Recap:

In celebration of his tenth year as a professional wrestler, Atticus Cogar released a documentary reflecting on his life and entire professional wrestling career. Atticus uses personal photos, wrestling promo outtakes, interviews from those closest to him and his own unscripted words to tell his very unique story. This very intimate format gave viewers a special insight into the mind of a man known to the world as “Pure Hate”. 

Throughout the ‘visual diary’s’ runtime, Atticus answers some very introspective questions as a way to frame his story. These answers take the viewer on a journey from early childhood up to the potentially most important match of his career against Effy for the GCW Championship on July 11th. The first question he answered was “what advice would you give your younger self?” chronicling everything from the very beginning. The man behind the macabre character talks about being an awkward child who grew up too fast in situations and places he should not have been in. These experiences shaped the man he became which is directly reflected in his wrestling persona. From there he speaks about his years wrestling in the backyard with his brother and cousin. In these stories we see how important family is to Cogar both in and outside of the ring. For the remainder of the run time, Atticus talks about what he is best known for; deathmatch wrestling. Very few competitors of this unforgiving style of combat get to make a name for themselves, but through his creativity, commitment and innovative style Cogar’s name is right up there with the greats and here you can see why. 

Finally, when the focus is not on his wrestling career or personal life, Atticus talks about the creation of his wrestling character. He explains why putting in so much attention to detail is important to him and gives audiences examples of how seemingly insignificant choices have a deeper meaning. These factoids are a fascinating example of what has set him apart from other wrestlers and shows why fans have followed him for a decade.  

Reception:

As a long time fan and admirer of Atticus’s work, it was so interesting to hear his story and learn more about his philosophy of wrestling. We have gotten some of his backstory in his promos or videos over the years, but to hear it in order directly from him made me respect everything he has been through. Learning more about where he came from and seeing the places that shaped him gave me a deeper appreciation of everything he has survived and how he was able to channel that in a positive way through wrestling. Beyond that, I have always noticed how much time and effort he put into his craft, but hearing him explain some of the deeper meanings behind seemingly unimportant choices was very fascinating. His merchandise has always stood out amongst everyone else’s, but hearing the meaning and symbolism behind it made me admire it so much more. In short, this deepened everything that made me a fan of his to begin with and showed how vital the artform and story telling aspect of professional wrestling is. 

In conclusion, if you are a fan who enjoys learning about the people behind the wrestling personas or one that is interested in learning more behind the scenes information this is a great watch. Also, if you are an aspiring wrestler who wants to learn how to create a fleshed out character this is a great video to learn from. With a fairly short run time of 36:15 and quick pace, this an easy watch that will hold your attention. Since it is available to watch for free on his youtube channel, I  highly recommend this documentary.

If you are interested in watching this, search ‘Atticus Cogar Raw Reflection’ on youtube and it will be there free of charge  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySqnadcTSc