Professional Wrestling Studies Association
Studying the Past, Present, and Future of Professional Wrestling
“Just look for the beat-up-looking old wrestler,” Eddie Sharkey advised me over the phone as we set up our 1991 breakfast meeting at a Denny’s restaurant in Minneapolis. As of 1991, Sharkey had just about done it all in professional wrestling: grappling, training, refereeing, and promoting. Sipping cup after cup of coffee, Sharkey’s tall tales … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Eddie Sharkey–Part 1
What is your area of study/research? I am an interdisciplinary scholar whose major field of study includes Geography, Black Studies, and Cultural Studies. Broadly, I am interested in understanding the way space and place shape knowledge production, the relationship between cultural production and the political economy, and I have a growing interest in the politics … Read more PWSA Meet and Greet: Dewitt King
When I talked to Theodore “Teddy” Long in 1992, he was working as a television commentator for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the second most popular wrestling promotion in America. Mr. Long was able to accomplish much during his several years in WCW, where he served as a referee, wrestling manager, and commentator. LONG: I’m from … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Teddy Long
What is your area of study/research? I am Professor of Performance and Physical Culture at Loughborough University, UK. So, I am interested in things that happen on stages and on pitches/in rings. I have written widely in the fields of interdisciplinary modernisms, theater histories, and performance practices. My website is www.clairewarden.net. What led to your … Read more PWSA Meet and Greet: Claire Warden
As with Bruno Sammartino, I met Rockin’ Robin at a 1991 New York wrestling fans’ convention. Robin sat at a table displaying her championship belts and pictures of herself in different poses that one could purchase for five dollars. Robin gave a photo to me after this interview and signed it, “Live, Love, & Laugh!” … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Rockin’ Robin
What is your area of study/research? I am Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY. My primary areas of interest are in the Philosophy of Psychology, the Metaphysics of Personhood, and most relevantly here, Philosophy in Popular Art and Media, including science fiction, comic books, music, and of course, professional wrestling. … Read more PWSA Meet and Greet: Ben Abelson
In part 3 of this 1991 interview with Bruno Sammartino, Sammartino describes the stress of his long-term WWWF championship runs and his concerns about steroid use among professional wrestlers. SAMMARTINO: Overnight, everything turned around. The Italians started following me. Not bragging, but the WWF became the number one organization. I had an enormous career, a … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Bruno Sammartino–Part 3
After I graduated from college in 1991, I was awarded Columbia’s Henry Evans Traveling Fellowship, which allowed me to travel around the United States and interview people in the professional wrestling business. I collected eighteen interviews, which will be now be released twice a month in the PWSA Ringside blog series “Before Shoot Interviews.” In … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Bruno Sammartino–Part 2
As a religion major at Columbia University, I wrote a senior thesis on ritual and religious imagery in professional wrestling during 1990-1991. I subsequently applied for and received Columbia’s Henry Evans Traveling Fellowship, which allowed me to travel around the United States and interview people in the professional wrestling business. I collected eighteen interviews, which … Read more Before Shoot Interviews: Bruno Sammartino–Part 1
We’re taking off the Nylons today, friends. I have much to say about the journey we’ve mapped for women’s wrestling in the past three years that Nylons and Midriffs has existed, but I want to take one last review at this unforgettable year first. So much happened in America in the midst of great trauma, … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Being Seen (Year in Review, 2020)