What is "Professional Wrestling" exactly?

It's theater.

No different than going to a Broadway play.

I've been watching the sport of Professional Wrestling for 31 years now.it's certainly changed,certainly evolved,from guys in smokey halls and venues into a billion-dollar industry focusing on state of the art TV production,set designs,and pyro.

but the backbone,the soul of the industry remains the same - 2 or more gladiators in a contest to see who is superior. originally,pro wrestling WAS a shoot,and guys wrestled for real. it was only in the 1940's that it started to become scripted. while that may have taken something away from it,it added something else - theatricality and storylines. which enhanced the product,and made it more entertaining. it wasn't uncommon back around the turn of the century and the early 20th century for a match to last 4 or 5 hours,and end in a draw. this actually pushed people away,and legit injuries piled up. so it was decided,to combat crowd boredom and reduce injuries, to have predetermined finishes and the wrestlers to work together to tell a story in each match,rather than work against each other. but it doesn't take away from the athleticism of the wrestlers,and adds a whole lot of entertainment value.

in short,pro wrestling is theater and storylines performed by some of the best athletes in the world.

this is my 25th year as a wrestling fan-I started watching in 1989.

when its done correctly?

Pro Wrestling is an excellent TV show where you get to see all kinds of drama played out onscreen as well as the satisfaction of sporting competition or at least the illusion of it..I will use the excellent mega Powers angle as an example.

Vince sowed the seed for this at Summerslam 88.......over the next 6 months the angle built slowly until we were at a point where Savage was coming across as an unreasonable dickhead with undertones of abuse towards Liz(something not too far from the truth)and Hulkster was doing his best to keep everything together.

then the split......Savages "Pearl Harbour" job on Hogan in the med room and Hogans selling of the betrayal were off the chart.cue WM5.......it was DAMN satisfying to see Hogan beat on Savage.

also with Austin on Jan 4th 1999.is it any wonder that the crowd went into hysteria when he prevented Foley from being screwed?Vince was acting his ass off for a year beforehand as the ultimate wipe.it was HUGELY entertaining and satisfying to see Austin get one over.but Vince realising how invested the crowd was?screwed Austin outta the Rumble.and because of that?Raw was MUST see every single week.

its theatre with a pseudo real physical payoff at the end.and for kicks?heres THAT reaction to Austin on its 15th anniversary.......just so Impressive

Guys in underwear and baby oil pretending to fight for the sake of entertaining an audience.

Pandering to mediocrity shouldn't be rewarded.
That is my response to the success of WWE & WCW from 96 to 01.

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Professional Wrestling goes beyond the ring. It's constant 24/7, from the moment you wake up till the moment you lay your head down at night. It's not just the act itself, when you walk through a curtain - work a match - and walk back through the curtain. It includes how you interact with the fans, as well as your colleagues. I've been in the same locker room with guys I can't stand, because they've had no real respect for the business - but I did not complain about them, and I just kept my mouth shut, because that's what a 'professional' does. It's paying attention when your mentor, trainer, or some one who's been in the business longer than you - is trying to tell you something or show you something, so you learn from it by adapting their knowledge or tips to your own abilities. Speaking of fans, I've come very close to engaging in push/shove shoots with fans who want to insult professional wrestling or throw middle fingers up at you while you're working the crowd. Again, the key word here is "Professional" - maintaining the fact that you're keeping calm, cool, and ... professional!

Then there's the ring aspect itself. No matter who you're working with, you're giving them your body and they're giving you their body. The primary objective is to make eachother look as good as possible, by balancing out the back/forth's of a match without screwing it up, out of respect for your opponent. If you're a rookie, you listen to the ring general; if you're the vet, you try and raise the bar for the rookie so they've learned something.

I've always believed 'Professional Wrestling' has nothing to do with 'Sports Entertainment'. SE is about how good you can cosmetically look, and how well you talk on the mic, as well as having good backstage vigenettes - while getting your gimmick/character over. PW is geared more towards the art of the work (or as I call it, the sport that's not based on competition, but based on demonstration - the manipulation of holds and such). SE consists of superstars (in today's industry); where as in PW, you don't need to be a superstar. In SE, you have 1 boss (Vince or Dixie); in PW, you can have any number of bosses (IE, the promoters you work for).

I can keep going, but my food is ready ;-P Hope this helps clarify even just a little bit of your ideals on what 'professional wrestling' really is.

Proffesional wrestling is MY LIFE MY HOBBY MY WORLD!!!!!!

Professional wrestling is any kind of wrestling in which the participants are paid.

In wwe the guy paying tells the wrestlers who will win and lose. If he wanted to though he could pay them to wrestle until one of them won the match for real. But that would involve lots of obsticles. They'd have to be heavily regulated by the government. They'd have to pay more in insurance. And who knows what else they'd have to pay. In the end im sure people prob wouldnt enjoy it as much and wwe would prob lose money in the end.

Best post I have seen in a Long time.