Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an ageing wrestler who just can't give up. He loves the buzz of whipping up an audience, and I can totally understand that. Most of the time, I play the bad guy. It's easier to make an audience hate you than love you. When you've got them hitting you with handbags and spitting, you know you're doing a good job.

Everything about the film is accurate: the wrestlers bickering backstage, the day jobs behind shop counters, even the matches themselves. I'm always being told that "pro wrestling is all fake", but nobody appreciates the effort it takes, both physical and mental. As we see in the film, the winner is decided in advance, and some of the moves are planned. But inside the ring, it's about your physicality. I've broken my nose three times and I've got three screws in my ankle.

We see Randy taking drugs, and yes, that's accurate, too. I've never been involved with drugs, but I've seen it plenty of times. Wrestling isn't like competitive sprinting - the guys who use steroids do it to look better, because that's what gets you the work.

The "combat zone" wrestling we see in the film, where the ring is full of barbed wire and broken glass, is a bit too extreme for my taste. But I've done table matches, where the first person thrown through a table in the middle of the ring loses.

Rourke is in good shape: he makes some impressive moves and looks like everything a wrestler should be. I might even give his moves a go, next time I'm in the ring. Of course, I don't know how many takes it took to get them right. In live wrestling, you only have one chance. Get it wrong and the crowd will tear you apart.

• Andy Boy Simmonz has been a professional wrestler for eight years. The Wrestler is on general release.