Pro wrestling is a fictional world that exists in, is performed by people from, and blurs the lines with the real world. That’s an obvious statement, but one that creates a rich seam for exploration, which is what Lords of the Ring attempts to do.

The book stems from a mid-2010s podcast series in which Higgins explored the intersection between pro wrestling and real world events and culture. In as much as there is a consistent theme to the book, it’s about the way wrestling handles social topics, often in challenging ways or with a lack of subtlety that borders on problematic.

Most explicitly, Higgins speaks to dozens of pro wrestling figures such as the former Muhammad Hassan, Rico (on the Billy & Chuck gay wedding storyline), Effy, Mark Henry, Rikishi and the former Eugene about their portrayal of characters with distinctive traits. While there won’t be a lot of new detail for long-term wrestling fans, there are some surprising insights, with the most compelling being the contrast between those who portrayed something they were not (Hassan as an Arab-American, Eugene as somebody with a developmental disorder) and those for whom the characteristic is both an in-ring persona and a lived experience (Henry as an African American, Effy as part of the LGBT community). Inevitably politics also plays a role, notably Donald Trump’s ties to the business.

The other main strand of the book is Higgins’ experience visiting British wrestling shows at a very localised level, exploring the sense of community and the reality of those who take part in “death matches” with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

The approach does mean that the book often feels a little haphazard. Many of the interview extracts are relatively brief and the book shifts between topics rapidly (though smoothly), while even a single topic is often broken down into extremely short chapters. However, the inclusion of the British wrestling sections does eventually prove to tie the book together, helping humanize the people behind the political and cultural issues and doing a good job of explaining why people are drawn to taking part in pro wrestling no matter the size of the platform.

Like many books of its type, Lords of the Ring faces a real challenge in balancing its potential audiences: wrestling devotees may find too much of it is familiar, while its potential interest to non-fans is limited by the barrier of whether they would read it in the first place. However, for a book tackling cultural and societal topics in pro wrestling, it has a refreshingly approachable style, concentrating less on academic philosophy and more on the actual experiences and impact on those involved.

(Disclaimer: The author provided a review copy.)

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