Jay Rohr
Ready to Rumble may be one of the most curious adaptations in film history. It’s not based on a book, play, or any comics. It’s inspired by the brutal circus of professional wrestling. This circa 2000 moonsault on the box office ended up snapping its own neck, but despite bombing, it left a strange mark in its wake. Ready to Rumble is a bizarre instance of soap opera portrayed as if it could contain truth.
Perhaps that makes it akin to flicks like Soapdish (1991), a backstage comedy about the cast of a daytime drama finding themselves living out an all-too-real soap opera situation. Yet, Ready to Rumble also follows a Hollywood tradition of wrestling movies. Now, we’re not talking about films involving a competitive sport. That would mean flicks such as Vision Quest (1985) or Foxcatcher (2014). Ready to Rumble inhabits the realm of the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Chris Jericho, and Rhea Ripley.
The main story involves Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven) and David Arquette (Scream) as two loveable losers named Gordie and Sean. Best friends for life, these two are the biggest fans in the history of wrestling. When they attend a live event, they witness their idol, the undisputed heavy weight champion Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) getting cheated out of his title by Diamond Dallas Page (The Devil’s Rejects). Convinced their destiny is to help the king regain his crown, the two buddies set off on a life-changing road trip that will shatter their illusions while making their dreams come true.
There’s always been an inherent drama in wrestling entertainment. Nothing proved that better than Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008). Since then, other films have followed similar routes exploring the joys and horrors of the industry. There’s the lighthearted success story seen in Fighting with My Family (2019), more serious biopics such as Queen of the Ring (2024), and the heartbreaking tragedy displayed in The Iron Claw (2023). Interesting as all these films are, they largely portray the realities of the wrestling entertainment industry: choreographed combat with a scripted outcome.
Some might derisively call that fake. It is monstrously unfair to use that term. While outcomes may be scripted, the athleticism necessary to carry out the choreography is truly demanding. It takes a remarkably snide individual to dismiss the physical demands and skillful coordination necessary to pull off moves such as Sol Ruca’s Sol Snatcher. Plus, even in ideal execution people are still enduring physical damage that adds up over time. The Swanton Bomb, DDT, Piledriver, and Sharpshooter inflict hell on the neck, back, and knees even if performed safely.
Imagine getting your head slammed into a mat then having to wait to allow 220 pounds of solid muscles to leap off the top turnbuckle, dropping from fifteen feet high like a human stone onto your body, and doing this for up to 300 performances a year. This is, of course, assuming all goes well. Tragedies occur such as the death of Owen Hart, who fell to an untimely demise during a stunt gone wrong for a pay-per-view event. Then there’s hall of famer Mick Foley who earned “broken ribs, internal bleeding, a dislocated shoulder, a dislocated jaw, a bruised kidney, [and] uncountable holes in the body thanks to sharp thumbtacks” during a King of the Ring match on June 28th, 1998. The point cannot be overstated that despite being scripted wrestling has very serious physical demands and consequences.
What makes Ready to Rumble interesting is how it addresses this issue of authenticity. There is a very real implication that in this fictional reality wrestling was once a brutal blood sport, corrupted into fake performances by greedy money men. Pageantry eclipsed the pure honesty of gladiatorial encounters. Only by returning to its brutal roots can main characters regain the sport’s as well as their own honor.
It’s a strange message that basically says things got worse when the men stopped punching each other for real. Yet, this results in a sidewise satirizing of any desire to see two beefcakes brutalize one another into a bloody pulp. That’s because, thankfully, some of the best parts of the movie are the choreographed combat courtesy of Chris Kanyon. It’s thrilling while being gruesome to a degree.
Keep in mind, mixed martial arts hadn’t become as popular a sport as it is now. The image of two nearly naked guys bashing each other into deformed crimson chunks wasn’t common entertainment. Audiences at the time would have likely regarded the rough stuff in Ready to Rumble as more thrilling than Monday Night Raw while simultaneously grotesque. Although filmmakers did their best to keep things comedically cartoonish with exaggerated wails of agony alongside copious nut shots, the blood adds up.
Still, it reminds of early forays into major motion pictures by the WWE. Then known as the World Wresting Federation or WWF, they released a film through New Line Cinema in 1989 called No Holds Barred. It featured Hulk Hogan in his first lead role alongside Tiny Lister (Friday) as his antagonist and Joan Severance (Payback) as his love interest. It too portrays wrestling as an actual battle closer to blood sport than the commonly accepted theatrics.
Wrestling isn’t exactly regarded as highbrow entertainment. In fact, that’s part of the plot to the Coen Brothers’ 1991 black comedy Barton Fink. Among many other things, the film focuses on a blocked writer struggling to pen his first big Hollywood picture, a wrestling movie he’s been assigned to. When the script he finally turns in is an ornate metaphorical exploration of the human condition the main studio executive reacts in disgust wondering why it’s so damn complicated. This is supposed to be a simple wrestling movie after all — hero, villain, loveable MacGuffin, ring battle, roll credits.
