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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Lauren Theisen

Pro Wrestling

Why The Hottest New Pro Wrestling Chant Is “Fuck ICE”

Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider, Pitchfork, and many others. He lives with his family on Long Island.

Sean T. Collins

Dadfector

This Is Awesome

Year In Review

The States Of Pro Wrestling In 2025

Luis Paez-Pumar

Swerve Strickland delivers a stomp off a ladder to Jon Moxley at AEW Dynasty.

Wrestling Shows Don’t All Have To Aim For “Epic”

Some Wrestling Matches I Liked In 2024

View of a wrestling ring during a tag team match at White Eagle Hall

Deadlock Pro-Wrestling Is As Fun As It Is Fragile

Wide view of Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd during AEW Dynamite

AEW Can Be Too Much

Bryan Danielson, bloody and pointing in the ring

Bryan Danielson Makes Every Last Match Count

Mistico makes his entrance at Forbidden Door

Go See Your Guys Live

AEW Still Isn’t Over CM Punk

Sting puts the scorpion death lock on Matthew Jackson in his last match

Sting Went Out Crazier Than He Came In

Kazuchika Okada’s Exit Is A Warning Siren For The Rest Of Japan

Joshua Needelman is a journalist based in New York City who has written for The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian and more. He has dabbled in yoga and meditation for more than a decade. He enjoys eating (and making) pizza, as well as rooting for the New York Knicks, whom he is available to coach next season.

Joshua Needelman

Eddie Kingston, with his eyes closed, in the ring.

How New York’s Eddie Kingston Became Pro Wrestling’s “King of the Bums”

Tetsuya Naito flying in with a knee on Keiji Muto

Some Wrestling Matches I Liked In 2023

Kazuchika Okada enters the ring during the New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Korakuen Hall on October 01, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.

Even At Half Speed, Kazuchika Okada Is The Main Event

Bryan Danielson Saved The Day

The Biggest Wrestling Show Ever Was About Friendship (And One Little Backstage Fight)

AEW Is Bringing 80,000 People To Wembley Stadium At The Weirdest Possible Time

Jon Moxley delivers a move to Anthony Bowens during the AEW Dynamite - Beach Break taping on January 26, 2022, at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH.

How Queer Pro Wrestlers Are Handling America’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Heel Turn

A bloodied Eddie Kingston with a can of gasoline

Some Wrestling Matches I Liked In 2022

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Claudio Castagnoli swings Chris Jericho on AEW Dynamite. Ref Aubrey Edwards is behind him.