Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of COVID-19 by Keith Elliot Greenberg
Review / July 28, 2022

At times this feels like three books in one and unfortunately that’s not a benefit. Following Greenberg’s Too Sweet, which chronicled the rise of independent wrestling to the All In show, this covers the period from the emergence of COVID-19 in January 2020 to the return of full crowds at AEW show in Summer 2021. I noted of Too Sweet that it’s early section “often feels a little scattergun, skipping from topic to topic and relaying a string of information about each but without really telling a story or making a clear point. In particular, several sections will have multiple short quotes from different wrestlers and personalities that don’t really add up to an overall insight.” Not only does that approach continue here, but the bigger picture’s focus is unclear. It switches between a chronological account of wrestling in the period, a thematic examination of the effects of the pandemic on the business, and an overview of the pandemic itself and political events. The transitions between these often feel abrupt (there’s a particularly audacious move from wrestler deaths to the election campaign via James ‘Kamala’ Harris and the future vice-president), while some sections of historical events such as Brexit negotiations…