Wrestling

Keith Elliot Greenberg Releasing New Book Chronicling COVID Era of Pro Wrestling in October

A new wrestling book is set to come out this fall.

The book publishing company ECW Press announced today that they would publish a new book from author Keith Elliot Greenberg on October 4, 2022. The book, titled Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of COVID-19, will document the highs and lows of professional wrestling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Greenberg’s last book that covered Pro Wrestling was titled “Too Sweet” and released in September 2020. The book gave an in-depth look at the indie wrestling revolution. You can check out the book on Amazon by clicking here.

Keith Elliot Greenberg and ECW Press released the following:

Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of COVID-19 by Keith Elliot Greenberg will be published by ECW Press on October 4, 2022.

Industry expert Keith Elliot Greenberg chronicles pro wrestling through the most memorable, controversial, and polarizing period of the last two decades.

As a new decade dawned, 2020 was supposed to be the best year to be a wrestling fan. Finally, WWE had serious competition in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and there were viable secondary promotions and a thriving international indie scene. Few in the industry realized that in China, a mysterious virus had begun to spread. By the time a pandemic was declared in March, the business — and the world — was in disarray. For the first time, pro wrestling was no longer seen as escapism, as real-world events intruded on the fantasy. 

Still, when everything else shut down, wrestling never went away. Despite cancellations and empty arena shows, there were great innovations, like the cinematic match — battles shot to look like movies — and the “ThunderDome,” which replicated the live experience with fan faces surrounding the ring on LED screens. On the indie circuit, matches were held outdoors with spectators separated into socially distanced pods. The entire time, New York Times bestselling author and historian Keith Elliot Greenberg was chronicling the scene, juxtaposing pro wrestling developments with actual news events like the U.S. presidential election and Brexit. The result, Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of COVID-19, captures the dread, confusion, and spontaneous creativity of this uncertain era while exploring the long-term consequences.

Keith Elliot Greenberg is a New York Times bestselling author and television producer. A columnist for wrestling magazine Inside The Ropes, he previously co-authored the autobiographies of Freddie Blassie, Ric Flair, and “Superstar” Billy Graham. Follow the Buzzards picks up where Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution left off. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Both the WWE and AEW would continue to have shows during the pandemic. In addition, the WWE would create the ThunderDome as a way to continue to keep fans involved. WWE Executive Vice President Kevin Dunn would explain the challenges of the ThunderDome at this link here.

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