Wrestling
Story Stream
It Wasn't Real, But It Was Beautiful March 10, 2025
Last year, on the day after Christmas, I went alone to the WWE Holiday Tour Live at Madison Square Garden, where I sat in nosebleed seats. I wore a plaid button-down shirt and black jeans. I listened to “Danza Kuduro” on repeat on the half-hour walk ...
Wrestling and the Recreation of Cable February 05, 2024
Fifteen years ago, the world of streaming used to be a simple place. You could pay $9.99 a month to Netflix or Hulu and open the door to a vast array of primarily archival content. At the time, this was a veritable Library of Alexandria of licensed c...
Vince McMahon’s Greatest Desire Might Be His Undoing February 05, 2024
Vince McMahon dreamed of becoming a respectable businessman.He had been quiet and unmemorable as a youth, had been a financial failure as a young man, and was viewed as a nepotism hire when he was coming up as an announcer at his father’s pro wrestli...
Terry Funk Embodied the Spirit of Pro Wrestling August 25, 2023
In a year that has seen several wrestling legends take their final bows, Terry Funk’s death this week at age 79 is arguably the most poignant. Where “Superstar” Billy Graham, who died in May, might have provided the template for a certain type of mus...
A Warning for Oliver Anthony August 18, 2023
If you have any social media presence at all, by now you’ve likely seen Oliver Anthony’s breakout performance of a song he wrote titled, “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The overnight sensation has been nothing but humble and grateful, and how he’s wres...
The Indispensable Novel August 17, 2023
The following review is part of RealClear Books & Culture's symposium on Joseph Epstein's 'The Novel, Who Needs It?'An odd characteristic of the novel, Joseph Epstein writes, is that it is perfectly possible to have read one thoroughly and to retain ...
How Seth Rollins Became the WWE’s Undisputed Fashion King August 15, 2023
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, pro wrestling was teeming with big, freaky characters wearing even bigger, freakier ensembles: Think Ric Flair in his WOOOOO!-inducing furs; Macho Man Randy Savage’s floor-grazing fringe and neon-sequin cowboy hats; Bret Ha...
Cody Rhodes Is Ready to Capture the WWE World Title August 07, 2023
In professional wrestling, nothing is more important than the story. And the storyline surrounding Cody Rhodes over the past eight years has been one of the most compelling and all-encompassing in wrestling history. He was raised under the shadow of ...
