And Will There Be a Season Two?
Wrestlers is a reality show about Ohio Valley Wrestling which is based in the Louisville, Ky, area.
The financial challenged faced by the struggling independent pro wrestling promotion is a major storyline throughout the seven episodes directed by Greg Whiteley.
The Netflix tagline is that “A new generation of talent works to continue Ohio Valley Wrestling’s legacy under the leadership of CEO Al Snow amid big changes and major opportunities.”
Since OVW is still in business a year later, however, perhaps the economic issues weren’t as severe as portrayed.
OVW’s history includes sending grapplers to WWE who became big stars.
Most, if not all, documentaries are contrived, and Wrestlers comes across as no different.
As he goes about his business, chill creative controller Snow, a respected former WWE wrestler, is the best part of the series.
Mainly through him, we get an intriguing look about how the shows, and individual matches, are orchestrated.
This includes Snow on a headset telling the play-by-play announcer what to say.
Wrestlers would have been a lot more interesting if the filmmaker focused a lot more on the behind-the-scenes orchestration.
Netflix obviously wants to program for various demographics, so unfortunately viewers get body-slammed with soap opera, particularly the in-ring and out-of-ring and somewhat tedious drama between the “Amazing Maria” and her real-life daughter “Hollywood Haley J.”
Other wrestlers looking to boost their careers do get camera time, but not nearly as much as Haley, in the way that the show is edited.
“One particular scene features Al Snow informing top OVW star Mahabali Shera that he’s going to lose the OVW National Heavyweight Title to former IMPACT world champion James Storm. Shera’s heartbreaking reaction goes a long way in shattering the perception that there’s anything fake about pro wrestling,” Forbes noted.
Michael Walden, ring name Cas$h Flo, is another very relatable wrestler who appears on the docuseries.
The filming portrays part owner and radio broadcaster Matt Jones, however, as the villain (or the heel, in wrestling parlance).
Although he seems to have that overbearing, smarmy sports-talk personality, the editing may paint him unfairly.
“The primary tension in Wrestlers simmers between Snow, the professional wrestling purist, and Jones, the entrepreneur focused on the bottom line,” the New York Times asserted.
Another owner, Craig Greenberg, makes an occasional appearance (although Wrestlers doesn’t mention that serving as Louisville mayor is his day job).
Episode 7, which focuses on The Big Show, an end-of summer OVW event, comes across as just as kayfabe (i.e., staged) as a scripted wrestling show itself, in part, with the decision by Snow to return to the ring as a wrestler after the foreshadowing of his attendance at Rick Flair’s kind of sad final match.
The OVW wrestlers don’t seem to be making much money while hoping for their big break, as it were.
Therefore, as quirky as they are, you have to have to admire their entrepreneurial spirt as ultimate independent contractors and their love of performing in a physically dangerous profession even in front of small audiences.
According to Sean T. Collins of the Decider, “Do I wish this were a real documentary that just so happened to catch a company at a pivotal moment, instead of what it likely is: a reality show, where Jones and Snow and Haley and the rest have been encouraged off-camera to act their parts and play up conflict, especially around the risky tour that just so happens to coincide with the series’ production? Yes I do. Will it stop me from watching? No, it probably won’t.”
Along those lines, Wrestlers gets a 
with a disclaimer about way too much fabricated drama at the expense of — or a missed opportunity for — giving the audience more of an inside look at what actually goes into the making of a wrestling card.
Eric Bischoff has just released a podcast interview with Snow; check back for updates, particularly about whether a second season is happening.
Update: Snow claims that Wrestlers is a documentary rather than a reality show. He also acknowledged the entrepreneurial approach by pro wrestlers.
In this context, Bischoff underscored the importance of wrestlers needing to develop a diversified skill set to make it in the business which is also useful in preparing for their post-wrestling career.
Snow also mentioned that a significant uptick in the OVW audience has occurred around the time the show began airing, including a recent sold-out TV taping. OVW is “primed now to capitalize on this exposure,” he said.
That’s a double-edged sword, Snow admitted, because the exposure gives wrestlers more options, including the leverage to demand higher pay to stay on the OVW roster rather than go elsewhere.
Snow added that conversations have taken place about a second season and that “we’re in holding pattern” on a decision from Netflix.
He remarked, however, that “I think I’d really be surprised if we don’t get a season two” given the positive response to the first series.
