Wrestling

From OTMWiki

Wrestling, is a sport in which a practitoner attempts to defeat an opponent without the use of striking. Wrestling is amongst the oldest sports in history that, over time, has evolved into many different styles and forms. They range from world-wide, commercialised stadium events to less publicized, local amateur competitions. Generally, two persons compete against each other for each contest.

According to International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today are Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling, Submission Grappling and Sambo wrestling.

1 The aim
2 Styles
3 Show wrestling
4 Wrestling as military training
5 Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts
6 Major wrestling sub-disciplines
7 See also
8 External links

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The aim

The aim of a wrestling contest depends upon its style, but common aims are

pinning the shoulders of an opponent to the ground for a defined time,
maneuvering an opponents shoulders toward the ground to earn points,
raising an opponent over ones head,
throwing an opponent to the floor, and/or
gaining control over an opponents body.

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Styles

Wrestling disciplines defined by FILA, are broken down into two categories; International wrestling disciplines and folk wrestling disciplines. There are five current International wrestling disciplines acknowledged throughout the world. They are greco roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, grappling, beach wrestling and sambo.

Grappling (also called submission grappling or submission wrestling) has been recognized as a style of international wrestling by FILA, the international wrestling federation. It brings together techniques from catch wrestling, brazilian jiu-jitsu no-gi, freestyle frestling, greco-roman wrestling and sambo. Grappling can be trained for self defense, sport and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.

There are almost as many wrestling styles as there are national traditions. Styles include Pehlwani in India, Sumo in Japan, Inner and Outer Mongolian Wrestling, and Yağlı güreş which is a type of "oiled" wrestling in Turkey. Wrestling is often categorized as one of the martial arts; its virile image and usefulness as military training helped generate such multi-cultural evolutions. Some evidence suggests that wrestling may be the oldest sport known to man. A large amount of early artwork, for example, depicts matches between two opponents. One of the most famous wresting matches appears in the book of Genesis where Jacob wrestles an angel (sometimes thought of as God himself) and is renamed Israel for his struggle, which translates to "Wrestles with God".

In addition to its sporting nature, wrestling has often been utilized as the basis for popular spectacle, or theatrical drama. Circus shows worldwide have historically included sideshow wrestling matches involving monetary wagers and even people competing against animals (particularly bears). Such "show wrestling" has continued to this day in professional wrestling spectaculars – choreographed for maximum auditory and visual effects. Often the winner of commercial contests is determined in advance but some styles such as Sumo, Shoot wrestling (also in Japan) and mixed martial arts remain true sporting contests while still including many commercial aspects.

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Show wrestling

Modern-day professional wrestling has traces back in early traveling carnivals, where showmen would challenge local spectators to compete with them in a ring. They would most commonly offer any prizes to any man or women for that matter, who could beat them. Also, the carnival would often place one of its showmen in the audience to answer the challenge, and the two would provide a predetermined spectacle with the intent of providing an entertaining show for the spectators.

Besides the United States, Mexico (Lucha Libre) and Japan (Puroresu) have garnered the greatest percentage of spectator commercialism under the "professional" label.

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Wrestling as military training

The main objectives of wrestling in military training are:

Superior balance developed from trying to keep one's balance while at the same time trying to upset the opponent's. In war, falling to the ground can quickly make one vulnerable to weapon thrusts, which makes good balance a must for strong soldiers.
Focused and powerful pushing-power. In combat one must smash or thrust weapons forward at one's enemies.
The ability to get up quickly if fallen down, a very important survival skill on the battlefield (see above).
Improved stamina, endurance and strength.
Physical skills to control prisoners, or to carry wounded comrades.
Cultivation of aggressiveness and improved reaction time.
Camraderie, diversion and entertainment.

Wrestling is a safe way to achieve the above goals since it does not use dangerous objects or weapons.

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Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts

Wrestling has gained tremendous respect as a martial art with the advent of mixed martial arts competition.

Many fighters identify wrestling itself or Submission wrestling (Submission Grappling) as their style of fighting. Wrestling forms the base of some of the most respected self defense/mixed martial arts systems in the world eg such as Shootfighting, Shooto, Pancrase and Combat Submission Wrestling.

Early competitions (e.g. UFC, Vale Tudo ) more wrestlers defeat stylists from traditional striking(and grappling) oriented styles such as boxing, judo, tae kwon do, karate, brazilian jiu-jitsu, survival krav maga, wing chun, jkd and kickboxing. Considering only the first twelve UFC( few limited number of rules, no weight classes or weight limits and unlimited rounds ), amateur wrestling won tournaments UFC 5, UFC 6, UFC 8, UFC 9, UFC 10, UFC 12. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu won UFC 1, UFC 2, UFC 4.

Some successful fighters who come from a wrestling background (Freestyle/Greco-Roman) include : Matt Lindland, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Urijah Faber, Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida, Kevin Randleman, Mark Kerr, Don Frye, Dan Severn, Mark Coleman, Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Jeff Monson, Matt Horwich, Carmelo Marrero, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, Brock Lesnar, Gray Maynard, Matt Hamill, Benji Radach, Gerald Harris, Antonio McKee, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Schultz, Aaron Stark, Devin Cole, Antoine Jaoude, Roy Nelson, Shad Lierley, Mark Schultz, Brandon Vera, Melvin Guillard, Josh Koscheck, Renato Sobral, Ricco Rodriguez, Takanori Gomi, Cain Velasquez.