“The Most Convergent of All Media” — An Editorial Introduction

As CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and I have written elsewhere (see Reinhard & Olson 2019), professional wrestling may be the most convergent of all media. Indeed, scholars such as Roland Barthes (1957/2012), Sharon Mazer (1998/2020), Heather Levi (2008), and Henry Jenkins (2005) have all observed that professional wrestling contains elements of live theatre, combat sports, film, television, soap opera, video games, sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, haunted house attractions, and more. These elements all come together inside the wrestling arena to create a truly unique form of spectacle.

From comedian/performance artist Andy Kaufman stepping into the ring against wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler

to Chris Jericho dubbing himself the “Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla” after Lord Humungus in Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior (George Miller, 1981), and

from the members of the New Day entering the ring in Dragonball Z inspired gear

to Kenny Omega adopting a theme song by Final Fantasy XVI composer Masayoshi Soken,

the Squared Circle is the one place where nearly all media collide, much like the competitors who face off against one another in a battle royal.

Meanwhile, during the early years of the twenty-first century, professional wrestling has increasingly influenced other media, in something of a feedback loop. Of course, professional wrestling has long intersected with other forms of entertainment, as evidenced by wrestling-themed films such as Flesh (John Ford, 1932) and Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) or by venerable comic Jack Benny stepping inside the ropes to referee a wrestling match in an episode of his eponymous TV show The Jack Benny Program (1950-1965). These days, however, professional wrestling seems to exert a much greater influence on the media landscape than ever before, with its tropes, characters, and personalities popping up in just about every corner of entertainment. Whether it is Kong hitting Godzilla with a standing suplex in Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire (Adam Wingard, 2024) or fictional luchador Silver Mask battling vampires in The Strain (both the novels and the spinoff TV series) or the current President of the United States cutting heel promos on his political opponents during interviews, professional wrestling appears to be everywhere these days. The rise of TV shows like Heels (2021-2023) and Invincible Fight Girl (2024-), comic books like Do a Powerbomb! and Ringside, films like Calamari Wrestler (Minoru Kawasaki, 2004) and Dark Match (Lowell Dean, 2024), and video games like Guacamelee! and WrestleQuest shows that wrestling has gone from being, as Colt Cabana put it, “the red-headed stepchild of popular culture” (Olson 307) to one of the more influential forms of media in the entire world.

In this issue of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, we explore this outsized influence by speaking to creators who have been inspired by professional wrestling in highly different ways. As David Beard notes in his foreword to this volume, we spoke with authors, game designers, and comic book creators who have drawn inspiration from the world of professional wrestling in their works. In novels such as Cataract City, tabletop RPGS like Worldwide Wrestling, and comic books including The Crippler’s Son and The Road to God Knows, creators such as Craig Davidson, Nathan D. Paoletta, Max Riffner, and Von Allan all use their love of professional wrestling to create gripping narratives that also demonstrate how “sportive entertainment” (Gillespie & Smith) intersects with nearly every facet of life. Even poets such as Lizzy Flanagan and Brian Oliu have turned to professional wrestling promos – which often feature flamboyant and florid phrases – when creating their prose. From high art to low trash (regardless of whether those distinctions even mean anything), professional wrestling serves as a fountain of inspiration (not unlike the “cold” fountain that so vexed Hulk Hogan during his feud with the Dungeon of Doom).

With all that out of the way, I should introduce myself. My name is Christopher J. Olson, and I am Assistant Professor of English and Digital Media (though that will soon be changing to Assistant Professor of Communication) at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. I am also the new editor of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, taking over from Matt Foy, who successfully guided the first three issues of the journal before deciding to step down from the position in 2024. Under Matt’s leadership, the PWSJ collected vital scholarship on professional wrestling written by researchers in various fields, once again demonstrating how professional wrestling crosses paths with nearly all disciplines and just about every aspect of life. I hope to continue in Matt’s footsteps, bringing together scholarship and creative works from a wide array of fields written by scholars, fans, and industry professionals alike.

I also owe thanks to reviews editor David Beard for pulling together all the threads of this issue as I try to settle into my new position and home. Without David’s tireless efforts this issue would not be anywhere near as good as it is, and I will be forever grateful to him for coming up with the central theme of this issue and taking time out of his busy schedule to contact all the contributors and conduct many of the interviews. I am privileged to have David as a member of my editorial team and hope that he sticks around for a long time to come.  We both home that the texts spotlighted in this issue inspire you to write reviews, from a scholar’s perspective, of the many texts generated about and around professional wrestling.

I also want to thank my assistant editor Aaron Horton for all his assistance and support thus far. In addition to being a rabid fan of professional wrestling, Aaron is a dedicated scholar who is devoted to studying this most bizarre form of entertainment and I honestly could not ask for a better second-in-command. I look forward to working more closely with Aaron during my tenure at the PWSJ, and when I eventually step down from my position as editor, I know that the PWSJ will be in good hands with him at the helm (if he agrees to take over after I leave, of course).

Anyway, I think this introduction has gone on long enough. I hope you enjoy this issue, and I trust that it will point you to some excellent books, games, poems, comics, and other texts that all feature professional wrestling in some capacity. Additionally, I hope it also inspires you to take some time to reflect on how professional wrestling has impacted your own life as a fan, a scholar, a creator, and a person, and maybe to think about how you can incorporate elements of professional wrestling into your own work, either creative or professional.

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Richard Howard and Annette Lavers, Hill and Wang, 1957/2012.

Gillespie, Kerry and Doug Smith. “Capturing a Country Through Sport: Making Us Proud.” Toronto Star, https://www.thestar.com/sports/capturing-a-country-through-sport-making-us-proud/article_e96f81cf-4d48-50a3-9f48-c39573a5a75a.html. Accessed 15 February 2025.

Jenkins, Henry. “‘Never Trust a Snake’: WWF Wrestling as Masculine Melodrama.” Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling, edited by Nicholas Sammond. Duke University Press, 2005, pp. 33-66.

Levi, Heather. The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity. Duke University Press, 2008.

Mazer, Sharon. Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle, Second Edition. University Press of Mississippi, 1998/2020.

Olson, Christopher J. “Twitter, Facebook, and Professional Wrestling: Indie Wrestler Perspectives on the Importance of Social Media.” Professional Wrestling, special issue of Popular Culture Studies Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, 2018, pp. 306-16.

Reinhard, CarrieLynn D. and Christopher J. Olson. “Introduction: Defining Convergent Wrestling.” Convergent Wrestling: Participatory Culture, Transmedia Storytelling, and Intertextuality in the Squared Circle, edited by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Christopher J. Olson, Routledge, 2019, pp. 1-14.