Memphis Heat Review (Bonus Features)

Memphis Heat Trailer- A pretty basic trailer that does a great job of hinting at the documentary without giving everything away

DELETED SCENES

The Galento Incident- Great story about a somewhat obscure talent named Mario Galento. He was a shooter who liked to blow up workers and could legitimately beat people up.  Some background is given on him before getting into a discussion about and incident that occurred between Galento and Jerry Jarrett. Because Jarrett was booking instead of long-time promoter Roy Welch, Galento was going to try and reestablish himself as a tough guy. I can see why this got deleted from the film, but this was a fantastic little tale. Great pay-off too. Lawler’s follow-up to the incident was also unbelievable. If another wrestler with less credibility told a story like Lawler told, I wouldn’t believe him. As Billy Wicks says, this story seemingly proved why Roy Welch was a dirtbag.

Sputnik Monroe Outtakes- More Sputnik Monroe greatness. These are really just a set of smaller stories that didn’t belong in the film. Sputnik is extremely engaging and has a very unique story. Wrestling aside, Sputnik was way ahead of his time in many other ways.

Bill Wicks Outtakes- Good stuff as Wicks tells various stories dealing with Gorgeous George and being screwed by a promoter on Christmas day. Some promoter in Tulsa, Oklahoma did not have a merry Christmas. This transitions into how Wicks eventually came to be booked in Memphis.

Len Rossi Integrates Birmingham- Rossi talks about having an African-American partner and selling out the Birmingham venue for 42 consecutive weeks.

Jackie Fargo Outtakes- We get the older version of the Fargo strut in addition to tales of Fargo getting some decent payoffs in the early days of wrestling in Cuba. Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last as he had to go serve in the Army. Fargo talks about hating New York city. He also talks about meeting a young boy who had cancer and not having any publicity attached to it. THIS scene should have been included somewhere in the film.

Buddy Wayne Outtakes- Wayne discusses Lord

Littlebrook not getting more money for wrestling three times and a worker named Tim Tyler.

Guy Coffey Outtakes- Great stories about Toji, Muhammad Ali, and Sputnik Monroe. Very sad to have read about his suicide while doing a Google search on him.

Jerry Lawler Outtakes- Lawler talks about the amazing story of how he came to be involved with wrestling. I do one thing. He seemed more genuinely excited talking about Memphis wrestling than he has been about the WWE television product recently.

Jerry Jarrett Outtakes- Jarrett talks about bleeding hardway, wrestlers acting like themselves with the volume turned up, booking Jim Cornette and complicating booking today, suspension of disblelief, people acting like themselves as characters, and ripping off the popular television Dallas i.e. using cliffhangers.

Bill Dundee Outtakes- Stories for Mr. Dundee include his introduction to Memphis and an excellent  story dealing with Randy Savage.

Rocky Johnson Outtakes- Johnson talks about showmanship in wrestling and guys taking chances in the ring.  He also talks about his numerous firsts around the United States as an African-American man and of course… HEAT!

Jimmy Valient Outtakes- Valient discusses the amount of times he wrestled in a given week, sometimes as many as nine times in seven days. He talks psychology and a tattoo he received when he was 12 years old.  Not to mention the actual boots tattooed on his legs. Ridiculous.

Jimmy Hart Outtakes- Hart goes over a discussion he had with Dick Clark, about being different and standing out visually. He talks about First Family and tells a fun Jackie Fargo story. I love the idea that individuals shouldn’t make fun of wresters’ age, weight, or baldness.

Jim Blake Outtakes- Blake talks producing some of the wrestler’s various records and other projects.

-Some classic Memphis footage is shown, various matches and angles. Not enough if you ask me, but there are various compilations out there for fans to purchase.

The Verdict: I loved the documentary a great deal. The deleted scenes and outtakes only increased my love for Memphis Heat. While the DVD ends up being 25 dollars, you’re going to get about four hours of interviews and footage. Everyone should get this DVD to get a sense of history and to hear about an era that seems more than 100 years as opposed to only 20-30.