by Grace Angel

Created on: February 17, 2010   Last Updated: February 28, 2010

The definition of a sport is an athletic contest in which people compete for success. Just because the outcome of professional wrestling does not have the same standards as other sports does not mean that it should not qualify as a sporting contest. Professional wrestling does take athletic ability. Therefore even though the outcomes are predetermined, on the level it is considered a sporting contest. Furthermore, wrestling does require winning in one sense or another; in this case you're trying to win the attention of the fans so that they will continue to buy tickets to see you perform. If you are successful at in winning the fans attention, you will continue to have a strong product and make money.

In the same way that a professional sports team must play well in order to get good attendance, professional wrestlers must perform well, both in the ring and a microphone in order to build anticipation for future matches. The problem that most people have with professional wrestling is that the outcomes are predetermined. This is legitimate argument until we look at the history of other sports, for example there are many documented cases of baseball players and boxers not performing to the highest possible level so as to throw games out the window. If these things are still considered sports, there is no reason that the predetermined part of professional wrestling should disqualify it from being a sport.

Wrestling as a sport goes back to the ages of the Greeks and Romans. Several hundred years ago the first match was not predetermined, however the history of the professional wrestling business documents predetermined matches all the way back to the 1800s. Still, the majority of people never questioned its authenticity until the 1980s. History has shown that people were actually betting on professional wrestling at the advent of television in the 1940s. This should be sufficient indication that at least a certain segment of the population has always viewed professional wrestling as at least partially a sport.

The cooperation necessary to properly execute a wrestling match without injury requires extreme amounts of physical skill. Even the simplest wrestling move executed incorrectly can result in injury and in severe cases possible death. To take away the athletic part of what these men and women do on a daily basis considering that there is no off-season, is an insult to the art form.

Injuries when they occur are not treated the same way that they would be in

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