Professional Wrestling

Professional wrestling is considered one of the most controversial and entertaining industries in America today. With a rich history of how wrestling evolved from sport to entertainment, how the business has been run, and the effects of professional wrestling in the present. Professional wrestling has made a great evolution from being a sport, into becoming sports-entertainment. “Wrestling protrays a sort of warped, exaggerated version of life, complete with it’s rich history and folklore, and system of justice. (Kondratowicz “Jesus is Their Co-Pilot”) But in the early days, wrestling was real. In that it was what we now call amateur wrestling, although done in the significant wrestling ring. Though back in those days they were still surrounded by ring ropes, played to the crowd, and had a few fixed matches from bribes, it’s nowhere near what wrestling is today. Today, wrestling is completely planned out, with every aspect of the sport focused not on athletic competition, but fan entertainment. Many people call wrestling “fake”, yet that nowhere near describes the wrestling industry. Wrestling isn’t meant to be perceived as a competitive sport these days, wrestling is just as scripted as any play that you go to

With this progression into pre-worked matches, matches faced serious criticism, but professional wrestling, with this new focus on entertainment, was becoming too successful to go back to it"tms roots as an athletic competition. Though an accident, overnight Kowalski turned from being a loved face to a booed highly heel, and was deemed by fans as "Killer" Kowalski, a role which he accepted and enjoyed. (Hunter 16-27)Wrestling"tms business has definetly not always been great. (Hunter 7, Adams "Is Pro Wrestling For Real")George Hackenschmidt and Gotch are generally regarded as two of the greatest wrestlers of this era of wrestling, but by the time of Gotch"tms early death in 1918 the corruption of the sport in America was seen as being well underway. As a result, Lawler challenged Kaufman to a "shoot" wrestling match, which is a real fight, held by the USWA. (Gaworeck and Justin "WWF Substitutions")"While largely discounted as a ginuine sport by most, professional wrestling has evolved from a minor source of "entertainment"tm to a culturally powerful multi-media complex. Though at this time, Andre was past his prime; his growth deficiency didn"tmt add size without reprocussions. Andre suffered from a birth defect in which his growth hormon would not stop secreting; as a result Andre in his prime was 7"tm5" and 300 pounds. On March 29, 1987 at WrestleMania III, Andre faced rising star Hulk Hogan, drawing a total of over 93,000 in attendance at the Madison Square Garden arena. A highly embarrased Andy Kaufman left not only without his pride, but wearing a neck brace. He sold out arenas everywhere he went, even starred in "The Princess Bride". The first superstar of wrestling grew from this persona-induced popularity, as "Georgeous" George Wagner was one of the most hated heels. Highly charismatic and skilled, Flair is a multi-time World Champion in many federations. Andre had been undefeated for 16 years, helped push Hulk Hogan to superstardom, and was loved by people around the world; Andre even appeared on WCW "Clash of the Champions" in September of 1992. Austin took a flight to San Antonio leaving the WWF, no explanation has been given as to why he quit.