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Book: One Ring Circus:
Extreme Wrestling In The Minor Leagues
Written by Brian Howell (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
The photographs and simple text of Brian Howell strip away all of that pomp that wrestling has become, looking further behind the mask than the critically acclaimed documentary "Beyond the Mat" by Barry Blaustein. While Blaustein looked hard at subjects in the WWF, One Ring Circus latches onto the roots of wrestling and follows it through the Canadian minor leagues where the orchestration is simple and the cash is tight. Their names are similar - Beautiful Bruce and the Honky Tonk Man - but the costumes and the scope is so much smaller. Howell captures the taunts of homophobic fans, referees in grocery lines and wrestlers moments before they literally collapse. One look into Wrathchild's eyes - deep and dark, ringed in self-inflicted lacerations - and wrestling becomes a symbol of the greater human elements. He is a recovering drug addict and openly suicidal. The lasting impression is that if wrestling were taken from him, he might teeter over the edge. If Hitchcock was right in saying "drama is life with all the dull bits cut out" then Howell never heard it and he certainly never took heed. He digs into the mundane with One Ring Circus, beyond the bell, and allows his subjects to speak in plain tones.
Of course, these subjects seek to become a part of the WWE and the relative futility of that quest is maybe the most poignant and lasting impression of One Ring Circus. Few if any of these wrestlers will ascend beyond the VFW Halls and church gymnasiums where they presently toil. Their blood and sweat - fluids spattered across almost every page - is literally the marker of earnestness and sacrifice. The photograph of a folding chair, dented and blood stained from a whack on the head, is the ultimate testament to the endurance of a strange, perhaps deranged dream.
As presented, One Ring Circus might be the perfect construct as Howell allows his stunning photographs to do most of the dictation. The accompanying captions, often less than a page in length, explain but never really quantify what the reader sees. Blood without moralizing is a powerful conveyor. The split in Cheechuk the Warrior's forehead and the groupie admiration displayed by Kandiss may seem silly - maybe even foolish, that is up to you - but no one could ever convince them of that.
For wrestling fans, this is an absolute boon. The fact that we live in a country where the sport has ascended from cult status - there is a wrestler in the governor's mansion of Minnesota after all - should be obvious, but the row one hoes to find a place in that circus is not. Brian Howell goes a long way to bridge that chasm and his work on One Ring Circus deserves the accolades heaped onto any work of great sociological documentation.
© 2003 - Erick Mertz