Wrestling IS a Sport!

[ckoneagain]

With the news that ESPN are doing a weekly segment on WWE comes the age old 'but wrestling isn't a sport' argument. Well i'd argue that it just might be. Here's the definition of 'sport'

'an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.'

we can all agree that wrestling is an activity involving physical exertion and that it involves an individual or team and is for other entertainment right? The issue is always the 'competes against' portion. But what about the competition that goes on for a spot on the show? With Zac Ryders web show, random twitter wars or superstars trying to get more followers than another to boost their stock in the company, one could make the argument that they are competing.

If that's too much of a tertiary thing for you, what about matches and Promos where the superstars compete every single week to get the bigger reaction form the crowd, good or bad reaction i might add. So whilst the fighting portion the show is scripted for the most part, they are still competing against each other for the approval of the fans.

Lets look at some other sports for a moment, Darts, Pool, Shooting, Bowls amongst others. They don't use much, if any real physical exertion but are classed as sports because of their high competitive nature. So this means that whilst the competition is high, the physical element is low which is of course the opposite of wrestling.

So maybe lets stop taking crap from fans of other 'sports' and start standing up for the fact that whilst scripted, wrestling is, at least by definition, very much a sport.

 

[Rayne]

If you're going to use that definition of "compete", then competitive eating, speechwriting, job interviews, jacks, pretty much anything you can think of that involves "movement" and "competing" could be called a sport. So, no.

How about this- just watch it if you enjoy it, and who cares if someone else thinks it's a 'sport' or not?

 

[OYDK]

Well, yeah it's sports entertainment. I don't know if you can put it in the same category as baseball, hockey, football, etc. because of the scripted nature of it though.

WWE arguably has some of the best athletes in the world. They have former football players, amateur wrestlers, MMA fighters, hell Chad Gable was in the olympics... but these guys aren't necessarily "competing" with each other. They're not fighting to see who wins because they already know who wins before they go out there. I'm not saying you don't have to be an athlete to compete in WWE, just that it's hard to label it strictly as a sport. It's a different beast altogether.

 

[Mustang Sally]

If you compare pro wrestling to NFL football, the difference between 'sport' and what WWE does becomes pretty obvious. Football players aren't playing a game with a pre-scripted ending. To me, that's the big difference between sports and entertainment.

Still, I believe more folks should be impressed with wrestling for what it is. One could argue that while wrestlers follow a script, football players don't ......but that's not true, is it? Football teams follow a game plan that incorporates their individual activities with their team's overall plan. Is that so different from what wrestlers do? I think not.

Further, the degree of athleticism required to wrestle, as opposed to playing football, isn't as big as one might think. Wrestling is certainly a lot harder than what actors in a stage play have to do. All they worry about is remembering their lines and being in the proper spot on the stage. Wrestlers do all that too, but have to add in the physical danger of taxing their bodies to a degree most people will never have to do. Errors don't just involve flubbing a line in the script; actual pain is involved.....yet, the show must go on.

As far as players/wrestlers working toward building the team/company, I'd say wrestlers do......while football couldn't care less what happens to the corporation that owns the team; as long as they get their money, they don't give a damn if the team goes to hell in a handcart. Yes, they may (or may not) care about their teammates.....but so do wrestlers.

My American Heritage dictionary defines sport as "....an active pastime, diversion, recreation." In that frame, wrestling could be considered a sport. Personally, I like referring to it as one.

But is wrestling a sport? Strictly speaking, as an activity that has pre-planned spots and endings for every contest.....no, it isn't.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

No wrestling isn't a proper "sport", as the results are predetermined and it's not a real COMPETITION. It's an incredibly physically demanding soap opera, with scripted storylines based, and many of the wrestlers are great sportsmen and athletes- arguably some of the best in the world but due to them not really competing against each other, it can't be called a sport.

That's where the phrase "sports entertainment" comes in. It's not sport, it's not entertainment- it's a combination of both...its pro wrestling.

 

[CyberPunk]

It's difficult to call wrestling a competitive 'sport'. As many have alluded to, the results are predetermined and there's no real competition. And if you count fighting for a spot competition, it exists in all kinds of jobs.

In my mind, wrestling is a unique kind of performance art. It's unlike any other form of art and includes way more dangerous performance than any other form.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Wrestling isn't competitive in the sense it's not 2 wrestlers or teams competing for a victory, that is predetermined by the person booking the event so on that alone you can't call wrestling a sport because it isn't.

Wrestling is often presented as a sport, the talent in question are athletes and some would do (and did) well in a number of sports, that can't be denied but just because a pile of wrestlers are athletes and great performers doesn't make professional wrestling a sport because a match is not a competition if they are following a script, even if it's an incredibly loose script.

Wrestling can be incredibly enjoyable to watch, it often presents itself as a sport but at the end of the day you can't call it a sport unless it's a legitimate competition, wrestling simply isn't a legitimate competition so it's not a sport. It has sports elements but the main goal is to entertain, it's been that way for almost 100 years now and it's most likely going to stay that way forever.

 

[timothy26]

I love pro wrestling but I don't consider it a sport.

Pro wrestling is a simulated sport at best with theatrical elements involved, pro wrestling is closer to something like dancing or a circus act, it involves a great deal of athleticism but is not a sport itself.

Personally I liken pro wrestling to live action roleplaying - people physically playing characters with pre determined storylines and outcomes

 

[ABMorales787]

Well this went nowhere. For obvious reasons.