The Backyard

Professional wrestling the pre-determined, soap opera styled cousin to the more traditional roman-Greco style, this documentary opens with informing us is the #1 rated show on cable networks and while tens of thousands will attempt to make it in the industry few will ever make it. For some though they choose to show their love for the sport in a whole different let alone more violent way. Welcome to the world of “Backyard Wrestling”.

Directed  by Paul Hough for whom this remains to date his sole documentary, here sets out with a mission to discover more about the wrestling fans who are not only obsessed with imitating their favourite wrestlers, but also frequently compete to up the violence stakes as they use light tubes, barbed wire, stapes and fire.  The competitors often risking serious injury as they compete with no kind of wresting training and zero attempts at working under any kind of health and safety.

Embarking on a road trip across the states it soon becomes clear that the cult of backyard wrestling is not limited to just certain states as Hough notes that every town he travels to has atleast one federation, with seemingly no end of young wrestling fans eager to put their bodies on the line, most carrying delusions of these backyard brawls being their ticket into the big leagues of the WWE (or WWF as it known back then). Even the UK doesn’t seem to be free from the appeal of the backyard as Hough meets a group in east Norfolk, who unlike their American counterparts are critical over the use of the more extreme weapons such as barbed wire. At the same time they see this as nothing more than a form of entertainment and not one which would take them any further into the professional wrestling. It should be noted that since the film was released in 2002, the British wrestling scene has grown considerably, so whether this opinion would remain now is unclear.

Throughout his trip Hough meets a large number of colourful characters such as A.D.D. Dave, Bongo and Scar, named so due to the large amount of scar which cover his body from childhood operations and who we find out at the end of the documentary would later break his back while backyard wrestling, yet from interviews he gave following the documentaries release was still keen to wrestle one more match despite now having a 16 inch metal rod in his back. It’s also during his segments that we meet Chaos the self-proclaimed leader of “High Impact Wrestling”. An ultra-violent federation who pride themselves on their own version of realism, as they utilise various homemade weapons, including more randomly a barbwire brick!

While the documentary features numerous interviews with wrestlers from the various feds he chooses to meet, these often come off laced with the bravado of youth, while seeing the likes of Chaos making homophobic statements or comparing the joy of backyard wrestling to “Gay bashing” makes it hard to warm up to many of these characters, let alone take what they are seemingly trying to achieve seriously. More so when these so called matches seem like nothing more than an excuse to wail on each other with weapons under the guise of wrestling.

The redeeming aspect of this documentary comes surprisingly in the form of “The Lizard” who at 26 is one of the oldest competitors and despite stating in the commentary that he’s afraid of heights is frequently shown hurling himself any high object he can find. Hough first meets him wrestling for “Modesto Championship Wrestling” run by the self-proclaimed Vince McMahon of backyard wrestling Josh James, though over the course of the documentary follows his repeated attempts to break into the mainstream, first via the WWE talent search “Tough Enough” and later attending wrestling school before finally making his professional debut with the independent wrestling federation “Supreme Pro Wrestling”. While perhaps not the sharpest tool in the shed as further confirmed by his contributions to the commentary track, he truly does love the sport and it’s hard not to admire the dedication he has to trying to make it, even being prepared to sleep in his car to make the auditions for “Tough Enough”.

Unsurprisingly the violence throughout the film is very heavy with participants more than happy to beat themselves to a bloody pulp or set themselves on fire, often for a crowd often no bigger than a handful of people. The response to how worth such risks to their personal health often resulting in further chest beating and tough guy snarls as they regard those who can’t hack it as being “Pussies” or “fags” with only a few that Hough’s meets such as those of the upstate New York based MTW or the UK backyard wrestlers realising that there is a line to be drawn on how far things should be taken. For many though it’s really a case of seeing how much more extreme than everyone else they can be. If anything the few moments of wrestling that these competitors do actually do could be better classed as garbage wrestling, often coming off amateurish and certainly undisciplined with the lack of training these wrestlers have showing in their awkward falls and slams.

As you watch this car crash style footage, you can’t help but wonder if the parents know what their kids are doing, which surprisingly it seems that a few actually do and even more surprisingly even support what their kids are doing with one of the teacher even comparing these matches confusingly to “The Three Stooges”. This however is not the case for all, as we see the tearful mother of “The Retarded Butcher” crying for her son to break up improve match he has arranged with Scar over the internet, before taking matters into her own hands.

Sadly my attempts to try and get any update on the wrestlers featured found nothing but a bunch of broken Geocities pages and little to indicate if any made it out of the backyard much less managed to survive the scene without suffering some kind of serious injury. At the same time it is hard to tell if the backyard scene really still exists especially with the industry largely moving away from the hardcore style these federations were trying to emulate.

An interesting insight into the world of Backyard Wrestling, it is however hard to really feel attached to most of the wrestlers finished due to their frequently immature and often short sighted views, with what they claim to be wrestling no doubt coming off frustratingly amateurish to the established wrestling fans, while for some the violence might be hard to stomach for others.  Still as a curiosity watch or for those who’ve aware of the trend this is certainly worth giving a look, though lacks anything to warrant a second viewing.