'The Main Event' is the perfect feelgood children's movie that combines WWE with magical doses of fantasy
Contains spoilers for ‘The Main Event’
As a kid (and well into my teenage years), I was a dedicated fan of WWE - fanboying over The Undertaker and Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit and hating Kurt Angle. I drank up every bit of drama that happened on ‘Smackdown’ and ‘Raw’. I would check the results of pay-per-view events like ‘Wrestlemania’ and ‘SummerSlam’ on the internet because they’d air on television a week later.
This vital information would make me an important person in my class as I would tell my friends who won the tag-team title and who was now the WWE Champion and who was the Intercontinental Champion. Netflix’s ‘The Main Event’ made me relive those moments.
It’s a simple story with some classic fantasy tropes. There’s a kid named Leo (Seth Carr), who really loves wrestling, but his tiny frame and general nerdiness gets him bullied. There’s a father who is trying to make ends meet by working two jobs. And there’s a supportive grandmother (who is both a fan of WWE and in quest of being an Instagram influencer). Leo, in a twist of fate (not the Jeff Hardy signature finishing move on WWE), discovers a wrestling mask that has magical abilities. It changes his voice and gives him super strength.
A deus ex machina arrives in their lives of financial distress when WWE holds a talent-hunt event in their small suburban town. With his newfound powers, Leo goes to participate in the event that would not only fulfill his WWE dreams but also help relieve his father’s debts.
‘The Main Event’ will remind you a lot of two different films in different parts of the story -- and neither of them are wrestling movies. The 1994 Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz comedy, ‘The Mask’, for obvious reasons. A magical mask that gives you super strength and transforms your personality? That’s all there. But the less likely one is the 2002 ‘Spider-Man’ starring Toby Maguire.
Remember that scene where Maguire, as Peter Parker, goes to the wrestling contest to test his powers? He runs and jumps and then suddenly unleashes himself on the huge wrestler opposite him. The first time Leo a.k.a. Kid Chaos wrestles in the contest, it overwhelmingly reminded me of that very sequence. Like, imagine a four-foot-something eleven-year-old sparring a giant barrel-chested man. It’s hilarious and somehow cute at the same time.
The wrestling scenes are fun to watch even for an adult, so I can only imagine how much kids would love it. But that’s not all the movie offers. It tells a warm story of single-parenthood and friendship (with both Leo’s schoolmates and his adult wrestling pals). ‘The Main Event’ tells the story of grit and commitment and even a bit of budding romance.
And while the film revolves around professional wrestling, it’s not really a sports movie in any sense. The plot resembles more a superhero movie (kind of like ‘Spider-Man’, I suppose). In one scene, Leo is forced to take on a robber at a diner. And like a true-blue superhero story, ‘The Main Event’ comes with a lesson. Leo’s head within the mask inflates to gigantic proportions, figuratively speaking. He starts acting like a self-important jerk. He starts being condescending and smug.
But like every good superhero story, he overcomes his weaknesses. It’s a simple tale that doesn’t require its audience to flex any mental muscles. But it’s a sweet story nonetheless that makes for a quality family watch. And what better time for a family movie than right now, when everyone’s stuck inside their homes?