Wrestling is an ancient sport that involves a combat mode and grappling techniques. Wrestlers use their upper and lower bodies to hold opponents over or under the waist or catch over the top. This sport isn’t limited to just one country, but it’s played in different forms in almost every part of the world. In this physical competition between two or more than two wrestlers, every player tries to maintain or gain a superior position through the best fighting tactics over another.
Different styles of wrestling bouts are featured with some rules from classic or modern style. An interesting thing to know at this point is that many techniques of martial arts and military hand-to-hand combat systems are adapted from various forms of wrestling.
When it began ? Look into the History of Wrestling
Table of Contents
Are you wondering when the first combat happened in history? This sport originated almost 15,000 years ago, which means cave people had that system of combat running among them.
You can find its references in the Old Testament. In the book of Genesis, there is a story that Jacob wrestled with God or an angel. In the ancient India Vedas like Ramayana and Mahabharata, there are tons of wrestling stories and combat stories. A reading of old literature clarifies that this sport holds a prominent position in ancient Greece literature. Style of wrestling was quite brutal, and some forms of that brutality were apparent in the ancient Olympic Games.
Ancient Romans adapted wrestling from greek but after slicing off random acts of cruelty. From the 5th century to 15 century, wrestling was quite famous, and many Royal Families of Japan, France, and England offered their support for games. British who settled in America also brought wrestling with them. Later amateur wrestling started flourishing all over America. In 1888, a well-organized National Wrestling Tournament took place in New York City. In 1904, it became a part of other games in the Modern Olympic Games.
Everyone knows about the United World wrestling UWW, as the international governing body for the sport, came into existence in 1912 in Antwerp, Belgium. The USA Wrestling was recognized as the national governing body for the Amateur Wrestling in 1983.
Various Styles of Wrestling – International wrestling vs. folk wrestling
UWW set some rules and disciplines for various forms of wrestling. There are two categories of those disciples; one is defined for international wrestling while the second is created for folk wrestling.
International wrestling or Olympic wrestling has rules for female freestyle wrestling, male’s freestyle wrestling, and Greco-roman. On the other hand, folkstyle wrestling also has three forms: belt wrestling, beach wrestling, and amateur pankration.
Greco-Roman -Wrestling tactics and form you see in the Olympic sport is Greco-roman. In this specific wrestling style, a wrestler is not allowed to hold his opponent below the belt. He can’t use his legs actively to execute some action during the games. New rules are integrated into this international discipline that makes it easy for wrestlers to go with a high-aptitude throw. One way to win in this game is to pin the opponent to the mats.
Freestyle wrestling -Women and men in Olympics sport follow international disciple for freestyle wrestling. As it’s a freestyle so that wrestlers can use their upper and lower bodies for offense and defense purposes. The game-winner is one who can pin or throw his opponent to the mat.
Amateur pankration – When amateurs want to combat with their opponents, they use mixed martial arts and wrestling techniques. Multiple striking techniques and grabbing holds are used to bring extra fun and excitement into this game.
Belt wrestling alysh -As the name tells you the whole story, it’s a folk wrestling where a wrestler must retain their hold on each other’s belts. Wrestlers of Alysh wear trousers, jackets, and thick belts. It’s commonly referred to as the Turkish style of wrestling.
Beach wrestling- All codes of conduct and rules of beach wrestling came from UWW or FILA. It’s the oldest style of international competitive wrestling where the mat is replaced with a sand-filled circle. Another replacement comes in the form of an outfit as wrestlers don’t wear their wrestling uniform. Instead, they wear swimsuits, spandex, or athletic shorts to combat with comfort in the sand-circle. At present, if you take part in beach wrestling, then you can increase your points through takedowns, bringing your opponent down to their back or pushing them to an extent where they go out of the circle.
Folk styles – UWW or FILA doesn’t offer rules and regulations for folk styles. In different parts of the world, other names are given to this specific style of wrestling. It is known as back hold wrestling in Europe, pehalwani in India and Iran, penjang gulat in Indonesia, Shuai jiao in China, khuresh in Siberia, etc.
Collegiate wrestling – It is a light-form of wrestling quite common in middle and high schools. It is also known as folkstyle wrestling or scholastic wrestling. Some rules of wrestlings are modified for school students. This new term makes it clear that the technique used in school and university competitions is different from that used for the Olympic and international forms of wrestling.
Professional Wrestling
Most of the wrestling you watch on TV and series is another wrestling form known as professional wrestling. Advertisers market the shows as a contest, but you must understand that winners are already decided most of the time. So, it’s more a script fight. You can enjoy catch hold fight in this style. In old times, wrestlers typically focused on Greco-Roman wrestling.
Everyone knows about wrestling companies such as WWE, ROH, and Impact Wrestling. Fans of wrestlers love to steam combat where heavy-weight champions come and knock down their opponents. As it’s full of entertainment nature sports, the showrunner mixes this fight with a bit of story and drama. The popularity of American-style wrestling reached its skyrocket height in the mid-1980s. Those who take good interest in professional wrestling are big fans of John Cena, Mankind, The Rock, the undertaker, triple h, Big Show, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, etc.
Wrap Up
If you want to know more about the history and styles of wrestling, it’s better to watch videos that help you explore this combat’s roots. as far as style learning is concerned, you can follow the Olympic games to get an idea of how the freestyle is quite different from that of Greco-roman.