In that respect, Ready to Rumble oddly delivers. This is mostly a comedy about following your dreams. Its humor is frequently juvenile. Just about every female performer fails the Bechdel Test the second they’re onscreen, especially the Nitro Girls — Chae, Fyre, Spice, Storm, and Tygress led by Rose McGowan (Planet Terror). And yet, Ready to Rumble is a perfect representation of wrestling at that time, an era described by some as “cheap sex, vulgarity and violence of the most sadistic sort” as well as “theater-in-the-round redone as ‘roid rage, jam-packed with charismatic, monumental players, prime-time-worthy production values, and labyrinthine plot machinations”.
Consider, comedic as it is, the overall plot is a redemption road trip for Jimmy King. He must first redeem himself after falling into the corrupting pit of celebrity clichés — drugs, alcohol, whoring, etc. One of the young squires by his side is lured off track by a seductive femme fatale. Meanwhile, a corrupt promoter schemes behind the scenes to prevent the king’s redemption arc from ending in ascendance. Every twist, turn, and betrayal coming to a violent conclusion when matters are settled by a bloody battle royale.
If the movie does anything right, it’s an honest attempt to glorify the fans. That puts Ready to Rumble in the same neighborhood as Detroit Rock City (1999) or Fanboys (2009). Gordie and Sean are portrayed as earnest individuals. Regardless of their immaturity, they have a certain purity derived from a code of honor inspired by the heroes against heels plotlines seen in wrestling soap operas. Here, fandom is treated as something noble, where life could imitate art for the better.
Lending authenticity to that love is David Arquette, who spent some time following the film as a very real WCW performer. He even became its heavy weight champion for a time. It should be noted “to Arquette’s credit, he pushed hard not to be given the belt, saying he was undeserving, and, as a lifelong wrestling fan himself, he understood that fellow fans would absolutely detest” his having the title. Something that’s touched upon in the documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020) which explores his attempt to return to wrestling entertainment.
Like any good ring related flick, Ready to Rumble turns the main match into a grand metaphor about life. The title belt is the prize at the heart of one’s own dreams. The grandest aspirations can come true, but treasured success can be corrupted depending on how it’s achieved. What’s curious, though, is that every individual wrestler who appears in the film relates to symbolism while simultaneously implying their personas are their actual personalities.
Essentially, Ready to Rumble is a metaphorical film full of symbolic figures who, in the film’s reality, can be taken literally. It is gloriously absurd. Nothing highlights this more than the most dangerous brute in the movie being seventy-two-year-old Academy award-winner Martin Landau (Ed Wood) as legendary wrestling guru Sal Bandini. He routinely throws around most of the flick’s truck sized goons like ragdolls. At one point he gets beaten so severely I felt the need to go to the hospital, yet the character shrugs it off as just another day in the life. His Olympian durability the byproduct of an honest wrestling lifestyle — this is very essence of mythology.
![[L-R] Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman, Martin Landau, and Teri Byrne in Ready to Rumble (2000). Screen capture off of Tubi. Warner Bros. Old man Sal in a hot tube with the gorgeous Nitro Girls Storm and Fyre.](https://filmobsessive.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20250624_010053-700x395.jpg)
Though, thematically, there’s a touch of the old don’t-meet-your-idols, there is a very clear message that fans are the only reason those idols exist. Within that symbiotic relationship, the two keep each other honest. Still, Ready to Rumble is very much a film full of fan service. It shows a world where wrestling is a reality without question. Those who call it fake risk being comedically brutalized by the superstars of the ring. Not to mention surprisingly dangerous, shockingly spry old men.
The point being that despite being a box office failure there’s still a certain cult following for the film. Ready to Rumble might not be as profound as The Wrestler or have the nostalgic cheesiness of No Holds Barred, but it does have a sincere premise that remains admirable even surrounded by flaws. This was a feature made for a very specific audience. I think that’s it’s possible, part of the failure stemmed from a presumption that, as a comedy, it was making fun of that audience as opposed to celebrating them.
Granted, shifting perspective isn’t going to elevate the film’s numerous nut shots to genius tier humor. This isn’t the most sophisticated comedy of all time. It can be overly cartoonish at times. Still, the movie is what happens when a niche doesn’t respond to the motion picture meant for them. While there are various reasons for that lack of connection, for those who do see the positive aspects of the picture, Ready to Rumble is an ideal beer and a pizza movie.
Crack open a cold one like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Kick back on the couch with some friends and see where the movie takes you. Even if, for whatever reason, it fails to win you over, Ready to Rumble remains a curious example of a shockingly accurate depiction of a subculture — the late 90s wrestling fan. Perhaps the portrait isn’t as flattering as intended, but one paints with the colors available.
