History Main / ProfessionalWrestling

* Wrestling/AmericanAlpha - Chad Gable (Chas Betts), Wrestling/JasonJordan (Nathan Everhart)

* Wrestling/TheJudgmentDay - Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, Damien Priest, Wrestling/RheaRipley, Wrestling/DominikMysterio, JD [=McDonagh=]

* Wrestling/PromocionesDorado - Salina De La Renta, Wrestling/LowKi, [[Wrestling/LaParka LA Park]], El Hijo de LA Park, LA Park Jr., Mil Muertes, Ricky Martinez, Wrestling/JimmyHavoc, Sammy Guevara, Garza Jr., Bestia 666...

** Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame

** This can also apply literally in real life. "The audience isn't the marks, '''we're''' the marks" is an old wrestler's joke. In the WWE, the biggest promotion in the US, most are probably paid in the 45k-80k range. Which seems like a lot until you factor in that they're technically all independent contractors and so must pay their own travel costs, medical costs, and so forth. At one point, it came to light that the TNA Women's Champion was working a second job at a Sunglasses Hut in order to pay the bills. Now imagine the pay scale for those working in smaller promotions.

* DoNotCallMePaul: Triple H and the Big Show have both said this to fans that have called them by their birth names. If you meet a wrestler, it is considered proper etiquette to address them by their ring name. According to some sources, this even applies to new wrestlers-- if Undertaker introduces himself to you and says "I'm The Undertaker", don't call him "Mark" or "Calaway", call him "Undertaker". (Once you've known him for a while, he'll let you use "Taker".)

* Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter

Pro wrestling is usually full of concepts from different types of shows. Each match is roughly choreographed (though not usually in much detail since wrestlers don't have much rehearsal time, let alone for whole matches, given that they wrestle twenty to twenty-eight days per month on average--most of a match's details will be improvised, with only the beginning, the end, and a few key "spots" in between specifically planned; the mark of a good wrestler is being able to make a match flow naturally, despite only having this sort of rough outline). [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Entertainment's]] programs remind one of nothing so much as a SoapOpera for guys (and indeed the terms "[[{{Melodrama}} the soap opera for men]]" or, in recent years, "[[ShonenDemographic redneck anime]]", have become frequent nicknames for the business as a whole), complete with all the emotion, melodrama, and occasional comic relief that the phrase implies. Other organizations, such as Wrestling/RingOfHonor, strive for a more gritty, realistic presentation, but still incorporate many soap opera elements.

Professional Wrestling, as the term is understood today, is a cooperative endeavor in which athletes face off in loosely choreographed matches with pre-determined outcomes, in a manner resembling a type of freestyle combat loosely based on Greco-Roman wrestling, amateur/Olympic wrestling, and (since TheNineties) Usefulnotes/MixedMartialArts ([[RecursiveAdaptation which themselves grew partially out of pro wrestling]]). Modern professional wrestling derived from UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling, a grappling style developed by carnival promoters in late 19th century Britain, which soon gained popularity in America as a legitimate form of athletic competition. By the early years of the 20th century,[[note]]It's impossible to know exactly when wrestling started being worked because of the highly secretive nature of kayfabe in the early years; Frank Gotch, who was world champion from 1908 to 1913, is generally considered to have won and defended his title legitimately, while other sources suggest fights had been rigged as early as 1870, and worked matches devolving into legitimate fights were a common occurrence as late as the 1970s and happen on occasion even today[[/note]] the sport had evolved into a "work" where the winners of bouts were determined ahead of time by the organizers, with wrestlers working "face" or "heel" to elicit respective cheers or boos from the audience. From this arrangement, a system gradually evolved of numerous territorial wrestling leagues across the US, cooperating under the auspices of the National Wrestling Alliance (which Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Wrestling/{{WCW}}, Wrestling/{{ECW}}, and almost every other major promotion in North America and some outside of it were affiliated with at one point), which sponsored the world championship and other titles, picked the champions, and arranged for the top talent from the territories to go on tour and gain national exposure. In 1963 the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, once the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]]'s New England territory, split from the group, rechristened itself the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)), and over the following decades expanded on a national scale to create the wrestling industry as it exists today.

Professional Wrestling, as the term is understood today, is a cooperative endeavor in which athletes face off in loosely choreographed matches with pre-determined outcomes, in a manner resembling a type of freestyle combat loosely based on Greco-Roman wrestling, amateur/Olympic wrestling, and (since TheNineties) Usefulnotes/MixedMartialArts ([[RecursiveAdaptation which themselves grew partially out of pro wrestling]]). Modern professional wrestling derived from UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling, a grappling style developed by carnival promoters in late 19th century Britain, which soon gained popularity in America as a legitimate form of athletic competition. By the early years of the 20th century,[[note]]It's impossible to know exactly when wrestling started being worked because of the highly secretive nature of kayfabe in the early years; Frank Gotch, who was world champion from 1908 to 1913, is generally considered to have won and defended his title legitimately, while other sources suggest fights had been rigged as early as 1870, and worked matches devolving into legitimate fights were a common occurrence as late as the 1970s and happen on occasion even today[[/note]] the sport had evolved into a "work" where the winners of bouts were determined ahead of time by the organizers, with wrestlers working "face" or "heel" to elicit respective cheers or boos from the audience. From this arrangement, a system gradually evolved of numerous territorial wrestling leagues across the US, cooperating under the auspices of the National Wrestling Alliance (which Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Wrestling/{{WCW}}, Wrestling/{{ECW}}, and almost every other major promotion in North America and some outside of it were affiliated with at one point), which sponsored the world championship and other titles, picked the champions, and arranged for the top talent from the territories to go on tour and gain national exposure. In 1963 the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, once the NWA's New England territory, split from the group, rechristened itself the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)), and over the following decades expanded on a national scale to create the wrestling industry as it exists today.

