Some adaptations feel like a stretch.
This isn’t one of them.
Stephen Merchant’s Fighting With My Family, the 2019 film based on the life of WWE star Paige, is being reworked as a stage musical. On paper, that might sound like a shift in format. In reality, it feels closer to a continuation of what the story already was.
Because the structure was always there.
Merchant himself has said as much. Looking back on the film, he explained: "When we were making the film, I always thought of it like a musical: a young woman from the 'chorus line’ fighting to get her big break, surrounded by theatrical, larger-than-life characters and huge sweeping emotions."
That framing changes how you see it.
Not as a grounded sports biopic, but as something heightened, stylised, exaggerated, built around performance as much as narrative.
Which, when you think about it, is exactly what wrestling is.
Merchant leaned into that during production.
"I approached each wrestling match like it was a different dance number, building to a big show-stopping finale."
That’s not metaphor.
That’s structure.
And it explains why this transition to stage feels less like reinvention and more like something that was always going to happen eventually.
"Seeing the film reimagined for the stage feels like the natural next step," Merchant added. "The team have captured the humour, grit and heart of the story in a way that feels both faithful to the film and completely fresh."
That balance, familiar, but reinterpreted, is where this project will either work or fall apart.
Because the story itself is already defined.
Saraya Jade Bevis, known to most as Paige, growing up in a chaotic wrestling family in Norwich, then stepping into a completely different environment in the United States, forced to define herself outside of that context.
It’s a coming-of-age narrative built on identity, separation, and pressure.
The wrestling is part of it.
But it’s not the whole thing.
Which is why it translates.
The stage version will feature music by Miranda Cooper, whose track record, writing for artists like Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Pet Shop Boys, suggests the tone won’t lean towards subtlety. It’s likely to be direct, immediate, and built for impact.
That aligns with the source material.
Dwayne Johnson, who appeared in the original film, also framed the move in similar terms.
"Fighting With My Family feels exceptionally well suited for the stage," he said.
"It’s packed with personal emotion expressed through the dynamic world of wrestling, which has always been about storytelling and connecting with a live audience."
That last point is the key.
Because while the film worked within the structure of cinema, the story itself was always about live performance, about connection in the moment, about reacting in real time.
Moving it to theatre doesn’t change that.
If anything, it reinforces it.
And if it lands the way it’s intended to, this won’t feel like an adaptation.
It will feel like the format finally catching up to the material.
