By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Barry Blaustein, a longtime writer and director, died on Tuesday at age 72. Blaustein was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and stage four pancreatic cancer last month. Blaustein wrote, directed, and produced the Beyond the Mat pro wrestling documentary that was released in 1999. The Hollywood Reporter quotes Blaustein as saying that the pro wrestling documentary was “the favorite thing he had ever done.” Read more via HollywoodReporter.com.
Powell’s POV: Beyond the Mat featured Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Jake Roberts. It included some tremendous backstage coverage from the WWF (a/k/a WWE) and ECW, as well as from Terry Funk’s WrestleFest in 1997, which featured one of Funk’s retirement matches (Funk went on to wrestle for many years before his final match on September 22, 2017). The Roberts footage is haunting due to his addiction issues at the time, and it’s wonderful that he was able to turn his life around. Vince McMahon granted backstage access to Blaustein for the documentary, which was rare at the time. The film received favorable reviews from 82 percent of critics and 83 percent of moviegoers surveyed by RottenTomatoes.com.
Blaustein was a Saturday Night Live writer from 1980-1983. He met Eddie Murphy during his SNL run, and they later worked together on several projects. Blaustein’s writing credits include the classic Coming to America and the first two The Nutty Professor movies. Blaustein and Murphy teamed up again more recently in 2021 for Coming 2 America. My condolences to Blaustein’s friends and family.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
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