History Main / ProfessionalWrestling

* Wrestling/TheFunkadactyls - Wrestling/{{Naomi}} and Wrestling/{{Cameron}}

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In August 2017, Wrestling/{{Natalya|Neidhart}} condemned Wrestling/{{Naomi}} for, among other things, turning the [=SmackDown=] Women's Championship belt into "a toy" (Naomi had flashing lights added to it upon winning the title, as part of her "Feel the Glow" gimmick). This seems very similar to what many people said about Wrestling/JohnCena's WWE Championship "spinner" belt, but the latter was never brought up in {{kayfabe}}.

* Wrestling/{{Naomi}} (Trinity [=McCray=])

* Wrestling/{{ECW}} (Extreme Championship Wrestling) [Defunct - 1992-2001]

* Wrestling/RingOfHonor (ROH) [Active, on hiatus - 2002- ]

* ''WebOriginal/TheEdgeAndChristianShow''

* CyclicTrope: How appreciated technical wrestling is versus more simplistic styles. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhq-xFcDIjI As this video explains]], no matter how over a Wrestling/HulkHogan or Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin may be, wrestlers with solid technical skills (a Wrestling/BretHart or Wrestling/KurtAngle or Wrestling/DanielBryan) are always the fallback position.

* EasilyForgiven: In pro wrestling, the fact that someone may have said or done something horrible doesn't mean that their victim won't eventually let bygones be bygones and become friends again, seemingly with no limit. This goes from saying horrible things about another wrestler ([[Wrestling/{{Charlotte}} Charlotte Flair]] towards her father {{Wrestling/Ric|Flair}}, for example), to selling out one's own wrestling family (Wrestling/SethRollins towards Wrestling/RomanReigns and [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]]), to literally trying to cripple someone (Wrestling/TripleH towards Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, Wrestling/KevinOwens towards Wrestling/SamiZayn).

* ForeignWrestlingHeel: Known to fans as "Evil Foreigners" and not all evil foreigners are heels, Kaientai turning face but still being evil.

** Also true InUniverse. Some wrestlers have been "fired" in kayfabe and rehired several times ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin is probably the best example-- he's been ''arrested'' on WWE television many times). Even if they are stated to be absolutely and permanently fired, there's a pretty good chance it's not going to be their last match or appearance.

** Jushin Thunder Liger is regarded as one of the best Japanese wrestlers ever, in the United States. In Japan, he's respected, but was never the most popular super junior compared to say, Ultimo Dragon or Tiger Mask

** Wrestling/BobSapp was another forgotten NFL transfer on the independent circuit of the US. But in Japan he became one of the most popular athletes and one of the best paid athletes in the world, going so far as to become International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Champion.
** Wrestling/TheGreatKhali, for all his poor wrestling ability, was massively popular in his home land of India. He managed to draw 60,000 people to what were basically showcases for CWE students he represented.
* TheGimmick: For the most part, to work in the professional wrestling industry is not like being an actor on stage playing a character part, but more so being yourself with a gimmick that (hopefully) makes you readily identifiable and easy to remember. Scotty Flamingo is Scott being the best(or most annoying) womanizing party boy he can be. Scotty The Body is Scott showing off as much as he can. Wrestling/{{Raven}} is Scott with depression. Fans know they are all the same person and all three gimmicks work because of Scott's real personality. The colorful masks of Lucha Libre allow for {{secret identit|y}}ies and reused gimmicks, but the most successful tend to work on the same principal of making yourself more identifiable and memorable. Simply sticking another man in Wrestling/{{Mistico}}'s mask did not make him as popular as the last, while the third Dragon Lee's personality was distinct from his predecessors and he was accepted as a new luchador by the crowds.

** The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example of this is Wrestling/{{Sting}}, who is commonly referred to as "The dumbest man in wrestling." Although, he's averted it mightily over his years in Wrestling/{{TNA}}.

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: It's generally agreed that "legit" professional wrestling matches started to fall out of favor in 1876 after a Collar and Elbow style match between Jacob H Martin and James Hiram [=McLaughlin=] went on for six hours without a decisive winner at Whitney's Opera House in Detroit, Michigan on June 29th of that year. By working matches, you could keep long matches interesting and ensure they never went on ''that'' long without depriving anyone a winner.

