Is Wrestling A Sport Essay, Research Paper
Is Professional Wrestling a Sport?
Imagine thousands of screaming fans waiting for the popular television show WWF Monday Night Raw to begin. Elaborate firework displays go off and loud music plays all to enhance the audience?s excitement. This is professional wrestling, one of the hottest things on TV today. It is one of the highest rated programs on television each week. With all the attention wrestling is receiving today, a great debate has ensued. Many people argue that pro-wrestling is not a sport and that anyone can become a profession wrestler. They believe it is not physically demanding and they are not hurting each other; it is completely fake. By many, wrestling is considered nothing more than a fancy show with talented actors. Professional wrestling is deemed by many people to be a ?male soap opera.? So the question arises, should professional wrestling be considered a real sport?
A sport is defined as any activity where competition is involved. Whether it involves a one on one confrontation or teams, it is a sport. A sport also normally contains great physical exertion among the athletes in which they must train for a long time in order to aquifer a skill. Another quality of a sport is the desire amongst all athletes to be the best. Professional sports are also about pleasing the fans because without the fans there would be no pro-sports. A final thing about professional sports has to do with travel and frequency of competition. Many pro sports require their athletes to travel and perform very frequently. These ideas are what sports are all about.
Now take professional wrestling as a sport. The wrestlers definitely are athletes that aquifer a skill in order to wrestle. Wrestlers also very often square off in fierce one on one battles or sometimes they pair off in tag teams. The greatest of all reasons why pro-wrestling is a sport though is the great physical exertion that must endure in the course of a match.
The amount of physical pain goes through in a match is immense. The matches are truly exhausting to the wrestler. Matches normally last from ten to fifteen minutes but may go upwards of a half-hour. During the match there are no breaks, the wrestlers are constantly hitting each other and performing moves like piledrivers and suplexes. Wrestlers even sometimes leave the ring and this is where their true stamina and strength come in. Many weapons are used like chairs, ladders, and even tables. The power of the hits from these weapons even sometimes causes the wrestlers to bleed. Many people believe this blood is fake, but it is almost always real and the wrestlers must continue their matches through it. Next, the wrestlers sometimes proceed into the audience. This is especially dangerous because the wrestlers have to do deal with their opponents as well as drunken fans screaming and hitting them. This is just a typical day in the life of a pro-wrestler.
If still uncertain if professional wrestlers pain and injuries during the course of a match, watch the wrestler Mankind. Mankind is a former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) champion and is often dubbed ?hardcore,? meaning he experiences no pain. He takes more punishment than perhaps any pro-wreslter in history. Take for example, a match he had this past June. It was against a very powerful competitor, the Undertaker. The match began on top of an eighteen-foot high cage. A few moments later Mankind was thrown off the cage and crashed through a table. It looked like the match was over, but Mankind miraculously got up and continued by climbing the cage again. Next, he was thrown through the cage and landed on his back in the middle of the ring. Mankind then somehow got up again and even managed to fight the Undertaker for about fifteen minutes. Finally, the match ended when Mankind was pinned after being slammed into about five hundred thumbtacks. During this match Mankind lost three teeth, broke two ribs, and punctured a kidney. Only a real athlete with great stamina could pull of such amazing feats.
For a person to begin their wrestling career they must first go to a special wrestling school. Here they go through intense training and learn the basics of wrestling such as how to fall, hit each other, and perform specific moves. More importantly wrestlers must learn how to not injure each other significantly. Professional wrestling has many dangerous maneuvers that can cause broken bones, paralysis, or even death. At wrestling schools, wrestlers also get themselves into top physical condition. This is done by performing a rigorous set of training such as running, push-ups, and weightlifting. Without this training, a wrestler without never be able to sustain the intense they take and the long matches they perform in.
Professional wrestling is also a great example of the athlete having a desire to be the best. Very often after wrestling school, a wrestler must start off very small. The first places they wrestle are in tiny federations where the matches are held in small venues such as high school gyms and bingo halls. If they perform well, they can work their way up until they reach the pinnacle of professional wrestling, the WWF.
A need to please the audience is also another excellent quality of professional wrestling. In order to keep the interest and support of the fans; wrestlers must be at their best at all times. They have absolutely no room for error. If a wrestler does not perform well they will lose their fan base and eventually their jobs. This is another reason why pro-wrestling is so competitive, it is survival of the fittest.
Professional wrestling is also about traveling frequently over large distances. Wrestlers in major federations such as the WWF fly all over the country to perform in matches. The WWF even goes to other nations such as the United Kingdom. No pro-sport makes their athletes travel to other continents to perform. There are also very few breaks in wrestling. Very often, a wrestler must wrestle three to four times a week in different cities. This continues year-round because there are no off-seasons in professional wrestling. In some aspects pro-wrestling is harder than other pro-sports because no other sport makes their athletes travel as consistently or wrestle as often.
In conclusion, professional wrestling is undoubtedly a sport. Wrestlers have to perform in many tasks that go along with the definition of sport. They have to endure pain, train rigorously, please audiences, and travel in order to succeed. Without these things, a wrestler would never amount to anything. The next time someone tries to say professional is fake and not a sport because wrestlers are not athletes let them know what pro-wrestlers go through.