Styles in Professional Wrestling Professional wrestling is, and will always be, one the premier social, entertaining spectacles in our society. The masked-luchadore, the 500 pound hairball, even the beautiful valets at ringside. The glitz, the glamour, and the spotlight. Every man that steps in the ring knows their duty; to perform in front of capacity crowds while enveloping each fan in the stands with a passion and characteristic of self-worth. The reassurance that even in a world where entropy seems destined to live, the good shall always prevail. The actors and playwrights in the drama explode through the camera using various different techniques or styles, which present each as having a “unique” quality to them. These artistic styles can be classified into one of the following categories: Technical, Lucha Libre or High-Flying, and Ground Grappling.Until the break of 1980, wrestling was primarily a big man’s game. Sheer strength and intensity ruled the ring, forcing smaller wrestlers to take the extra leap to make a name for them. The real main-eventers were the Bruno Sammartinos, and the Bob Backlunds, and Killer Kowalskis. Men like Bret”Hitman”Hart, Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, and the “Macho King”Randy Savage had to add more excitement to their style due to the lack of strength. What they would devise became the most popular ring structure for over 15 years. Technical wrestling is best characterized by faster, moving confrontations with endurance to the end. A good technical wrestler, such as Bret Hart, will use a series of fast-paced moves that don’t take much strength but rather his opponents’ momentum. He will use the ropes to give him more speed but he isn’t clumsy on the rebound. He’s quick to counter just about anything and he definitely isn’t afraid of taking his attack to the next level, such as ascending the turnbuckles. He will t...