** The Wrestling/UltimateWarrior is arguably the prime example of this trope. He only has a handful of clean losses on record. Not even Hulk Hogan could stop him (without cheating, that is).

** This trope often plays out between a valet/manager, the wrestler who is romantically entangled with said valet, and a 3rd person who is often the wrestler being managed by the valet or someone who keeps rescuing the valet from attacks by opponents of the boy/girlfriend.

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Have you ''seen'' the build-up to some of these high-profile matches? CMLL's Super Libre, ROH's Fight Without Honor and EVOLVE's End Of Evolution are more so agreements to ''not'' fight like Gentlemen.

** Wrestling/{{Chikara}} is a good example of family-friendly wrestling that doesn't alienate kids or insult the intelligence of adult fans. NXT is also an all-ages product that works well. Its primary demographic is the more-cliquey wrestling fans, but they can do that while being PG and having gimmicks that still appeal to kids, like Wrestling/BeckyLynch and Wrestling/{{Bayley}}.
** You can discuss how kayfabe stuck it out longer in the south, but it was equally in relation to which areas had blue-collar, working class people. Vince Sr.'s WWF could be quite brutal as it ran in front of a lot of migrant fans (Poles, Italians, Irish, etc...), while [[Wrestling/EdFarhat The Sheik]]'s territory in Detroit had its share of blood. In contrast the West Coast/Flyover states were more technical and cleaned up, while in the south where there were a lot of mining towns and post-Depression communities that knew a hard life and what a hard fight looked like. (Which is still the case today in Appalachia, where coal mining is the only thing feeding a lot of communities). So, when you're wrestling in front of two hundred ornery miners who know how a face looks when you punch it just right...

* LivingLegend: Wrestling/BrunoSammartino was called "The Living Legend." Larry Zbyszko appropriated the name as "The New Living Legend" during a feud. Chris Jericho referred to himself as a living legend during his Undisputed WWF championship reign after he unified the WWF and WCW world titles. Other wrestlers/workers who have been labeled (unofficially) as such: Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Jim Ross, John Cena, The Rock.
** Aside from Sammartino, it's generally accepted that the three living legends of the three main wrestling regions are Wrestling/LouThesz (America), Wrestling/ElSanto (Mexico) and Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}} (Japan).

* MonsterClown: The fanged clown Coco Blanco, Doink The Clown as a heel, PowerStable Los Payasos Diabolicos, The Psycho Circus trio...

** Wrestling/TripleH is a great example. During his career, he's stood roughly 6'4, weighing around 270 pounds and is as muscular as almost any other wrestler you can think of. Despite this, he doesn't use power moves and isn't billed as being any stronger than the average male wrestler.

** [[Wrestling/{{Tazz}} Taz(z)]] is an aversion as well. A stout 5'9, 230 or so pounds, he was known as The Human Suplex Machine, and would make a habit of throwing around men much larger than he.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Abdullah the Butcher,'' ''The Boogeyman,'' ''The Undertaker'', ''Psicosis'', ''Kane'', ''The Dungeon of Doom''... it never ends. Wrestling/SantinoMarella once was smacked around legitimately by Wrestling/JimCornette for ignoring this meme on the second guy.

* NoHoldsBarredContest: In the catch as catch can days, no holds barred literally meant "all holds allowed", as air chokes, for example, were usually considered cheating. While this is still true in some post catch pro wrestling enterprises, it often means "expect to see GarbageWrestling". Sometimes there is distinctions between traditional "no holds barred", "hardcore rules"(garbage), falls count anywhere and any number of more dangerous GimmickMatches, but this varies from region to region and promotion to promotion.

* OhCrap: Typically seen when the Heel finally comes face to face with a Face he's been trying to avoid... or when just about anyone goes one on one with The Undertaker (although, in kayfabe, many wrestlers attempt to avert the trope against Undertaker, so as not to allow him to be fueled by their fear).
* OlderThanDirt: [[http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18wv76/what_is_the_oldest_game_known_to_man/c8ivb19 Wrestling is the oldest game/sport in the world.]] Modern Professional Wrestling is at least older than television, with some arguing it to be as old as radio. There is evidence of worked matches as far back as the mid 1800s, though until 1920 it's impossible to tell just how much was legit or worked.

