Who knows the real history of pro wrestling?

Question

just curious - how many people know that collegiate wrestling an HS wrestling came about after the Sport of professional wrestling?

Not the other way around like most other sports where the pro version developed after the collegiate version and the way most wrestling haters view the Sport.

Its true - "pro wrestling" as a Sport came to be as what is now refered to as "catch wrestling" way back around the 18th century. "catch wrestling" now being refered to by the likes of JR as "catch-as-catch-can" wrestling.

thats back when "pro wrestling" was 2 hour matches on the mat but were still called by the wrestlers thus making it a scripted athletic show.

Collegiate wrestling came of that only they made wrestling a legitimate real sport. everything was real.

Then "pro wrestling " slowly developed into what we all know and love today - "Sports - Entertainment". With the ring , characters , gimmicks , promos , and all that wonderful good stuff.

Just thought i'd give some insight to those who look down upon the Sport.

Answer 1

I know a lot about pro wrestling.  But not so much about the "real" kinds.  By the way... I hate it when people call pro wrestling "fake"

Answer 2

Professional wrestling, defined as wrestling between two professionals for payment, is a form of both entertainment and fighting. There is perhaps no sport more widely dispersed or older than wrestling; it has documented history in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian art from 3,000 BC, literary presence in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, and has been known and practiced in ancient Chinese and Japanese civilizations. The Greeks are credited for popularizing it as a competitive, widely-practiced public spectacle of competitive athleticism in the Ancient Olympic Games. It has therefore been believed that the form of wrestling practiced through the ages, from the ancients onto the nineteenth century, has been what is now called the Greco-Roman style.

The modern style of professional wrestling, popularized by the United States and Great Britain during the late nineteenth century, is called the catch-as-catch can style. Originally thought of as unorthodox and more lax in style, catch wrestling differs from Greco-Roman in its allowed grapples; Greco-Roman strictly prohibits grabbing below the waist, while catch wrestling allows holds above and below the waist, including leg grips. Both catch wrestling and Greco-Roman were popular, and legitimate amateur and professional sports until the late 1800s, when catch wrestling changed slowly into the sport known worldwide as pro-wrestling, recognized more for its theatrical antics and entertainment than wrestling ability. Greco-Roman, however, did not change in the sense of competitiveness or legitimacy and remains a practiced Olympic sport to this day

Answer 3

thanks for the information

Answer 4

It came from carnivals...where they sold HOAGIES!

Answer 5

ok thanks