When most people hear the words “geek culture” more than likely the first image that comes to mind is the classic skinny guy with thick glasses and bad acne huddled over a computer screen in their parents’ basement. However, by and large this model no longer seems to fit. Joe Manganiello and Vin Diesel are both avid Dungeons and Dragons players while at the same time being muscle-bound Hollywood hunks. While many aspects of geek culture have entered the mainstream, wrestling’s place in geek culture has always been in question. Do gamers, cos players and comic book fans enjoy wrestling? The fact that WWE has a strong presence in gaming and comics would tell you yes, however some in the culture see wrestling as “just another sport” dominated by jocks and gym rats and don’t feel a connection to it. Most wrestling companies make the attempt to court all potential customers. Wrestlemania Axxess (the week long fan convention leading up to Wrestlemania) rivals comic or Star Trek conventions with its number of panels and displays that fans wait in line for hours to see, all while cosplaying as their favorite wrestlers. On the other side of the coin some people look down on wrestling, seeing it as hooky and overly choreographed. The recent acquisition of WWE by the parent company of UFC led some fans to wonder if UFC’s reputation would be damaged by affiliating itself with WWE, while WWE fans wondered if the WWE they’ve grown up with would simply be absorbed into the UFC model and some of the more cartoonish and fantastical elements of sports entertainment would be lost. Will we still see undead wizards fighting against their own demonic brother? Or will we just be subjected to men and women in fighting gear vying to be the best? Join us Sunday night at 6pm CDT on “Issues with Wrestling” as we debate wrestling’s place on geek culture.