The Elfin Blog

This paper was originally intended to be a fairly straightforward examination of how the popularity of professional wrestling might be affected by, first, a person’s educational level, and then by occupation, with the idea being that the sport served to perpetuate class stereotypes and social inequality. As I began researching the subject, however, it became clear just how profound my ignorance on the subject was, and how little I truly understood the sport-performance that is modern day professional wrestling. My own prejudices and assumptions about professional wrestling had guided the formation of my research question, with no real understanding of the part this form of entertainment plays in terms of inequality and American society.

To be sure, professional wrestling does have a role in social inequality, and it is related to occupation, but the relationship is far too complex to say people with lower occupational status are drawn to professional wrestling. Wrestling, rather, is a reflection of the social inequalities Americans face in daily life. It is, as many studies describe it, an example of “…lower-class expressions of the desire for a nonambiguous moral order….” (Mazer, 1998, p8). It is a forum for people of the working classes, and others, to experience great battles between good and evil, the owners and the workers, right and wrong, fair-play and cheating, where the outcomes are fixed, but victory is always earned. Wrestling “…serves as a metaphor for social structures and meanings,” (Mazer, 1998, p7) and its entertainment and story lines are devised to engage and interest the American people, where the working man can win in the ring even though the boss still owns him when the match is over. This paper, then, will be a brief exploration of the part professional wrestling plays in the way many Americans deal with their frustration with a country where inequality is standard and seemingly insurmountable, and there are no clear boundaries between right and wrong.

Professional wrestling, in the form it is seen today, began in the post World War II era and its popularity grew with the rise of television. Wrestling, through the 1950’s and on into the 60’s and 70’s, was never without easy access to a number of villains pulled from the national consciousness. The nationalistic hostilities brought about by World War II and Korea were easy sources of evil characters for wrestling’s heroes to grapple with (Cantor, 1999). Throughout the Cold War the Soviet Union again provided wrestling’s promoters plenty of evil foes and dirty deeds for our American heroes to vanquish, and for wresting fans to rail against. This was a time when the plot lines in professional wrestling were fairly simple, and every American could cheer on the good guy, who was always a hard-working American boy fighting against the bad guy, who was the embodiment of the current national enemy, occasionally homosexuality, or even greed. These “evils” were portrayed so that those on the side of justice could prevail over them (Gabler, 1999). This trend lasted through the 1980’s and until the end of the Cold War, when national identities could no longer be so easily labeled as good or evil, and promoters of professional wrestling had to find new villains that American audiences would love to hate.

As it turned out, the great enemy the promoters found to entertain Americans in the post-Cold War era was America itself (Cantor, 1999). No longer being able to pull obvious national enemies from the headlines for use in the ring, promoters such as Vince McMahon, who owns the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), began to use enemies that could be seen within American society. These new villains are no longer the clear-cut enemies of the American way, but ambiguous foes who may cheat one moment and enforce the rules the next (Cantor, 1999 & Mazer, 1998). Wrestling now chooses the ills of society as fodder for the righteous (who are also ambiguous heroes), and thus becomes a violent reflection of our own inequalities and problems. As Paul Cantor states:

Both the WWF and the WCW [World Championship Wrestling] offer the spectacle of an America that has lost its sense of national purpose and turned inward, becoming wrapped up in manufactured psychological crises and toying with the possibility of substituting class warfare for international conflict (1999).

Moreover, the promoters themselves become involved in the drama of the ring, portraying themselves as the oppressive employer of a hard-working wrestler. In this we see a new theme emerge, that of the decent, working class man trying to make his way up the ladder of success, but stopped time and again by the owner. Wrestling fans, most of whom are young, working class males, identify with this and a new enemy is born: social inequality.

Here we see indicators of inequality such as income and occupational prestige come into play in the rings of professional wrestling. In many cases, wrestling fans today watch matches with no clear-cut good guy or villain in the ring, but rather the promoter is the evil doer, the referee represents authority, who always fails to properly enforce the rules, and the wrestlers are complex combatants, sometimes good, sometimes bad (Mazer, 1998). Vince McMahon, the head of the WWF, has now made the theme of the working man’s struggle a major element in the plot lines of current wrestling drama. As Cantor describes, “…wrestling now focuses on itself as business and makes its own corruption the central theme of its plots.” (1999). Playing the part of the victim of big business, and warrior for the cause of the worker is the character of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who is the embodiment of the working class laborer attempting to defy the will of his employers and make his own way in the world. Austin is constantly in the midst of battle with McMahon and his fictional cohorts, both in the ring and out, fighting for the rights of the worker. “With this storyline, wrestling has completed its turn inward, moving from the Cold War to class war,” and from exploiting feelings of nationalism to feelings about inequality (Cantor, 1999).

