This episode works just fine as a podcast. Yes, continue washing dishes! But some of this imagery needs to be seen to believed.
If you find that you can’t look away from the violence, sexual violence, and woman hating depicted here, you’re on your way to understanding why more teenage males watch Wrestlemania than The World Series or the Super Bowl, and why professional wrestling has had such a tremendous impact on our culture.
My guest for Episode 1 is Dr. Sharon Mazer author of Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle, and the only woman shown in the Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon offering a socio-political critique.
Dr. Mazer argues that Donald Trump’s political career and persona are direct outgrowths of his appearances in Wrestlemania and other professional wrestling programs, and that the structure and format of wrestling has “escaped the arena” and warped American culture.
The Netflix docuseries, which is directed by Chris Smith, has many fascinating and important threads, and even a heartwarming story about Vince McMahon’s relationship with his son, Shane.
But Dr. Mazer and I focus on the violence against women depicted in the film, and allegedly inflicted on employees of Vince McMahon over many decades. McMahon is under federal investigation, stemming from the latest in a string of sexual abuse lawsuits.
Age of the Fantasist: Wrestling Darkness 4
My guest in episode 4 of Wrestling Darkness is Professor Lawrence Lessig who explains in his essay, The Age of the Fantasist, how and why algorithmic media came to reward narratives that lie to us.
Episode 2: Wrestling Has Infected Everything
Abraham Josephine Riesman, author of the best-selling biography Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America., explains how the production of cheap, addictive entertainment such as pro wrestling, cable news, and reality TV, changed the culture of American.
Wrestling Darkness 5: The Netflix Era
A $5 billion dollar deal to stream WWE Raw on Netflix kicked off on January 6, 2025 with 4 matches sprinkled across three hours of pageantry and eye-popping imagery.
The music for Wrestling Darkness was composed by Michael Brook, who scored all four of my feature length films. The jazzy improv rendition of the song is performed by David Scott Binanay & Stephen Munoz, who also played at my wedding!
The Wrestling Darkness podcast and the other content found on the @EricByler substack feed is supported by the 501c3 non-profit ID Alliance, which means you can support this work by making a tax deductible donation.
’Below is the “gay frogs” conversation I had a a Trump rally in West Virginia. This took place during Trump’s first administration, when, if you recall, he continued to hold rallies as if the campaign was ongoing.
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