Cruiserweight Division

by David Beard, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, University of Minnesota Duluth, and John Heppen, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin River Falls [unpublished notes from a recent project] We’ve been puzzling through the relationship between rhetoric and politics.  Everyone is.  Works like “How Professional Wrestling Explains American Politics (Especially Donald Trump)” by Oliver Willis make broad … Read more Trump and Wrestling Rhetoric

by David Beard, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, University of Minnesota Duluth and John Heppen, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin River Falls [unpublished notes excised from a recent project] The wrestling industry is both a national media phenomenon (visible nationally on cable and soon, again, broadcast TV) and a periodic market (as national promotions appear … Read more Wrestling Is Both a National Media Phenomenon and a Local Periodic Market

Inverse Comics offers a biography of Bobby Fulton — not a wrestler I have heard of, and by the end of this first issue, I can see why — my wrestling consciousness starts with the AWA and WWE, and Fulton signed to the Stampede promotion in Alberta at the end of this comic. This is … Read more Bobby Fulton Comic Biography

This comic biography of Hacksaw Jim Duggan begins “in medias res” — “into the middle of things,” in a Royal Rumble. Like many mythical births, Hacksaw Jim Duggan was born special.  Consider the baby years of Paul Bunyan: Now I hear tell that Paul Bunyan was born in Bangor, Maine. It took five giant storks … Read more Hacksaw Jim Duggan Comic Biography

It says something about the theater of professional wrestling that I did not know that Nikolai Volkov was not Russian.     Volkoff was born Josip Hrvoje Peruzović (October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018). He was born in Croatia, and from childhood, envisioned an escape to the West.  The first issue of this new … Read more A Comic Biography of Nikolai Volkov

From “Where Has the Jesse Voter Gone?” by Andrew Grossbach, Rusty Kath, Alicia Spencer, & Danielle Stuard So we now ask if there in fact is a “Jesse Voter?” We argue no. Ventura appealed to a number of different demographic groups. Granted, though there was support from the youth, particularly males, Ventura could not have … Read more Elections and Wrestlers, Notes IV: Is there a Jesse voter? Is there a Trump voter?

John Heppen and I are still reflecting on “Where Has the Jesse Voter Gone?” by Andrew Grossbach, Rusty Kath, Alicia Spencer, & Danielle Stuard. Ventura was able to pull votes from Democrats and Republicans, as well as Independents. As seen in table 2, the vast majority of votes in the 1998 gubernatorial election for Norm … Read more Elections and Wrestlers, Notes III

John Heppen and I are still reflecting on “Where Has the Jesse Voter Gone?” by Andrew Grossbach, Rusty Kath, Alicia Spencer, & Danielle Stuard” Our first task was to find out who voted in the 1998 election. We narrowed our data field to incorporate solely those individuals who had the potential to vote for Jesse … Read more Elections and Wrestlers, Notes II

John Heppen and I have been reflecting on elections in which pro wrestlers run as candidates, as we move toward a model for understanding the place of wrestling and wrestling rhetoric in American political life. So we are reading about Jesse Ventura in “Where Has the Jesse Voter Gone?” by Andrew Grossbach, Rusty Kath, Alicia … Read more Elections and Wrestlers, Notes I