History Main / ProfessionalWrestling

* Wrestling/RicFlair (Richard Fliehr[[note]]He received this name when he was adopted as an infant; his actual birth name is unknown. His adoptive parents unknowingly dealt with an agency that obtained its children by means ranging from shady to outright illegal. Ir was shut down a little more than a year after his adoption; the director died of cancer before she could be criminally tried.[[/note]])

* Wrestling/RicFlair (Richard Fliehr)

* Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling (AEW) [Active - 2019]

* Wrestling/DeadlockProWrestling (DPW) [Active - 2021]

* Wrestling/ImpactWrestling [Active - 2002- ]

* Wrestling/{{MLW}} - [Active- 2002-2004, 2017- ]

* Wrestling/{{SMW}} - [Defunct 1991-1995]

* ShesGotLegs:
** Often used with the female manager/valet -- see Miss Elizabeth in the 2-on-3 match at ''[=SummerSlam=] 1988'' for when used minimally for maximum effect. Taken to the extreme during the Attitude Era (and similar on WCW) with Wrestling/StacyKeibler and her 42 inches of "'nuff said."
** In a rare male example, an anecdote exists that cites the reason for Wrestling/TheMiz switching from capri shorts to trunks: Vince [=McMahon=] thought he had nice legs that he should show off.

** Wrestling/{{Armageddon|Wrestling}}

* Wrestling/EmberMoon (Adrienne Reese)

* Wrestling/{{Edge}} (Adam Copeland)

* Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness - Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/PaulBearer, [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield Bradshaw]], [[Wrestling/RonSimmons Faarooq]], Mideon (Dennis Knight), Viscera (Nelson Frazier Jr.), [[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]], Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Christian}}

* UnrelatedBrothers: Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Wrestling/{{Christian}}, most Andersons, Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys (who even claimed to be "Twin brothers from different mothers"), etc.

* [[Wrestling/{{Paige}} Paige/Britani Knight]] (Saraya-Jade Bevis)

* Wrestling/{{Elias}}/{{Ezekiel}} (Jeffrey Sciullo)

** ''WebVideo/TheVivianverse''

** ''Machinima/ExtremeMangaWrestling''

** ''Machinima/VideoGameChampionshipWrestling''

* CatFight: Apartment wrestling is the major reason why the term cat fight is associated with comedy and FanService, to the point "apartment wrestling" redirects to "cat fight" on Wiki/ThatOtherWiki. It began in the 1950s when television became more widespread and bored housewives watching it began imitating pro wrestlers in the privacy of their own rooms. Presumably bedroom/living room wrestling wasn't as catchy, though it literally became apartment wrestling in the 1970s when The Fabulous Moolah began renting rooms to take pictures of her students applying holds on each other for Bill Apter's magazines, [[FollowTheLeader inspiring]] a short lived but full fledged "apartment circuit". To this day there remain fans in the US who are happy if they see a women's match degenerate into hair pulling and screaming.

* [[Wrestling/JohnCena John Cena/The Prototype]]

* Wrestling/MotorCityMachineGuns

* Wrestling/ContraUnit - Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael, Simon Gotch, Ikuro Kwon, Mads Krugger, [[Wrestling/ShawnDaivari Daivari]]

%% * Wrestling/MotorCityMachineGuns

* YouKeepUsingThatWord:
** "Pure Wrestling" vs "Sports Entertainment" is an ongoing debate and is a completely nonsensical debate to those more familiar with common language than pro wrestling terminology. In the sense of just wrestling without gouging, striking, choking, fish hooking, etc., literal "pure wrestling" shows were on their way out by the 1940s. What it usually means here is focus on workrate and in ring action, heavy emphasis on plausible grappling and stiff striking, strict enforcement of rules and regulations or some combination there of. ''Very rarely'' does reduction of tactics not associated with traditionally wrestling also apply. Meanwhile pretty much all sports industries have doubled as entertainment industries since the 1500s. "Sports entertainment" here usually refers to the booking philosophies of Vince [=McMahon=] or Kodo Fuyuki, which can be summarized as a greater focus on angles, gimmicks and charisma with less care given to workrate, technical wrestling, stiffness or regulation. The most extreme forms of "pure wrestling" tend to look more like ''fights'' than wrestling and the most extreme forms of "sports entertainment" look more like violent soap operas than sports. The "sports entertainment" approach has its roots in the "theater" style of promotion Jack Pfefer introduced in 1934.
** Independent/Indie also has different connotations in pro wrestling than it otherwise would in conversations about something else. It is mostly used to describe small promotions, as even if you are owned by a television company rather than independently, such as when ROH was purchased by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, you'll still be considered "indie" until you draw 10,000 people without help from another promotion and/or gain a major network TV deal. FMW was independently owned but during its heyday when it drew 50,000 was considered "too big" to be called "indie".

