The Road To Better Representation Of Asians At WrestleMania

On January 28th, 2018, two performers of Japanese descent, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka, won their respective Royal Rumble matches.

This was a defining moment both in pro-wrestling history, and in my personal pro-wrestling fandom.

When you’re an ethnic minority, growing up a pro-wrestling fan presents a challenge.

Pro-Wrestling's xenophobic roots result in the depiction of ethnic minorities as the heels (villains) opposite the "All-American" babyfaces (heroes). We are represented by racial caricatures and stereotypes that are designed to emphasize one’s foreignness. It’s a constant reminder that we are the “other”; that the way we look, the way we sound, the way we act inevitably elicits boos.

The Inaugural Women's Royal Rumble Review (2018)

The WWE's annual Royal Rumble is many pro-wrestling fan's favorite pay-per-view, and with good reason.

It is the pop-filled prelude to WrestleMania, typically establishing the primary Championship narratives that lead into Vince McMahon's "showcase of the immortals". Unfortunately, recent Rumbles have been mired in fan discontent, with the WWE and its audience locked in deep disagreement about who deserves the "top guy" moniker, and thus a shot at WrestleMania's main event.

All eyes await, with a mounting sense of anticipatory dread, as the final four participants are revealed. There is a collective sense of "really...this is who it's going to be?" that hangs over the final minutes of the match like a grim cloud.

Wrestling Sexism: An Interview

Although the pro-wrestling industry often appears content to exist on the fringe of popular culture, fancying itself apolitical, asocial, and purely "entertainment", it does not, in fact, exist apart from society.

Pro-wrestling is every bit a reflection (the good, the bad, and the reprehensible) of society as any other theatrical medium. Just as Hollywood, the video game industry, the sports world, and every other business enterprise where creativity, athleticism, and culture collide, professional wrestling is undergoing a transformation.

In pro-wrestling, particularly in the past few years, those fans & performers who have historically been underrepresented, marginalized, or vilified are pushing back. The bigoted and sexist caricatures in pro-wrestling, as well as those fans who dismiss people who don't fit the white, straight, eighteen to thirty-five year old male demographic as "fake fans", face a mounting resistance. Pro-wrestling fans are combating the tired, false narrative that this form of art is "for the few, by the few".

My Message To the Pro-Wrestling Journalists & Podcasters Of The Future

At the end of 2016 my weekly podcast, The Work of Wrestling, will go on hiatus. During that hiatus I plan on restructuring the show so that, in the future, it will be distributed in a highly focused, seasonal format. I do not yet know how long that hiatus will be and I do not yet know how long those seasons will be, but I am excited about the prospect of reinvention and return.

While I still plan to continue writing about wrestling whenever the mood strikes, it feels like a good time to offer a "see you later" (rather than a goodbye) to The Pro-Wrestling Community, particularly to the younger writers & podcasters currently honing their crafts. You are the ones who will take up this mantle, push it into the 21st Century and beyond, and change the way people think about professional wrestling (for the better). Your passion, your ingenuity, and your progressive perspectives will be needed for our Community to ever grow up.

WORK OF WRESTLING PODCAST - BEAST IN THE EAST REVIEW

#WomensWrestling: Trust & Time

While it’s exciting that pro-wrestling fans have made their voices heard with the #GiveDivasAChance movement, since this trend caught on the WWE has done little more than pay lip service to the fact that there’s an obvious problem with the way women are represented in the company. The “WWE Divas” on the main roster still get less than five minutes on a three hour prime-time television show - a television show that, by the company’s own admission, is difficult to program for due to a massive time-slot.

#WomensWrestling: IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

EDITORIALSTim KailMay 4, 2015feminism, womens wrestling, give divas a chance, stephanie mcmahon, wwe network, wwe, pro wrestling blogs, wwe blogs, wrestlemania, aj lee, the bella twins, nikki bella, brie bella, total divas, #WomensWrestling

WORK OF WRESTLING - EP19 - GET MAD!

THE PODCASTTim KailMay 4, 2015work of wrestling, wrestling podcast, pro wrestling blogs, pro wrestling podcast, wwe network, wwe blogs, vince mcmahon, give divas a chance, womens wrestling, feminism

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