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The purpose of this paper is to explore critically the potentially harmful business of professional wrestling in the USA as state-corporate crime.

This paper comprises desk-based research of secondary sources. The lack of official data on the harms experienced by professional wrestlers means that much of the data regarding this is derived from quantitative and qualitative accounts from internet sites dedicated to this issue.

A major finding is that with regard to the work-related harms experienced by professional wrestlers, the business may not be wholly to be blamed, but nor is it entirely blame free. It proposes that one way the work-related harms can be understood is via an examination of the political economic context of neo-liberalism from the 1980s onwards and subsequent state-corporate actions and inactions.

The paper raises questions about the regulation of the professional wrestling industry together with the misclassification of wrestlers’ worker status (also known as wage theft and tax fraud) and the potential role they play in the harms incurred in this industry.

The potential wider social implications of the misclassification of workers are raised.

The originality and value of this paper is the examination of work-related harms within the professional wrestling industry through the lens of state-corporate crime.

This paper examines customers' participation in the production of commercial hospitality. Drawing on a study of queer consumers (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals), the paper considers the ways in which frequently circulated understandings, or myths, shaped consumers' actions. The case study is used to highlight previously under examined dimensions of participation.

The paper draws on an ethnographic study of bar culture. The principal method of data collection was participant observation, which involved working at one venue for 27 months, as well as social visits throughout a five‐year period. Participant observation was complemented by semi‐structured interviews with 26 informants, 19 of whom were interviewed repeatedly during the research.

The paper suggests that three myths were evident in consumers' behavior: commonality, mutual safety, and the opportunities for liberated, playful consumption. Focusing on two particular aspects of participation: performative display and frontline labor, the paper discusses the ways in which these myths influenced patrons' actions.

The study suggests that an examination of the cultural dimensions of patronage provides crucial insights into consumer participation. The results will be relevant to social scientists and management academics seeking to understand the relationship between shared interest and identity, consumption, and the production of hospitable spaces.

This study provides a new understanding of both the nature of and motivations for consumer participation. This challenges existing approaches, which have tended to focus narrowly on the managerial aspects of participation in the service sector.