Knowledge is Power
Citizen!
It should go without saying that the key to developing a populace dedicated to maintaining kayfabe is education. What follows is a list of publications that should be acquired, read, studied, memorized, and destroyed lest they fall into the wrong hands. We will update this list on a regular basis as more titles become available.
The People's Sport: Wrestling as Soviet Spectacle
A truly fascinating historical document, The People's Sport details the philosophy and stars of Moscow Championship Wrestling (MCW), the USSR’s premier professional wrestling promotion. Established under the auspices of the Soviet State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport, MCW was created as a blend of athletic competition and socialist spectacle, aiming to promote Soviet ideals of strength, discipline, and collectivism through scripted matches. While there is a world of difference between the political and cultural contexts of the modern United States and the Soviet Union of forty years ago, there is much that we can learn about kayfabe and the power of professional wrestling within its pages.
Part of a trove of Soviet-era wrestling artifacts that were recently unearthed by Department of Wrestling interns in the Central State Archive of the Russian SFSR in Moscow, this celebration of Soviet wrestling has been recently republished by the DoW and is presented exactly as it appeared when it was originally printed and distributed to the English-speaking wrestling audience of Eastern and Western Europe in 1981. You can download a PDF copy of the book here; to order a limited-edition physical copy, head to the official web site of Thanks for the Bumps.
Kayfabe and Kings: The Hidden Politics of the Squared Circle
"Every throne needs a champion, and every champion needs a crowd. From medieval courts to modern elections, rulers have always worked the mic, played the angles, and turned face or heel to suit the moment. But as history shows, the difference between a king and a world champion isn’t power—it’s who gets to write the next promo."
Carter Donovan's classic examination of who really holds power, in and outside the ring.
Originally published by Ethereal Essence Press, 1954
Suplexing Sovereignty: Wrestling with Global Power
"Treaties were just tag-team contracts, sanctions the equivalent of a heel working stiff, and superpowers kept their finishers protected like old-school veterans. But in the grand battle royale of global dominance, the real winners weren’t the nations in the ring—it was the ones booking the show from behind the curtain."
A fascinating investigation into who's booking the world of geopolitics, from Professor Anika Velasquez & Dr. Torbjörn Håkansson and the Joint Center for Geostrategy and Performance.
Originally published by the Transnational Institute for Performativity & Power Publishing (Berlin), 1979
