Professional wrestling

upright=1.2|thumb|[[Christopher Daniels performing a flying crossbody on Jonny Storm; like all wrestling moves, this requires coordination between both wrestlers in order to ensure each other's safety.]]

Professional wrestling, often referred to as pro wrestling, or simply, wrestling, is a form of athletic theater centered around mock combat, with the premise that its performers are competitive wrestlers. The legitimate sport of wrestling has never been popular enough in the United States to sustain a professional scene because the action is considered too slow-paced. In the late 19th century, wrestlers dealt with this by quietly fixing their matches so that they could display more entertaining action. Through improvisation and choreography, they could perform more spectacular moves that rarely (if ever) occurred in a real wrestling match, and thus managed to draw sustainable audiences.

Match fixing in sports was frowned upon then as much as it is now, so the wrestlers kept the practice a secret. Wrestling promoters scripted victories for their more charismatic wrestlers to please the fans. Since charisma mattered more than skill to a wrestler's success, wrestlers adopted personae and gimmicks to make themselves more entertaining. As promotions grew more sophisticated, they started writing dramatic stories for their wrestlers, pitting heroic "faces" against villainous "heels". Professional wrestlers were required to remain in character whenever they were in public, a practice known as "kayfabe". This requirement was relaxed in the 1990s as by then fans had not only become fully aware of the fakery, but had come to accept it. Despite a series of high-profile exposés, professional wrestling retained enough fans to remain viable.

Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various promotions, which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues. Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential professional wrestling promotions are in the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Europe (particularly the United Kingdom, France, and Germany/Austria), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Many professional wrestlers also perform as freelancers and make appearances for different promotions.

Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community, including a unique glossary of terms. It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture; many wrestling phrases, tropes, and concepts are now referenced in everyday language and in film, television, music, and video games. Numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international sports icons with recognition by the wider public, with some finding further fame and success through other endeavors such as acting, music, and even national politics.

Context

In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. There is no professional league for competitive wrestling in most Western countries, mainly due to a lack of popularity. A case in point is Real Pro Wrestling, an American professional league for freestyle wrestling that dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, the New York Athletic Commission defines professional wrestling thus:

The state of Washington instead refers to professional wrestling as "theatrical wrestling". In other countries such as India and Mongolia, legitimate wrestling enjoys widespread popularity, and the phrase "professional wrestling" thus carries a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League, which governs competitive wrestling. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from a carnival term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. A fan who believes professional wrestling matches are real sport is referred to as a mark, whereas a fan who sees through the facade is a smart.

History in the United States

Wrestling in early America

Wrestling in early America was typically a localized affair. Wrestlers would fight opponents from the same town or nearby towns within walking distance. Wrestlers sometimes competed for money but the winnings were usually small, not enough to live on. Because the winnings were small and the wrestlers were usually from the same community, the wrestling styles they practiced emphasized subduing opponents without inflicting injury, allowing the wrestlers to go back to their regular jobs the next day and avoid making enemies. The most common styles of wrestling during the early 19th century were Greco-Roman, collar-and-elbow, and catch-as-catch-can.

Transition to theater

Spectator sports grew increasingly popular in late 19th-century America due to rising income levels, urbanization, railroads, mass transit, and mass media. Before this time, sports were mostly a hobby, but now a star athlete could make a living touring the country and playing before large paying crowds. Wrestlers who attempted professional careers faced a problem: most spectators found wrestling boring. The wrestlers spent a lot of time on the mat just shoving each other or locked in unchanging positions. Matches could drag on for hours if the wrestlers were evenly matched. Matches were typically decided when a wrestler placed his opponent in a submission hold. A submission hold is impossible to break and typically easy to establish if the opponent's defense is lax.

In wrestling, the most successful attacks are often counterattacks, where a wrestler takes advantage of his opponent's aggression to create openings for his own offense. This motivated the wrestlers to fight defensively, which resulted in matches with little activity. This was in contrast to boxing, whose rules encouraged more dynamic and aggressive play.

To solve this problem, wrestlers experimented with different styles and rules, but eventually they settled on quietly staging their matches (or "working" them, as they say in the industry). Through choreography and improvisation, the wrestlers could perform more spectacular moves and stunts. A wrestler might allow his opponent to perform a spectacular throw on him and put him in a hold, and seconds later his opponent would allow him to make a spectacular escape. The action flowed at a pace that pleased the audience. The "winner" had to be agreed upon in advance by the wrestlers. This was not unique to America. Spectators in the United Kingdom also found legitimate wrestling too boring, and British professional wrestlers likewise were forced to "work" their bouts.

A second benefit of fixed matches was to reduce the risk of injury. Competitive wrestling matches, particularly the ones where large quantities of money were wagered, often ended with sprains or broken bones. A serious injury could prematurely end the career of a wrestler. Furthermore, around the start of the 20th century, the American public was increasingly disgusted by excessive violence in sports, which had led to bans on boxing in various parts of the country. In a fixed match, the wrestlers had no need to be so brutal. Unlike punches in boxing, wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. Shorter matches also suited aging wrestlers who no longer had the stamina for a long fight. It allowed wrestlers to perform more frequently. In later decades, audience tastes shifted and professional wrestling became more brutal, but in those early years, there was a strong desire to minimize injury.

A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Some wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For a fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, they won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers the art of staging matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the start of the 20th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were fixed, and the press had caught on.