WrestlePosium VI ––April 26, 2025

Get ready for WrestlePosium VI: When Worlds Collide, brought to you by PWSA! This epic annual virtual symposium unites cutting-edge academics, scholars, and industry pros to dive deep into the realms of business, culture, politics, and the future of professional wrestling. Join us as we showcase groundbreaking research and explore the dynamic intersections of the wrestling world!

Register to virtually attend and engage with the PWSA community for FREE. Click here to register.

View the full schedule below ––All times listed in EDT

(Schedule subject to change, bc sh1t happens...🙃)

11:00 – 11:15am: Board Introductions and Points of Order

  • New PWSA President, Tunisha Singleton Ph.D.

11:15 – 12:15p:  Academic Keynote 

  • Featured guest: Shannon Bow O’Brien

12:15 – 1:15p Wrestling as Media, Memory, and Politics

  • “Embrace the Hate”: Rereading Elon Musk as a Chickenshit Heel 
    • Dr. Marek Muller and Dr. Cecilia Cerja
  • What We Choose to Remember and What They Choose to Forget: The WWE Hall of Fame &  The Propaganda of Memory
    •  Tyler Majer
  • Whoops we’re breaking the fourth wall: the audience as semi-fictional character in professional wrestling 
    • Adam Dinsmore

1:15 – 1:45p BREAK

1:45 – 2:15p Queer Studies Special Issue

    • The Camp Legacy of the WWE Divas
      • R.J. Lithgow
    • TBD
      • CarrieLynn Reinhardt

2:15 – 3:15p (6:15pm in the UK): Wrestling as Business and Industry

  • Business Model of Pro Wrestling 
    • Robert D. McDermand 
  • Wrestling State Regulations During COVID 
    • Tunisha Singleton
  • COVID anthology
    • Lowery Woodall

3:15 – 4:15p Professional Keynote: 

  • “The Three Act Structure in Wrestling Storytelling and Coverage” with featured guest Cory Strode

4:15 – 5:00p Japan on the Stage

  • Who started the first real global league in professional wrestling?
    • Mark Chetcuti
  • Yoshihiko Is Bleeding: The People’s Battle Doll and Meaning-Making in Wrestling
    • Franny Howes
  • From Rikidôzan to the Roku Player: The history of puroresu and television
    • Jonathan Foye

5:00p Closing Remarks ✌🏾

  • Tunisha Singleton