KITCHENER – There’s the opening of the movie Saturday Night next weekend, and it’s a reminder that the original Saturday Night Live crew was dubbed “not ready for prime time.”
We all know those wrestlers too, primarily seen on the indies. They can be entertaining, sure, but just not ready for the main event.
The movie and the indy wrestling analogy is key to the film I was able to see a preview screening of on October 3rd, in Kitchener, Ontario, at the Apollo Theatre.
It’s called The Ref Didn’t See It!, and, just like they do in Hollywood, this was a first-ever screening, but one that came with a comment card, er, QR code (no fact checking on the other end!).
Life as an indy wrestler means bugging your friends and family, and co-workers from your day job, to come out to events.
It’s not any different with indy filmmakers.
Colin Hunter is the creative madman behind the KayfabeNews.com website, wrestling’s satirical website that often seems real in an unreal world. On the legit wrestling side, he contributed to Pro Wrestling Illustrated for years and this website. Not long ago, he took leave from his day job and pursued a new passion — becoming a pro wrestling referee, and doing a documentary about the experience.
Sara Geidlinger is one of those magical artistic people that seem to have their thumbs in a million pies. She’s a filmmaker, a photographer, podcaster, digital media maestro, community activist, mother.
Tying Colin and Sara together is the late artist Marshall Ward, who died in December 2023. Marshall was a long-time contributor to this website, and Colin’s best friend. He did a couple of award-winning podcasts with Sara. Colin often said that he saw Marshall as an audience of one with KayfabeNews, and that if he could make Marshall laugh, it was a good one.
With those two principal creators and the inspiration of Marshall haunting the theatre, it was a truly fun collection of mostly family and friends, local wrestlers, referees, fans, but with a few from afar, including British Columbia and North Carolina. Gregory Iron came up from Cleveland, but at least had a booking on Friday night in Buffalo to justify the trip. Lots of kids too — and I can’t give away one of the biggest laughs in the movie, but I will say that children acting out one of wrestling’s most famous scenes was a real hoot.
So I’m not reviewing this movie, and I can’t anyway, as my gumpy-looking mug is on camera for a short bit, talking about second-generation referee Emily Parker from Nova Scotia, whose late father, Frank, was a friend of mine and a damn good referee in his own right (but I don’t remember him ever having pink hair).
What I will say is that when (not if) The Ref Didn’t See It! is ready for a wider audience, I suspect you will enjoy the same things we all did in this preview screening.
It’s a love letter to indy wrestling as much as it is about referees. It’s funny, goofy, cringy at times, and insightful. There’s not a ton of history, and the biggest name in it would not sell out an arena, but so what?
Wrestling really comes down to community. Though the performers may have traveled in from some distance, you go to a local show with your friends or family. Or, if you go to a show while on a vacation, chances are you will interact with the locals.
We’ll have more on The Ref Didn’t See It down the road on SlamWrestling.net — it helps, of course, that both Colin and Sara really get the publicity side of things.
I am looking forward to hearing what others think of the movie.
TOP PHOTO: Sara Geidlinger and Colin Hunter at the advance screening of The Ref Didn’t See It! on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the Apollo Theatre in Kitchener, Ontario. Photo courtesy The Wide World Of Wrestling podcast, https://x.com/THEWWOWPodcast
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