Most professional wrestling fans have accepted the scripted nature of wrestling for decades, but are we truly living in a post-kayfabe world? This week’s guest, RJ City, thinks that maybe kayfabe never died. RJ City is a comedian, wrestler, bon vivant, the host of AEW’s Hey!(EW). You may have seen him beating up David Arquette, winning Celebrity Family Feud, mocking children on Nickelodeon’s Splatalot, or making coffee in his underwear on YouTube. RJ shares the insights he has gained working in the wrestling business over the course of 17 years. Can RJ act as Sebastian’s “decoder ring” for the strange world of wrestling? Tune-in and find out how Lawrence Welk, a Daytime TV Warm-up Guy, and a circus with too many elephants all play role in the story. 

Work 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.