On the Beat the Barbed Wire City Premiere

Last week, I wrote about the anticipation over the Midwest premiere of Barbed Wire City, a documentary about Extreme Championship Wrestling.  The JohngysBeat.com crew joined many friends from Resistance Pro Wrestling and others at the Pickwick Theatre for a night of wrestling history.

The first thing that hit me as the movie started was the juxtaposition of the grittiness of ECW compared to the grandness of the Pickwick.  While the Pickwick is majestic, beautiful and beloved, ECW was small, edgy and fighting for respect.  It seemed like a cool contradiction.

Barbed Wire City tells the history of ECW.  Many of the wrestlers from ECW give their thoughts as the movie progressed from the beginning to the end of ECW.  It is at times triumphant and feel-good, while at others, it is poignant and sad.  I think they captured the overall essence of ECW.

Shortly into the movie, I was hit by a comparison between ECW and R Pro.  Maybe because I have been watching R Pro progress from its’ debut, I understood a lot more about the challenges ECW faced.  I saw parallels between the passion, the effort and the struggles it took to get the company going and to build momentum.

I learned a lot about ECW from Barbed Wire City.  It filled in many gaps, while also adding depth to things I already knew.  Overall, I would say it was an excellent source of history and information on ECW.

Like most other topics, there are always several points of view.  At the post-event Q&A, ECW alumni Raven and Perry Saturn gave their opinions and they were not always positive about the film.  Among other complaints, Raven felt the film did not give enough voice to certain ex-ECW stars like him.  Like I wrote, there are always many views to situations like this.

Despite the disagreement (or perhaps because of it), it was cool to watch Co-Directors Kevin Kiernan and John Philapavage talk to Raven and Saturn and the audience.  Each made valid points.  More importantly, the discussion was being had.

I enjoyed Barbed Wire City.  I liked the first part better, because I think there is less to dispute about the beginning of ECW.  As the film (and ECW) progressed, opinions started to split and change.  Barbed Wire City attempted to present everything as honestly as possible.

In its’ time, ECW was always controversial in some way.  It evoked emotion.  Barbed Wire City is doing the same.  You might not agree with everything presented or the way it was presented.  Whatever the case, I think you will walk away from Barbed Wire City and discuss it with others.  Isn’t that the goal of any such film?