Professional Wrestling, as the term is understood today, is a cooperative endeavor in which athletes face off in loosely choreographed matches with pre-determined outcomes, in a manner resembling a type of freestyle combat loosely based on Greco-Roman wrestling, amateur/Olympic wrestling, and (since TheNineties) Usefulnotes/MixedMartialArts ([[RecursiveAdaptation which themselves grew partially out of pro wrestling]]). Modern professional wrestling derived from UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling, a grappling style developed by carnival promoters in late 19th century Britain, which soon gained popularity in America as a legitimate form of athletic competition. By the early years of the 20th century,[[note]]It's impossible to know exactly when wrestling started being worked because of the highly secretive nature of kayfabe in the early years; Frank Gotch, who was world champion from 1908 to 1913, is generally considered to have won and defended his title legitimately, while other sources suggest fights had been rigged as early as 1870, and worked matches devolving into legitimate fights were a common occurrence as late as the 1970s and happen on occasion even today[[/note]] the sport had evolved into a "work" where the winners of bouts were determined ahead of time by the organizers, with wrestlers working "face" or "heel" to elicit respective cheers or boos from the audience. From this arrangement, a system gradually evolved of numerous territorial wrestling leagues across the US, cooperating under the auspices of the National Wrestling Alliance (which WWE, WCW, ECW, and almost every other major promotion in North America and some outside of it were affiliated with at one point), which sponsored the world championship and other titles, picked the champions, and arranged for the top talent from the territories to go on tour and gain national exposure. In 1963 the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, once the NWA's New England territory, split from the group, rechristened itself the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)), and over the following decades expanded on a national scale to create the wrestling industry as it exists today.

* UltimateJobSecurity: Wrestling/TripleH appears to have it [[{{kayfabe}} since becoming COO of the company]]. Spike Huber, who was married to Wrestling/DickTheBruiser's daughter, had it until the divorce, after which Bruiser blacklisted the guy out of the business.

The history of pro wrestling is a bit convoluted; until the late '80s/early '90s, promoters [[{{Kayfabe}} claimed that wrestling was a legitimate sport, and attempted to hide the fact that it was scripted at all costs]]. The truth is the performances are as ritualistic and stylized as Japanese kabuki theatre, or ''CommediaDellArte'': each match is a miniature set piece, using stock "characters", "plots" and "twists". This has become more obvious in recent years with the increased sense of theatre provided by the major promoters and programs. As more and more wrestling fans grew wise to the fact that wrestling was scripted and choreographed, promoters had no choice but to reveal the secret that [[OpenSecret everybody already knew by that point anyway]]. Vince [=McMahon=] went so far as to televise a speech on an episode of ''Monday Night Raw'' in which he promised to "stop insulting (fans') intelligence" and referred to Raw as an "action-adventure" series.

* Wrestling/ImpactWrestling (formerly Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) [Active - 2002- ]

** An old gimmick of Wrestling/KevinNash was "Vinnie Vegas," a fast talking conman and gambler. His finisher (now used as one of Wrestling/TheUndertaker's FiveMovesOfDoom) was "Snake Eyes" (dropping your opponent face-first onto a turnbuckle).

* Wrestling/TheAcclaimed - Max Caster, Anthony Bowens

* Wrestling/TheJudgmentDay - Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, Damien Priest, Wrestling/RheaRipley, Wrestling/DominikMysterio

* Wrestling/ThePinnacle - Wrestling/{{MJF}}, Wardlow, [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTR]], Shawn Spears, Tully Blanchard

** Wrestling has had a number of high-profile deaths that seem to come out of ''nowhere'', most notably Wrestling/ChrisBenoit and Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. Certainly fans are now conditioned to expect any wrestler to die at any time.

%% * Wrestling/BeerMoneyInc

* Wrestling/CrushGals - Wrestling/LionessAsuka, Chigusa Nagayo

* Wrestling/HouseOfBlack - [[Wrestling/AleisterBlack Malakai Black]], Brody King, Buddy Matthews

%% * Wrestling/TheMainEventMafia

* Wrestling/TheMegaPowers - Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/RandySavage

* Wrestling/RightToCensor - Steven Richards, Bull Buchanan, [[Wrestling/CharlesWright The Goodfather]], Wrestling/ValVenis, Wrestling/{{Ivory}}.

%% * Wrestling/TheRockers

* Wrestling/TeamHellNo - [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], Wrestling/{{Kane}}