Our list of some of the best Professional Wrestling books & series in recent years. Get inspired by one or more of the following books.
- The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling: A Hardcore, High-Flying, No-Holds-Barred History of the One True Sport (2018)
- National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling (2007)
- The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time: The Definitive Shoot (2013)
- Identity in Professional Wrestling: Essays on Nationality, Race and Gender (2018)
- The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Storytellers (From the Terrible Turk to Twitter) (2019)
- “Teeny”: Professional Wrestling’s Grand Dame (2017)
- The History Of Professional Wrestling Vol. 2: WWF 1990-1999 (Volume 2) (2013)
- Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling (2012)
- I’m Sorry, I Love You: A History of Professional Wrestling (2019)
- The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling (2014)
The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling: A Hardcore, High-Flying, No-Holds-Barred History of the One True Sport (2018)
As a pop culture phenomenon, professional wrestling–with its heroic babyfaces and villainous heels performing suplexes and powerbombs in pursuit of championship gold–has conquered audiences in the United States and around the world. Now, writer/podcaster Aubrey Sitterson and illustrator Chris Moreno form a graphic novel tag team to present wrestling’s complete illustrated history.
National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling (2007)
?In the 1950s, in Las Vegas, a businessmen’s conglomerate dominating a $25 million-a-year sports industry hid their illegal practices from the U.S. Department of Justice until they were caught. The sport that privileged cold hard cash over honest competition was professional wrestling, and the conspirators were members of the famed National Wrestling Alliance.
The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time: The Definitive Shoot (2013)
A no-holds-barred, definitive look at the greatest pro wrestlers ever Who were the best pro wrestlers of all time? What makes these 50 remarkable performers so special, and what were their contributions to the massively popular spectacle of wrestling? The 50 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time has the answers. Bestselling author Larry Matysik shoots from the hip about who qualifies as the very best in history.
Identity in Professional Wrestling: Essays on Nationality, Race and Gender (2018)
Part sport, part performance art, professional wrestling’s appeal crosses national, racial and gender boundaries–in large part by playing to national, racial and gender stereotypes that resonate with audiences. Scholars who study competitive sports tend to dismiss wrestling, with its scripted outcomes, as "fake," yet fail to recognize a key similarity: both present athletic displays for maximized profit through live events, television viewership and merchandise sales.
The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Storytellers (From the Terrible Turk to Twitter) (2019)
You can’t escape pro wrestling today, even if you want to. Its stars are ubiquitous in movies, TV shows, product endorsements, swag, and social media to the point that they are as much celebrities as they are athletes. Pro wrestling has morphed from the fringes of acceptability to a global $1 billion industry that plays an everyday role in 21st-century pop culture.
“Teeny”: Professional Wrestling’s Grand Dame (2017)
Rule #1: Be on time.Rule #2: No foul language.Rule #3: Stay away from the “arena rats.”Rule #4: NEVER break kayfabe.Virtually every big name in wrestling in the second half of the 20th Century crossed paths with “Ms. Christine,” as she was known to most.
The History Of Professional Wrestling Vol. 2: WWF 1990-1999 (Volume 2) (2013)
Since 2002, The History of WWE.com has served as the premiere online resource for the in- and out-of-the-ring histories of multiple wrestling companies. Now, for the first time in print, you have access to the thousands of dates, cities and ring results that comprise pro wrestling’s past. You can now find the hidden gems, the main events that drew thousands and the ones that only drew flies.
Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling (2012)
Shooters recounts the stories of athletes like Brock Lesnar and Gene LeBell, men who have lived their lives on the border between “works” and “shoots,” between the routines of the professional wrestling circuit and the legitimate confrontations that made their reputations.
I’m Sorry, I Love You: A History of Professional Wrestling (2019)
‘Clever, funny, authoritative and illuminating’ – Times Literary Supplement ‘Filled with passion, humour, and a little bit of welcome weirdness. A must-read for every die-hard wrestling fan’ – Mick Foley For fans of books from Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley and Jim Ross. ‘We have all felt every emotion today.
The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling (2014)
The Squared Circle grows out of David Shoemaker’s writing for Deadspin, where he started the column “Dead Wrestler of the Week” (which boasts more than 1 million page views)—a feature on the many wrestling superstars who died too young because of the abuse they subject their bodies to—and his writing for Grantland, where he covers the pro wrestling world, and its place in…
Best Professional Wrestling Books Everyone Should Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some professional wrestling books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
MCMAHON’S MESSES AND MISSES: SCANDALS, SHOCKERS, AND SHENANIGANS IN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Author(s): Rickard II, Michael
ID: 3355819, Publisher: , Year: 2022, Size: 483 Kb, Format: mobi
The Wrestlers' Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling
Author(s): Dan Murphy; Brian Young
ID: 3599678, Publisher: ECW Press, Year: 2021, Size: 13 Mb, Format: epub
Donald Trump and the Kayfabe Presidency: Professional Wrestling Rhetoric in the White House
Author(s): Shannon Bow O'Brien
ID: 2889857, Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Palgrave Pivot, Year: 2020, Size: 1 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are truly chart-busters according to USA Today, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.