Classical wrestling is a mythic spectacular, inspired by the theatre of the Gods in pre-Classical antiquity.¹ It honors the Kings and Queens of myth, a spectacle inherent of when civilization was young.² A hero is called to an adventure mimetic to the space and time inhabited by the spectator. Vincent Kennedy “Vince” McMahon, Jr. was a third-generation dramatist whose endeavors in the mythic spectacular transcends the art form of imitation.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the vanguard of classical wrestling. Vince Jr. welcomed the world to a sacred dance of sport and entertainment. The Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection, a nineteen-eighties alliance between Music Television (MTV) and the World Wrestling Entertainment, was an early exemplar of the wrestler’s journey.³ Vince Jr. manifested a world where the wrestler is the hero of myth. A hero who masters the world shall receive the crown of victory, and everyone who believes in the hero is welcome to the house of bliss.⁴

The Wrestler’s Journey is sanctioned by the wonderful world of the monomyth. Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, popularized the monomyth. Campbell extrapolated, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”⁵

Story is not besides its parts. Story is a manifold of events with a structural beginning, middle, and ending. Story is informed by the subjective contents of dramatic structure. Aristotle’s Poetics prescribed the classical unities of drama as “unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time.”⁶ Story does not protest the hero to be a spectacle.⁷ Story is a mythic quest for truth and reconciliation, the ultimate challenge of the wrestler’s journey.

It began during the golden days of summer. The Macho King was betrayed! A beloved hero has broken the bonds of brotherhood. There was war… and declarations of war! Alas, the kingdom divided against the madness.

The Kingdom of Madness is the story of rebirth. The Macho King proclaimed to be the lord and master of the universe, but the golden scepter would not have sovereignty over the madness of the heart.⁸ In the days of the king, madness was more seductive than sex.⁹ The Macho King determined, “[the] three strives of man are pleasure, power, and possession.”¹⁰ The King’s attitude is a model of the masculine value of the human psyche.

At the beginning of the mythic quest, the archetypal hero actively challenges the existing state of the manifested world. A hero wanders the four quarters of the world to attain prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice and thereby awaken parts unknown at the soul of the universe.¹¹ The Macho King’s dream is to master the universe; the fallen hero who gives birth to the feminine soul.¹²

The Macho King received the golden scepter and the kingdom exalted in his splendor.¹³ A vagabond Queen appeared steadfast in the pomp of his majesty. She removed the boots from her feet and offered her name to the King.

The Macho King wrestled with an axis of antagonism. The Sensational Queen Sherri was a classic heroine, a masked temptress at the heartbreak of madness.¹⁴ The Queen is an apparition of the dark-feminine value of the human psyche. Queen Sherri swore obeisance to The Macho King, but she was subjected under the throne of patriarchy.¹⁵ Queen Sherri’s story conveyed the pathos of the feminine mystique. Betty Friedan, an American feminist, determined: “There was a strange discrepancy between the reality of our lives as women and the image to which we were trying to conform.”¹⁶ Queen Sherri’s dream was to integrate the divisions of patriarchy; a fallen heroine who would engender a new generation of hope.

The Macho King is a classic antihero, a protagonist whose attitude is antithetical to the archetypal hero. Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, determined “the archetype is a symbolic formula which always begins to function when there are no conscious ideas present, or when conscious ideas are inhibited for internal or external reasons.”¹⁷ Story does not deny reason. The Macho King’s Achilles’ heel was his insecurity.¹⁸ His heart lusts to be seen. Campbell discerned, “by overcoming the dark passions, the hero symbolizes our ability to control the irrational savage within us.”¹⁹ The Macho King abdicated the throne on bended knee, a heart tempered by the madness of love.

The Macho King had fallen on bended knee, exhausted.²⁰ And the breath of the heavens endeavored in his heart. She loves him. She’s loved him from the beginning.²¹ She loves him so long as they both do live.²² She removed the crown from the King’s head and undressed him of his vanities. And the garden returned to its original splendor.

Classical wrestling is a cultural manifestation of the dramatic serial. Serials acquired the Americanism “soap opera” in the early nineteen thirties when soap manufacturers advertised their products on daytime radio serials.²³ Serials were subject to the consumption habits of women in America. Story is informed by the subjective contents of dramatic structure and should not be driven by the composite profile of the spectator. Story is characterized by a narrative of truth; the truths we believe for the myth of love. Story is the authority of the dramatist, but the spectator of truth is the ultimate storyteller.

