The Wrestler (2008 Film) - Plot

Plot

Robin Ramzinski (Mickey Rourke), better known by his ring name Randy "The Ram" Robinson, is a professional wrestler who became a celebrity in the 1980s. Now past his prime, Randy wrestles on weekends for independent promotions in New Jersey while working part-time at a supermarket under Wayne (Todd Barry), a demeaning manager who mocks Randy's wrestling background. A regular at a strip club, he befriends a stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) who like Randy, is getting old for her job. After winning a local match, Randy agrees to a proposed 20th anniversary rematch against his most notable opponent, "The Ayatollah" (Ernest Miller).

Randy intensifies his training, which includes steroid injections. After wrestling in a hardcore match, Randy suffers a heart attack backstage and receives coronary artery bypass surgery. His doctor tells him that his heart can no longer handle the stress of wrestling so Randy retires and begins working a full-time shift behind the deli counter at the supermarket.

At Cassidy's suggestion, Randy visits his estranged adult daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), whom he had abandoned when she was a child, but Stephanie rebuffs him. While helping Randy buy a gift for Stephanie, Cassidy reveals that she has a son. Randy makes romantic advances on her, which she rejects on the grounds of her job. Later, Randy gives the gifts to his daughter and apologizes. The two bond over a visit to a beachfront boardwalk and they agree to meet for dinner on the coming Saturday. Randy goes to Cassidy's strip club to thank her, but she once more rejects him, resulting in a heated exchange. Upset, Randy goes to see a wrestling match and finds solace in his wrestling friends. While at a bar with them, he gets drunk, snorts cocaine and has sex with a woman in the women's bathroom. He sleeps the entire next day and misses his dinner with Stephanie. He goes to her house to apologize, but she is distraught and wishes to never see him again.

At the deli counter, a patron recognizes Randy as the wrestler, though he denies it. Agitated, Randy cuts his hand on the deli slicer machine and goes on a rampage in the store, before quitting. Spurred by the fan's recognition of him and with nothing else left, he decides to return to wrestling. He reschedules the 20th anniversary rematch with The Ayatollah and turns down Cassidy's attempts at reconciliation, who warns him of his heart condition. He explains to her that he belongs in the ring with the fans who truly love him, unlike the rest of the world.

As he wrestles, Randy begins to feel chest pain and becomes unsteady. The Ayatollah notes this and urges him to initiate the pin. Randy refuses, however, and climbs the top rope for his signature finishing move, a diving head butt called the "Ram Jam". In tears, he salutes the crowd and leaps from the ropes.