Professional Wrestling had a long history of manipulated matches, but it took time to evolve into the pure theatre we know today. Along the road Professional Wrestling passed through a strange intermediary period, where the matches were mostly scripted, but occasionally real wrestling unexpectedly intruded into the ring. Wrestlers could double-cross their promoters, turn fixed matches into legitimate contests, and “steal” titles from a pre-determined champion. In the 1920’s “breaking the rules” ironically meant really wrestling. When did Professional Wrestling finally purge the last vestiges of reality from it’s “spectacle of excess”. Tune-in and find out how vaudeville endings, a French Angel, and a Super Swedish Angel all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. “World of Wrestling.” Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling, edited by Nicholas Sammond, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2005. Pp. 23-32.

Beekman, Scott. Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Praeger Publishing, Westport, Connecticut, 2006.

Hackett, Thomas. Slaphappy: Pride, Prejudice, and Professional Wrestling. HarperCollins, New York, 2006. 

Hornbaker, Tim. Death of the Territories: Expansion, Betrayal and the War that Changed Pro Wrestling Forever. ECW Press, New York, 2018.

Sammond, Nicholas. “Introduction: A Brief and Unnecessary Defense of Professional Wrestling.” Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling, edited by Nicholas Sammond, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2005. Pp. 1-21.