Peter Bergman is not a doctor, but he played one on TV.²⁴ Character is only based on the conflicts of dramatic action. Characters are driven by a dissonance between subjective values and the objective truth. Characters each have complex values which are all integral to the dramatic action of the manifested world.²⁵ Agnes Nixon, a dramatist of American radio and television serials, once discerned in her story bible: “The great and the least, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, in sickness and health, in joy and sorrow, in tragedy and triumph, you are All My Children.”²⁶

When Vince Jr. was very young, his grandfather was a matchmaker. Roderick James “Jess” McMahon was The Greatest Matchmaker from Harlem.²⁷ Jess, the proud son of Irish immigrants, is remembered for crossing the color line in professional boxing.²⁸ In the heat of New York, Jess was the official matchmaker at Madison Square Garden. He was the co-founder of the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a New York company which was a predecessor to the World Wrestling Entertainment.²⁹

World Wrestling Entertainment presents the longest-running wrestling serial in the United States. Vince Jr. advertised a world where the spectator is the uncrowned champion of myth. Miss Elizabeth and Randy Savage were married at Madison Square Garden in the denouement of the wrestler’s journey.³⁰ The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage is a solemn public covenant which signifies the sacred union between the wrestler and transcendent world.³¹ And remember, we are the world. Vince Jr. opined in The New York Times: “It seems that professional wrestling has always been misunderstood, except by those fans who’ve enjoyed it for the entertainment, the drama, the comedy and the extraordinary athleticism and charisma of the performing athletes. The general public has always enjoyed professional wrestling for what it is — but what is it now?”³²

Vince Jr. believed in the majesty of the universe. Wrestlers are a rare breed of athlete.³³ Superstars of Wrestling are a chosen generation of heroes. Vince Jr. discerned, “Our performers became stars, our stars became superstars, our superstars became super heroes. With this status came an unprecedented responsibility, a responsibility to be more Walt Disney than P. T. Barnum, a responsibility to be more family-room than smoke-filled room, a responsibility to be more main street than back street.”³⁴

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars revolutionized the “space opera.”³⁵ George Lucas, an American dramatist, created a space mythology in the pattern of the monomyth. Joseph Campbell posits in The Hero with a Thousand Faces the three main stages of the monomyth are “departure, initiation, return.”³⁶ Johann Fichte, a German philosopher, ascribed the stages as “thesis, anthesis, synthesis.”³⁷ Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar, discerns the wisdom pattern as “order, disorder, reorder.”³⁸ Luke Skywalker, the galactic hero of the Star Wars, embarked on a mythic quest to “bring order to the galaxy.”³⁹ Skywalker transcends interstellar space and thereby awakens a triumvirate of virtues. Christians abide in the prophetic powers of “faith, hope, love.”⁴⁰ Jeremiah, a Judaean prophet, informed the truthfulness of the mythic quest: to give the world a future and a hope.⁴¹

Stephanie Marie McMahon-Levesque is a fourth-generation dramatist whose endeavor to integrate the divisions of the world transcends the spectacle of sport and entertainment. McMahon-Levesque, the descendant of Irish immigrants, is remembered for challenging the narrative of women in classical wrestling. She is the former Executive Vice President, Creative, and the first woman to preside over WWE’s Creative Writing. Seventy years from the creation of the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, McMahon-Levesque was named Chairwoman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment.⁴² It’s a Matchmaker Made in Heaven.

McMahon-Levesque was presented with the Vincent James McMahon, Sr. Legacy of Excellence Award.⁴³ She believed in the world that is given us to understand. And remember, we are the world. World Wrestling Entertainment has evolved from a New York company to a recognized leader in global entertainment which strives to integrate the divisions of the world through the promise of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

McMahon-Levesque latterly announced her resignation from the World Wrestling Entertainment.⁴⁴ She was not only a Wonder Woman, but she played one on TV.⁴⁵ McMahon-Levesque is a former WWE Women’s Champion.⁴⁶ She was anointed The Queen of Queens, and her story arcs with Brie Bella and Ronda Rousey inspired the advancement of women in classical wrestling.⁴⁷ McMahon-Levesque has a pedigree indelible to the wrestler’s journey. And still, she leaves behind a legacy which gives authority to the next generation of super heroes.