David S. Moon
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daimoon.bsky.social
David S. Moon
@daimoon.bsky.social
910 followers 950 following 300 posts
Senior Lecturer in Politics, teaching and writing about politics, ideology and pro-wrestling, with a bit of Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 when I can. https://www.davidsmoon.co.uk
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daimoon.bsky.social
Yes! I wrote about this! (Chapter 7 of the linked magazine)

www.bath.ac.uk/publications...
Yet in the wake of the Trump assassination attempt, it was liberals, not MAGA believers, who pushed the most viral ‘bullshit’ conspiracy: that the entire event was staged by the Trump campaign. In the shooting’s wake the top two trending topics on X were “Trump” and “Staged” with a surprising number amongst these claims specifically accusing Trump of ‘blading’1, ‘like he was in WWE’.2 As one poster summed it up: ‘they staged that and he bladed when they jumped on him. i’m familiar with this WWE ass script’.3 What is blading, what does it have to do with WWE and what does its referencing here tell us about US politics, specifically regarding an underlying violence permeating it? Blading, as the editors of Performance and Professional Wrestling describe, is the act ‘wherein a wrestler will discreetly make a cut in their forehead with an otherwise concealed razor blade. The wound is self-inflicted and the actual cutting of flesh is hidden from the audience, but the blood that flows is the wrestler’s real blood’ (Chow, et al. 2017: 2). As a performative act, blading points to the strange, liminal nature of pro-wrestling, in which the fight is “fake”, but the razor and the blood are certainly real. Performed violence (in pro-wrestling lingo, ‘worked’ violence) underpinned by real violence (or ‘shoot’ violence). The very idea and the subsequent attempt to disentangle the two is something that links the conspiracy theorist and the pro-wrestling fan. In both domains, the tension between the visible and the hidden creates a dual-layered narrative that fuels public scepticism and fascination: Were Oswald’s three famous shots in Dealey Plaza a ‘shoot,’ or were they ‘worked’? The ‘blading’ accusations – that perfect mix of conspiracy with pro-wrestling – arguably reflect a broader way people engage with contemporary politics. Here we must reach for the pro-wrestling specific concept of ‘kayfabe’.
November 13, 2025 at 12:28 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
He had one job
Senior Labour figures tell Keir Starmer to stop making mistakes 2 months later Starmer to face PMQs as reports suggest No 10 briefings about leadership threats has backfired
November 12, 2025 at 8:50 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
2017: Trump tweeted out the video off him ‘clotheslining’ Vince McMahon - with the CNN logo replacing his head. One of those key “everything is becoming wrestling” media report moments.

2025: Newsom is putting out videos of him giving Trump the ‘pedigree’. 🇺🇸 🤷🏻

www.wrestlezone.com/news/1589184...
Image of Gavin Newsom tweet of a video where his face is superimposed on HHH giving Trump ‘the pedigree’
November 7, 2025 at 2:42 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
On Palantir

April: Ambassador Peter Mandelson arranged for Keir Starmer to have an “informal visit” (unminuted) to Palantir, a client of his lobbying firm Global Counsel

11 Sept: UK Gov announced a strategic partnership with Palantir

18 Sept: Mandelson sacked 🤷🏻

goodlawproject.org/mandelsons-e...
Business Insider article: Palantir CEO Alex Karp declared his company 'anti-woke' on Monday's earnings call. Karp also scrutinized border policies and said Palantir works with ICE and Israel.
November 7, 2025 at 1:39 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
The lack of mainland media interest in Chris Moore’s book on Kincora and its claims was noticeable. Especially considering this story from June - and the potential implications... www.bbc.com/news/article...
A victim of abuse at Kincora Boys' Home has received an undisclosed settlement after claims a paedophile housemaster was protected from being prosecuted due to being an MI5 agent
October 30, 2025 at 8:58 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
On Lownie’s book, see The Times story on the claims: archive.ph/CvdYI
A new biography of Lord Mountbatten, who was murdered by the IRA in Sligo in 1979, includes evidence linking him to abuse of children from the Kincora boys’ home in Belfast. The Mountbattens, by Andrew Lownie, includes two interviews with unnamed men who describe being brought from Kincora in the summer of 1977 to Mullaghmore, where Mountbatten was on holiday. The interviewees, who were 16 at the time, both claim they were then abused by the earl, an uncle of Prince Philip. This is not the first time Mountbatten has been linked to Kincora. In 1990, writer Robin Bryans reported in Now, a Dublin magazine, that the earl, Anthony Blunt and others were part of an old-boy network that held gay orgies in country houses on both sides of the Irish border, and at the boys’ home in east Belfast.
October 30, 2025 at 8:54 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
Keir Starmer’s position is essentially summed up in this incredible exchange with his spokesperson:

