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179-442: 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches

358-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in

537-410: A collective form of reception. The structure of dramatic texts , unlike other forms of literature , is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception. The early modern tragedy Hamlet (1601) by Shakespeare and the classical Athenian tragedy Oedipus Rex ( c.  429 BCE ) by Sophocles are among the masterpieces of the art of drama. A modern example

716-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance

895-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. 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

1074-412: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over

1253-531: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so

1432-517: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to

1611-583: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from

1790-557: A competitor can partake in. For example, some junior varsity and freshman competitors are not allowed in tournament competition due to the amount of mat time a wrestler would accrue in a short time period. Women's college wrestling in the U.S. uses freestyle wrestling rules in the NCAA and standard collegiate rules in the NCWA . There are currently several organizations which oversee collegiate wrestling competition: Divisions I, II, and III of

1969-503: A culture or geographic region of the world that UWW does not administer rules for. Examples of the many styles of folk wrestling, include Cornish wrestling , backhold wrestling (from Europe), Cumberland Wrestling and Catch-as-catch-can (from England), kurash from Uzbekistan, gushteengiri from Tajikistan, khuresh from Siberia, Lotta Campidanese from Italy, naban from Myanmar, pehlwani from India, penjang gulat from Indonesia, schwingen from Switzerland, tigel from Ethiopia, kene of

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2148-406: A dancing floor (orchestra), dressing room and scene-building area (skene). Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics and clear delivery were paramount. The actors (always men) wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance -drama that formed an important part of

2327-491: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses , to present experiences of

2506-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling

2685-410: 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, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged 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

2864-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have

3043-797: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned

3222-423: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise

3401-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to

3580-533: A particular type. Kālidāsa in the 1st century BCE, is arguably considered to be ancient India 's greatest Sanskrit dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kālidāsa are the Mālavikāgnimitram ( Mālavikā and Agnimitra ), Vikramuurvashiiya ( Pertaining to Vikrama and Urvashi ), and Abhijñānaśākuntala ( The Recognition of Shakuntala ). The last was inspired by a story in the Mahabharata and

3759-500: A play that is neither a comedy nor a tragedy—for example, Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1873) or Chekhov's Ivanov (1887). In Ancient Greece however, the word drama encompassed all theatrical plays, tragic, comic, or anything in between. Drama is often combined with music and dance : the drama in opera is generally sung throughout; musicals generally include both spoken dialogue and songs ; and some forms of drama have incidental music or musical accompaniment underscoring

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3938-417: A real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage . The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture , speech, song, music , and dance . It is the oldest form of drama , though live theatre has now been joined by modern recorded forms. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance

4117-524: A tool for developing dramatic work or skills or as a form for situational comedy. Spolin also became interested in how the process of learning improvisation was applicable to the development of human potential. Spolin's son, Paul Sills popularized improvisational theatre as a theatrical art form when he founded, as its first director, The Second City in Chicago. Having been an important part of human culture for more than 2,500 years, theatre has evolved

4296-513: A type of hand-stitched lederhosen called a kispetler , which are traditionally made of water buffalo hide, and most recently have been made of calfskin. Unlike Olympic wrestling, oil wrestling matches may be won by achieving an effective hold of the kisbet . Thus, the pehlivan aims to control his opponent by putting his arm through the latter's kisbet . To win by this move is called paça kazık . Originally, matches had no set duration and could go on for one or two days, until one man

4475-502: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in

4654-421: A vehicle to tell a story qualify as comedies. This may include a modern farce such as Boeing Boeing or a classical play such as As You Like It . Theatre expressing bleak, controversial or taboo subject matter in a deliberately humorous way is referred to as black comedy . Black Comedy can have several genres like slapstick humour, dark and sarcastic comedy. Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that

4833-435: A very colourful shadow. The thin rods which controlled their movements were attached to a leather collar at the neck of the puppet. The rods ran parallel to the bodies of the puppet and then turned at a ninety degree angle to connect to the neck. While these rods were visible when the shadow was cast, they laid outside the shadow of the puppet; thus they did not interfere with the appearance of the figure. The rods are attached at

5012-585: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point

5191-697: A wide range of different theories and practices. Some are related to political or spiritual ideologies, while others are based purely on "artistic" concerns. Some processes focus on a story, some on theatre as event, and some on theatre as catalyst for social change. The classical Greek philosopher Aristotle , in his seminal treatise, Poetics ( c.  335 BCE ) is the earliest-surviving example and its arguments have influenced theories of theatre ever since. In it, he offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama — comedy , tragedy , and

5370-436: Is Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill (1956). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle 's Poetics ( c.  335 BCE ); the earliest work of dramatic theory . The use of "drama" in the narrow sense to designate a specific type of play dates from the 19th century . Drama in this sense refers to

5549-524: Is a martial art and combat sport that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves different grappling-type techniques, such as clinch fighting , throws and takedowns , joint locks , pins , and other grappling holds . Many different wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts , combat sports , and military systems . Wrestling comes in different competitive forms,

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5728-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted

5907-491: Is a world heritage martial art which was introduced to the Ancient Olympic Games in 648 BC. Modern amateur pankration is a form of mixed martial arts (MMA) that incorporates techniques from multiple systems. Matches are fought with both grappling and striking techniques. Alysh is a Turkic term for a Central Asian folk wrestling style which involves the wearing of jackets, trousers and thick belts. Throughout

