In early December, Darren Moats (left) watched Ryan Greeness toss Maurice Greene-Foster during a practice at KC Pro Wrestling Academy, located in a warehouse in northeast Kansas City. (photo by Jim Barcus)
Making The Case
Kansas City has a rich and deep history when it comes to the performing arts. Music legends such as jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, R&B/soul singer Janelle Monáe, iconic rapper Tech N9ne, and multi-genre performer Oleta Adams all hail from the area. Actor Ed Asner, known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Lou Grant, was raised on the Kansas side, graduating from Wyandotte High School. Academy Award-winner Ginger Rogers was raised by her grandparents here. Recently retired ballet dancer Misty Copeland was born here.
While usually considered a form of sport, professional wrestling can also be viewed as performance art, being both visual and dramatic, with its own vernacular and creative strategies.
Like other forms of performance, wrestling has a deep and rich history in Kansas City. Heart of America Sports Attractions, Inc. (doing business as Central States Wrestling) was led by Bob Geigel, a former World War II Navy Seabee turned wrestler and eventual promoter. In addition to Geigel, who eventually became president of the National Wrestling Alliance, other influential figures include Hall of Famers eight-time NWA World Champion Harley Race, Bulldog Brown, Rufus R. Jones, Butch Reed and others. Like the farm system in baseball, smaller territories like Central States were used as a launching pad for younger wrestlers to hone their skills and learn the business before rising to international stardom.
Kansas City is notable in the canon of professional wrestling history. Legend Harley Race won his first world title by defeating Dory Funk Jr. at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, on May 24, 1973. Ric “Nature Boy” FIair won his first of 13 world titles from Dusty “The American Dream” Rhodes in the same building on Sept. 17, 1981. Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea, the face of professional wrestling for decades, won his last world championship in Kemper Arena on April 21, 2002.
It was at Kemper Arena when one of wrestling’s most tragic moments took place. Owen Hart, of the famed Hart wrestling family from Canada, fell 78 feet to his death on the night of May 23, 1999, when the equipment designed to lower him to the ring malfunctioned.
Exploring the Components
All art forms possess their own vernacular that distinguishes their art form from others. In wrestling lingo, the heroes are called “babyfaces” or “faces.” The villains are called “heels.” The plot, which can stretch out over years, is called an “angle.” A “work” is a scripted event designed to entertain the audience. A wrestler’s public persona is called a “gimmick.” A “booker” plans the schedules and storylines, determining who wins and who loses. When wrestling is presented as legitimate competition and not staged performance, the term used is “kayfabe.”
The original Central States Wrestling closed in 1989 after 41 years in the business. In recent years, Ryan Greeness (who also wrestles as “Moonshine Mantell”), has sought to revive the Central States Wrestling legacy, founding Kansas City Pro Wrestling and the KC Pro Wrestling Academy. This academy is, to aspiring wrestlers, what art school is to painters and sculptors. Like other art schools, KC Pro Wrestling Academy teaches aspiring wrestling professionals the tools of the trade and helps them find and hone their artistic voice.
A physically demanding art form demands physically demanding training. Greeness states, “A lot of what we do goes into physical conditioning. People don’t realize how tough this is on your body. You have to really, really love this profession to pursue it. I’ve been doing this for 13 years, and every morning I wake up and feel every bit of it.”
Character development is a component of this education. “I like it when students come with a character in mind because they know their own mind and personality. When I help a performer develop their character I take into mind their look, how they act, their demeanor … we dig into those things that come naturally,” Greeness states.
But education is not enough. In the 1981 Artforum article “Radiant Child,” which launched the career of Jean-Michel Basquiat, writer and poet Rene Ricard stated, “Part of the artist’s job is to get the work where I will see it.” When it comes to professional wrestling performers, Greeness says, “Today, with the right marketing, any performer can have a worldwide audience. The ones who market themselves right stay booked every single weekend.”
(All Elite Wrestling) shirt, 2023 (Lee Smalter)
Like all artists, pro wrestlers are creative chameleons. Lee Smalter, curator and owner of The Smalter Gallery and pro wrestling aficionado, states, “I get to watch an artist’s style evolve, and much like a wrestler will change costumes, an artist will change their medium and voice over their career. I have to roll with those evolutions and anticipate how they might play together.”
“I think at its core, both the pro wrestling and fine art worlds center around creating an air of mystery and a separate ‘persona’ for their performers,” Smalter added.
Local painter John Sutton wrestled professionally from 1996 to 2001. He trained in Wichita and wrestled for such regional promotions as “Cold-Blooded John Steele” before securing a tryout and developmental contract with WCW, which closed shortly after. He then returned to painting full time.
Sutton states, “We spend time in our studios and we can become trapped and isolated with our emotions. (It’s) very similar at times with wrestling. You’re living out of a suitcase, town to town, hotel rooms. You definitely find yourself in either profession.”
So is it art, really? Just like opera, dance, concerts, or skating’s Theater on Ice, wrestling combines visual spectacle with dramatic performance and powerful narrative. “Pro wrestling is the story of good versus evil told through violence,” says Trinity Stevenson, tattoo artist and general manager of Central States Wrestling. “That’s what it is at its core.”
Central States Wrestling holds its events at the Abdallah Shrine Temple in Overland Park. Event dates for 2026 include Feb. 21, April 4, June 27, Aug. 15, Oct. 9 and Dec. 12. For more information, cswwrestling.com.
