Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: Professional Wrestling and the Commercial Stage 1. Productive Theatre and Professional Wrestling: The Business of Kayfabe 2. Form and Content: Professional Wrestling’s Troubling Theatrics 3. Hardcore Wrestling: Deregulation and Theatrical Danger 4. Trading Likenesses: Wrestling Labor and the Branded Body 5. A Stock Theatre Company: WWE and Theatrical Value Conclusion: Wrestling Futures Index

About the Author

Eero Laine is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He is the co-editor of Performance and Professional Wrestling (2017).