6086-548: Is also treated more as a sport than the entertainment style of wrestling common in North America . As with British/European wrestling, there are fewer and less contrived storylines and angles and there is a similar atmosphere of realistic sporting competition. Much of this direction can be attributed to the influence of two European catch wrestlers/coaches Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson whose matches in Japan early in

6265-432: Is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are

6444-663: Is an ancient form of storytelling that renowned for its elaborate puppet/human and complex musical styles. The earliest evidence is from the late 1st millennium CE, in medieval-era texts and archeological sites. The oldest known record that concerns wayang is from the 9th century. Around 840 AD an Old Javanese (Kawi) inscriptions called Jaha Inscriptions issued by Maharaja Sri Lokapala from Mataram Kingdom in Central Java mentions three sorts of performers: atapukan, aringgit, and abanol. Aringgit means Wayang puppet show, Atapukan means Mask dance show, and abanwal means joke art. Ringgit

6623-644: Is described in an 11th-century Javanese poem as a leather shadow figure. Theatre in the medieval Islamic world included puppet theatre (which included hand puppets, shadow plays and marionette productions) and live passion plays known as ta'ziyeh , where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history . In particular, Shia Islamic plays revolved around the istishhād (martyrdom) of Ali 's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali . Secular plays were known as akhraja , recorded in medieval adab literature, though they were less common than puppetry and ta'ziya theatre. Theatre took on many alternative forms in

6802-406: Is divided into two styles: no-gi and gi. In no-gi (GNG), athletes wear shorts and a compression shirt called a rashguard. In gi grappling (GWG), athletes wear a kimono or gi . The goal of the sport is to take down and control the opponent on the ground and potentially win a submission using chokes and joint locks. Pankration (PK), from the Greek words pan and kratos and meaning "all of power",

6981-425: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has

7160-539: Is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of Menander . Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of laughable people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster. In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, the festival also included the Satyr Play . Finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus,

7339-428: Is often concluded in a raised ring; akin to boxing. Although advertised as contests , bouts are actually exhibitions with winners generally pre-determined to increase entertainment value. Legitimate wrestling skill remained a valuable bargaining chip in the wrestling industry until the late 20th century however, with occasional shoot matches (often to settle some backstage personal or business dispute) taking place in

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7518-430: Is recognized by UNESCO as among the world's longest-running forms of sport. The best wrestlers earn the title of pahlevan (hero). It is similar to freestyle wrestling, however wrestlers wear pants which extend from the waist to below the knees and a belt. They are allowed to use or grab pants or belt as a grip, use legs, waist, clinch, leg trips and lift or throw, with the goal being to touch their opponent's shoulders to

7697-824: Is retrospectively considered a precursor to mixed martial arts . Mexican professional wrestling, also known as lucha libre , is a style of wrestling using special holds. Most performers, known as luchadores (singular luchador ), begin their careers wearing masks, but most will lose their masks during their careers. Traditionally a match involves the best of three rounds, with no time limit. Each luchador uses his own special wrestling style or "estilo de lucha" consisting of aerial attack moves, strikes and complex submission holds. Popular luchadores in Mexico and Puerto Rico are El Santo , Blue Demon , Mil Máscaras , Perro Aguayo , Carlos Colón , Konnan , L. A. Park and Místico . Several wrestlers who performed in Mexico also had success in

7876-419: Is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude: in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. Aristotle's phrase "several kinds being found in separate parts of the play" is a reference to the structural origins of drama. In it

8055-472: Is the most famous. It was the first to be translated into English and German . Śakuntalā (in English translation) influenced Goethe 's Faust (1808–1832). The next great Indian dramatist was Bhavabhuti ( c.  7th century CE ). He is said to have written the following three plays: Malati-Madhava , Mahaviracharita and Uttar Ramacharita . Among these three, the last two cover between them

8234-544: Is the oldest continuously running, sanctioned sporting competition in the world. In recent years this style of wrestling has also become popular in other countries. Collegiate wrestling (also known as folkstyle wrestling) is the commonly used name of wrestling practiced at the college and university level in the United States . This style, with modifications , is also practiced at the high school and middle school levels, and also for younger participants. The term

8413-782: Is universally acknowledged in the Western critical tradition", Marvin Carlson explains, "almost every detail about his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions." Important theatre practitioners of the 20th century include Konstantin Stanislavski , Vsevolod Meyerhold , Jacques Copeau , Edward Gordon Craig , Bertolt Brecht , Antonin Artaud , Joan Littlewood , Peter Brook , Jerzy Grotowski , Augusto Boal , Eugenio Barba , Dario Fo , Viola Spolin , Keith Johnstone and Robert Wilson (director) . Wrestling Wrestling

8592-483: Is used to distinguish the style from other styles of wrestling used in other parts of the world, and from those of the Olympic Games : Greco-Roman wrestling , and freestyle wrestling . Some high schools in the U.S. have developed junior varsity and freshman teams alongside varsity teams. Junior varsity and freshman wrestling teams restrict competitors not only by weight, but also by age and the amount of wrestling

8771-518: Is why actors are commonly called "Children of the Pear Garden". During the dynasty of Empress Ling, shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theatre in China. There were two distinct forms of shadow puppetry, Pekingese (northern) and Cantonese (southern). The two styles were differentiated by the method of making the puppets and the positioning of the rods on the puppets , as opposed to

