Populism and Professional Wrestling in the Sunbelt South

Coupling the nuance of a Bill Watts storyline with the power of a Terry Funk punch, Stacey brightly illuminates how pro wrestling provides a lens for understanding key issues in the evolving American South of the twentieth century. This is a spirited and long-overdue study of an important component of Southern popular culture. -- Scott Beekman, University of Rio Grande Stacey’s work is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the intersections between professional wrestling and popular culture in the South. A must-read for both scholars and fans of professional wrestling. -- Aaron D. Horton, Alabama State University Christopher Stacey's Populism and Professional Wrestling in the Sunbelt South: From Rasslin’ to Sports Entertainment provides a unique look at Southern professional wrestling (or 'Rasslin'' in regional parlance) that not only surveys the major promotions, wrestlers, and feuds of the territory era, but also looks at the deeper meaning behind the phenomenon of wrestling in the Trans-Mississippi region of the United States. Both entertaining and educational, this book will certainly be a welcome addition to the shelves of sport and cultural historians, as well as those interested in professional wrestling in the years prior to its homogenization as an internationalized and corporatized form of 'sports entertainment.' -- C. Nathan Hatton, Cape Breton University