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Start Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
The world of professional wrestling has always had a fraught relationship with masculinity. Traditional understandings of manliness intersect awkwardly with the genre’s need for a more theatrical performativity. Rarely has that tension played out more visibly than in the WWE’s recent attempts to crown performer Roman Reigns as the company’s new leading man, a role previously played by the likes of Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In Sharon Mazer’s Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle, she discusses why gender performances that would seem non-normative in mainstream American culture resonate particularly well “with [wrestling’s] presumably straight, lower-, and working-class audience.” This raises questions about not just why these transgressions are accepted by audiences of WWE television, but how the production and reception of these performances has changed based on shifts in professional wrestling’s audience since its peak popularity in the 1980’s and 90’s.
Using the stylization of and storytelling around Reigns as a case study, I argue that the WWE struggled to use previous models of masculinity to popularize their new primary star. Only by updating their signifiers of masculinity to include complex imagery drawn from current professional sports, hip hop culture, and crime films did they convince modern audiences to embrace Reigns. These images allow for a more complicated approach to masculinity than typically seen in the WWE, but a critique of race must be made regarding them - as they are associated with Reigns’ Samoan heritage and his place as arguably the first villainous character to front the WWE.
Re-masculinizing Roman Reigns: Modern Professional Wrestling Audiences and Evolving Notions of Masculinity
The world of professional wrestling has always had a fraught relationship with masculinity. Traditional understandings of manliness intersect awkwardly with the genre’s need for a more theatrical performativity. Rarely has that tension played out more visibly than in the WWE’s recent attempts to crown performer Roman Reigns as the company’s new leading man, a role previously played by the likes of Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In Sharon Mazer’s Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle, she discusses why gender performances that would seem non-normative in mainstream American culture resonate particularly well “with [wrestling’s] presumably straight, lower-, and working-class audience.” This raises questions about not just why these transgressions are accepted by audiences of WWE television, but how the production and reception of these performances has changed based on shifts in professional wrestling’s audience since its peak popularity in the 1980’s and 90’s.
Using the stylization of and storytelling around Reigns as a case study, I argue that the WWE struggled to use previous models of masculinity to popularize their new primary star. Only by updating their signifiers of masculinity to include complex imagery drawn from current professional sports, hip hop culture, and crime films did they convince modern audiences to embrace Reigns. These images allow for a more complicated approach to masculinity than typically seen in the WWE, but a critique of race must be made regarding them - as they are associated with Reigns’ Samoan heritage and his place as arguably the first villainous character to front the WWE.
Bio
Joshua is currently an adjunct instructor in Bellarmine University's Department of Communication. He was a former teaching fellow at Butler University, and he has also taught at the University of Indianapolis and the University of South Alabama. He holds a PhD in Communication & Culture from Indiana University, an MA in English from the University of Florida, and BAs in English and Journalism from the University of Missouri. His work focuses on horror culture, fandom, festivals, and ethnography.