“Heels” nails how ego’s run the Wrestling business [Review]3 minute read

I, like many, grew up watching wrestling. Watching WWF on Monday nights with my dad were some of my favorite moments as a kid. Sadly, wrestling nowadays is low quality, to say the least. AEW is doing some exciting things, but the wrestling now pails in comparison to the ’90s and early 2000s.

Anytime a movie or documentary is made about the wrestling business, I always get pumped. So when I saw that Starz was making a series about wrestling, I was excited.

”Heels” officially premieres tonight, but for those who have Starz on-demand, it’s available to watch early. Here is my Heels review…

Plot summary: Two brothers and rivals – one a villain, or “heel,” in the ring; the other a hero, or “face,” war over their late father’s wrestling promotion, vying for national attention in small-town Georgia.

Whether it’s WWE, WCW, TNA, or any of the other wrestling promotions one thing is always the same, the giant egos. In virtually all of the shoot interviews you’ll find online there’s mention of the guys backstage playing politics and pushing to put themselves over.

That’s what stood out to me the most about the show. They portrayed the jealousy between wrestlers very well. Jack Spade played by Stephen Amell – who I liked in “Arrow” – runs the small wrestling company left behind to him by his father. Jack is the “heel” or “bad guy” and Ace Spade played by Alexander Ludwig is the “baby face” or “good guy,” so naturally they have a pretty popular feud going. But when Wild Bill Hancock – a spin-off of Jake The Snake Roberts – is sent to scout young Ace, his brother Jack tries to sabotage his opportunity.

The final wrestling scene reminds me of the type of things we use to see in WCW. One guy pulling his “creative control” clause out at the last moment.

The wrestling is surprisingly good. You can tell the actors took the roles very seriously. Another cool aspect of the show is that it’s set in the real world of wrestling. Again, the “Wild Bill Hancock” character is almost an exact carbon copy of Jake The Snake. Also, there is mention Of Vince McMahon and Ric Flair which is very cool.

The first episode was great, I am very excited to see what else is in store. I highly recommend this show for any wrestling fan.