professional wrestling, simply titled. Nicholas Cage was originally set to star, but he left the project and was replaced by Mickey Rourke (Sin City’s Marv, Once Upon a Time in Mexico’s Billy). In the movie, professional wrestling is predetermined but physically demanding. Rourke plays Randy Robinson, an old profession wrestler who wants one more match against his rival, even though the damage to his old and battered body from these “fake†matches might really kill him. While I didn’t care for Sin City or Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler will feature Ernest “The Cat†Miller, so I’m in.
The Wrestler is a serious movie, and they’ve done worked around the indies to help the project. They filmed some material at a Combat Zone Wrestling event, where Rourke’s character took on the Necro Butcher in a match that I can’t even type about without grinning (he’s going to be the next Snowflake, people!). This weekend in Dover, New Jersey, Ring of Honor will host scenes at The Baker Theater. www.rohwrestling.com lists that footage will be shot in front of the crowd on Friday and Saturday night.
Actors for the project already stopped by ROH’s locker room to chat and get a feel for the independent scene. Nicholas Cage even visited, before his departure from the project. The ROH locker room should be excited, especially if ROH wrestlers get to appear on screen. Perhaps one of them will even serve as Rourke’s next opponent, as Necro Butcher did at CZW. Brent Albright is a big guy, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli is tall, and if all else fails, they have Necro Butcher for a rematch. Even if none of them do get the role of an opponent, there should be considerable excitement going on backstage. Diehard fans within driving distance should be dying to attend a landmark event in ROH’s history.
But this isn’t necessarily ROH’s key to success. Remember all the exposure TNA got from being featured in Chris Rock’s “Head of State?†No, you don’t. Nobody does, because it didn’t happen.
And yes, I like ROH better than TNA too. But that doesn’t mean this will elevate them any more than Head of State did for TNA. Realistically you can’t expect them to even use ROH’s name or ring drapes in their movie. They are planning to shoot the scene after ROH finishes its show, at which point they’ll probably change up the set to suit their vision. The recent film shoot at CZW turned Combat Zone Wrestling into East Coast Hardcore Wrestling, or “ECHW†(despite everything else, The Wrestler seems to have tongue firmly set in cheek with its names).
Given sports movies’ tendency towards grittiness, misanthropic managers and promoters, and the romanticized backstage evils like drugs and petty rivalries, it may even be in ROH’s best interests not to be named as the official host of whatever Aronofsky shoots in Dover. Perhaps Playmakers and Million Dollar Baby have jaded me, but a lot of characters do a lot of shady things in dark sports fiction, and I wouldn’t want my company to be the one with a cheapskate promoter or locker room tech that doles out pain pills. Peter Sciretta at slashfilm.com confirmed that The Wrestler’s script called for multiple sleazy promoters and drug abuse ( ). Maybe they’ve changed the screenplay since then, but especially since the plot of the movie follows Rourke’s character suffering from a heart condition, it would be a good thing that “ROH: RING OF HONOR†wasn’t stenciled on the canvas atop which Rourke’s character might die.
And even if Ring of Honor is mentioned in the movie, the vast majority of audiences will probably think it’s a fictional company. They won’t know that the scenes are shot in real pro wrestling arenas unless they come to it with foreknowledge.
There are other positive considerations, though. If they’re reimbursed for building and production costs on one or both nights, that’s huge for them and could help turn March into a considerably more profitable month. Not helpful in the long term, but very good for right now.
Of course, they’d get their name in the credits. Probably in a part of the credits no one will watch, but that’s something, and a mention in the credits is far removed from Rourke’s character risking a heart attack in an ROH ring. People who particularly like the movie may look for who helped them get the feel for pro wrestling, which would lead them to the company.
Beyond the credits, when The Wrestler hits DVD, an extra featuring the cast backstage at Ring of Honor would be a seriously helpful advertisement. That would remove ROH from the stigma of any of the movie’s edgy atmosphere, and quite possibly cast the company in a very inviting light. Any interest The Wrestler sparks in pro wrestling may send people to the companies that helped it, though it’s more likely that they’ll tune in to free wrestling television for that appetite.
Hosting a few scenes from The Wrestler will look nice on their resume if/when they apply for a television deal. Ring of Honor keeps expanding: going to Europe, Japan, California, Florida at the end of this month, Pay Per View, into retail stores with special DVD’s. You know television is somewhere in their minds, even if it’s distant. Making business arrangements with a film staff and being featured in a major motion picture can only help in that endeavor.
You can’t overlook the bragging rights. Sure, other indies hosted bits of The Wrestler as well, but ROH will forever be able to gloat that they rubbed shoulders with Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke.
If they can get one of their guests to do a skit, ala Johnny Fairplay at last Wrestlemania weekend or Leroy Green with Jimmy Yang, then they snag another face for their highlight reel and an interesting addition to a DVD release. Say, if Mickey Rourke thanks the crowd for showing up and the NRC come out to cut him down, only for Erick Stevens to run in and help clean house.
ROH could get a very nice bump if Aronofsky, Rourke or someone else integral to The Wrestler plugs ROH in interviews hyping the movie. Imagine Darren Aronofsky complaining that mainstream wrestling has changed from what he one enjoyed watching, then saying Ring of Honor harbors what he used to enjoyed. Just mentioning the URL on a news outlet could seriously bump traffic at .
None of this will catapult them to the national stage. The Wrestler is not an ROH movie. This is a step, and an exciting moment for the company. And fans who look for themselves in the crowds on DVD’s will get the chance to look for themselves on the silver screen this time.
