0
0
If you’ve landed on this page searching for “is wrestling fake,” please redirect here where I address the concept. In short, no. Nothing fake here. Wrestling bumps, bruises, jumps, and falls are all very real. The question you may be trying to ask is, “Is wrestling scripted?” The answer to that is yes, mostly.
Let’s call it predetermined
The outcomes of the events are traditionally “predetermined” to some degree. Either the wrestlers know, or the referees know, or just the backstage staff know. Yet, at some level, the outcomes are predetermined. My question to you is, was wrestling always predetermined?
Back to the Beginning
According to Wikipedia, prior to 1920, wrestling did not have predetermined outcomes. The athletic conquests that were set were not scripted or “worked”. This in large part was because wrestling was a sport, therefore, it was treated as a competitive sporting event. The separation came in the 1920’s to have wrestling as a competitive sport and wrestling as a form of athletic entertainment.
The use of wrestling for entertainment was seen prior to the 1920’s. In the late 1800’s, wrestling was used to showcase variety acts to help improve the action seen during strongman and bodybuilding competitions. Some of the earliest “wrestlers” would invite fans in the crowd to last 10 minutes with him in the ring. A decline in popularity that was seen from these competitions and into the 19th Century were seriously affected by World War I. And even prior to the 1920’s, the legitimacy of wrestling was being questioned.
The Final Word
Wrestling has not always been predetermined as it is now. Of course, the origins of wrestling and the early history were like an Olympic athletic competition. But, for more than 100 years, professional wrestling has been a form of entertainment. As such, the stories are mostly scripted, and the outcomes are typically predetermined. However, the blurring of those lines and the proper use of kayfabe is what keeps fans from knowing just how much of what they see is scripted. And to achieve the proper reactions from the performers, I expect that even “predetermined” endings have room for last minute adjustments.
