Loosetooth Reviews: Ready to Rumble (2000)

Movieland is no stranger to the star-vehicle, the cash grab or the shameless self-promotion, whether it’s the Britney Spears starring Crossroads cashing in on the star’s popularity or Moshi Monsters: The Movie trying to convince more kids to part with their pocket money, movies are not always about art.

…and then we have Ready Rumble. A film designed largely to help booster the popularity of the dwindling wrestling promotion WCW, a company who were once WWE’s primary rival, there was even a time when it regularly beat WWE in the ratings. Of course, this was when a large part of their roster featured some of the biggest names in wrestling, people like Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage.

The film follows two friends, played by David Arquette and Scott Cann, who are huge wrestling fans, particularly fans of reigning WCW champion Jimmy King, played by Oliver Platt. But King’s bad attitude backstage has pushed promotor Titus Sinclair one too many times and decides to stack the deck against king, having Diamond Dallas Page’s entourage attack King during King & Page’s match, and when King’s comrades arrive they also turn on him, giving him a right royal whooping. The Title changes hands, and Sinclair declares to the crowd that king will never wrestle for the company again.

Incidentally Platt is the only fictional wrestler in the movie, all the other performers were members of the WCW roster at the time, appearing on screen as their regular TV personas. However, by the time of the films release Perry Saturn had left the company, moving over to WWE. A similar thing happened with Scooby-Doo: Wrestlemania Mystery which featured numerous WWE performers, including Brodus Clay and AJ Lee who left the company shortly after that film’s release.

The two friends, Gordie & Sean, decide they’re going to be the one’s to help King restore his glory. Expecting someone of king’s stature to be living in a mansion, they’re surprised to find him living in a trailer park, dodging debt collectors. Gordie & Sean are also unaware that pro-wrestling is a work, and that as a result King isn’t the physical specimen he claims to be on TV.

Roadtrips, double crossing, legendary trainers played by Martin Landau, sneak attacks, cameos from a then unknown John Cena, changes of heart, dream following and a finale that would be the envy of any pay-per-view follow.

Let’s be honest this is not a great film, it’s not even really a good film, it’s full of the kind of American Pie style frat boy humour common at the turn of the century. It’s full of David Arquette switching between loveable simpleton and screaming weirdo. It’s full of Scott Cann switching between charmer and dead-eyed husk...and Arquette getting it on with Rose McGowan who'd previously played his sister in slasher Scream

But it’s also full of Wrestling Cameos that will have any grappling fan squealing with delight, including a dream sequence where Gordie fights Randy Savage in a convenience store, and references only the superfans will get. Ready to Rumble is simultaneously one of the best and worst wrestling movies ever made.

In a wonderful/disastrous piece of cross promotion WCW convinced Arquette, a life long wrestling fan, to make several appearances on the show, often and bizarrely teaming up with the movies villain Diamond Dallas Page which culminated in Arquette actually winning the championship. A move that’s pretty much hated by wrestling fans everywhere, and one that even Arquette thought was a bad Idea because it would essentially back the belt meaningless.

Have you seen Ready to Rumble? What’s your verdict? Let me know in the comments below