Wrestling

"The Wrestlers" from Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Wrestling is a sport in which a practitoner attempts to defeat an opponent without the use of striking. Wrestling has evolved into many different styles and forms. They range from world-wide, commercialised stadium events to less publicized, local amateur competitions. Generally, two persons compete against each other for each contest.

According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), the governing body of international amateur wrestling, the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today are Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling, Judo wrestling and Sambo wrestling.

Contents

1 The aim
2 Styles
3 Show wrestling
4 Wrestling as military training
5 Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts
6 Major wrestling sub-disciplines
7 See also
8 External links

The aim

The aim of a wrestling contest depends upon its style, but common aims are:

touching the shoulders/back of an opponent to the ground or pinning them/it for a defined time,
throwing an opponent to the floor, and/or
gaining control over an opponent's body, which may include inducing submission,
forcing any body part other than the feet to touch the ground,
maneuvering an opponent's shoulders/back toward the ground or achieving other defined positions to earn points,
raising an opponent over one's head.
forcing one to the ground and shout to three or throw the opponent out of the stage and call another wrestler to challenge him

Styles

There are almost as many wrestling styles as there are national traditions. Styles include Pehlwani in India, Sumo in Japan, Inner and Outer Mongolian Wrestling, and Yağlı güreş which is a type of "oiled" wrestling in Turkey. Wrestling is often categorized as one of the martial arts; its virile image and usefulness as military training helped generate such multi-cultural evolutions. Some evidence suggests that wrestling may be the oldest sport known to man. A large amount of early artwork, for example, depicts matches between two opponents. One of the most famous wresting matches appears in the book of Genesis where Jacob wrestles an angel (sometimes thought of as God himself) and is renamed Israel for his struggle, which translates to "Wrestles with God".

In addition to its sporting nature, wrestling has often been utilized as the basis for popular spectacle, or theatrical drama. Circus shows worldwide have historically included sideshow wrestling matches involving monetary wagers and even people competing against animals (particularly bears). Such "show wrestling" has continued to this day in professional wrestling spectaculars – choreographed for maximum auditory and visual effects. Often the winner of commercial contests is determined in advance but some styles such as Sumo, Shoot wrestling (also in Japan) and mixed martial arts remain true sporting contests while still including many commercial aspects.

Show wrestling

Modern-day professional wrestling has traces back in early traveling carnivals, where showmen would challenge local spectators to compete with them in a ring. They would most commonly offer any prizes to any man or women for that matter, who could beat them. Also, the carnival would often place one of its showmen in the audience to answer the challenge, and the two would provide a predetermined spectacle with the intent of providing an entertaining show for the spectators.

Besides the United States, Mexico (Lucha Libre) and Japan (Puroresu) have garnered the greatest percentage of spectator commercialism under the "professional" label.

Double leg takedown.

Wrestling as military training

The main objectives of wrestling in military training are:

Superior balance developed from trying to keep one's balance while at the same time trying to upset the opponent's. In war, falling to the ground can quickly make one vulnerable to weapon thrusts, which makes good balance a must for strong soldiers.
Grip strength and manual dexterity, for the use of weapons and combat gear
Focused and powerful pushing-power. In combat one must smash or thrust weapons forward at one's enemies.
The ability to get up quickly if fallen down, a very important survival skill on the battlefield (see above).
Improved stamina, endurance and strength.
Physical skills to control prisoners, or to carry wounded comrades.
Cultivation of aggressiveness and improved reaction time.
Camraderie, diversion and entertainment.

Wrestling is a safe way to achieve the above goals since it does not use dangerous objects or weapons.

Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts

Wrestling has gained tremendous respect as a martial art with the advent of mixed martial arts competition. Many fighters identify wrestling itself or Submission wrestling as their style of fighting. Wrestling forms the base of some of the most respected self defense/mixed martial arts systems in the world eg such as Shootfighting, Shooto, Pancrase, Combat Submission Wrestling, or Sambo. Some successful fighters who come from a wrestling background include Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Mark Kerr, Ken Shamrock, Matt Hughes, Kazushi Sakuraba, Takanori Gomi and Fedor Emelianenko.

Major wrestling sub-disciplines

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