8950-546: The 20th century in the realism of Stanislavski and Lee Strasberg , the political theatre of Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht , the so-called Theatre of the Absurd of Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco , American and British musicals, the collective creations of companies of actors and directors such as Joan Littlewood 's Theatre Workshop , experimental and postmodern theatre of Robert Wilson and Robert Lepage ,

9129-661: The Book of Genesis , the Patriarch Jacob is said to have wrestled with God or an angel. The Iliad , in which Homer recounts the Trojan War of the 13th or 12th century BC, also contains mentions of wrestling. Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata contain references to martial arts including wrestling. The Yellow Emperor fought the rebel Chi You using Shuai Jiao at the Battle of Zhoulu . This early style of combat

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9308-508: The City Dionysia as an audience member (or even as a participant in the theatrical productions) in particular—was an important part of citizenship . Civic participation also involved the evaluation of the rhetoric of orators evidenced in performances in the law-court or political assembly , both of which were understood as analogous to the theatre and increasingly came to absorb its dramatic vocabulary. The Greeks also developed

9487-601: The Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 through to the modern era with regular events since 1928. Oil wrestling ( Turkish : yağlı güreş ), also called grease wrestling, is the Turkish national sport. It is so called because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. It is related to Uzbek kurash , Tuvan khuresh and Tatar and Bashkir көрәш ( köräş ). The wrestlers, known as pehlivanlar meaning "champion" wear

9666-621: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In

9845-511: The Persian response to news of their military defeat at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE—is the notable exception in the surviving drama. When Aeschylus won first prize for it at the City Dionysia in 472 BCE, he had been writing tragedies for more than 25 years, yet its tragic treatment of recent history is the earliest example of drama to survive. More than 130 years later, the philosopher Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in

10024-569: The Sundanese and wayang kulit (leather shadow-puppet play) of the Javanese and Balinese —draw much of their repertoire from indigenized versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata . These tales also provide source material for the wayang wong (human theatre) of Java and Bali , which uses actors. Some wayang golek performances, however, also present Muslim stories, called menak . Wayang

10203-491: The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Wrestling has produced significantly more UFC champions than any other martial art. Wrestlers such as Dan Severn , Don Frye , Mark Coleman , Randy Couture , Mark Kerr , Kazushi Sakuraba , Pat Miletich , and Dan Henderson won many of the early UFC tournaments along with other accolades. Ken Shamrock won the first UFC Superfight Championship and

10382-559: The high-style , verbally elaborate tragedies of Seneca . Although Rome had a native tradition of performance, the Hellenization of Roman culture in the 3rd century BCE had a profound and energizing effect on Roman theatre and encouraged the development of Latin literature of the highest quality for the stage. The only surviving plays from the Roman Empire are ten dramas attributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE),

10561-492: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including

10740-516: The postcolonial theatre of August Wilson or Tomson Highway , and Augusto Boal 's Theatre of the Oppressed . Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance . The term comes from a Greek word meaning " action ", which is derived from the verb δράω, dráō , "to do" or "to act". The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience , presupposes collaborative modes of production and

10919-514: The satyr play —as well as lyric poetry , epic poetry , and the dithyramb ). He examines its "first principles" and identifies its genres and basic elements; his analysis of tragedy constitutes the core of the discussion. Aristotle argues that tragedy consists of six qualitative parts, which are (in order of importance) mythos or "plot", ethos or "character", dianoia or "thought", lexis or "diction", melos or "song", and opsis or "spectacle". "Although Aristotle's Poetics

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11098-573: The specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts , literature and the arts in general. A theatre company is an organisation that produces theatrical performances, as distinct from a theatre troupe (or acting company), which is a group of theatrical performers working together. Modern theatre includes performances of plays and musical theatre . The art forms of ballet and opera are also theatre and use many conventions such as acting , costumes and staging. They were influential in

11277-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . 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

11456-484: The well-made plays of Scribe and Sardou gave way to the problem plays of Naturalism and Realism ; the farces of Feydeau ; Wagner's operatic Gesamtkunstwerk ; musical theatre (including Gilbert and Sullivan 's operas); F. C. Burnand 's, W. S. Gilbert 's and Oscar Wilde 's drawing-room comedies; Symbolism ; proto- Expressionism in the late works of August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen ; and Edwardian musical comedy . These trends continued through

11635-583: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in

11814-399: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in

11993-691: The 1940s before the sport grew more theatrical. Wrestlers from the period were known as hookers or shooters due to their legitimate skills – a dwindling number have remained in the business until modern times. Popular wrestlers from this era include Martin "Farmer" Burns , Frank Gotch , Tom Jenkins , Charles Cutler , Joe Stecher , Earl Caddock , Stanislaus Zbyszko , Ed "Strangler" Lewis , Ad Santel , John Pesek , Jim Londos , Ray Steele , Dick Shikat , and transitional figure Lou Thesz . Sometimes referred as "American-style" professional wrestling, companies such as WWE , AEW , Impact Wrestling and ROH run touring professional wrestling events throughout

12172-492: The 1970s inspired considerable interest in the more purist grappling element of professional wrestling. Popular Japanese wrestlers include Rikidozan , Giant Baba , Antonio Inoki , Mitsuharu Misawa , Kenta Kobashi , Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh . Shoot style wrestling evolved from traditional puroresu in an attempt to create a combat -based style. Shoot style featured a mix of amateur and catch wrestling , kickboxing and submission grappling . Shoot style wrestling

