Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is not a genuine sport, but it is a genuine industry. I am one of the most experienced and knowledgeable writers on that industry, with more than fifteen years' experience.
Online Columns
I am a paid columnist writing a weekly feature about British wrestling which appears on the website of the Fight Network (an international television channel) and Live Audio Wrestling (a syndicated radio show).Mainstream press
I can help your publication cover this unique and unconventional subject. Despite its image and reputation, the wrestling business has many potential news and feature angles for mainstream journalism. Be it the television industry, marketing, the scandal of deaths among performers under 40, drug abuse, nostalgia or legal issues, wrestling has many stories which are overlooked by the "real world" media.Most recently I have prepared an article for the website of The Sun about premature wrestling deaths. This research has been quoted around the world including on numerous US television networks.
After writing the following obituary, I was also commissioned to prepare a file piece on another wrestler.
Books
I have written and published two books on the industry. Click on either cover for more details.
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ECW was the upstart promotion which revolutionised the wrestling industry. Turning The Tables is the first published history of the company which grew from a run-down bingo hall to become a national pay-per-view competitor... then crashed in a sea of debt. It gives an independent, objective and informative account that reveals hidden secrets and shatters common myths.
Since its release, Turning The Tables has consistently been one of the top three bestselling wrestling books in the UK, and has reached as high as #2 on the Amazon.com sales rankings for wrestling books. Eric Cohen of the New York Times-owned About.com site said "The detail of information provided by the author is unmatched by any other wrestling book." |
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Mixing travelogue, humour, fiction, history and opinion, this collection brings together the best of my work from the past fourteen years. The first section of this book features three epic accounts of voyages to see wrestling across the United States, from Philadelphia bingo halls to Arkansas community centres. The second section comprises more than 40 articles, some previously unpublished, including histories of British and American wrestling. Rod Desnomie of the Canadian Online Network (owned by the Toronto Sun group) said "The real strength of Lister's book is his writing style: clear, conversational, and very easy to grasp. Lister, regardless of topic, is able to explain a variety of aspects of this often very complicated subject matter." |
Industry press
I have written hundreds of articles for industry journals and newsletters since 1990. Most notably between 1996 and 1998 I wrote for PowerSlam, stocked nationally by newsagents. In 2007 I returned as an occasional contributor. The following is a sample article from the magazine.
