Dr Sam West

Professional Wrestling, Performance and Storytelling

I am a researcher, writer and creative practitioner specialising in professional wrestling as a collaborative artistic and storytelling practice.

Drawing on my PhD research and my work as co-founder and Creative Director of Wrestling Resurgence, I help wrestlers, theatre-makers, students, researchers and cultural organisations understand and use wrestling’s approaches to booking, character, match construction, embodied storytelling and audience participation.

Professional wrestling as a collaborative storytelling art

My PhD, Bodies of Work: The Storytelling Art of Professional Wrestling, examines how independent professional wrestling tells stories.

Its central argument is that wrestling is not the work of a single author. Promoters and bookers construct storyworlds, opportunities and long-term trajectories. Wrestlers develop performance personas, build distinctive bodies of work and create matches together. Audiences interpret and respond to these performances, helping meaning emerge in real time.

I propose wrestling “work” as a distinct creative practice: embodied, collaborative, adaptive and historically connected to both popular theatre and sport. My research explores booking and creative direction, performance persona and wrestler self-authorship, match construction, selling, audience co-creation and the cultural power of deciding who is made visible.

Wrestling Resurgence: research through practice

I co-founded Wrestling Resurgence in 2017 and serve as its Creative Director. Working closely with co-founder John Kirby and our performers, I book events, develop storylines and talent relationships, produce live shows and lead publicly funded arts projects.

Resurgence operates as both an independent wrestling promotion and an ongoing form of practice-as-research. Across more than 30 events, it has allowed me to test ideas through booking, card composition, long-term and reactive storytelling, talent development, performance, film and interdisciplinary collaboration.

This means my research is grounded in the practical realities of making wrestling: negotiating between creative ambition, performer agency, audience response, representation, resources and the unpredictability of live performance.

Selected projects

BARDCORE

BARDCORE is a collaboration between Wrestling Resurgence and 1623 Theatre Company, combining professional wrestling, Shakespeare and creative access.

Its first production, Midsummer Mayhem, reimagined A Midsummer Night’s Dream through wrestlers, actors and Deaf and signing performers. British Sign Language and audio description were integrated into the performance rather than added around it. The work explores what becomes possible when Shakespeare, wrestling and BSL operate as interconnected storytelling languages. A further phase of development is supported by Arts Council England.

Everything Patterned

Everything Patterned was curated by wrestler Roy Johnson and produced with Wrestling Resurgence during Black History Month in 2019. It was the first professional wrestling event in the UK to feature an all-Black cast of wrestlers.

The project examined racial representation within British wrestling while creating meaningful visibility and opportunity. It became central to my thinking about “curatorial resistance”: how booking and producing can be used not only to tell stories but to challenge entrenched patterns of exclusion.

Wrestling and popular theatre

Across projects including Art and Wrestling, Theatre of Wrestling, Combat Theatre and Unruly Music Hall Sport, I have explored wrestling’s relationships with music hall, commedia dell’arte, slapstick, magic, circus, physical culture and other forms of popular entertainment.

These Arts Council England-supported projects have included live performance, film, workshops, publications and interdisciplinary collaboration. Together, they demonstrate how research can be tested through the practical languages of wrestling itself.

Work with me

Talks and guest teaching

I offer accessible, research-led talks and guest sessions for universities, colleges, conferences, festivals, wrestling schools and cultural organisations.

Potential subjects include:

• Professional Wrestling as a Collaborative Storytelling Art
• Booking, Power and Representation
• Wrestlers as Artist-Athletes: Persona, Self-Authorship and Bodies of Work
• What Theatre Can Learn from Professional Wrestling
• The Hidden Theatrical Histories of Wrestling
• Audience Participation and the Liveness of Wrestling

Sessions can be delivered in person or online and adapted for specialist or general audiences.

Workshops and creative development

I deliver workshops for wrestlers, trainees, promoters, students and theatre-makers who want to explore storytelling beyond technical performance.

Possible areas include:

• building character, conflict and audience investment;
• booking, storylines and live-event dramaturgy;
• developing a coherent performance persona and creative practice;
• understanding the narrative structure of wrestling matches;
• using physical action, rhythm and audience response to communicate story.

These sessions focus on storytelling and creative development rather than technical in-ring instruction.

Consultancy and collaboration

I provide one-off advice and longer creative-development support for wrestling promotions, performers, artists, researchers and cultural organisations.

This can include:

• feedback on storylines, cards and event concepts;
• performance-persona and character development;
• wrestling match and event dramaturgy;
• representation, inclusion and the cultural responsibilities of booking;
• research-led artistic projects and public engagement;
• collaborations connecting professional wrestling with theatre, performance and academia.

Wider practice

Before beginning my PhD, I spent a decade working in contemporary art, including as Visual Arts Officer at Attenborough Arts Centre. My curatorial work focused particularly on disability, representation and the politics of the body.

I now work across academic research, live performance, writing, creative production and knowledge exchange. This broader experience helps me translate specialist ideas into engaging talks, performances, workshops and public-facing projects.

Bring me into your programme or project

If you are planning a guest lecture, conference, wrestling programme, production, workshop or research collaboration, I would be pleased to hear from you.

Email johnsamwest@gmail.com with a brief outline of what you are planning, who it is for, your preferred format or location and any relevant dates. I will reply to discuss an appropriate approach and fee.