12351-533: The 1980s/1990s and early satellite sports channels during the same period as well as extensive home video releases in 1980s Germany/Austria) – but later declined and was supplanted both on television and in wider culture by imported American wrestling. Some promoters in the UK (and to a lesser extent France and Germany ) still produce live shows in this style but face stiff competition from more American-styled rivals. Japanese professional wrestling, also known as puroresu ,

12530-508: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide

12709-465: The 1st century CE. It began after the development of Greek and Roman theatre and before the development of theatre in other parts of Asia. It emerged sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE and flourished between the 1st century CE and the 10th, which was a period of relative peace in the history of India during which hundreds of plays were written. The wealth of archeological evidence from earlier periods offers no indication of

12888-407: The 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus , Sophocles , and Euripides . The origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institutionalized in competitions ( agon ) held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus (the god of wine and fertility ). As contestants in the City Dionysia's competition (the most prestigious of

13067-651: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike

13246-553: The Corduba-born Stoic philosopher and tutor of Nero. These tragedies are known for their philosophical themes, complex characters, and rhetorical style. While Seneca's plays provide valuable insights into Roman theater, they represent only a small fraction of the dramatic repertoire that existed in ancient Rome. The first form of Indian theatre was the Sanskrit theatre , earliest-surviving fragments of which date from

13425-881: The Cornish Wrestling Association is affiliated to the British Wrestling Association which is linked to the UWW. The International Federation of Celtic Wrestling (FILC) organises international competitions between wrestlers from these styles. Folk styles have been international in nature. For example, there have been regular Cornish wrestling tournaments and matches in the US, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England and Cornwall, with irregular tournaments and matches in Japan, Canada and Mexico. There have also been Inter-Celtic tournaments between Cornwall and Brittany dating back to

13604-598: The French had a larger distinction between comedy and tragedy, whereas the English fudged the lines occasionally and put some comedic parts in their tragedies. Common forms of non-comedic plays were sentimental comedies as well as something that would later be called tragédie bourgeoise , or domestic tragedy —that is, the tragedy of common life—were more popular in England because they appealed more to English sensibilities. While theatre troupes were formerly often travelling,

13783-845: The NCAA, the NAIA , the NJCAA , and the NCWA. NCAA Division I wrestling is considered the most prestigious and challenging level of competition. A school chooses which athletic organization to join, although it may compete against teams from other levels and organizations during regular-season competition. The collegiate season starts in October or November and culminates with the National Championship tournament held in March. Professional wrestling

13962-407: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from

14141-486: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into

14320-475: The Nagas from India, shuai jiao from China, and ssireum from Korea. Folk wrestling styles are not recognized as international styles of wrestling by UWW . Celtic wrestling styles (e.g., Cornish wrestling , Scottish Backhold , Cumberland Wrestling , Gouren and Collar-and-elbow ) are a subset of folk wrestling and have their own regulatory bodies and some are affiliated to other organisations. For example,

14499-474: The Olympic Games, for both men and women. This style allows the use of the wrestler's or his opponent's legs in offense and defense. Freestyle wrestling has its origins in catch-as-catch-can wrestling and awards points on the basis of throw amplitude, exposure of an opponent's back to the mat and opponent passivity. A freestyle wrestler may instantly win a match by holding both of an opponent's scapula to

14678-507: The Romans first experienced theatre in the 4th century BCE, with a performance by Etruscan actors . Beacham argues that they had been familiar with "pre-theatrical practices" for some time before that recorded contact. The theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving and diverse art form, ranging from festival performances of street theatre , nude dancing, and acrobatics , to the staging of Plautus 's broadly appealing situation comedies , to

14857-469: The Soviet Union, while not allowing chokeholds . I personally think that the very best skill for MMA is wrestling, I think that's the number one base to come from because those guys just flat out dictate where the fight takes place [standing or on the ground]." "There is no better base for entering into mixed martial arts than the highly successful competitor as a wrestler. The competitive wrestlers,

15036-459: The Soviet armed forces. Its influences are varied, with techniques borrowed from sports ranging from the two international wrestling styles of Greco-Roman and freestyle to judo, jujitsu, European styles of folk wrestling , and even fencing . The rules for sport sambo are similar to those in competitive judo, with a variety of leg locks and defense holds from the various national wrestling styles in

15215-643: The United States, including Eddie Guerrero , Rey Mysterio (Jr.) , and Dos Caras Jr./Alberto Del Rio . In France in the 19th century, early professional wrestling shows in the Greco-Roman style were often performed at the circus by the resident strongmen . This style later spread to circuses in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia where it was a staple part of circuses in the Soviet era, where it

15394-820: The West between the 15th and 19th centuries, including commedia dell'arte from Italian theatre , and melodrama . The general trend was away from the poetic drama of the Greeks and the Renaissance and toward a more naturalistic prose style of dialogue, especially following the Industrial Revolution . Theatre took a big pause during 1642 and 1660 in England because of the Puritan Interregnum. The rising anti-theatrical sentiment among Puritans saw William Prynne write Histriomastix (1633),

15573-630: The Woods (1986), and The Phantom of the Opera (1986), as well as more contemporary hits including Rent (1994), The Lion King (1997), Wicked (2003), Hamilton (2015) and Frozen (2018). Musical theatre may be produced on an intimate scale Off-Broadway , in regional theatres , and elsewhere, but it often includes spectacle. For instance, Broadway and West End musicals often include lavish costumes and sets supported by multimillion-dollar budgets. Theatre productions that use humour as

