A polished production meant to bolster WWE on Netflix plays it safe.
For more than thirty years, World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship program Monday Night Raw was a broadcast cable staple. Spending the majority of its run on the USA Network, it sold audiences with weekly telecasts of theatrical presentations involving men and women playing creative, sometimes edgy characters in captivating storylines.
If I hadn’t mentioned wrestling, I could have been talking about performances from the Royal Ballet, Radio City Music Hall, and so on and so forth. What’s fascinating about wrestling today – at least how it is presented by World Wrestling Entertainment – is that it’s purely performance entertainment. That’s how I would describe what WWE does weekly. Not as sport, or as sports entertainment, though the world of sports has its fair share of heroes, villains, and personalities.
At the onset of WWE: Unreal, WWE Hall of Famer and Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque is on camera announcing that with this Netflix docuseries “We’re going to lift the curtain. We are going to show you things you’ve never seen in this show.” For longtime wrestling fans, this is very poetic, since it was Levesque who, as in-ring performer Hunter Hearst Helmsley (aka Triple H), became a scapegoat when he and his friends broke what is known as kayfabe at the infamous “Curtain Call” at Madison Square Garden. When a crowd at a house show saw wrestlers portrayed as good guys and bad guys hugging inside the ring after the match it signaled a shift, for better or worse – depending who you asked – as to the future of the industry. Raising the curtain, if briefly, to the other side of wrestling broke the authenticity of the story. It also broke a reciprocal trust with the audience. So him going from this incident to now offering a look at how the overall presentation is built on a week, month, and yearly basis is quite the change in attitude.
WWE: Unreal follows the likes of real sports Formula 1 and the NFL (Drive to Survive and Hard Knocks) as a series meant to give audiences unprecedented access, taking them backstage with writers and producers as they brainstorm ideas and scenarios in planning their annual mega event WrestleMania. As someone who long held to the charade that wrestling was real, I was OK with not knowing the prestige. The pledge and the turn were the real magic in keeping kayfabe alive. But times have changed. And with World Wrestling Entertainment being sold by Vincent K. McMahon to TKO Group Holdings (the same company that owns UFC), keeping up the illusion would be illusory.
Besides, today’s wrestling fans are smarter and not easily fooled. Factor in the demand for wrestling on television and WWE’s media rights deal with Monday Night Raw live on Netflix, this documentary serves more to be a marketing tool to promote the company to millions more around the globe. Which is why there is plenty of time spent with WWE superstars. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Jey Uso, Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair, and John Cena are just some of the names that grace the program. This combination of aging main eventers, young rising talents, and novices means a stacked roster and a stacked roster means the precarious act of booking storylines and personalities.
Yet, even what we are shown behind the scenes is too polished and edited. Stuff that is supposed to feel “real” is staged. The worst might be a production meeting and the inclusion of a whiteboard with talent available for WrestleMania and knowing one the names would not be cleared in time to compete. Also, the moment Triple H signals to social media personality IShowSpeed to be a surprise participant in the Royal Rumble match. To which he was subsequently speared into oblivion by Bron Breakker and eliminated. Both were aware of the plan and making the most of the spot. The moment would be a viral sensation amassing more than two million views on YouTube.
For those who do not watch wrestling but love a good story, WWE: Unreal offers two worth checking out. John Cena, who has been this generation’s Hulk Hogan – minus the ego and baggage – professing the axiom of “Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect,” has been a face (good guy) for most of pro career. But that all changed when he turned heel (bad guy) at the premium live event Elimination Chamber on March first. The fourth episode “Heel Turn” is a detailed breakdown of how it was executed.
A text chain led by Triple H included WWE President Nick Khan, John Cena, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and rapper Travis Scott – a wrestling fan who would be an added attraction to increase media exposure. We get an evolving timeline of what-if possibilities as if WWE’s creative pursuits were to rival the scenarios Doctor Strange envisioned in defeating Thanos. One of the scrapped ideas, thankfully, would have seen Cody Rhodes drop his WWE championship to Kevin Owens before WrestleMania in an impromptu match set up by The Rock. That’s just bad business. When there’s money to be had you need a story that will surprise and up fan interest. What better way than have John Cena in his farewell tour as he bows out of wrestling turn heel? It’s something fans have wanted for years, but Cena was such a great ambassador for WWE that to rock the boat before his transition to movies and TV work (HBO Max’s Peacemaker) would be foolish.
Instead of giving us the fallout to the heel turn, like an explanation as to why Travis Scott had to be added to the mix of the WrestleMania main event and how his involvement became a dead stop drop by the WWE creative team, the documentary feels like a Money in the Bank cash-in only robbing the fans. More of a curtain jerk, not a curtain raised. So that’s a missed opportunity and again shows why the documentary is playing it safe in being a pseudo-revealing promotion for WWE on Netflix.
The other great story is CM Punk. He burned bridges on his way out of WWE a decade ago. Flash forward to November 2023, and Punk makes amends and returns to WWE. He has achieved all there is to achieve in wrestling except one: main event WrestleMania. His journey in main-eventing the first night of WrestleMania 41 against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns makes for a compelling watch. And even if it seems like pandering, Punk’s vulnerability after the match and backstage is a real moment. A boyhood dream come true.
I like the concept of WWE: Unreal to recommend it to new WWE fans. But because of its polished design, the documentary plays like an advertisement to attract new viewers. Give us more of the personalities outside their personas, and really lift the curtain.
Score: C+
