Friday, May 9, 2014

Taking A Look At The History Of Professional Wrestling

By Eloise Hewitt


When one thinks of Professional wrestling, the image of famous WWE stars like the Undertaker or Triple H would be the first thing that would most likely pop into his mind. Although big franchises like the WWE and the TNA would portray wrestling as an entertainment sport, many people do not know the full bloody history that it really has. Now the origin and the history of professional wrestling would come from the way of life the people of ancient times had when there were many wars.

Now in every country, each race has their own form as grappling as it was a form of self defense for when they went to war and lost their weapons. Sometimes the men would even hold contests to prove who is better among all the competitors. Now this art did not just incorporate holds and locks but also strikes and kicks.

Now the records would state that the earliest records would probably be traced back to the time of Ancient Greece. The Greeks at that time made use of Pankration which was an art that involved a lot of grappling and was used a lot during the time when they fought enemies. The ones who were exceptionally good at this were the Spartans as they were exposed to wrestling as children.

Another country that was really popular for their grappling techniques was none other than China. Although most people see the fighting arts of China only as those flashy Jackie Chan moves that is called Kung Fu, China also had their own form of practical combat arts. This was used to finish off the enemies during the wars just in case they did not carry weapons.

This form of grappling was known as Shuai Jiao and it focused more on take downs as well as some locks that would be used once the opponent is on the floor. Now it is this form of grappling that inspired the modern version known as Xanda. Xanda incorporates heavy take downs, some grappling moves, and of course a lot of kickboxing.

Now everyone probably knows the grappling style that comes from Japan. This style is known as Jiu Jitsu and is an art that many mixed martial arts practitioners would use in order to make their opponents tap out. Now Jiu Jitsu concentrates a lot on ground techniques wherein the ground would be the favourite position of the Jiu Jitsu practitioner.

Even Mexico had their own form of this combat art known as the Lucha Libre. Now as compared to traditional grappling, this Mexican form made use of a lot of high flying moves wherein one would jump from the ropes or the posts to create damage. This actually became more of an entertainment medium rather than an actual combat art.

Nowadays, all of those styles have been incorporated into the ring or the main stage of wrestling which would be television. Television shows like WWE or TNA would showcase how this art has evolved over time and how people use it in the ring today. Even though modern wrestling today is actually scripted, it is definitely entertaining to watch.




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