Professional wrestling is one of the most popular performance practices
in the United States and around the world, drawing millions of
spectators to live events and televised broadcasts. The displays of
violence, simulated and actual, may be the obvious appeal, but that is
just the beginning. Fans debate performance choices with as much energy
as they argue about their favorite wrestlers. The ongoing scenarios and
presentations of manly and not-so-manly characters--from the
flamboyantly feminine to the hypermasculine--simultaneously celebrate
and critique, parody and affirm the American dream and the masculine
ideal.
Sharon Mazer looks at the world of professional wrestling from a
fan's-eye-view high in the stands and from ringside in the wrestlers'
gym. She investigates how performances are constructed and sold to
spectators, both on a local level and in the "big leagues" of the WWF/E.
She shares a close-up view of a group of wrestlers as they work out, get
their faces pushed to the mat as part of their initiation into the
fraternity of the ring, and dream of stardom. In later chapters, Mazer
explores professional wrestling's carnivalesque presentation of
masculinities ranging from the cute to the brute, as well as the way in
which the performances of women wrestlers often enter into the realm of
pornographic. Finally, she explores the question of the "real" and the
"fake" as the fans themselves confront it.
First published in 1998, this new edition of Professional Wrestling:
Sport and Spectacle both preserves the original's snapshot of the
wrestling scene of the 1980s and 1990s and features an up-to-date
perspective on the current state of play.
