Professional Wrestling Studies Association
Studying the Past, Present, and Future of Professional Wrestling
At the time of this 1991 interview, Joel Goodhart–with his beard, glasses, and long hair– looked more like a roadie for the Grateful Dead than a successful, albeit controversial, wrestling promoter. Goodhart earned a loyal following by promoting an influential brand of wrestling called (at the time) “shock wrestling.” In 1992, Goodhart declared bankruptcy and … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Joel Goodhart
During my 1992 visit to the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA), I was able to visit with African-American prelim wrestler Anthony “Cat” Garrett. Garrett, who had just won his preliminary match that night, was standing next to a souvenir table and talking to his family, before he excused himself to talk to me. … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Cat Garrett
What is your area of research? I am Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice, in the School of Justice Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. You can find my faculty profile here. What led to your interest in pro wrestling and how do you approach pro wrestling from your scholarly discipline? I watched … Read more PWSA Meet and Greet: Karen Corteen
Wade Keller had been editing and publishing the Pro Wrestling Torch from a Minneapolis suburb for four years at the time of this 1991 interview. Keller started his newsletter as a high school student and featured interviews along with news. Although there are a variety of sources for “insider” pro wrestling news today, in the … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Wade Keller–Part 1
The Wrestling Observer newsletter, one of the first, and likely the most influential, professional wrestling newsletters is written and edited by California-based Dave Meltzer. When I was an intern at Marvel Comics in 1990, the editor with whom I worked was a professional wrestling fan and told me about this newsletter, and I have been … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Dave Meltzer
Eddie Sharkey turns his attention to his Pro Wrestling America (PWA) promotion in the second part of this 1991 interview. In addition to describing the dynamics of trying to be an independent promoter at a time when the World Wrestling Federation had driven many other regional wrestling promotions out of business, Mr. Sharkey provides some … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Eddie Sharkey–Part 2
(images Westwood One Podcasts) “Stick with us. Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news … What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” — Donald Trump, speaking at a VFW convention “False. Every fucking bit of it is false. This is shit where Dave Meltzer and … Read more “Rumor and Innuendo”: Fake News Discourses in Pro Wrestling Podcasts
The Professional Wresting Studies Association invites submissions for the inaugural issue of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal. We welcome scholarly work from any theoretical and methodological lens that is rigorous, insightful, and expands our audience’s understanding of professional wrestling past or present as a cultural, social, political, and/or economic institution. … Read more CFP: Professional Wrestling Studies Journal
Calls for MPCA/ACA 2019: Wrestling Studies Division. Deadline: May 15, 2019 With so much to talk about in professional wrestling right now, we’re looking forward to papers that cover a range of topics: from women’s wrestling in WWE to All Elite Wrestling to Southern style wrasslin’, we welcome any submission on any topic. In particular, … Read more Call for Presentations
One night while working on the Ciampa/Gargano slash project i.e. reading fanfic and luvin it), I realized how all these fanfics are not attempts to recode the Ciampa/Gargano (CG) NXT story (e.g. characters, plot points, facts) but to recode the emotions of the stories as those emotions play a role in how fans decode the stories. … Read more The Emotionality Behind Ciampa/Gargano: Part 1 Pre-Tag Team Titles