Populism and Professional Wrestling in the Sunbelt South

Populism and Professional Wrestling in the Sunbelt South: From Rasslin' to Sports Entertainment traces the history of professional wrestling in the South within the Trans-Mississippi Region between the 1950s-1990s. Examining professional wrestling through the lens of kayfabe, also known as the perception of the realism and the suspension of disbelief among fans, this book discovers that the dissolution of kayfabe occurred simultaneously with significant political, social, and cultural events in Southern history, including the Civil Rights Movement and technological and economic modernity. Christopher L. Stacey determines that the same political, social, economic, and cultural forces of modernity in the Sunbelt South reflected a new form of southern and national populism embedded within the professional wrestling industry. New forms of populism were reflected within characters, storylines, gimmicks, and angles of several territories in the Trans-Mississippi region. Through autobiographies, biographical information, and shoot interviews, Stacey provides a closer look into the business of professional wrestling during the mid-twentieth century and how it connects to racial, gender, class, and national identity.

Christopher L. Stacey is professor of history at Louisiana State University of Alexandria.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Emergence of the Trans-Mississippi Region in the Sunbelt South, 1933-1983
Chapter Two: Rasslin' with Race: Race and Political Culture in The Memphis and Mid-South Territories, 1959-1992
Chapter Three: Populism and Kayfabe: Identity and Professional Wrestling in Southern Political Culture in the 1970s and 80s
Chapter Four: Working, Shooting, Playing and Kayfabe: The Relationship between Professional Wrestling and 'Legitimate' Sports in the Trans-Mississippi Wrestling Region
Chapter Five: "I Couldn't Carry a Tune in a Bucket': Music in the Trans-Mississippi Territories and the Transition from Rasslin' to Sports Entertainment
Chapter Six: Life, Death, Violence and Kayfabe in the Trans-Mississippi Region
Chapter Seven: The Hollywood Outside Agitator Vs. the King of Memphis: The Jerry Lawler-Andy Kaufman Wrestling Feud and the Political and Cultural Climate of the Post-Civil Rights South, 1981-82
Chapter Eight: The Death of Kayfabe: The Trans-Mississippi, the Rise of Corporate Wrestling, and the disappearance of the Territories, 1982-1995
Epilogue
Bibliography
About the Author