The Masked Man on Masked Men
If you read one book on pro wrestling in your life make it this one
One of my friends asked what I was reading this summer and I told her I was reading a book on pro-wrestling. And her response was:
Wait. You’re reading an entire book on wrestling? Like, pro wrestling? You know it’s fake right?
Yeah and it still doesn't make the book or the stories within them any less real. David Shoemaker aka The Masked Man’s The Squared Circle: Life, Death and Professional Wrestling is a book anyone should read, wrestling fan or not.
David Shoemaker could have easily titled his book, “What Andre, Macho Man, and Latino Heat Can Teach Us About Being Human.” His writing strikes the perfect balance of myth, humanity, and respect seasoned with his optimism and adds a touch of his own perspective. Like the best wrestlers he makes his subjects look good. He treats all of the characters in the book like demigods in the ring. They are the modern myths of kayfabe, where their achievements aren't discounted because they are planned. He takes the world of wrestling and it’s stories at face value, with all of it’s conflicts, tragedies, and malleable history. In fact you get the sense Shoemaker is not only retreading history but dissecting it as well. This is pro-wrestling Masked Man style because when history is malleable and the crowd affects everything, every anecdote and voice becomes a part of the legend.
The first thing you should know before diving into The Squared Circle is it is not what you would describe as a happy book. If you want a happy ending read a fairy tale. Even if Shoemaker takes the world of pro-wrestling at face value, he doesn't shy away from the lives of his subjects outside the ring. Shoemaker refuses to pull any punches and presents each wrestler as they were. I say, “were” because every wrestler Shoemaker discusses are dead. And you might get the urge to read through it in one sitting this a book that requires you to take your time. Even if you have never watched a match, it doesn't matter because each time Shoemaker talks about one wrestler he’s really talking about all of them. There is a sad symmetry throughout the book, the times and characters change but for the most part the stories are the same. And in a business where status quo is king, there couldn't be any other type of reality.
The Squared Circle reads like a crescendo. Each chapter adds a new wrinkle. Because when you talk about Yokozuna you’re talking about Andre the Giant. When you think of Andre you think of Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth, which means The Ultimate Warrior. The more you read the more you feel as if each wrestler is attempting to escape the shadow of the wrestler’s who came before them while casting their own shadow over who might be next. To know wrestling’s future all you have to do is look to it’s past. It is fitting that Shoemaker builds all of this to hit the peak that is the final chapter. Shoemaker highlights both Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero and for my money, their stories are the epitome of wrestling. This might seem like a twisted thing to say considering the circumstances of their deaths. However, there is a nuanced empathy which shines through the entire book but is on full display in the last chapter. Shoemaker writes the chapter perfectly, he compares and contrasts Benoit and Guerrero’s lives and how they were linked and what each meant to the business. And he caps it off with a paragraph which puts wrestling in a nutshell.
The world wants to pretend Benoit never lived because of the way he died. They want to pretend Guerrero never died because of the way he lived. Either way, it’s ritual suicide, self-mutilation in service of a dream. Eddie lived out his dream even through the pain, and Benoit lived out his dream until his pain consumed him. In that way, they couldn't be more different, but it’s willful blindness to ignore the fact that they were so much alike. They were the real-life underdogs: They fought for everything they got; they transcended their roles; they defied the script. They determined to outperform life’s lot for them, by any means necessary, and they succeeded, and the crowd went wild, and confetti fell from the rafters. In the end, life bit back, and everybody suffered in indescribable ways.
Talking about wrestling is a funny thing. Nobody bats an eye when you dissect an episode of Game of Thrones or the newest Marvel Movie but once you bring up wrestling you get side-eyed as if an arm grew out of your ear. The Squared Circle isn't a book to sell you on wrestling or even legitimize it. It’s not even about celebrating it, not entirely. If you don’t care about wrestling then this book won’t make you care, however, it might make you say, “Wow this is a tragic business.” At the end of the day, Shoemaker writes about something he loves with the hope that he did his love justice. And even if you’re not down with the idea of wrestling you can get down with that.
For what it’s worth I believe he did it justice and then some.
