2026-05-21T12:24:58Zhttps://keep.lib.asu.edu/oai/request

oai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-2008212025-06-03T23:20:19Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items

200821 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.200821 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 2025-05 38 pages Pleskovitch, Alexander Eaton, John Mokwa, Michael Barrett, The Honors College The Design School Department of Marketing “You watch professional wrestling? Don’t you know that it’s fake?” If you talk to just about any fan of professional wrestling, they will tell you that they have gotten this response on countless occasions. By now, it is common knowledge that professional wrestling and its wild theatrics are all a part of a predetermined presentation, or as many like to call it, “fake”. Despite this, the professional wrestling business, known more commonly now as the sports entertainment business, has boomed into a multi-billion-dollar industry that stretches to every corner of the globe and continues to grow by the day. The massive popularity of the “sport” is due in great part to the unique nature of the presentation. Unlike traditional sports, the lack of true competition and the complete absence of any sort of formal rule book allows performers and producers alike to enjoy what is essentially boundless freedom in crafting the presentation. As a result, the modern sports entertainment industry has adopted a chameleon-like quality, seamlessly integrating elements from across the entertainment spectrum to create a truly one-of-a-kind experience. The characters may be contrived, the plotlines may originate in a writer’s room, and the matches may be fixed, but the money and the fanfare are very real. While the general public may continue to thumb their nose at professional wrestling and its fans, the global success of the industry is undeniable, and there is great value to other industries in understanding how and why it works so well. Professional Wrestling Sports Entertainment Anything Can Happen: Exploring the Draw of Professional Wrestling and the Value of its Core Principles in Industries Beyond