15752-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight

15931-415: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that

16110-560: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As

16289-587: The best known of which is Peking Opera which is still popular today. Xiangsheng is a certain traditional Chinese comedic performance in the forms of monologue or dialogue. In Indonesia , theatre performances have become an important part of local culture, theatre performances in Indonesia have been developed for thousands of years. Most of Indonesia's oldest theatre forms are linked directly to local literary traditions (oral and written). The prominent puppet theatres — wayang golek (wooden rod-puppet play) of

16468-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who

16647-417: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards

16826-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling

17005-510: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about

17184-552: The concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture. Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama : tragedy , comedy , and the satyr play . The origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle (384–322 BCE), the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honoured Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10,000–20,000 people. The stage consisted of

17363-426: The contest the wrestlers must retain their hold on each other's belt. For this reason it is also referred to as ' belt wrestling alysh' or 'alysh belt wrestling' (BWUWW). The origin of pahlavani wrestling goes back to ancient Persia and is said to have been practiced by mythological Iranian heroes. It combines martial arts, calisthenics , strength training , and music, and was originally used to train warriors.. It

17542-538: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine

17721-439: The current rules allowing wrestlers to score points via takedowns, pushing their opponent out of bounds, or bringing the opponent down to their back. In addition to the annual World Beach Wrestling Championships , beach wrestling has been contested at Youth Olympic Games , Asian Games , Down Under Games, Mediterranean Games and at the 2019 World Beach Games . Folk wrestling describes a traditional form of wrestling unique to

17900-471: The dealings of the pantheon of Gods and their involvement in human affairs, backed by the chorus of Satyrs . However, according to Webster , satyr actors did not always perform typical satyr actions and would break from the acting traditions assigned to the character type of a mythical forest creature. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans . The Roman historian Livy wrote that

18079-433: The development of musical theatre . The city-state of Athens is where Western theatre originated. It was part of a broader culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that included festivals , religious rituals , politics , law , athletics and gymnastics, music , poetry , weddings, funerals, and symposia . Participation in the city-state's many festivals—and mandatory attendance at

18258-454: The dialogue ( melodrama and Japanese Nō , for example). In certain periods of history (the ancient Roman and modern Romantic ) some dramas have been written to be read rather than performed. In improvisation , the drama does not pre-exist the moment of performance; performers devise a dramatic script spontaneously before an audience. Music and theatre have had a close relationship since ancient times— Athenian tragedy , for example,

18437-521: The early days of the business and still occurring well into the 1930s and 1940s and the threat to use legitimate skill to have one's way in the ring still potent decades later. The roots of professional wrestling lay in the catch-as-catch-can contests of the late 19th century. Whereas the Europeans favored the more controlled and classical Greco-Roman style, the Americans from the 1880s preferred

18616-580: The early years of the North American colonies and would later serve as a popular activity at country fairs, holiday celebrations, and in military exercises. The first organized national wrestling tournament in the United States took place in New York City in 1888. Wrestling has also been an event at every modern Olympic Games since the 1904 games in St. Louis, Missouri ; Greco-Roman wrestling

18795-484: The elements of theatre, the Treatise gives most attention to acting ( abhinaya ), which consists of two styles: realistic ( lokadharmi ) and conventional ( natyadharmi ), though the major focus is on the latter. Its drama is regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature . It utilised stock characters , such as the hero ( nayaka ), heroine ( nayika ), or clown ( vidusaka ). Actors may have specialized in

18974-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and

19153-477: The entire epic of Ramayana . The powerful Indian emperor Harsha (606–648) is credited with having written three plays: the comedy Ratnavali , Priyadarsika , and the Buddhist drama Nagananda . The Tang dynasty is sometimes known as "The Age of 1000 Entertainments". During this era, Ming Huang formed an acting school known as The Pear Garden to produce a form of drama that was primarily musical. That

19332-481: The existence of a tradition of theatre. The ancient Vedas ( hymns from between 1500 and 1000 BCE that are among the earliest examples of literature in the world) contain no hint of it (although a small number are composed in a form of dialogue ) and the rituals of the Vedic period do not appear to have developed into theatre. The Mahābhāṣya by Patañjali contains the earliest reference to what may have been

19511-602: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to

19690-517: The festivals to stage drama) playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play. The performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE; official records ( didaskaliai ) begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. Most Athenian tragedies dramatize events from Greek mythology , though The Persians —which stages

19869-628: The first improvisation form. Popularized by 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Dario Fo and troupes such as the Upright Citizens Brigade improvisational theatre continues to evolve with many different streams and philosophies. Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin are recognized as the first teachers of improvisation in modern times, with Johnstone exploring improvisation as an alternative to scripted theatre and Spolin and her successors exploring improvisation principally as

20048-468: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In

20227-609: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as

20406-459: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself

20585-496: The highly successful amateur wrestlers have such tremendous mental toughness. If you can just get through the room, the wrestling room practices at like really high level universities, NCAA division one teams; those guys are savages. The stuff they go through, just the overtraining, just the mental toughness that you have to develop. The rapid rise in the popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) has increased interest in wrestling due to its effectiveness against other martial arts since

20764-675: The idea of the national theatre gained support in the 18th century, inspired by Ludvig Holberg . The major promoter of the idea of the national theatre in Germany, and also of the Sturm und Drang poets, was Abel Seyler , the owner of the Hamburgische Entreprise and the Seyler Theatre Company . Through the 19th century , the popular theatrical forms of Romanticism , melodrama , Victorian burlesque and

