WWE News: E:60 Releases Bonus Footage From ‘WWE: Behind The Curtain’ Documentary
Tuesday night, ESPN debuted their much anticipated WWE: Behind The Curtain feature on their award winning sports journalism show, E:60. The documentary followed the lives of WWE hopefuls Xavier Woods, Corey Graves, and Adam Rose. The WWE E:60 show, which was limited to one hour (including commercials), did not have time to air features on two other WWE NXT wrestlers who were filmed by the E:60 cameras. These two features covered NXT’s Big Cass and Tyler Breeze. Fortunately, the Inquisitr has the video, and you can view it below.
The documentary as a whole was one of the best documentaries produced on WWE. ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap was granted more access to the backstage workings of WWE than any other journalist in several years. The only other documentaries made on the WWE that featured this kind of long-term access would have to be Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows and Beyond The Mat, both of which were filmed more than 15 years ago.
In addition to the three NXT wrestlers previously mentioned, E:60 also featured extensive interviews with WWE’s Vince McMahon and Triple H. The show began with an inside look at a speech Triple H gave to the NXT roster in Florida more than two years ago. It was more or less a pep talk from Triple H to the developmental talent, focusing on their opportunity to one day make it to WWE’s main roster, as well as the possibility that they might be cut. It was a great moment captured by the E:60 cameras.
E:60’s profile of Adam Rose was particularly moving. The ESPN cameras followed Rose as his character underwent the transition from Leo Kruger to Adam Rose in NXT early last year. More interesting and emotional, though, was Rose’s personal story, as the cameras followed Rose’s personal hardships in dealing with a rare birth defect his son, Maverick, suffers from. The story left the viewer rooting for Rose to one day succeed in his dream of WWE success.
The Corey Graves story was another emotional tale for the E:60 cameras, as Graves and his family struggled with the reality that he would never make it to WWE’s main roster following several nasty concussions suffered in the last two years. However, the E:60 piece was there to film Graves’ reaction when Triple H offered him a shot as an announcer at WWE NXT.
The most successful WWE wrestler featured in the E:60 piece was Xavier Woods, who right now is on the main WWE roster as part of The New Day. The ESPN cameras followed Woods throughout his NXT success, as well as his off-camera goal of working on his Ph. D. in Educational Psychology. It’s the type of story that is not at all common in WWE, working on a graduate degree while performing as a professional wrestler, and it made for captivating television.
ESPN will re-run the E:60 feature WWE: Behind The Curtain on May 12 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
[Image via MiamiHerald.com]
