CMU School of Drama


Thursday, March 30, 2023

'A bunch of violent theater nerds': Why some of the Bay Area’s best stories are in wrestling rings

Datebook: When New Japan Pro-Wrestling barreled from Japan into the San Jose Civic to broadcast the pay-per-view “Battle in the Valley,” members of the sold-out crowd already knew who they were rooting for in the ring. Max Chang of San Leandro appreciated the out-and-out villainy of Jay White: “He will do anything to cheat, and he doesn’t care.” His sister, Elizabeth, saw it differently: “He’s a good guy — in his eyes.”

1 comment:

Jessica Williams said...

This is absolutely perfect for me, a zenith of storytelling in the entertainment industry. I adore wrestling, entertainment violence, and theatre. They are by far some of my favorite things. I think I feel a special amount of adoration towards this idea because I absolutely despise WWE’s CEO Vince McMann and the way he treats his employees. He created almost an entire monopoly in the entertainment wrestling industry with other companies existing but not being able to truly compete with the absolute goliath of a media company that is WWE. I think that the idea of having even more smaller companies will increase the chances of consolidating and becoming the David to tip the scales. Especially being located in the Bay Area being so close to such great media opportunities. I really hope that these groups will be able to flourish even further than they already are in their territory.