When it comes to America’s greatest artform, you need skill, dedication, and a flair for improvisation to move an audience on a primal, emotional level. I’m of course talking about professional wrestling (sorry if you were expecting jazz). While the savviness of modern fans (and the ways mass media has demystified the inner workings of spectacles like pro wrestling) has made discussions of whether wrestling is fake increasingly moot, it continues to captivate fans around the world. After all, where else can you find such a perfect union of drama and athleticism? Hopefully, that drama and athleticism will be on full display during this year’s SummerSlam, one of the biggest annual events from the world’s biggest wrestling organization, the WWE. Scheduled for August 5th at Ford Field in Detroit, this year’s outing promises to have some entertaining matches (Ricochet vs. Logan Paul, anyone?). But before you settle in for a night of suplexes, leg drops, and moonsaults, check out some of our favorite books and movies about the bizarre (and equally amusing) world of pro wrestling.

For more great books, make sure to check out the offerings of your local Library branch as well as the hoopla and OverDrive/Libby apps.

The Sheik

DVD

Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal by Mick Foley

Beyond the Mat 

The King of New Orleans: How the Junkyard Dog Became Professional Wrestling’s First Black Superstar by Greg Klein

Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson

Glow: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

Mox by Jon Moxley

The Wrestler

Bobby The Brain: Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All

The Rise and Fall of ECW