Wrestling Sport

As a kid growing up in New York in the late '50s, Bill Apter fell in love with professional wrestling, and it wasn't long before he was rubbing shoulders with the greats as a young reporter and photographer. He's since become the world's best-known wrestling magazine personality, and he's had professional and personal relationships with a who's who of the business, like Triple H, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Sting, and Ric Flair.

Ballyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling is a history of professional wrestling’s formative period in the U.S., from roughly 1874 to 1941, and the contested interplay of wrestlers and promoters who built the “sport” as we know it. During this period, the major conventions that would define wrestling to the present day were perfected and codified, as wrestling morphed from a rough sport practiced on farms and at town gatherings to melodramatic mass entertainment that reliably drew large crowds in cities across the nation.

The blanket statement that pro wrestling greatness is completely up to each individual, period, end of sentence has never sat particularly well with long-time pro wrestling columnist and podcaster "The Doc" Chad Matthews. In fact, he strongly disagrees, having long posited that professional wrestling is reasonably objectifiable, like modern college football rankings in the playoff era.

As a WWE wrestler with millions of fans, Shawn Michaels had adulation and all the attention he could ask for, but he found himself longing for something more. When he became a committed Christian at the height of his career, Shawn learned what it's like to be a man of faith in a secular arena...

Are you ready for the smackdown? Growing listeners can learn about professional wrestling superstars, their moves, and their victories in this low-level series. From signature moves to final pins, the action in this series is sure to keep listeners on the edge of their seats!

Are you ready for the smackdown? Growing listeners can learn about professional wrestling superstars, their moves, and their victories in this low-level series. From signature moves to final pins, the action in this series is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats!

Are you ready for the smackdown? Growing listeners can learn about professional wrestling superstars, their moves, and their victories in this low-level series. From signature moves to final pins, the action in this series is sure to keep listeners on the edge of their seats! This volume includes Zack Ryder, Alberto Del Rio, and John Cena.

If you thought the world of pro wrestling was wild, imagine what you haven’t seen on TV and in the ring. Add to that the backdrop of building a renegade production company, negotiating with impossible wrestling talent, and hosting groundbreaking, shoot-style programming, and you have the story of Sean Oliver. Sean has seen industry-wide accolades for the company he co-founded and for which he serves as front man. Watch the unpredictable and unconventional story through Sean’s eyes.

Are you ready for the smackdown? Growing listeners can learn about professional wrestling superstars, their moves, and their victories in this low-level series. From signature moves to final pins, the action in this series is sure to keep listeners on the edge of their seats!

Wrestling is cool to watch, but it’s even more fun to do! Kids can get out on the mat by learning the rules of the sport, the gear and skills needed to wrestle, and the importance of good sportsmanship.

Wrestling demands strength, skill, and strategy. Every grapple, takedown, and pin is a high-stakes battle requiring quick thinking and lightning-fast reflexes. The adrenaline rush that comes with each victory is like nothing else. This comprehensive guide teaches you the basics of wrestling and advanced techniques and strategies to help you excel in the sport.

When most people think of the celebrated greatness that is Coach Dan Gable, they think of an almost mythic intensity toward wrestling. Gable breathes and bleeds the sport and faithfully applies lessons learned from both on and off the mat. Expanding upon Gable's first collection of stories, A Wrestling Life 2 goes a little deeper into the mindset and life events that have shaped the man, the wrestler, and the coach.

The Wrestlers' Wrestlers spotlights elite performers and analyzes exactly what made them your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestlers. Authors Dan Murphy and Brian Young interviewed more than 40 in-ring veterans, historians, referees, and promoters to get a unique insider's look at the people who have made a lasting impact on the world of professional wrestling. It offers a special peek "behind the curtain" and a rare look into the top stars' thoughts on their peers, their influences, and their personal favorites.

One of the most dominant college wrestlers in history, Ben Askren became a folk hero during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, before going on to become a multiple time MMA champion and one of the sport's biggest stars. Here, in Funky, this record-breaking wrestler and polarizing UFC fighter shares how he came to dominate opponents while blazing a trail through competitors in unprecedented ways. Not blessed with natural athleticism, he revolutionized folkstyle wrestling by innovating his own technique, which earned him the famous nickname, "Funky."

The last 16 decades are rife with incidents like the "Montreal Screwjob", but in this new audiobook, it's time for some unsung heroes of professional wrestling's past to finally get their due. When did tag team wrestling migrate from Australia to the United States? How did a mid-ring heart attack reshape lucha libre? What was the first intergender wrestling match? There’s an unlimited amount of angles from which to view the fits and starts of professional wrestling’s serpentine growth.

In A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable, famed wrestler and wrestling coach Dan Gable tells engaging and inspiring stories of his childhood in Waterloo, Iowa; overcoming the murder of his sister as a teenager; his sports career from swimming as a young boy, to his earliest wrestling matches, through the 1972 Olympics; coaching at the University of Iowa from the Banachs to the Brands; life-changing friendships he made along the way; and tales of his family life off the mat.

1989. Pro wrestling reaches the summit of its golden era. Kids of all ages watch, bowls of sugar cereal in hand, as psychedelic heroes battle big bad villains on Saturday morning television. But the true soap operas begin after the cameras stop rolling.

In the enchanting coastal town of Beaufort, where the slow southern ways cast a spell of serenity, a captivating romance unfolds. Tyler Winwood and Jake Forman two collage wrestlers who share a deep bond both on and off the mat, find themselves on a journey of self-discovery, Jake and Tyler. There two friends Morgan and Carter, become instrumental in the lives of the two boys. Paths intertwine in unexpected ways.

Looking back over my time in this sport, it is clear to me that there are two types of former wrestlers. Wrestlers who successfully bridged into life by applying the discipline and principles they learned on the mat, and those wrestlers who hadn’t. I noticed that it didn’t matter what a wrestler’s accolades were, each type of former wrestler existed at every level of success or non-success in the sport.

The millions of fans who watch World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programs each year are well aware of their role in building the narrative of the sport. #WWE: Professional Wrestling in the Digital Age explores the intersections between media, technology, and fandom in WWE's contemporary programming and business practices. In the Reality Era of WWE (2011 to the present), wrestling narratives have increasingly drawn on real-life personalities and events that stretch beyond the story-world created and maintained by WWE.