“You seem to be saying it’s fine to stay in a convicted paedophile’s property if you think they are guilty, but not if you think they are innocent?”
“You seem to be saying it’s fine to stay in a convicted paedophile’s property if you think they are guilty, but not if you think they are innocent?”
October 20, 2025 at 10:54 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
The new Oversight Committee transcript of Alexander Acosta’s testimony is notable in that it seems to finally ID the source behind the claim Acosta told the Trump transition team he was “told Epstein belonged to intelligence and to leave it alone” as Steve Bannon
oversight.house.gov/release/over...
“Steve Bannon has publicly stated that you told him Epstein, quote, “belonged to intelligence.” Do you recall ever speaking to Steve Bannon about Jeffrey Epstein.” A “I don’t recall ever speaking to Steve Bannon about Jeffrey Epstein” “Acosta had explained, breezily, apparently, that back in the day he’d had just one meeting on the Epstein case. He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone,” he told his interviewers in the Trump transition team”
October 19, 2025 at 11:01 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
Many WWE fans will have gritted their teeth through the McMahon-Levesque’s getting increasingly close to Trump + RFK Jnr. by making a distinction between the product and the people at the top of it. Same as overlooking TKO’s links through UFC. But even having Linda McMahon ringside may be too much.
October 11, 2025 at 9:56 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
The rumours Trump might attend Jon Cena’s final match have swirled for a while, but these rumours of “a ton of people from the White House” mean even if *he* didn’t, WWE would be directly tying itself to Trump onscreen for the first time - not just Triple H + Stefanie McMahon on a ‘personal’ basis.
F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer claims that WWE expects “leading political figures to be invited and attend” the final match of John Cena’s career in Washington D.C. The current belief is “there will be a ton of people from the White House at the show, but Trump is undecided at the moment.”
October 11, 2025 at 9:48 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
just because you have a freedom "doesn't mean you have to use it at every moment of every day"

Just roll that sentence around your mental palate and taste the underlying logic
Laura Kuenssberg asks if it is a "dark step" to limit the fundamental right to protest? Mahmood answers that just because you have a freedom "doesn't mean you have to use it at every moment of every day". Under her new plans people will still have the right to protest, Mahmood adds.
October 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
The former director general of the domestic secret service chairing the panel that choses the head of the state religion is one of those fun “very normal” things that happens in the UK.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Mullally’s name was passed to Downing Street by the Crown Nominations Commission, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director general of MI5, after months of deliberation by the 20-member panel, of which 17 are voting members and 12 must agree. After agreement, a name by tradition is given to the prime minister – in this case Keir Starmer – and then passed to the monarch.
October 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
Notable that Becky Lynch and Sami Zayn have both rocked 🇵🇸 colours in the ring and donated to refugee camps in Gaza. Both holding gold.

CM Punk referred to the “genocide” in Gaza.

Even as Triple H moves closer to MAGA at least there’s no sign of silencing workers on this front. (3/3)
Instagram video “we extend our sincere thanks to Becky Lynch from Ireland for her support of the children of Gaza” Becky Lynch rocking 🇵🇸 colours Sami Zayn rocking 🇵🇸 colours Thanks to Sami Zayn for donations
October 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
Pondering the post-war rise in U.S. mass shootings, a reminder the newly released JFK documents include an un-redaction that revels “the CIA “owned” the country’s largest importer and distributor of guns, the company that would spearhead a remarkable boom in gun ownership in the US” archive.ph/XaXSf
Because CIA archives are inaccessible, with the exception of the relatively few documents that have been declassified and redacted through the Freedom of Information Act process, Cummings’ file has never been available to researchers. And as for this specific document, researchers have seen it before—I cited it in my book, in fact—but key phrases were redacted. Now we know what was behind those black lines. Summarizing Cummings’ file, the previously released redacted version of the document states that “On 17 August 1954 CUMMINGS became the principal agent of the [redacted] International Armaments Corporation and Interarmco.” In the newly released, unredacted version, it reads: “On 17 August 1954 CUMMINGS became the principal agent of the CIA-owned companies known as International Armaments Corporation and Interarmco” (emphasis mine). In other words, the CIA “owned” the country’s largest importer and distributor of guns, the company that would spearhead a remarkable boom in gun ownership in the United States in the decade and a half before the Gun Control Act iced war-surplus imports.
September 30, 2025 at 8:39 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
Given Operation Tiberius - that found organised crime infiltrated the Met “at will” using Freemason links - was in 2002, remarkable that this hasn’t happened yet. The link to Daniel Morgan’s 1987 murder (one focus of “The Hack” (ITV)) reminder of another scandal.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Guardian headline: Met considers making officers declare whether they are Freemasons Consultation comes after concerns raised about impact of membership on ‘investigations, promotions and misconduct’
September 29, 2025 at 7:43 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
With WWE announcing that WrestleMania 2027 will be hosted in Saudi Arabia - the culmination of their huge deal with the Kingdom to host events and slap their branding all over WWE programming - the question of how governments use and are used by the company to promote their brands seems well timed…
WWE post on X announcing WrestleManka 43 hearing to Saudi Arabia in 2027 Cory Graves announces that WWE “celebrates Saudi Arabia’s progressions for cultural diversity in the Vision 2030” (their nation brand) CM punk sitting in a WWE ring on the “Riyadh Season” brand logo
September 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
This is compared to previous puff jobs for Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, which included airing government branding videos as well, but also Saudi wrestlers beating up “Iranian wrestlers” in the ring (ofc). And Backlash in Puerto Rico, which again placed Puerto Rican wrestlers and narratives in the ring…