* PintSizedPowerhouse: Mini-Estrellas, Mexican promotions CMLL and AAA having the most famous rosters of them with Mascarita Sagrada being particularly popular. Anyone under a certain height, most commonly 153 CM, can be a Mini-Estrella. Often times a young mini-estrella will hit a growth spurt and have to leave the division but sometimes a short adult, such as a dwarf, will become popular enough to face larger wrestlers too. AAA even had a "mascot" division made up of tag teams of a large wrestler and a mini version of himself or sometimes a small wrestler and a larger version of himself. While mini's never really caught on anywhere else, other regions such as US and Canada got a few decades mileage out of "midget wrestling", with a few such midgets being able to lift men three times their size, and some Japanese promotions like Ice Ribbon are infamous for hiring tiny kids without the height\weight classes lucha libre uses to protect them.

** One of the oldest and dirtiest tricks in pro wrestling is to poison an opponent by soaking some fabric on your person in an ether based substance and getting it close to his face during the match. This practice was discontinued as pro wrestling became more corporate and liability concerns were raised. Part of the trick inevitably involves [[ContrivedCoincidence letting the poisoned fabric slip into the crowd]] so that [[ShowDontTell the audiences knows the drugging is "legit"]] and suits worry someone [[ViewersAreMorons will inhale too much]].
** The "Asian mist", known as the "poison fog" to the Japanese, that was introduced by The Great Kabuki, was initially "just" strong spices, rather than traditional "poison". However, a lore of {{technicolor toxin}}s developed over time, including a baby face version in Yuji Nagata's "blue justice mist".

** Professional wrestling is notorious for the difficulty "small" (as in average-sized) people have making a break in it. Perhaps the most famous example is Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger, whom dojos in Japan refused to train after deeming him 'diminutive' despite his height being the national average. A later example would be the Minnesota Stretching Crew, both members of which had the same strength and weakness as performers (highly athletic, charisma deficient) with Shelton Benjamin having the higher work rate of the two. Wrestling/BrockLesnar was larger though, so he got pushed immediately after their breakup and got to go over Shelton multiple times when they were at odds.
** Being a big dude is half the battle. On his podcasts, Steve Austin said that someone once advised him: "This business is all about big upper bodies. So long as you're still in proportion, no one will care", and Hogan was once quoted as saying, "big arms equals big paychecks." Look at all the stars from the late 80s and early 90s, and they've all got wide shoulders, big chests, huge arms and--with the exception of a few--not-great legs. Since the business used to be about Greek-style godlike humans (albeit with not-so-godlike acting) going to war, most of the guys where big, over the top, and blond-haired. That all changed due to the Attitude Era and the influence of ECW, though you can still see it today with guys like John Cena and Rob Terry. It's well known to be Vince [=McMahon=]'s AuthorAppeal, Eric Bischoff to a lesser extent, and the reason why Vince Jr's always trying to get Cena over even when someone else is selling more merchandise, and why Vince put on a ton of muscle when he got into the ring for the first time.

* RuleOfFunny: The purpose of "exoticos" in Lucha Libre, who are more about demasculizing the opponent than hurting him. Several moves such as [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious's face wash]] work entirely on this rule.

* CoolOldGuy: Anyone born before 1960 who's still in the game. Would ''you'' mess with Wrestling/HarleyRace? Or Wrestling/RicFlair? Or Wrestling/TerryFunk? Or Wrestling/HulkHogan? Or [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon the 70-year-old multi-millionaire who lets himself get hit in the head with steel chairs on national television?]] And God help you if you piss off Wrestling/TheUndertaker. For that matter, '''Wrestling/{{Batista}}''' is actually, in [[Creator/DaveBautista real life]], a grandfather. Yes, THAT Batista. And he had two grandchildren ''before turning 40''.

