The Best of Backyard Wrestling - DVD Review

So I’m walking past my local video shop a few weeks back. Normally the guy has a stand outside on the pavement with some cut-price videos. Always one for a bargain, I flicked through his latest offerings, and one particular DVD title piqued my interest - The Best of Backyard Wrestling, for the paltry sum of £4.99. Since it had been a while since I had touched on this topic, I thought that at that price, it would be worth a look-see.

Released by Revolver Entertainment in 2003, this DVD features, erm, so-called highlights from people who are meant to be some of the best backyard wrestlers in America. Some of their moves include roof dives onto tables, power bombs through flaming pieces of wood, and overly-strong weapon shots.

The fact that these kids are touted as “future kings of the ring” on the front cover really beggars belief, mainly because there’s only a few times where rings are hardly featured. The whole thing seems like a bargain basement version of You’ve Been Framed, although neither Jeremy Beadle or Lisa Riley are in evidence here.

These “wrestlers”, and I use that term very loosely, have neither the psychology or the know-how to put together a decent match, and while I spotted at least one good move, the execution of ninety-nine percent of the moves was shocking. While watching the various power bombs and piledrivers, I was more than surprised that those on the receiving end of these moves didn’t end up with broken necks and backs.

What surprised me about this DVD is that a backyard federation was actually allowed to put on what appeared to be a proper wrestling show in a proper venue, although again I use both of those previous terms extremely loosely. Run by a “promotion” called the BWF, it featured stars such as Creeping Death, M-Dogg 20 and Josh Prohibition. Even in this kind of surrounding, the lack of psychology was shocking.

So does this DVD actually have any redeeming features? Well, Tylene Buck, otherwise known as Major Gunns during the dying days of WCW, pops up a few times basically swirling her hips and winking at the camera, wearing next to nothing. My advice here is that if you want to see the buxom Miss Buck half naked, I’m sure you’ll find some pictures of her on the internet somewhere.

So does this DVD come with a recommendation? If you like watching a release that has more mindless violence than Pulp Fiction, then this is for you. If you want to see a bunch of mindless idiots trying to kill themselves, then knock yourselves out, and get this DVD. But if you are a dedicated wrestling fan, then give this DVD an extremely wide berth, and just let these morons get on with their business. As the old saying goes, break a leg. Mind you, considering there’s two more volumes that have been released in the past couple of years, someone probably did during the filming.