Fake It So Real: The Wrestling Documentary You Haven't Seen

When most people think of professional wrestling in North Carolina, their minds immediately go to one of the most important wrestling promotions, Jim Crockett Promotions, which later became World Championship Wrestling. After WCW expanded beyond the Southern wrestling scene, many independent promotions began forming, with a number of them giving wrestlers who live in North Carolina and its surrounding area more opportunities to showcase their talents. One of them was the Millennium Wrestling Federation (MWF), which formed in 2000 and was the subject of the 2012 documentary, Fake It So Real, which was filmed over the course of a week leading up to that Saturday's show.

Most sports entertainment documentary watchers are used to the WWE documentary style of talking-head interviews and narration that guides the viewer. The style of "Fake It So Real" is very different- there is no narration, and the only talking is by the MWF wrestlers who are featured in the documentary, with the camera close to its subjects, taking an observational approach, as they train, plan, discuss storytelling and character development, and build an independent pro-wrestling ring for small venues.

Another difference between a WWE-style documentary and "Fake It So Real" is the presentation of the promotions and their rosters. In WWE documentaries, members of their roster are profiled as larger-than-life performers who have reached the top of the sports entertainment industry, with the resources of a major company supporting them. In "Fake It So Real", it's obvious that the MWF was a small promotion that did not sell many tickets for shows and only had enough resources to post flyers as a form of promoting upcoming events, with a roster that consisted of wrestlers who needed day jobs in order to make a living. However, what both styles of documentaries have in common is that they show that whether a sports entertainer is a Superstar or a journeyman, wrestling is something that they take seriously.



Amongst the pro-wrestlers who are featured in "Fake It So Real", one of them has attained notable success on the independent scene since the documentary. Zane Riley has gone on to appear in many upper-level independent wrestling promotions, including CHIKARA, FIP, and NEW.

Pro-wrestling is widely viewed as a national television product; however, Fake It So Real presents a sector of the industry that is not seen as often- where the lights are not as bright, and the crowds are not as loud, but the passion for the business is just as real.