Professional wrestling has made a great evolution from being a sport, into becoming sports-entertainment. "Wrestling protrays a sort of warped, exaggerated version of life, complete with it's rich history and folklore, and system of justice. (Kondratowicz "Jesus is Their Co-Pilot") But in the early days, wrestling was real. In that it was what we now call amateur wrestling, although done in the significant wrestling ring. Though back in those days they were still surrounded by ring ropes, played to the crowd, and had a few fixed matches from bribes, it's nowhere near what wrestling is today. Today, wrestling is completely planned out, with every aspect of the sport focused not on athletic competition, but fan entertainment. Many people call wrestling "fake", yet that nowhere near describes the wrestling industry. Wrestling isn't meant to be perceived as a competitive sport these days, wrestling is just as scripted as any play that you go to in a theater. Th

Wrestling's resourcefulness also garnered great success, as wrestling brought stars from other sports or movies, to draw off their popularity. In June of 1976, Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki face "The Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali to a 15-round draw in a wrestler vs. boxer match; this event was held before 32,000 fans in New York's Shea Stadium and was broadcast worldwide on television. In a well televised fued during the late 1920's, Jerry "The King" Lawler had hot coffee thrown in his face by comedian Andy Kaufman during "Late Night with David Letterman". As a result, Lawler challenged Kaufman to a "shoot" wrestling match, which is a real fight, held by the USWA. A highly embarrased Andy Kaufman left not only without his pride, but wearing a neck brace. (Hunter 33, 59-61, "Wrestling Terms")

George Hackenschmidt and Gotch are generally regarded as two of the greatest wrestlers of this era of wrestling, but by the time of Gotch's early death in 1918 the corruption of the sport in America was seen as being well underway. With this progression into pre-worked matches, matches faced serious criticism, but professional wrestling, with this new focus on entertainment, was becoming too successful to go back to it's roots as an athletic competition. (Chapman "The Toughest Men in Sports: Looking for the Mental Edge", Sehmby "Wrestling and Popular Culture")

The wrestling industry produced many other stars as well. Hulk Hogan made wrestling media-rich, and started the merchandise franchise which wrestling makes billions off every year. Sting, WCW mainstay, became just as popular as Hogan, starring in many movies and television series. Dusty Rhodes started as a hated heel until his turn on then manager Gary Hart; he then became a greatly loved superstar, being deemed "The American Dream". Rhodes has been called one of the greatest personalities to work in wrestling, wearing polka-dotted tights and using his patented "Bionic Elbow". Terry Funk, who debuted in 1965, still wrestles today at over 50 years old and is known even today as one of the most extreme wrestlers today. Highly known world-wide, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair has been called by many the best professional wrestler ever. Highly charismatic and skilled, Flair is a multi-time World Champion in many federations. (Hunter 16-27)

Wrestling as we know it was not organized until the late 1800's. There is no one main reason that this happened, but there are many additives that made it possible. Some say that money turned wrestling as a sport into the fixed circumstances that evolved, as the wealthy used bribes to fix matches, for a favorite to win or for them to win money off of bets. Many others say that the boredom from lack of action forced wrestling to turn to something that would attract the fans more. With the competitive sport of wrestling, matches could sometimes last up to 5 hours. Needless to say, people did not want to sit for hours on end to view a match, so this in turn forced the sport of wrestling to a

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