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Blaustein believes that McMahon went further. "He put pressure on UPN and USA not to run any commercials for the movie on any USA program or on any UPN program," Blaustein says.

Jim Byrne, senior vice president for marketing at the WWF, says that the company stands by its "longstanding policy" not to accept advertising for its TV shows from what he called "third-party wrestling product -- anything that isn't owned, controlled or managed by WWF Entertainment, Inc." He says there's "no truth" to the charge that the WWF pressured UPN and USA networks to decline advertising for "Beyond the Mat" on shows not produced by the WWF. And he chalks up the tangled relations between Blaustein and the WWF to misrepresentation on the filmmaker's part.

Michael Sragow Michael Sragow's column appears every Thursday in Arts & Entertainment + Archives

Says Byrne: "It was originally characterized as an art-house film, done as a major labor of love in 1997." But in the eyes of the WWF the film now appears to be "not an art-house film, but a major motion picture backed by major Hollywood players and a highly commercial venture." According to Byrne, WWF executives expected it to be shot and completed in 1997; McMahon continued to give Blaustein access precisely because he thought it was "an art-house film and labor of love. When we expressed interest, going back a year ago, for some financial stake in the film, [it was because] it uses our likenesses, trademarks and characters." But when the WWF honchos did take a look at the movie, in December, "We lost all emotional attachment to it. It just wasn't entertaining."

When I mentioned to Byrne that "Beyond the Mat" is only opening in 175 theaters, and that Lions Gate is primarily an art-house distributor, he countered, with a laugh: "We all know about 'Blair Witch Project'!" That comparison, at least, should make Blaustein happy.

UPN says, "No comment;" the USA network did not offer a response.

But Blaustein insists, "These broadcasters are bowing down to Vince. It's a frightening precedent. This movie is not negative toward Vince and the WWF. I think Vince's attitude is, if I can't have the film, I'm not going to let anybody else know about it."

Astonishingly, major newspapers by and large ignored this story. "They say, 'Oh it's just business.' But no it's not, guys, there's a civil liberties issue here. It doesn't matter if we have 600 TV stations -- if they are all owned by the same people, there's no freedom of choice. This is the nightmare scenario of synergy and of vertical integration."

As if to prove Blaustein's point, a week after we talked, the lead story on the New York Times' business page was about the "struggle for ownership" at UPN, which is complicated by the pending merger of UPN's co-owner, Viacom, and CBS. The story does not mention "Beyond the Mat," but it does emphasize the weight McMahon carries with Viacom and how valuable McMahon's WWF is to CBS, which reportedly wants Viacom to buy the rest of UPN from Chris-Craft Industries.

"I don't like what Vince is doing," says Blaustein, "but from a promoting standpoint and an entrepreneurial standpoint you have to step back and say, 'He's good at it.' And I have seen a softer side of the guy on occasion. I think he's been playing an SOB in the ring for so long he feels he's got to act that way outside of it all the time. I like to think the best of all people, so I hope Vince knows somewhere that what he's doing is ultimately wrong."

Blaustein says that when he went to the New York Times to rouse interest in his tale, he got turned down: "They say, 'Our readers don't watch wrestling.' Well, you'd be surprised who watches wrestling. The demographics of wrestling are higher than the demographics of Major League Baseball.

"Ironically," Blaustein continues, "The WCW, Ted Turner's outfit, didn't sign a release [to have its own wrestlers appear in 'Beyond the Mat.']. They wanted to have some sort of editorial control, so they're not in the movie. But when the movie had its Academy Award-qualifying run in L.A., a couple of WCW guys were in town and saw it. They called me up -- the person who wouldn't sign the release is no longer there -- and said, 'Boy, you've done something wonderful for the industry, we really regret not being in it.' They're running the ads, even though they have their own movie coming out a month from now! And not only are they running ads for my picture, they're having their guys talk about it on the air! They don't have problems at all."

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