Lords of the Ring

Trade Paperback

A search for meaning in a world of spandex

For years, wrestling has operated as an unregulated soap opera with controversial storylines and presentations. In a world where fact and fiction is regularly blurred, where Black heritage characters were often presented as savages or ex-prisoners, and women wrestlers mainly took part in 'lingerie' matches, this book explores characters and stereotypes in the wrestling industry, and attempts to get to the heart of what wrestling tells us about our society and why it matters.

Lords of the Ring holds a mirror up to society and looks at how gender, race, national identity and sexuality has been presented through the lens of professional wrestling. It considers wrestling's relationship with politics including how Donald Trump cultivated a character on the wrestling scene, utilising the live crowds in arenas across America as a dress rehearsal for his presidential run and subsequent persona.

It follows interesting figures inside and outside the ropes, the journalists who report on it and the people in the writer's room - with their stories interweaving and culminating in #SpeakingOut (wrestling's #MeToo movement) and allegations against modern wrestling's founding father, Vince McMahon.

Written as a first-person narrative, in a similar style to the bestselling books of Craig Brown, Jon Ronson, and Louis Theroux, Lords of the Ring takes the reader on my journey through interviews and experiences. This is a book full of affection for wrestling but which also follows the unlikely, unusual, and sometimes dark characters and stories.