20943-523: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with

21122-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore

21301-495: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by

21480-593: The infancy of MMA, and several wrestling techniques have been specifically adapted for MMA, leading to many martial arts gyms holding MMA wrestling classes. It is considered one of the primary disciplines in MMA along with Brazilian jiu-jitsu , boxing , kickboxing / muay Thai , and judo . Shoot wrestling , a relative of catch and freestyle wrestling, is the foundation of Shooto , a combat sport and pioneer MMA organization founded in 1985. Pancrase , another influential MMA organization based on shoot wrestling, also predates

21659-672: The late 19th and early 20th century . After the Edwardian musical comedy that began in the 1890s, the Princess Theatre musicals of the early 20th century, and comedies in the 1920s and 1930s (such as the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein ), with Oklahoma! (1943), musicals moved in a more dramatic direction. Famous musicals over the subsequent decades included My Fair Lady (1956), West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), Les Misérables (1980), Cats (1981), Into

21838-533: The late Old English term wræstlunge . Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat sport. The origins of wrestling go back around 15,000 to 17,000 years ago through cave drawings in France. Babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using various holds known in the present-day sport. Literary references to wrestling occur as early as the Old Testament and the ancient Indian Vedas . In

22017-434: The legs). Points are allotted on the basis of throw amplitude, exposure of an opponent's back to the mat and opponent passivity. A Greco-Roman wrestler may instantly win a match by holding both of an opponent's scapula to the mat (known as a "fall"). A well known Greco-Roman wrestler is Alexander Karelin from Russia . Freestyle wrestling (FS, WW) is an international discipline and one of two wrestling disciplines featured in

22196-406: The mat (known as a "fall"). This form of wrestling is similar to American scholastic and collegiate wrestling with freestyle wrestling having a greater emphasis on throw amplitude. Collegiate women's wrestling uses two rulesets, freestyle in the NCAA and standard collegiate in the NCWA . Submission Wrestling incorporates techniques and holds from a variety of wrestling disciplines. Grappling

22375-603: The mat. UWW, then known as FILA, codified the form of beach wrestling in 2004. Beach wrestling (BW) is standing wrestling done by wrestlers, male or female, inside a sand-filled circle measuring 7 meters (23 ft) in diameter. The style originally mirrored the rules used before the use of wrestling mats, and beach wrestling has been regarded as the oldest version of international competitive wrestling. The wrestlers wear swimsuits rather than special wrestling uniforms. Wrestlers may also wear spandex or athletic shorts. The international rules have been modified in 2015 by UWW, with

22554-473: The matches which, for the most part, had the atmosphere of real wrestling competition. In many countries this form of professional wrestling achieved mainstream popularity – particularly in the United Kingdom and France where in both countries from the 1950s to the late 1980s, national television coverage made household names of its stars (it was also regularly screened on Welsh language television in Wales in

22733-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in

22912-623: The men and youths who had enjoyed victories in wrestling, boxing , pankration and other athletic contests. During the Middle Ages from the fifth to fifteenth century , wrestling remained popular and enjoyed the patronage of many royal families, including those of England , France , and Japan . Early British settlers in America brought a strong wrestling tradition with them. The settlers also found wrestling to be popular among Native Americans . Amateur wrestling flourished throughout

23091-424: The more wide-open style of wrestling that later became known as freestyle . When the best American catch wrestlers discovered they could earn money with their skills, the professional counterpart was born. Initially, the contests were similar to amateur matches, except there were no time limits, and submission and choke holds were allowed. Amateur wrestling coexisted with its professional counterpart until around

23270-464: The most complete work of dramaturgy in the ancient world. It addresses acting , dance , music , dramatic construction , architecture , costuming , make-up , props , the organisation of companies, the audience, competitions, and offers a mythological account of the origin of theatre. In doing so, it provides indications about the nature of actual theatrical practices. Sanskrit theatre was performed on sacred ground by priests who had been trained in

23449-471: The most notorious attack on theatre prior to the ban. Viewing theatre as sinful, the Puritans ordered the closure of London theatres in 1642 . On 24 January 1643, the actors protested against the ban by writing a pamphlet titled The Actors remonstrance or complaint for the silencing of their profession, and banishment from their severall play-houses . This stagnant period ended once Charles II came back to

23628-577: The most popular being professional wrestling , which is a form of athletic theatre. Others include Greco-Roman , freestyle , judo , sambo , folkstyle , catch , shoot , luta livre , submission , sumo , pehlwani , shuai jiao , and more. Wrestling first appeared in the ancient Olympic Games as an event during the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules, with both traditional historic and modern styles. The term "wrestling" in Modern English originated from

23807-411: The necessary skills (dance, music, and recitation) in a [hereditary process]. Its aim was both to educate and to entertain. Under the patronage of royal courts, performers belonged to professional companies that were directed by a stage manager ( sutradhara ), who may also have acted. This task was thought of as being analogous to that of a puppeteer —the literal meaning of " sutradhara " is "holder of

23986-410: The necks to facilitate the use of multiple heads with one body. When the heads were not being used, they were stored in a muslin book or fabric-lined box. The heads were always removed at night. This was in keeping with the old superstition that if left intact, the puppets would come to life at night. Some puppeteers went so far as to store the heads in one book and the bodies in another, to further reduce

