J-Prep had pulled on his trademark pink lycras with lips on the backside, Mikado had finished applying his make up, Chris Solar was looking appropriately flamboyant; the time had come for the New York premiere of Fake It So Real. Now, we New Yorkers like to think we’ve seen it all but on Friday the boys from Lincolnton, North Carolina showed us how wrong we were. As the wrestlers came out looking ready to rumble we could all feel it; Brooklyn had been invaded.
The screening of Robert Greene’s documentary Fake It So Real was one of the most anticipated events in the Rooftop calendar and it was always going to be a memorable night. Shot over a period of just one week, Fake It So Real takes you straight into the bosom of the Millenium Wrestling Federation. It lets you laugh along with them, invites you to share the collective highs and lows, but more than that it breaks any preconceptions of pro-wrestling and reveals it not only as a highly demanding sport but as “the great American art form”.
If, by the end of Fake It So Real, at least a little part of you doesn’t want to be part of the MWF fraternity there’s something very wrong with you. One audience member went so far as to say: “I’m not usually one for sports movies, but last night I saw a screening of Fake it So Real…And now I’ll pretty much ONLY watch sports movies. Specifically, ones about wrestling. More specifically, ones that have real live wrestling matches after, with subjects from the film, preferably dudes from North Carolina who have awesome stage characters based around the size of their ass and enter the ring to ‘Baby Got Back.’ Yes, it’ll limit my choices, but I believe it’s worth it.”
As the screening finished, overcome by new plans to give everything up, don some lycra shorts and move to Lincolnton, we were all pretty excited about gaining some further validation of our new life plan from director Robert Greene during the Q&A. Any such hopes were short lived though has Robert paraded into the ring having taken on what we could only assume was his pro-wrestler alter ego (think nacho libre in ill fitting tights) and proceeded to taunt Rooftop founder Mark Rosenberg. Booing from the crowd ensued as the Q&A escalated from minor banter to a full on brawl. Greene pushed Rosenberg too far. J-Prep, Outlaw, AG Smooth and Solar clambered into the ring and it was on. The crowd starting chanting and pretty soon we were witnessing the very real world of MWF. Punches thrown, throws delivered, J-Prep’s signature move (ass to face) executed. The fight took a turn for the unexpected as Rosenberg dived back into the ring; administering the conclusive throw down.
Next it was time for the MWF Heavyweight Championship that pitted Mikado, Alley Rat Pitt and newcomer Sycho against each other. By this point any remaining hipster cynicism was gone; everyone had found a new favorite sport and was quietly designing their own outfits and thinking up signature moves. And as the night came to an end and the Sailor Jerry’s buzz began to wear off it was pretty obvious that the MWF invasion had hit Brooklyn hard. I can’t see it ever fully recovering…maybe we should just all move to Lincolnton.