MOVIE REVIEW: “Fighting With My Family” gets a strong thumbs up from pro wrestling fan

PWTorch reader Ryan Carls in Illinois sent the following review of “Fighting With My Family.” If you see the movie and would like to submit a review, please sent to pwtorch@pwtorch.com.

I have been a PWTorch VIP subscriber for years and have always respected the job you and your team do. You mentioned you were looking for review of “Fighting With My Family,” and I can recommend it and give it a strong thumbs up.

I believe it would be very possible to see non-wrestling fans enjoy the story in spite of the fact it is a pro wrestling-based movie. It is a very heartwarming story that would be easy for anyone to connect to and is very well acted. As a long time fan of wrestling, I found the presentation honest and in no way condescending of what pro wrestling is.

As a funny aside, my wife and I attended the movies with the intention of watching another movie. During that film I saw the preview of FWMF and I looked at her and asked if we could switch. She was bought in and we lucked out and caught the film. I am in no particular way a big Paige fan and my wife is not a big fan overall, but does enjoy certain acts if the storytelling is strong and performers are athletic. In spite of that, I walked away a bigger fan of Paige and overall with a greater appreciation for what it takes to be a pro wrestler on such a massive stage. My wife walked away wanting to relive the Monday after WrestleMania 30 Raw debut.

My only criticism is that, like any story condensed and “cleaned up” for movie format, it obviously left a good amount of time out in her NXT run (like her being an NXT Champion).  This was obviously understandable with time restraints and concisement of storytelling needed, but acknowledging she was decorated prior to her arrival would have been appreciated.

Again, I would highly recommend for any wrestling fan or anyone who likes inspirational storytelling.

Now if only the current WWE writing team would take the time to have non-one-dimensional characters and actually give performers an actual fleshed out backstory. For example, who is Bobby Roode outside of a robe and a catchphrase? Who is Finn Balor other than a great wrestler who clearly hates carbs and has white teeth? Anyway, had to throw in that as I believe if WWE can sell the story of Paige to non-Paige fans in just over 100 minutes, they surely can with other talent in the 260-plus combined hours they have to do so each year with Raw and Smackdown.