Lords of the Ring

Name: Lords of the Ring
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781408722381

The world according to wrestling

Dan Higgins

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Constable
16 June 2026

Sports & outdoor recreation; Wrestling

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.

By: Dan Higgins
Imprint: Constable
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 22mm
ISBN: 9781408722381
ISBN 10: 1408722380
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 16 June 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

In 2017, Dan Bambridge Higgins created and presented a popular 12-part podcast, The World According to Wrestling, about professional wrestling exploring some of the themes touched on in the book (including supporting op-eds in the New Statesman, Independent, and Huff Post). Dan interviewed popular wrestlers who had portrayed stereotypical or controversial characters, WWE wrestlers Paul 'HHH' Levesque, Rikishi, Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle, Donald Trump's WWE writer Court Bauer, prominent wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, Andy Kaufman's best friend and associate Bob Zmuda and wrestlers from Britain's 'golden age' including Klondyke Kate. The World According To Wrestling podcast charted at #1 in the iTunes Film and TV Chart and #5 in the overall chart.