24165-437: The oldest surviving work of dramatic theory —his Poetics ( c.  335 BCE ). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, "Old Comedy", "Middle Comedy", and "New Comedy". Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes , while Middle Comedy is largely lost (preserved only in relatively short fragments in authors such as Athenaeus of Naucratis ). New Comedy

24344-534: The opponent in order to throw or choke them. Judo also allows some chokes and joint locks, although they are typically banned for children. Judo is a popular sport in Japan as well as in France, Russia, and eastern Europe. Sambo is a martial art that originated in the Soviet Union (specifically Russia ) in the 20th century. It is an acronym for "self-defence without weapons" in Russian and had its origins in

24523-704: The physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. Places, normally buildings, where performances regularly take place are also called "theatres" (or "theaters"), as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece , from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres , and many of its themes , stock characters , and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines theatricality, theatrical language , stage writing and

24702-582: The possibility of reanimating puppets. Shadow puppetry is said to have reached its highest point of artistic development in the eleventh century before becoming a tool of the government. In the Song dynasty , there were many popular plays involving acrobatics and music. These developed in the Yuan dynasty into a more sophisticated form known as zaju , with a four- or five-act structure. Yuan drama spread across China and diversified into numerous regional forms, one of

24881-624: The primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as

25060-716: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During

25239-443: The remainder of the Puritans and very religious of the time. The main question was if seeing something immoral on stage affects behaviour in the lives of those who watch it, a controversy that is still playing out today. The seventeenth century had also introduced women to the stage, which was considered inappropriate earlier. These women were regarded as celebrities (also a newer concept, thanks to ideas on individualism that arose in

25418-422: The satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyr's themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal woodland companions, often engaging in drunken revelry and mischief at his side. The satyr play itself was classified as tragicomedy, erring on the side of the more modern burlesque traditions of the early twentieth century. The plotlines of the plays were typically concerned with

25597-460: The scale of poetry in general (where the tragic divides against epic and lyric ) or at the scale of the drama (where tragedy is opposed to comedy ). In the modern era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, melodrama , the tragicomic , and epic theatre . Improvisation has been a consistent feature of theatre, with the Commedia dell'arte in the sixteenth century being recognized as

25776-452: The seeds of Sanskrit drama. This treatise on grammar from 140 BCE provides a feasible date for the beginnings of theatre in India . The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is A Treatise on Theatre ( Nātyaśāstra ), a compendium whose date of composition is uncertain (estimates range from 200 BCE to 200 CE) and whose authorship is attributed to Bharata Muni . The Treatise is

25955-596: The spoken parts were written in the Attic dialect whereas the choral (recited or sung) ones in the Doric dialect , these discrepancies reflecting the differing religious origins and poetic metres of the parts that were fused into a new entity, the theatrical drama . Tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilisation . That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet

26134-676: The sport frequently in their works, most notably Plato , Socrates , Aristotle , Xenophon , Epictetus , Seneca , Plutarch , and Marcus Aurelius . Dicaearchus wrote that Plato wrestled at the Isthmian games . Many of Plato's dialogues are set in wrestling schools . Ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar wrote victory odes, grouped into four books named after the Olympian , Pythian , Isthmian , and Nemean Games  – Panhellenic festivals held respectively at Olympia , Delphi , Corinth , and Nemea . These odes were composed to honor

26313-438: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For

26492-461: The strings or threads". The performers were trained rigorously in vocal and physical technique. There were no prohibitions against female performers; companies were all-male, all-female, and of mixed gender. Certain sentiments were considered inappropriate for men to enact, however, and were thought better suited to women. Some performers played characters their own age, while others played ages different from their own (whether younger or older). Of all

26671-568: The term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans , in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians , in a common activity", as Raymond Williams puts it. From its obscure origins in the theatres of Athens 2,500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of Aeschylus , Sophocles and Euripides , through its singular articulations in

26850-424: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,

27029-459: The theatrical culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE (from the end of which it began to spread throughout the Greek world), and continued to be popular until the beginning of the Hellenistic period . No tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during

27208-668: The throne in 1660 in the Restoration . Theatre (among other arts) exploded, with influence from French culture, since Charles had been exiled in France in the years previous to his reign. In 1660, two companies were licensed to perform, the Duke's Company and the King's Company . Performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisle's Tennis Court . The first West End theatre , known as Theatre Royal in Covent Garden , London,

27387-532: The time because of his use of floor space and scenery. Because of the turmoil before this time, there was still some controversy about what should and should not be put on the stage. Jeremy Collier , a preacher, was one of the heads in this movement through his piece A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage . The beliefs in this paper were mainly held by non-theatre goers and

27566-517: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by

27745-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it

27924-429: The type of play performed by the puppets. Both styles generally performed plays depicting great adventure and fantasy, rarely was this very stylized form of theatre used for political propaganda. Japanese forms of Kabuki , Nō , and Kyōgen developed in the 17th century CE. Cantonese shadow puppets were the larger of the two. They were built using thick leather which created more substantial shadows. Symbolic colour

28103-519: The wake of Renaissance Humanism ), but on the other hand, it was still very new and revolutionary that they were on the stage, and some said they were unladylike, and looked down on them. Charles II did not like young men playing the parts of young women, so he asked that women play their own parts. Because women were allowed on the stage, playwrights had more leeway with plot twists, like women dressing as men, and having narrow escapes from morally sticky situations as forms of comedy. Comedies were full of