* IHaveTheHighGround: High fliers often use the ropes to propel themselves into some pretty [[RuleOfCool awesome]] moves. In Mexico, the Volador legacy gimmick came about by comparing an ancient Mesoamerican dance atop a pillar with ropes to stop people diving off from killing themselves, to luchadors standing atop ring post supported ropes.

* Wrestling/RondaRousey

* [[Wrestling/AdrianNeville (Adrian) Neville/PAC]] (Ben Satterly)

* Creator/RondaRousey

* Wrestling/FreddieBlassie

* {{Wrestling/Danhausen}} (Donovan Danhausen)

* Wrestling/JinderMahal (Yuvraj Dhesi)

* BeautyIsBad: Female wrestlers who are pretty usually have to work extra hard to prove themselves as wrestlers and even then they will get hated purely because they are pretty. God help them if they have ever done even a bit of modelling. Women wrestlers who aren't conventionally beautiful usually get a free pass and are considered wrestlers regardless of whatever experience they have.[[note]]One example of this, combined with having passable ring skills in comparison with her peers at the time of her debut, is Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, though she eventually lost support, especially after more talented female wrestlers debuted.[[/note]] This can sometimes cross over into the men's divisions with the guys getting called "gay" and "pretty boys".

** WWE billing Triple H as "King of Kings," seeing as how it is a title normally given to Jesus.

* BreakupBreakout: Though the USA, WWE in particular, is notorious for its attempts to {{invoke|d trope}} this trope often backfiring.
* BreathWeapon: The "poison mist" used by many wrestlers, especially in Japan. According to Japanese {{Kayfabe}}, only certain wrestlers can do it because they have a special gland that allows them to produce the mist. Most wrestlers can produce only certain colors of mist, and [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience each has its own effects]]: The most common, the green mist, blinds the opponent, the red mist both blinds and burns, the blue mist puts the opponent to sleep, the yellow mist paralyzes, and TheDreaded black mist is a [[MoralEventHorizon career ender]].

** To their credit, WWE has worked hard in making their company more safe, from eliminating chair shots to the head (which wrestlers like Shelton Benjamin have stated can cause headaches for up to a week) to a stricter drug policy. According to WWE themselves, Triple H and The Undertaker (two of their biggest names) were both fined after Triple H hit 'Taker in the head with a chair during their match at Wrestling/WrestleMania XXVII. To put this in perspective, at the time of that event, Triple H was an executive vice president in the company as well as the son-in-law of the owner while Undertaker was their most veteran performer with among the largest amounts of influence, and they were competing in Undertaker's supposedly biggest match (and about his only one left!) every year -- The Pursuit To End The Streak. So they took the health of their performers so seriously, they were willing to fine people that would be otherwise untouchable and who they would otherwise be adverse to insulting.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: People who run around insisting the professional wrestling is fake. Actually, this is only comical some of the time, as it can really piss off professional wrestlers to hear this. Professional wrestling is not ''fake,'' it's ''entertainment.'' There's a world of difference, and to enjoy professional wrestling requires WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief just the same way no one actually thinks Arnold is an unstoppable android from the future or that Tom Cruise really flies F-14's. The training and preparation professional wrestlers have to do is very real, as are the injuries they suffer. All this because they love it and want to put on a good show for the fans.

* 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/BlackpoolCombatClub – Wrestling/BryanDanielson, Wrestling/JonMoxley (Jonathan Good), Wheeler Yuta (Paul Gruber), Wrestling/WilliamRegal

* Wrestling/AcesAndEights - [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Bully Ray (Mark [=LoMonaco=]), Devon (Devon Hughes)]], Wrestling/DLoBrown, Mr. Anderson (Wrestling/KenAnderson), DOC (Wrestling/DrewHankinson), Knux (Mike Hettinga), Garett Bischoff, Wes Brisco, [[Wrestling/BrookeAdams Brooke Tessmacher]], Tito Ortiz

* CatchPhrase: Some wrestlers can keep a crowd engaged for nearly half an hour on nothing but catchphrases alone. Sometimes the crowd almost seems to force a catchphrase on a wrestler. Some wrestlers, like Wrestling/VickieGuerrero only have one catchphrase; some, like [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] have multiple catchphrases but one completely overshadows the rest, while others like Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin have many equally well-known catchphrases. Many wrestlers, such as Wrestling/RonSimmons and the aformentioned Daniel Bryan, are more known for their catchphrase than anything else about them. And ''[[UpToEleven then]]'' there's [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], a man with so much freaking charisma that literally ''anything'' that comes out of his mouth has a 50/50 shot of inspiring the crowd to immediately start chanting it, and then within a week it's on a t-shirt and that line goes into his seemingly endless repertoire of popular catchphrases.

* Wrestling/LosIngobernablesDeJapon - Wrestling/TetsuyaNaito, Wrestling/{{EVIL}} (Takaaki Watanabe), Bushi (Tetsuya Shimizu), (Seiya) Sanada, Wrestling/HiromuTakahashi, Shingo Takagi