Pro wrestler Chad Deity is A-Rod, Jay-Z, and every other high-living, high-rolling egotistical mega-celebrity wrapped up into one handsome, sexy, well-spoken package. Who cares if he’s spectacularly untalented in the ring? That’s where Macedonio “Mace” Guerra comes in – Deity’s foil who ensures that the golden boy (and the wrestling syndicate’s cash cow) doesn’t – as Mace says – “suck.”

Equal parts John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda and that fidgety kid across from you on the B train, Mace (Desmin Borges) is living his childhood dream. Oh, he knows that what passes for pro wrestling is hopelessly fake – each rough smackdown is carefully choreographed to result in a clearly manufactured finale. But he still aspires for his own elaborate entrance – his own theatrical arrival at the wrestling arena under flashing lights and the roar of a crowd doped up on Red Bull and vodka.

Enter Vigneshwar Paduar (Usman Ally), a fast-talking kid from Brooklyn, and slimeball promoter/producer Everett K. Olson (Michael T. Weiss) who transforms the Puerto Rican Mace and the Indian Paduar into, respectively, pseudo-Mexican-ish Che Chavez Castro (with an enormous sombrero and bolero jacket) and vaguely-sorta-middle-eastern The Fundamentalist (a turban-wearing Bin Laden look-alike).  These two make a hissable team to be defeated by the All-American Chad Deity (the charismatic and impossibly buff Terence Archie). But when The Fundamentalist goes off-script, he throws the entire operation into jeopardy.

This comic satire cunningly sneaks up on you and suckerpunches you to the curb. Some close-minded audience members may be put off by the wrestling milieu, but THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY is about the sport in the same way that Avenue Q is about foul-mouthed puppets having sex, or that Our Town is about a quaint little town in New England. Which is to say: a simplistic description doesn’t do it justice. Playwright Kristoffer Diaz has Big Themes on his mind: racial identity, lowest-common-denominator marketing, The American Dream, and power-slamming honesty in favor of an audience-pleasing story and sensational theatre.

And as theatre, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY is pretty sensational. Diaz’s crackling dialogue ricochets past the footlights, across the audience, then back again – this is the type of play where you chuckle at the comedy… and two seconds later laugh even more heartily at the deeper layers of the smart lines uttered by the play’s not-so-smart characters.

And when was the last time a Pultizer-shortlisted play was so much fun? From the rock stadium lighting to projections broadcasting the wrestlers’ every move to the onstage wrestling ring (Second Stage really outdid themselves with the physical production), not to mention the arena-like sound design, and laugh-out-loud yet thoughtful script, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY is a two hour-long throbbing, propulsive rush of adrenaline.

The performance schedule for THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY is Tuesdays at 7pm, Wednesdays at 2pm and 8pm, Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm, and Sundays and 3pm. Tickets may be purchased via www.2st.com or in person at Second Stage Theatre, 305 West 43rd St (between Ninth and Tenth Avenues). Prices: $70, $63 (senior), $56 (box), $30 (youth advance), $15 (student rush).