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13 July 2024

WRESTLING WITH THE FUTURE OF US-CHINA COMPETITION

Daniel Byman and Benjamin Jensen

Although US government officials and pundits alike loudly proclaim an era of US-China rivalry, their calls to arms struggle to mobilize the American public. Indeed, a recent Gallup poll indicates that Americans see China as a negligible problem among those they rank as the most important facing the country today.

The reason for this gap is simple. China has not entered the popular imagination the way that Nazis, Russian communists, and Middle Eastern terrorists did. This gap is embodied, and perhaps even worsened, by one simple observation: professional wrestling does not feature an evil Chinese Communist Party wrestler.

Hear us out.

Of course, we are aware our influence over the powers that be of professional wrestling is limited, and even if we could shape the course of professional wrestling’s character development, the long history of often problematic portrayals inside the ring would make doing so a risky proposition. Still, however, it is a truism that war is a continuation of politics, and society and culture frame threats and thus shape politics. There is no better place to witness this display than the wonderful, colorful world of professional wrestling. And that world shows a different threat landscape than that of the strategy class in Washington. Unlike the Cold War era, which thrived on turning America’s rivals into ringside villains and heels, modern professional wrestling has yet to embrace China as a threat.

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