(5/?)
Saudi government propaganda videos shown during The Greatest Royal Rumble Saudi propaganda videos shown during the Greatest Royal Rumble Puerto Rican pro-wrestlers at the heart of Backlash, including Bad Bunny Selina Vegas in a Puerto Rican flag outfit
September 15, 2025 at 8:36 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
But the article also discusses the limitations in the Welsh case and wider lessons. It outlines how WWE failed to include contemporary Welsh pro-wrestling in its show: excluding the 4 Welsh superstars on roster then firing them days before the show. Another didn’t re-debut until weeks later... (4/?)
5 Welsh WWE superstars, not used at Clash at the Castle - Mark Andrew, Flash Morgan Webster (w. HHH), Eddie Dennis, Wild Board, and Tegan Nox.
September 15, 2025 at 8:29 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
Drawing on Nation Branding + Pro-Wrestling Studies literature, I introduce the concept of the ‘National gimmick’ as a devise to understand how such branding tactics involve nations dressing themselves in specific garb (signifiers) & performing a simplified persona - asking others to play along (3/?)
Four examples of national gimmicks in pro-wrestling The Cymru Wales Beand outline
September 15, 2025 at 8:21 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
Funded via The Welsh Gov’s Major Events Strategy, the deal saw the Cymru Wales Brand 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 marque slapped over posters alongside the #WWE logo. WWE Superstars produced tourism videos and during the PLE announcers read promotional copy over Welsh Government sourced footage of castles, valleys, etc. (2/?)
Two posters for Clash at the Castle 2022 that each include the Welsh Government’s Cymru Wales Brand marque The arena decked out to look like Cardiff Castle, and WWE superstars sat in front a back group with the Welsh Government brand logo during the post-show press conference. Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler star in tourism videos co-produced by WWE and Visit Wales, the Welsh Government’s tourism arm Footage that played during the broadcast showing Visit Wales footage of Castles and countryside
September 15, 2025 at 8:16 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
New article out in @bjpir.bsky.social that investigates the #WWE + Welsh Government 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 deal to host “Clash at the Castle 2002” in Cardiff.

Mixing nation branding & pro-wrestling literature it analyses how WWE fit the Cymru Wales Brand into its broadcasts. (1/?)

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
National gimmicks as soft power strategy: WWE’s Clash at the Castle and the performance of the Cymru Wales Brand This article introduces the concept of the national gimmick – a performative, stylised persona derived from professional wrestling – as an effective lens for analysing government nation branding and soft power strategies. Using WWE’s Clash at the Castle and its 2022 partnership with the Welsh Government as a case study, the article demonstrates how governments employ entertainment spectacles to project curated national identities to global audiences. It argues that professional wrestling’s emphasis on stereotype, performance, and narrative makes it an especially potent medium for understanding how states simplify and disseminate nation brands. By examining the portrayal of the Cymru Wales Brand through WWE media, and the tensions surrounding Welsh representation at the event, the article highlights both the potential and the limitations of such partnerships. This interdisciplinary contribution bridges political communication and pro-wrestling studies to advance the study of government’s soft power strategies and the politics of branding.
September 15, 2025 at 8:09 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
BBC: “There is no suggestion that Lord Mandelson ever met Giuffre.”

Virginia Giuffre: “I remember [Mandelson] being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party. He and Jeffrey talked business together. I assumed they were in business together.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87ypx8gq3do Ms Giuffre told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I never heard of Jeffrey knowing Tony Blair, but he did know Peter Mandelson. “I remember him being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party. He and Jeffrey talked business together. I assumed they were in business together. I was never asked to give him (Mandelson) a massage.”
September 14, 2025 at 8:41 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
With #WWE announcing it’s taking WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia in 2027 for heaps of government money…

good timing to say I’ve an article coming out soon about *another* time the WWE was paid by a government to put on a show and promote their national brand.

Clash at the Castle 2022 - Cardiff, Wales
National gimmicks as soft power strategy: WWE’s Clash at the Castle and the performance of the Cymru Wales Brand
September 12, 2025 at 9:55 PM
daimoon.bsky.social
So many things that people could start noticing now. But you’ve got to think people will not want to notice *too* much before ending this.
P.56 in Oliver Eagleton’s “The Starmer Project”
September 12, 2025 at 9:24 AM
daimoon.bsky.social
Keir Starmer on Mandelson/Epstein before appointing his Ambassador: “I um don’t know anymore than you do um”

Vetting flags obvious concerns

Keir Starmer after *appointing* Mandelson: “um this is um … the extent and breadth is … um more than I knew”
Number 10 say developed vetting was done by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the normal way. Starmer “I don’t know anymore than more you do”
September 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM