Preparing to snap into a veritable Slim Jim of rich, juicy biographical information, A&E announced today that its venerable Biography brand will soon be bodyslamming its way into the ol’ wrasslin’ game. Specifically, the network has just announced that it’s about to launch a five-part series of feature length deep-pile-drives into the lives of some of the industry’s most prominent wrestlers, including Booker T, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and that macho-est of men, the late Randy Savage.
Biography is partnering on the project with WWE Studios, which is presumably why all five subjects (a list that also includes Shawn Michaels and famed ass-kicking gum chewer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper) have been drawn from the company’s stables of current or former employees. Meanwhile, they’ve lured in some serious behind-the-scenes superstars as well, with folks like 30 For 30 vet Joe Lavine, Cocaine Cowboys’ Billy Corben, and Peabody winner George Roy all stepping into the figurative ring to direct individual films.
The movie-length specials will start arriving in spring 2020, with the installments centered on Savage, Piper, and Booker T arriving first. They’ll be followed the following year by the specials on Austin and Michaels, with the directors on those projects still TBD. Meanwhile, the Biography project was announced less than a week after Viceland’s own newly minted foray into the darker sides of wrestling history, in the form of the six-part Dark Side Of The Ring. That series will also devote extended documentary investigations into the lives of prominent wrestlers—including Savage—but with a much grimmer, more true-crime focused look at the realities of the sport.