“It suddenly struck me—professional wrestling is theatre”

by Patty Pitts

To a devoted professional wrestling fan, headlocks and body slams inflicted in the wrestling ring are spontaneous and visceral—the product of simmering grudge matches between glowering opponents.

But theatre graduate student David Everard sees the spirit of the Commedia Dell’Arte character Arlecchino in the spandex-clad wrestlers, in performances that maintain that theatre form’s same delicate balance between structure and improvisation.

“The similarities are there. Each match has a basic plot which leaves enough room for some of the actors—the wrestlers—to improvise,” says Everard, whose master’s thesis defends his theory that professional wrestling is a legitimate form of theatre.

The conferring of his MA degree this month caps a hat trick for Everard who previously received a BFA in theatre and a BA in classics and sociology. The achievements are especially satisfying to Everard since he first came to UVic in 1990 as a mature student after dropping out of high school in Grade 11 nearly 20 years before.

A summer course in theatre while studying for a writing degree hooked Everard on theatre history, but a moratorium on graduate admissions sent him back to undergraduate studies for his second degree and a year of non-degree graduate courses before he could finally enrol in UVic’s master’s program in theatre.
He initially focused on fourth-century BCE south Italian phlyax vases, whose iconography depicts theatrical scenes, when his grad supervisor unexpectedly retired early. Unsure what to do next, Everard, a life-long sports and wrestling fan, was watching a match on TV one night “when it suddenly hit me—professional wrestling is theatre, but how do I prove it? That became my thesis.”

After many attempts, he finally arranged an interview with one of wrestling’s royal family, Canadian Bret “Hitman” Hart. The wrestler warmed to Everard’s theory, providing him with a match on which to hinge it.
“It was a 1992 WWF Summerslam match between Hart and David ‘British Bulldog’ Smith in Wembley Stadium,” recalls Everard. When Smith forgot the pre-planned scenario, Hart had to prompt him during moves—actions that are evident on a video of the match.

“It was proof of what I’d said in my thesis so far,” said Everard who also contacted Stu “Bulldog Bob Brown Jr.” Kemp, a road manager and wrestler with the Vancouver-based Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling Promotion. “He explained how he creates a character, and how he plays that persona to the crowd.”

Everard is converting his thesis into a fine arts course (FA 335) and is considering writing a play based on a 1996 match where Bret Hart lost a championship title due to questionable tactics employed by WWF owner Vince McMahon.

“There’s no more a problem of truth in wrestling than in the theatre,” says Everard, quoting French social and literary critic Roland Barthes. “Once I found this quote, it opened up my entire thesis.”

(Photo: Everard is held in a "sleeper hold" by friend, fourth-year English student Demian Seale. Valerie Shore photo).