WWE Unreal is as real as it gets.

I was a wrestling fan growing up, and at some point, I stopped because it was all just too fake and I didn’t see the point. The older I got, the more I understood how the sausage was made and the meal was no longer appetizing. Unreal is the most in-depth look behind the curtain, the ultimate expression of how the sausage is made, so I had no desire to watch it. I do enjoy sports documentaries, but I like sports — and professional wrestling is not a sport.

But I also love soap operas. And I love live theater. And through that lens, the WWE is putting on a live soap opera multiple times a week using highly trained athletes. I was sure I’d be less interested in wrestling after watching Unreal, but it had quite the opposite effect: I’m invested. I’m adding a new soap opera to join Beyond the Gates.

As someone who had a crush on Shawn Michaels, wanted to be The Undertaker, and idolized Ric Flair, there’s no world that child could have imagined where a documentary showing the writers room picking the champion wouldn’t have ruined wrestling. As an adult who loves seeing art come together, it’s so fascinating to see the intersection Life, Career, and Show come together.

The WWE is balancing what the fans what, what the story wants, what the wrestling character wants, and what the real person behind the persona wants, and they’re trying to walk a tightrope that does service to each entity. For wrestlers whose personas are so close to their real life, that tightrope is even thinner. WWE John Cena is IRL John Cena. John Cena has an enormous Hollywood career because people like John Cena AND John Cena, so what happens if we don’t like one of them? What happens to the other one?

And I had no idea how much the women of the WWE were showcased! These are not the Divas I grew up with. These are main draw superstars with huge fanbases who have to be sexy, be feminine, be approachable, and be frighteningly tough. Men have to want to look at them, women have to want to respect them, and little girls have to want to be them. And they have to do all of that with separated shoulders, broken teeth, and torn ligaments.

Masterfully produced and perfectly paced, Unreal is a documentary for people who appreciate entertainment on a grand scale. It takes a lot of work to entertain as many people from as many different backgrounds as the WWE does, and Unreal is a window into that work.