The Backyard

Where do professional wrestlers come from? By and large they come from pro wrestling schools--i.e., training courses in which instructors teach rasslin' inside out. But before ponying up tuition, many aspirants appear in amateur exhibitions called “backyard” wrestling, in homemade rings or barbwire pens, where they practice the moves seen on pro wrestling--and then some. Light bulbs, barbwire-wrapped baseball bats, chairs, fluorescent light tubes, and--yes--cacti are employed as props to augment the violence and increase the blood. Call it showmanship. Filmmaker Paul Hough toured the backyard wrestling universe--including a stop in Britain--to make this documentary that profiles the various organizations and luminaries of the backyard world, including Josh James (heralded as the Vince McMahon of backyard wrestling, James edits Modesto Championship Wrestling exhibitions for airing on public access cable), Heartless (an elementary school teacher in his day job), and The Lizard (a realist whose fallback career objectives are being a policeman or working in a pizzeria). Hough's favorite story is about two brothers and their “3 Stages of Hell II” contest, replete with the kind of storyline pursued in pro wrestling: here, a barbwire ring and a grave covered by a plank wrapped in barbed wire and then set aflame feature prominently, as does the lads' mother, an enthusiastic spectator. DVD extras include an audio commentary and deleted scenes. A grimly entertaining (if also unquestionably bloody) peek inside the minds of WWE aspirants, this is recommended. Aud: P. (M. Tribby)