** The technical term for this in pro wrestling circles is a "{{squash match}}". Not nearly as common nowdays as it was in the 80's, when most televised matches consisted of a star wrestler pitted against a hopeless "jobber"/"enhancement talent" who would be destroyed in a matter of minutes without offering any offence at all. Still occasionally happens in modern times, especially if a wrestler is being given a "Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} push."

* If you see an unfamiliar name, it's very likely that it is a famous wrestler's real name or earlier persona. It's easier to just use the search function at the other wiki rather than try to use a list. As a general rule, the wrestler's most famous persona will be used instead of their real name, although different fans will have a different opinion as to which persona was the most famous, and then to add to the confusion, WWE has the annoying habit of trademarking a wrestler's name so that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Warrior#Trademark_and_libel_litigation the wrestler can't use it after they leave the promotion.]]

* 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 ''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.

* IncomingHam: Any wrestler with entrance music. Bonus points if that music opens with said wrestler's {{catch phrase}}, or some kind of loud sound effect (the sound of breaking glass at the start of Steve Austin's theme easily being the most prominent example).

* {{Jerkass}}: A lot of heels (and some of the nastier faces) can be this.

* [[Wrestling/LAKnight L.A. Knight/Eli Drake]] (Shaun Ricker)

* [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield John "Bradshaw" Layfield]]

%% * Wrestling/GoShiozaki

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 the 1990s) 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.

Despite all this show-business, Professional Wrestling is very real in the sense that [[RealityIsUnrealistic behind the simulated Hollywood fantasy there's a real danger]]. Matches are "fake" only in that they have a predetermined outcome, and Professional Wrestlers, in this regard, are more like stuntmen: they're acting out a scene, but ''physically'', and with the chance of injury, not to mention they get no second takes. And despite whatever you may have heard, they ''do'' hit each other, although their moves are generally designed to seem much more devastating than they are, and they avoid harm whenever they feasibly can without it looking too obvious. Just because it looks nothing like a real fight and more like a Hollywood fight scene does not mean that Pro Wrestlers aren't seriously putting themselves at risk in every match - Professional wrestlers literally put their lives in their opponents' hands several times in a single match; the slightest misstep can (and often does) result in [[DentedIron/ProfessionalWrestling broken bones, a broken neck, paralysis]], [[CasualtyInTheRing possibly even death]]. DontTryThisAtHome!

* 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]], Creator/TitoOrtiz

* Wrestling/TheAuthority - Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/TheShield, Wrestling/SethRollins, Wrestling/{{Kane}}, Wrestling/BigShow, Jamie Noble (James Gibson), Joey Mercury (Adam Birch)...

* ''Wrestling/DarkMatch''

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: All the time.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: All the time.

* Wrestling/TheDarkOrder - [[Wrestling/LukeHarper Mr. Brodie Lee]], Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds, John Silver, 10, 5, Anna Jay

* Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys - Bubba Ray (Mark [=LoMonaco=]), D-Von (Devon Hughes), Wrestling/SpikeDudley

* Wrestling/EnzoAndCass - Enzo Amore (Eric Arndt), Colin "Big Cass" Cassady (William Morrisey)

** Also averted in the case of British wrestling when it was televised on ''Series/WorldOfSport'' in the 1970s and 1980s; back then, middle-aged and older women were among wrestling's biggest fans (Wrestling/BigDaddy in particular had a large female following that was said to include [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen the Queen]]).

* Wrestling/JerichoAppreciationSociety - Wrestling/ChrisJericho, [[Wrestling/JackSwagger Jake Hager]], [[Wrestling/ThreePoint0 2point0]], Daniel Garcia, Wrestling/SammyGuevara, Tay Conti

* Wrestling/LuchaBrothers - Wrestling/PentagonJr, (Rey) Fenix

* Wrestling/TheOddities- [[Wrestling/DonCallis The Jackyl]], Wrestling/{{Kurrgan}}, [[Wrestling/JohnTenta Golga]], Wrestling/GiantSilva, Wrestling/LunaVachon, Wrestling/{{Sable}}, [[Wrestling/GeorgeSteele George "The Animal" Steele]], Music/InsaneClownPosse