Speaking of peculiar surroundings - the intro from a few years after that, with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin walking into a derelict warehouse accompanied to the sound of sirens before the Raw is War theme tune fully kicks in, would be right up there close to the 1995 sequence.
Both of those intros came from the mind of David Sahadi, who worked for the World Wrestling Federation between 1992 and 2003 as one of the main behind the scenes personnel on the production arm of the company.
Sahadi has recently published a book about his life and career in the crazy world of professional wrestling.
Backstage Pass: Tales from Behind the Squared Circle covers Sahadi's early roots working for NBC Sports right through to his recent gig working as an executive producer for Court Bauer's Major League Wrestling.
As a huge fan of the WWF/E's content from the 1980s right through to this very day, I found the pages of Sahadi's time working for the McMahon Empire to be the most intriguing.
Before reading the autobiography, I came across a few Good Reads and NetGalley reviews which suggests Sahadi comes across as boastful of his career achievements. One went so far as to point out that he bragged about people crying at some of the videos he produced for the then WWF.
I feel it necessary to add something to those suggestions after reading Sahadi's book for myself.
Yes, I did find that Sahadi boosted himself up at certain points in his book. However, there are moments which capture a humble Sahadi. The main example is how he expresses his deep love for his father. You can see the man just by the tribute he shares of his times with his father. Those struck me.
As for the part about how Sahadi appears to make people emotional - the part in the book which highlights that the most is when Sahadi recounts Vince McMahon's reaction to the video the director produced in 1998 which contained a plethora of old school wrestlers from an age earlier. Filmed mostly in black-and-white, the promo has the old school wrestlers talk about their days contrasted with the styles of the new period.
It truly is one of my favourite wrestling adverts ever, so I was fascinated to learn that it was Sahadi's idea.
Sahadi writes that Vince McMahon broke down in tears after first witnessing the video. This reader wasn't in the room, but - I have a strong opinion the author was not using licence when he painted this scene of McMahon's reaction.
I believe it happened considering the people in the video are from Vince McMahon's father's era.
Another fascinating part of Sahadi's story is how he witnessed the rise of Dwayne Johnson from a humble third generation wrestler having left college football to pursue a career in the WWF to becoming a Hollywood star.
The professional relationship between the wrestler and director didn't end well.
Sahadi details how Johnson became difficult to work with once he became a movie star. Sahadi felt disrespected by The Rock's lax attitude to getting a film project shot in the limited time he was available.
Following his departure from WWE, Sahadi eventually found employment from then opposition: TNA Wrestling.
Sahadi shares his experiences with TNA. He was there for a lot of the biggest moments in that company's history. Going from memory: the Hard Justice 2006 fire, Kurt Angle .vs. Samoa Joe, Hulk Hogan's TNA era, the failed Monday Night Wars II experiment, the Vince Russo controversies and more are all spotlighted in this memoir.
I've grown used to reading professional wrestling content from wrestlers, promoters and others within the industry. With Backstage Pass, it was unique to read about the topic from the viewpoint of someone who worked in production.
A professional wrestling autobiography with a view from a different lens, if you will.
⭐⭐⭐/5
Thanks to ECW Press for giving me an advanced reading copy of Backstage Pass: Tales from Beyond the Squared Circle. The title was released on March 10 2026.
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