Every professional wrestling fan has heard a variation of it at some point in their life.
“You know it’s fake, right?” they would say.
Is it decided in advance? got it. But is it fake? Not in the slightest.
Professional wrestling, the intersection of sports and entertainment, is in full swing this weekend in Philadelphia with WrestleMania 40 and surrounding events.
Long gone are the days when several fighters practiced headlocks and armbars in 80% of their matches as part of their four-move skill set.
Modern-day WWE “superstars” routinely blend acrobatics, athleticism, daredevils, and brutal matches into a brand of physical storytelling worthy of the title of professional athlete.
Increased athleticism has changed the landscape in WWE.
In recent years, WWE has primarily held tryouts featuring current and former college athletes to discover its next stars. That trend continued during WrestleMania Week, which was held from April 2nd to 5th at Drexel University.
The NXT developmental brand was previously managed by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who now oversees all creative aspects of WWE following the departure of former owner Vince McMahon. It is now in the hands of fellow legendary wrestler Shawn Michaels, who continues to impress the next generation.
“I really enjoy the fact that we're recruiting from these colleges and going after young men and women. We had (tryouts on Thursday) and it was amazing,” Michaels said. Told.
“They're incredible athletes, and a lot of the guys that we ended up picking are doing it very quickly. I think that speaks very positively to the future of this industry. Masu.”
Among the prospects were Lehigh wrestling graduate Karam Chakif, two-time U23 World Wrestling Championship medalist Jacob Cardenas, and a large group of Division I football players on the men's side. Past NCAA volleyball players made up the majority of the female candidates.
There is a history of elite athletes discovering professional wrestling. Perhaps the greatest athletes to come to WWE are wrestlers-turned-wrestlers Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar.
After winning an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in 1996, Angle demonstrated his natural talent, becoming a four-time WWE Champion and being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. Lesnar was the NCAA heavyweight champion before becoming the youngest record holder. He has won the WWE Championship seven times and headlined WrestleMania five times.
Current talent Chad Gable represented the United States in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics.
Football has also served as a breeding ground for WWE.
Stay tuned for the main event of WrestleMania Night 1. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns were Division I defensive tackles at Miami and Georgia Tech, respectively, before joining the family business.
The route hasn't changed at all. But the hit rate is increasing.
A new generation came from Tennessee State Track and Field with Bianca Belair, who went on to become women's champion and WrestleMania main eventer. She will face Jade Cargill (Jacksonville University Basketball) in a 3-on-3 tag team match on Saturday.
Rising talent includes Trick Williams (South Carolina football), who will headline Saturday's NXT Stand and Deliver event at the Wells Fargo Center. The Creed Brothers, Julius (Duke Wrestling) and Brutus (Otterbein Wrestling). and Tiffany Stratton (USA Gymnastics).
Former NCAA and Olympic wrestling champion Gable Stevenson has a developmental contract starting in 2022.
The composition of top college athletes is perfectly integrated into the performance art of professional wrestling.
“The system we have in place to recruit these athletes is that they are taught from a very young age that their normal ability to perform, get better, and achieve their goals is That's true,” Michaels said. “That's why what we've accomplished in the last few years is so amazing to me, because that's all they know. We're not going to take them out of their normal lives. They were born and bred to have a goal in mind and make it happen.”
It's not exactly professional athletics, but it's what veteran Tommaso Ciampo sees in his first WrestleMania match on Saturday night one as part of a six-pack ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. It is fused.
“I don't think so. It's improvisation, right?” Ciampa said at WrestleMania 40 media day on Friday when asked if he and his colleagues were professional athletes. There is also an element of
“I think there are wrestlers like Ricochet and Montez Ford who have vertical strength, who have sprints, who can probably put up good numbers at the combine. The rest of us, we're not training for the same things, so It would be embarrassing.”
Rather, professional wrestling is a unique blend of fitness, physical improvisation, endurance, looks, acting, and showmanship.
“There's an explosive element, but there's also an aesthetic,” Ciampa said. “Quarterbacks don't have to worry about taking their shirts off, no matter what they look like. They don't have to worry about what they look like in the same way. I think there's an element of being a pro athlete, but in some ways it's more than that. I think that's a completely different skill set.”
Other sporting activities involve elements of corporal punishment, but otherwise the goal is not to accept corporal punishment, but to avoid it.
Ciampa knows that experience better than anyone. His wrestling career began in 2005, before joining WWE's developmental brand NXT in 2015. His run in NXT included a tag team title run with DIY partner Johnny Gargano in a Saturday title match. It included his run as NXT Champion and his iconic feud with Gargano. It ranks among the best rivalries in recent WWE history.
His path to his first WrestleMania required perseverance through countless injuries, including a torn ACL, neck surgery in 2019, and hip surgery in 2022.
“I don't think there's a way for people to understand that,” he said. “Competition is one thing. It's a short sprint, and it's a big impact. But getting in the car and driving for hours and then catching an early morning flight with no sleep, cortisol levels go up and inflammation gets worse. I am.
That's the hardest part. And there is no off-season. So the struggle will only continue. ”
Philadelphia was not kind to Ciampa early on, including a failed tryout on the independent scene and a match in Ring of Honor that “did not live up to expectations.”
A ladder match is a brutal match unique to professional wrestling, featuring punches, body slams, and jumping off ladders.
But regardless of the physical strain that will befall him after WrestleMania 40, it will continue to hold a special place for him.
“This ladder match should be at the top of the charts for me,” Ciampa said. “This is going to be the biggest moment in wrestling history for me.”
