Wrestling Road Diaries 3: Funny Equals Money Plot Summary:
American professional wrestler Colt Cabana explores the concept of “comedy wrestling” while on a brief Midwest tour with two internationally renowned comedic wrestlers — Scotland’s Grado, and Japan’s Kikutaro.
Wrestling documentaries are usually about one of two things — an examination of the history of some aspect professional wrestling (a time period, territory, performer, etc.), or a stark look at the life of a wrestler. Usually the tone for wrestling documentaries is downright serious and sometimes somber, and downright sad.
Luckily, Wrestling Road Diaries 3: Funny Equals Money is none of these things.
However, it’s not a complete yuck fest either. This film it is an honest look at the world of independent pro wrestling and is one of the more unique wrestling docs you’re going to find. The film’s creator, and star/host Colt Cabana is threading a very fine, and extremely difficult needle with this film — he’s exploring the art of comedic wrestling. This film isn’t as much about the journey of the wrestlers on the road as the previous two Road Diaries were, as it is about three men trying to hone their craft of making people laugh. This is as much a documentary about comedy as it is wrestling. In fact, you really should watch the fantastic doc The Comedians of Comedy either before or after WRD3 in order to fully appreciate it.
What’s fascinating about this film is that while’s about comedy, being funny, and entertaining an audience it’s also quite emotional too. The film really delves into the psyche of the three leads as well as other comedic wrestlers who pop up in the film like Joey Ryan and “Super Cop” Dick Justice. We find out about how these wrestlers are using comedy to find their way in the world of wrestling, and how they struggle both with trying to keep their acts fresh as well as trying to make sure they do something that audience will react to. It’s about being accepted, and about the soul crushing, or soul bolstering feeling they get when they get the audience to reacts or doesn’t react to one of their jokes.
And that’s the hook for this film. It really is a personal journal of these three men trying to be funny, and do what they love for a living.
If you absolutely love wrestling this is a no-brainer. However, I dare all those fans of comedy to go out of your way to watch this film. This is an absolutely fascinating and engrossing documentary about the hilarious, intense, and highly complex world of making people laugh.
Rating: 10 out 10
