REEL FACE: | REAL FACE: |
Florence Pugh
Born: January 3, 1996 Birthplace: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK | Saraya Knight (aka Paige)
Born: August 17, 1992 Birthplace: Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK |
Jack Lowden
Born: June 2, 1990 Birthplace: Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK | Zak Knight (aka Zak Zodiac)
Born: May 29, 1990 Birthplace: Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK |
Nick Frost
Born: March 28, 1972 Birthplace: Hornchurch, Essex, England, UK | Ricky Knight (aka Rowdy Ricky Knight)
Born: December 24, 1953 Birthplace: Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK |
Lena Headey
Born: October 3, 1973 Birthplace: Hamilton, Bermuda | Julia Knight (aka Sweet Saraya)
Born: October 19, 1971 Birthplace: Penzance, Cornwall, England, UK |
Dwayne Johnson
Born: May 2, 1972 Birthplace: Hayward, California, USA | Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Born: May 2, 1972 Birthplace: Hayward, California, USA |
Yes. The Fighting with My Family true story confirms that her family ran the World Association of Wrestling (headed by her father 'Rowdy' Ricky Knight) and had become the biggest names in UK professional wrestling. Paige was the star attraction, then wrestling under the name Britani Knight. Her brother Zak was 6'4" and was known as Zak Zodiac. Zak's half-brother, Roy, wrestled under the name the Zebra Kid. The matriarch of the family, Julia Knight, stepped into the ring as Sweet Saraya. Wrestling was the family's passion and its only source of income.
Yes. "I'd like my kids to go to the very top," father Ricky Knight said in the 2012 documentary about his family. "That's what I started the wrestling dynasty for. ... Makin' it big is in America at the moment. That's where the money is. That's where the stardom is. That's where they get to be known. Best case is they actually both get there and be big stars."
In real life, The Rock first became aware of Paige (born Saraya-Jade Bevis) in 2012. "While shooting Fast & Furious 6 in London, I was up at 3am (too much caffeine) and stumbled upon a documentary on a UK station about a local wrestling family and their daughter's unlikely journey into the global spotlight," The Rock said via Twitter in 2017. "That daughter, is current WWE Women's Superstar, Paige. The family element I saw in the doc is what grabbed my attention. That no matter how crazy life gets, no matter how dysfunctional our families can sometimes be and especially regardless of how much we fight - we're always there for each other when it counts. That's what families do." The documentary that The Rock watched is the 2012 Channel 4 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family.
Yes. Impressively, Zak did come up with a method to teach a blind kid how to wrestle. He taught the boy how to react using only touch and sound. That boy went on to become a professional wrestler.
No. The Fighting with My Family true story reveals that Vince Vaughn's character is fictional. Director Stephen Merchant said that the character is a combination of the four or five different WWE trainers that Paige had. In the movie, Vaughn portrays a pro-wrestling veteran named Hutch Morgan, who is the head coach/trainer of the next generation ("NXT") of WWE stars. Initially, NXT was created in 2010 to be the WWE's farm system for its main brands, Raw and SmackDown. Though in later years, it evolved into its own brand. -The Sports Daily
No. "It's 97% of my life," said the real Paige at the Sundance Film Festival. "The only thing that was a little bit inaccurate is when The Rock was screaming at me backstage. The rest of it is completely accurate."
Yes. At Wrestlemania in 2014, The Rock told Paige that she would be debuting on WWE's main roster the following day and that she was going to be the Divas Champion. She immediately broke down in tears of joy. During that same conversation, he informed her a movie was going to be made about her family. Paige had first signed a contract with the WWE in 2011 but had only wrestled within its developmental systems. She was 21 when she wrestled in her debut WWE match in April of 2014. -Norwich Evening News
Director Stephen Merchant encouraged the stars to perform as many of the wrestling maneuvers as they could. Florence was coached by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and others. For the more complicated and dangerous in-ring maneuvers, professional wrestler Tessa Blanchard stepped in as Florence's stunt double.
No, but she says that members of her family did get to be extras in the movie. "[The filmmakers] all started coming over to England to film and [my family members] all have extra parts in it,” she said (Lilian Garcia Podcast). Paige's brother Zak has a cameo as a drug dealer.
After debuting on the WWE's main roster in April 2014, Paige became a bonafide WWE Superstar with a prominent storyline. She won the Divas Championship twice and went on to become the general manager of the SmackDown brand following her retirement from in-ring competition in April 2018 due to a neck injury.
Go deeper into the true story behind Fighting with My Family by watching the documentary and interviews below.