You Cannot Kill David Arquette : he acts, he graps

Many people will know David Arquette as an early 2000s goofball, lost to the scrap heap of that era along with lace up jeans and Limp Bizkit. To those of the wrestling fandom however he is a figure of huge significance, albeit for entirely the wrong reasons. World Championship Wrestling was a powerhouse of the wrestling industry all throughout the 90s. The show ran from 1988 and had been the biggest contender to the then WWFs TV throne featuring action from many legendary performers such as Randy Savage, Goldberg and Sting. Following WCWs poor performance heading into 2000 the decision had been made to release Ready to Rumble, a film based around the show featuring many of the performers therein. As a way of promoting the film Arquette was brought onto the weekly show to act as antagonist, a role that Arquette fell to with gusto, until one fateful day 26th April, 2000 when the Scream actor would be cemented in wrestling infamy as he was crowned the WCW Heavyweight Champion. Wrestling fans were livid at the decision to award such a prestigious title to an untrained actor with many citing this as further proof that the WCW had lost its way, the film itself was met with further derision when the box office didn’t even cover half its budget. The intended shot in the arm would turn out to be the final nail as the ailing brand would be purchased less than a year later by their former rivals at the WWF, much of the blame falling in the lap of 28 year old David Arquette. Jump forward nearly twenty years later to the events of You Cannot Kill David Arquette. The troubled actor makes the decision to return to the wrestling ring in the hopes he can earn the respect of the wrestling faithful and exorcise his own personal demons along the way. The decision to take up wrestling again seems to occur to Arquette out the blue, a cynical mind would put it down to an underwhelming acting career as of late. However, it has to be said that the timing of this film does feel right. The idea of seeing Arquette in the ring again gave rise to curiosity and even nostalgia amongst wrestling fans, many of which have warmed up to Ready to Rumble now seeing it as dumb fun with old school grapplers. Arquette is sure to nurture this shaky good will by doing things the ‘right way’ as he hires a trainer to teach him the craft and eventually gets booked into a tournament that seems to be nothing more than some friends in their back garden. The matches depicted serve as a late baptism for Arquette. The indie wrestlers represent the scorned fans of his past finally given the chance to teach him what wrestling is all about. The punishment Arquette endures feels like a cleansing ritual, both for the sadness he feels and the animosity of the wrestling world. Make no mistake, wrestlers are live action superheroes with larger than life personas, but with the right framing it can be a vehicle for real human struggles. The performers who teach, elevate and accept Arquette into their world have years of experience and discipline, yet most will never hold the prestige that he fell into himself all those years ago. The scenes in which Arquette bonds with other wrestlers are endearing, but the film never manages to fully shake the image of Arquette as a privileged latecomer to the sport. At one event he heckles that ‘anyone can be a champion’ as a simultaneous jab and embrace of his past, but one is also reminded that he is a successful Hollywood actor. It may be difficult for some to understand why Arquette would do all this. Then again, what more can he do to convince us he is serious? Arquette’s determination to prove himself culminates in one of the film’s more dramatic turns as he finishes a deathmatch against Nick Gage despite a severe neck wound. The scene is both hard to watch and captivating. From death matches to lucha street performance, much care is taken to show the grassroots of wrestling. You Cannot Kill David Arquette is a deeply personal journey caught on film. It runs the gamut through funny, heart-breaking and frightening. The significance may be lost on some, but wrestling fans remember everything, this film feels as much for them as it does for Arquette himself.