28282-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of

28461-475: The works of Shakespeare , Lope de Vega , Racine , and Schiller , to the more recent naturalistic tragedy of Strindberg , Beckett's modernist meditations on death, loss and suffering, and Müller's postmodernist reworkings of the tragic canon, tragedy has remained an important site of cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. In the wake of Aristotle's Poetics (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make genre distinctions, whether at

28640-490: The world. Matches are highly theatrical, with dramatic stories such as feuds between the athletes developed and performed as part of build-up and promotion for matches. Before its increase in popularity in the mid-1980s, professional wrestling in the United States was organised as a cartel of regional monopolies, known as "territories." Wrestling in some of these areas (particularly the Southern and Midwestern United States )

28819-419: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked

28998-540: The young and very much in vogue, with the storyline following their love lives: commonly a young roguish hero professing his love to the chaste and free minded heroine near the end of the play, much like Sheridan's The School for Scandal . Many of the comedies were fashioned after the French tradition, mainly Molière, again hailing back to the French influence brought back by the King and the Royals after their exile. Molière

29177-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling

29356-457: Was a form of dance - drama that employed a chorus whose parts were sung (to the accompaniment of an aulos —an instrument comparable to the modern oboe ), as were some of the actors' responses and their 'solo songs' ( monodies ). Modern musical theatre is a form of theatre that also combines music, spoken dialogue, and dance. It emerged from comic opera (especially Gilbert and Sullivan ), variety , vaudeville , and music hall genres of

29535-515: Was able to establish superiority, but in 1975 the duration was capped at 40 minutes for the başpehlivan and 30 minutes for the pehlivan category. If no winner is determined, another 15 minutes—10 minutes for the pehlivan category—of wrestling ensues, wherein scores are kept to determine the victor. The annual Kırkpınar tournament, held in Edirne in Turkish Thrace since 1362,

29714-440: Was also very prevalent; a black face represented honesty, a red one bravery. The rods used to control Cantonese puppets were attached perpendicular to the puppets' heads. Thus, they were not seen by the audience when the shadow was created. Pekingese puppets were more delicate and smaller. They were created out of thin, translucent leather (usually taken from the belly of a donkey). They were painted with vibrant paints, thus they cast

29893-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in

30072-667: Was contested at the first modern Olympics in 1896 , but not at the 1900 games . The international governing body for the sport, United World Wrestling (UWW), was established in 1912 in Antwerp , Belgium as the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA). The first annual NCAA Wrestling Championships were held in 1928 in Ames, Iowa . USA Wrestling , located in Colorado Springs, Colorado ,

30251-574: Was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . One of the big changes was the new theatre house. Instead of the type of the Elizabethan era, such as the Globe Theatre , round with no place for the actors to prepare for the next act and with no "theatre manners", the theatre house became transformed into a place of refinement, with a stage in front and stadium seating facing it. Since seating

30430-603: Was established as the national governing body of U.S. amateur wrestling in 1983. Some of the earliest references to wrestling can be found in wrestling mythology . Wrestling disciplines, as defined by UWW, are broken down into two categories: international wrestling disciplines and folk wrestling disciplines. Three are Olympic disciplines: Greco-Roman wrestling , men's freestyle wrestling and women's freestyle wrestling. UWW also sanctions associated styles: grappling , amateur pankration, belt wrestling alysh , pahlavani wrestling , beach wrestling , and African wrestling. Sambo

30609-526: Was first called jiao di (butting with horns). In Ancient Greece wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend, literature, and philosophy. Wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, served as the focal sport of the ancient Olympic Games . Ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality through implementing different rules. Wrestling is referenced throughout both Ancient Greek and Roman literature. Many philosophers and leaders practiced wrestling and/or referenced

30788-486: Was given status as an international style in 1966 by FILA, UWW's predecessor. Greco-Roman (GR) is an international discipline and one of two wrestling disciplines featured in the Olympic Games. This form of wrestling prioritizes upper body attacks, with an emphasis on explosive "high amplitude" throws. Under the Greco-Roman ruleset, it is forbidden to attack the opponent below the belt in the execution of any action (restricting holds, trips, and active but not passive usage of

30967-422: Was no longer all the way around the stage, it became prioritized—some seats were obviously better than others. The king would have the best seat in the house: the very middle of the theatre, which got the widest view of the stage as well as the best way to see the point of view and vanishing point that the stage was constructed around. Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg was one of the most influential set designers of

31146-400: Was often advertised as "French wrestling." Ivan Poddubny achieved major stardom in his homeland and beyond during the interwar period . Judo is a style of wrestling which is derived from jujitsu , a Japanese martial art. As a wrestling style, judo is distinctive in that practitioners, called judoka, wear a heavy jacket and trousers, called a gi , along with a belt. The gi is used to grip

31325-464: Was one of the top comedic playwrights of the time, revolutionizing the way comedy was written and performed by combining Italian commedia dell'arte and neoclassical French comedy to create some of the longest lasting and most influential satiric comedies. Tragedies were similarly victorious in their sense of righting political power, especially poignant because of the recent Restoration of the Crown. They were also imitations of French tragedy, although

31504-447: Was performed in a relatively less theatrical more serious style, which could vary from realistically sporting to darkly violent, depending on local preference. A different style of professional wrestling evolved in the United Kingdom and spread across Western Europe (where it was known as "Catch" in the non-English speaking countries of mainland Europe). Traditionally in this style, there was less use of storylines and angles to promote

31683-521: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before

31862-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted

32041-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among

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