WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle
★★★
Look, I was a wrestling kid. Full stop. Bret Hart was my guy, and even if I never shelled out the money for a WrestleMania pay-per-view growing up, I devoured every tidbit I could from weekly shows and magazine clippings. So when WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle dropped—produced by WWE itself—I was both skeptical and immediately on board. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.
Let’s be clear: this doc is slick. WWE knows how to package a story, especially one about its own mythology. The behind-the-scenes footage from earlier eras—especially stuff from the '90s and the infamous Caesar’s Palace setup at WrestleMania IX—is genuinely fascinating. This was a time before “behind-the-scenes” was just an Instagram scroll away, so seeing wrestlers in the thick of uncertainty and spectacle felt surprisingly fresh.
Of course, it’s all through the WWE filter. This isn’t some gritty exposé. It’s more of a celebration (read: promotional fluff), and at times it borders on hagiography. For me, the joy came from seeing familiar faces—Bret, Hogan, Shawn and the rest of the crew that defined my childhood. If you were into wrestling during the '80s or '90s, there’s definitely some cozy nostalgia waiting for you here. But if you're not already bought in to the spectacle of wrestling, this probably won’t be your entry point.
Watch it with the lights low, a cold drink in hand and the mindset that you're revisiting the world's loudest, most ridiculous soap opera. But let’s be real—you’ll probably forget about it by next week.
