Ok I’m not from usa, so I dont really underestand wrestling. As far as I know its a scripted sketch with real phisical skill necessary to perform the act. But I keep reading about old champions or the first xxx race champion etc. What do you mean champion? If those are actors, so to speak, there are no champion, there is a script to follow. Its like saying Arnold swarzneger was the first terminator to defeat the advanced model in terminator2, what
? Please eli5.
In: 31
Okay so I’m guessing this might be a follow on to the First Native American wrestling champion post on the front page.
To help get this, there are two types of wrestling that are prominent.
There’s the sport wrestling, [like the kind in the Olympics, schools, colleges and clubs](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2021-03/wrestling-101-equipment.jpg?impolicy=rect_small_384_216). This is a martial art. These are not scripted. It’s an athletic competition.
Then there’s the [Professional Wrestling/ Sport Entertainment which](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/3c6f8ca71259ce9673c6821b3cda4a42aa656298/c=0-224-5177-3149/local/-/media/2017/05/02/USATODAY/USATODAY/636293254938396794-DARK-02282017rf-0072.jpg?width=660&height=373&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp) is the scripted (though still athletically impressive) staged matches.
While it’s still wrestling in a way, it’s akin to watching a movie about racing, opposed to just watching a race.
Modern professional wrestling evolved from basically a carnival exhibition. Talented amateur wrestlers would be hired to challenge guests to a match, and there would typically be a prize on the line. The promoter had to trust that they wrestler he hired would be able to beat any challenger, so no prizes would be won. It was entertaining for the onlookers, so promoters eventually saw the benefit of putting on matches in which both competitors were paid, so as to control the result.
From there, they knew people would pay admission fees to see the guy who won the tournament at their local fair take on the champion from another town. If both guys were hired, the matches they could put on could be choreographed to be as entertaining as possible; performing moves that shouldn’t be able to happen. The Championship belts were “won” (awarded to) the guys who reliably would draw the most money from ticket sales, or to someone evil and dastardly who could be chased down and eventually conquered by the valiant hero. The belt, more than anything else, signified to the audience who the “best” performers were and which story to pay close attention to.
Pro wrestling is considered a cross between a performance art and a sport. The championships still happening even though the outcome is predetermined is part of the sport aspect of it, if there is a sport then there should be something to compete for right?
But in the case of pro wrestling, the right to become champion is determined behind the scenes rather than on the spot. Of course you can’t just let whoever carry a belt. Wrestling champions are usually those who the promoters determine are the ones who are able to get the most reaction from the crowd whether positive (usually by “face” or good guy wrestlers) or negative (“heel” or bad guy wrestlers) and whom they observe is able to draw crowds to begin with. This starts through careful observation of a performer’s growth from show to show.
Most wrestlers start out the same way–losing matches at the bottom of a show’s card and so the people behind the scenes are able to see how well the guy performs at the short end of the stick in a match. Whether he’s able to tell his part of the story well. Then sometimes if they see the guy has potential they let him win matches from time to time and gradually give him more exposure. The chances of him being booked to win a title increase if he is able to develop his “gimmick” or in ring character in a way that the fans respond to. Then they are put to the test in title matches. The more good matches they put on for the crowd and the more that the crowds respond to them compared to whoever is the champion currently the more likely they are to become repeat champions, or keep their title for longer.
Even though it’s staged we need to consider the concept of a pro wrestling championship valid. At the end of the day a belt is still won or lost in front of a crowd and it’s really the only marker of achievement a wrestler will have in their career. It’s bragging rights and their egos and paychecks are on the line everytime a title is defended.
Professional wrestling is or has been at various points highly popular in Mexico, Japan, and the UK, among other countries with smaller promotions operating today, so not being from the US has nothing to do with it.
A friend of mine wrote two seasons of GLOW (the original one back in the 80s, which was fictionalized in the recent Netflix series). He said that the wrestlers were always very nice to him because they knew he was the one who decided who won and who lost.
There was an attitude back in the 70’s and 80’s that if fans figured out that wrestling was fake the entire industry would die out. So there’s always been a hard push for it to be perceived as a real sport hence why they often have championships like real sports. Even today WWE pushes this idea to a pretty big degree. No active wrestler will ever talk about the match results being scripted in an interview. Honestly wrestlers don’t like the term fake or scripted either because that’s not entirely accurate. The results are scripted, but a lot of the action is improvisational based on crowd reaction or how the wrestlers are feeling during the match.
It’s presented like a real competition. Unlike a TV show about a sports comp that is obviously scripted, you can turn off part of your brain and buy into the fantasy.
Think of Thanos in the Avengers.
Imagine the 6 Infinity stones as Championship belts. Thanos is a 6-time champion, and that makes him a big deal. Everyone around him wants to strip him off his belt.
If a wrestling promotion sees you as a big deal, they’ll crown you as champion and center the main storyline on you. It’s a big responsibility carrying the company. You’ll be the man, the big bad, the tribal chief, the one, the great one. ☝️
Professional wrestling is or has been at various points highly popular in Mexico, Japan, and the UK, among other countries with smaller promotions operating today, so not being from the US has nothing to do with it.
The first X champion is still notable (where X is some demographic)
The same barriers that exist in many industries also exist in pro wrestling and breaking those barriers is notable.
While becoming champion is fake in the sense that the match is fake, behind the scenes it means you’re popular and/or good enough that they want to make you champion. It takes a lot of work and talent to make it that far.
So it would be more like “the first X person to star in a Marvel movie” or “the first X person to win an Oscar”.
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