Scholarly Grappling: Collaborative ‘Work’ in the Study of Professional Wrestling

In 2016 Benjamin Litherland, Tom Phillips, and Claire Warden began a research collaboration centered on a shared interest in professional wrestling. All three of us have made contributions to the burgeoning field of professional wrestling studies, and we approach wrestling from different but intersecting disciplinary backgrounds—cultural studies, media studies, and performance studies, respectively. Through our collaboration, we have found new ways of crossing disciplinary borders and new lexicons with which to discuss this hybrid “sporting entertainment.”