Documentary Review: "The Other Side of the Ring" (2021)
“The Other Side of the Ring” Documentary Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Released by October Coast
Written and Directed by Jeremy Norrie
2021, 81 minutes, Not Rated
Released on May 10th, 2021
Starring:
Katarina Leigh Waters as Herself
Shelly Martinez as Herself
Sarah Jean Greaves as Herself
Keta Meggett as Herself
Review:
Professional wrestling is woven into the very fabric of America. Sure, it’s done all over the world, but lets face facts- Americans put the juice into the sport and have always been firmly at the forefront of the business. It doesn’t matter whether you call it pro wrestling, sports entertainment, or fake ass bullshit…you simply cannot escape it. And I don’t want to. Pro wrestling (I’m an old-school guy) is right up there with horror, Clemson football, and literature of all kinds (but mainly horror) in my world.
You know who has never been at the forefront of business until a few years ago? Women. It’s an extremely male-dominated sport that’s always had female champs that played second fiddle to the men. It’s 2021, however, and the women are stealing the show virtually every time out in the current product. I’m not going to stay up here on this soapbox much longer, but I have to say it’s long overdue. Women’s wrestling has shattered the glass ceiling, even headlining WrestleMania.
Writer-director Jeremy Norrie (About Cannabis and Cancer) wants you to see that other side of the story from a variety of different perspectives, women who are at various stages of their careers having achieved diverse levels of success. He chooses to let them tell their stories plainly, simply pointing and shooting. The result is a mixed bag of stories that work wonderfully in terms of their emotion and passion trapped inside a documentary that’s basic to the point of being entry level to lifelong wrestling fans or even “smart marks”.
Katarina Waters had her highest notoriety in the midcard as Katie Lea Burchill, the sister of a male pirate character, before spending some time in TNA and winning tag team gold there. Shelly Martinez is a retired wrestler, model, and actress who experienced her greatest success as Salinas in TNA alongside the tag team L.A.X. Sarah Jean Greaves is a relative newcomer who’s rising fast in W.O.W. (Women of Wrestling), having already won gold as Delilah Doom, an aerobics-obsessed ‘80s health nut. Finally there’s Keta Meggett, an athlete who spent three years in W.O.W. after wandering into the audition by mistake!
The strength of The Other Side of the Ring is in having four main subjects with such wildly different experiences in wrestling. You won’t get any other talking heads to cover different aspects of the pro wrestling business. No one has an agenda (well, maybe Shelly Martinez does). You’re simply getting all the passion and dedication these women have to offer, warts and all. Jeremy Norrie set out to make a documentary on women’s wrestling from far outside the land of sports entertainment and bright lights, and he did a damn good job in that regard.
The trouble with The Other Side of the Ring is in the pacing and general direction especially in the first third of the film. The frenetic energy made it feel like they weren’t so much telling you a story as spitting it at you. It just needs to slow it down. The rapid fire jumps between interviewees combined with the fact that Shelly Martinez sporadically talks as fast as the Micro Machines Man makes for a rushed feeling. Throw in adorable Sarah Jean Greaves’ constant hand-talking and it just feels so fast.
Luckily, The Other Side of the Ring settles down as the structure gets more freeform. The balanced point/counterpoint of having two seasoned veterans and two fresh faces is a smart way to highlight the transition in women’s wrestling. Perhaps it’s unfortunate that it’s released at the same time as a boatload of damn good WWE documentary content on A&E and Peacock. For wrestling fans, having that much new content could dull the experience of The Other Side of the Ring, and that would be a shame. There are moments where it looks a tad amateurish early on, but it strengthens quite a bit and ends up showing the same grit and pluckiness that all four of the women featured do.
You can’t beat passion and heart. It’s what the wrestling business runs on.
Grade:
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
