List of professional wrestling styles
From Freepedia
There are many different styles used in professional wrestling.
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American Wrestling
Used to refer to the style of professional wrestling practiced by performers in the United States. Typically characterised by over-the-top antics and a feel of sports entertainment. The main proponent of this style of wrestling is World Wrestling Entertainment.
Over two hundred years ago, American Wrestling was established with roots including a bout featuring President Abraham Lincoln in Illinois in the mid 1800s. The American version of traditional pro wrestling is standard for wrestlers to grapple, suplex, throw or take down their opponent without striking blows. It is the pure basis of most other styles.
Catch wrestling
Short for catch-as-catch-can wrestling, is grappling, sometimes known as hook wrestling.
Hardcore wrestling
An unorthodox and ultra violent form of pro wrestling. Disqualifications and count outs are ignored in favor of an extreme and often graphic approach. Typically, fighters will use weapons (i.e., chairs, tables, ladders, canes, barbed wire, etc.) and fight or partake in matches in unusual environments both in and outside of the ring.
Hybrid wrestling
A style that combines all pre-existing styles creating a state-of-the-art sophisticated discipline consisting of every form of combat that goes down in the ring. Hybrid Wrestling is an intense and evolving combat sport in which competitors wrestle and fight without any boundaries such as disqualification or count out stoppage. This theory, was developed in January of 2000 by Court Bauer for his Major League Wrestling promotion.
Lucha libre
Translated as "free fighting" in Spanish, the near 100 year old lucha libre style combines a dynamic and acrobatic aerial style with that of sophisticated and at times multi-person submission maneuvers. It is common for Luchadores (disciples of this style) to wear masks and put them (or their hair) on the line in an ultimate challenge of honor or to seek out revenge. Lucha libre six man tag team rules differ from the traditional version as you must pin/tap out two of the three members of one team or a team's captain in order to gain one fall (always in a best of three fall series).
Rasslin
Also known as "Southern style" or "Memphis style". Originating from the Southern United States, Rasslin (the phoentic spelling of "wrestling" pronounced with a thick Southern accent) emphasises kayfabe and stiffness, with less squash matches and generally longer feuds than in American Wrestling. Heels typically uses a variety of cheap heat measures such as stalling, displays of cowardice, cheating and assaults on women or babyface managers. Storylines and characters are often derived from aspects of Southern culture.
Royal road
Known also as King's Road and translated as "oudou" in Japanese, this is Shohei "Giant" Baba's theory about a pure athletic style of pro wrestling with an emphasis on world class competition. This style was formulated in the early 1970s.
Shoot wrestling
A form of wrestling that combines wrestling, kick boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, and judo. This later became Shoot style wrestling.
Strong style
A strict Japanese pro wrestling discipline that originated in the 1970s by Antonio Inoki. Using a combination of stiff (hard hitting) and sharp moves and strikes, such as the lariat clothesline, the chest chop, and front kicks, Strong Style is a theory that has influenced several other styles.