Wrestling reflects the evils with which Americans identify, as suggested by its current widespread popularity - revenues for the WWF have shot up since 1997 from $81.9 million to $251.5 million (Roberts, 1999, p42). People want to see the working person win, to hold his own against the oppressive owners, as indicated by the success of McMahon’s plot lines. Wrestling provides this release for those whose occupations offer no outlet for such expressions of rage. The inequalities of American society are indeed played out in and around the wrestling ring (Mazer, 1998).

In fact, inequality of income and occupation are not the only societal problems displayed in the ring, although they are currently the most popular. Women, for example are often subjugated and heralded at the same time. There is no doubt that professional wrestling is a male dominated world, where women are usually unwelcome, and if they do participate, they are often treated like objects or even prizes to be won by combat in the ring (Mazer, 1998). There are, however, a few exceptions where women are seen as powerful, such as McMahon’s own daughter who plays a powerful executive within the WWF, although she has also been used as a prize to be won by male wrestlers (Cantor, 1999). The inequality of women within professional wrestling, as well as the ambiguity of their dual roles as powerful executives and sexual objects mirrors the larger, though more subtle, inequalities of women in American society. The object of the fans’ hatred is not always an obvious example of inequality, as suggested by the various ambiguities discussed above.

There are, of course, other villains within professional wrestling to entertain the crowds that go beyond the inequalities of the laborer and the owner, or women in a male dominated world. Much of the appeal of wrestling for many people is that there are no clear-cut good guys or bad guys. Steve Austin, McMahon’s working class hero, regularly appears to cheat in matches, and he often gives the crowd the finger. Similarly, many villains are given fictional backgrounds that might justify their evil behavior (Cantor, 1999). Even villainous characters such as the “The Godfather,” a wrestler who is apparently a pimp, and surrounds himself with his “ho’s” is given the chance to be a victim (Gegax & Adler, 1999, p64). He would not have turned to a life of questionable behavior if not for the hard knocks life has dealt him. This ambiguity, the lack of obvious sides to root for within professional wrestling’s plots are just as much a reflection of our society as the more obvious themes of inequality (Cantor, 1999). Still, inequality is never far off, as exemplified by the women The Godfather travels around with, referred to as “ho’s.” We are outraged by his treatment of them, we sympathize with their unequal position, and we hate them for what they are supposed to be, all at the same time. It is clear, then, that as a mirror for our society, wrestling reflects ambiguity and inequality back at us hand in hand.

In conclusion, this paper, far from the simple study of professional wrestling’s relationship to its fan’s occupations it was conceived as, has become a brief exploration of wrestling and the role it plays within our culture. Wrestling is a mirror for our society. It has evolved over the years to be a form of entertainment that reflects back to its fans that which they wish to see struggled against. While nationalism made other nation-states, such as the Soviet Union, great sources of villains during the Cold War, after the fall of communism and the apparent victory of liberal democracy, wrestling needed to find something else for its fans to root for and against. That new something turned out to be America itself. Contemporary professional wrestling exemplifies within its plot lines and characters all the social inequalities and uncertainties America has to offer, and it does this because that is what the fans want to see and identify with. As Paul Cantor says, “The way wrestling has been struggling to find some kind of post-national identity reflects a deeper confusion in our culture as a whole…” (1999). Ultimately, in addition to being entertained, wrestling fans want to see the wrestlers struggle against the same things they must wrestle with daily, simply in more glorified and obvious ways. Wrestling, then, as does most popular entertainment, displays for us ways to fight against the inequalities of our society that would not be possible in real life. It is an escape, however brief, for people who are otherwise powerless to defeat the problems our country is burdened with. As long as professional wrestling uses social inequality as a villain, or indeed even as long as it is in existence, then it is a sure thing American society has some problems that need solving. Hopefully, for that reason, we might someday put professional wrestling out of business.

References

Cantor, Paul. (1999, October 4). Pro wrestling and the end of history. The Weekly Standard, pp. 17-22.

Gabler, Neal. (1999, July). God, country & professional wrestling. George, pp. 82-86.

Gegax, T. & Adler, J. (1999, June 7). Death in the ring. Newsweek, pp. 64-65.

Mazer, Sharon. (1998). Professional wrestling: Sport and spectacle. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Ortizano, Giacomo L. (1989). The press vs. professional wrestling: How the press covered WrestleMania III. Paper presented at Ohio University School of Journalism, 1989.

Roberts, J. (1999, August 16). Wrestling for dollars. Newsweek, p. 42.

Williams, Peter. (1994). The sports immortals: Deifying the American Athlete. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.

By Tom Kersey, 1999