As you may recall, last year James Papa–who co-wrote the Fabulous
Freebirds theme “Badstreet, USA”–sued WWE (among others) last year for using
the song and other WCW theme songs without his permission. While that lawsuit
was dismissed following an agreement to settle the case, the settlement is still
being negotiated and part of the agreement is that WWE will be promoting the
documentary on the thirtieth anniversary of the song.
According to DallasNews.com, the documentary
is called Back on Badstreet and is directed by Jimmy Neutron creator Keith
Alcorn. The film will look at the the writing and recording of the song, along
with the Dallas wrestling scene from which it came. Papa has contributed
archival footage from the recording and the time period, with the film set to
release in November.
Papa told the site, “A lot of these things [in the
settlement] are tied to future plans with ‘Badstreet U.S.A.’ and how it’s going
to be used in a lot of different arenas I don’t have control of,” says Papa.
“But I haven’t had control of it for the last several years. Might as well get
it under contract. But I didn’t know the movie was gonna be this funny. I had no
idea. It’s really funny. I’m not being biased, because I didn’t write it. It’s a
pretty easy thing to make fun of. We’re not making fun of wrestling. We’re
making fun of the characters, including me, who put this crazy thing together.
That’s what this story’s about — the music and putting the three Freebirds in a
van with me the day we met and rolling down the highway to Gilmer,
Texas.”
A teaser for the documentary is below.
