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Professional wrestling, or pro wrestling, is a form of theatre which contains strong elements of mock combat and catch wrestling. Matches are prearranged by the promotion's booking staff and contain choreographed content and scripted outcomes[1]. Its origins date to 19th-century carnival sideshows and music halls, as part of displays of athleticism and strength. Modern professional wrestling usually features striking and grappling techniques, which are modeled after diverse sets of wrestling and pugilistic styles from around the world.
Professional wrestling is especially prevalent in Japan and North American countries. In Brazil, it was very popular from the 1960s to the early 1980s, where it was called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the "sport" have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, including Gorgeous George, André the Giant, The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg and The Rock in the United States; Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka) in Japan; Mario Milano and Nathan Jones in Australia; El Santo, Blue Demon, Gory Guerrero, Eddy Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Mil Máscaras in Mexico; Ted Boy Marino, Bob Léo, Bob Jr., Caveira Killinger and La Múmia in Brazil; Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy, Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid in the United Kingdom; and Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Lance Storm in Canada; and The Great Khali in India.
Although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows and traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry that draws revenue from ticket sales, television broadcasts, branded merchandise and home video. It was instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania are among the highest-selling pay-per-view programming. Home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week.[2] Billboard's 2008 year-end sales show World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) holding 14 of the top 20 for the entire year.[3]
Currently, the dominant professional wrestling company worldwide is the United States-based World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which absorbed many smaller regional companies in the late twentieth century, as well as its primary competitors in early 2001, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) & Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). In Mexico, the top promotion is Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre; in Japan, it is New Japan Pro Wrestling; in Africa, it is World Wrestling Professionals.