WrestlePosium II

April 3, 2021

8:00 am – 4:00 pm CDT

 

Opening Sessions 8:00-8:15 am

8:00-8:15: Presidential Address from CarrieLynn D. Reinhard

Pro-Wrestling Professionals Presentations: 8:20 am-10:05 am

8:20-9:10: Professionals and the Pandemic: Sam West (Wrestling Resurgence), Vinayak Sodhi (Wrestle Square), Jeremy Gomez (Generation Championship Wrestling), Laura and Gene Miller (Diamond Championship Wrestling), Diego Piacentini (Italian Wrestling Association) and Dann Read (EVE – Riot Grrls of Wrestling)

9:15-10:05: Professional Keynote by Jazzy Gabert aka Alpha Female

Academic Panels: 10:10 am-11:55 am

10:10-11:00: Developing a Fandom Study Panel (CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Kit Medjesky)

11:05-11:55: That Was Both Predictable and Yet Surprising: Research on pro wrestling, Trump, and presidential politics in 2020-2021 (David Beard, John Heppen, Shannon Bow O’Brien, and David Moon)

Lunch Break: 11:55 am-12:25 pm

Academic Presentations: 12:25 pm-4:00 pm

12:25-12:45: Brian Jansen: “’He’s Gonna Try’: Notes toward a theory of the professional wrestling gimmick”

12:50-1:10: Sarah Turner McGowen: “See It, Say It, Sell It: The visual rhetoric of professional wrestling”

1:30-1:50: Jessica Fontaine: “Gimmicks and Good Workers: Practices of essential work, (bodily) care, and support by professional wrestling gear makers”

1:55-2:15: J. Rocky Colavito: “Let Me Tell You Something at the Top of My Lungs!: A rhetorical analysis of regional wrestling promos in the seventies and eighties”

2:20-2:40: Vincent Smith: “AEW and WWE’s Wednesday Night Wars: An early analysis”

2:45-3:05: Ryan Cox: “The Match You Wrestle Must Prove It Desires Me: Authorship and audiences in the empty arena era”

3:10-4:00: Academic Keynote by Heather Levi

 

Huge thanks to Mario Dozal for this year’s logo!