History of wrestling
Wrestling as a type of mock combat and display behaviour among males has anthropological roots, and is also seen in non-human Great Apes.
[1] Cave paintings in the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia dating back to Neolithic age of 7000 BC show grappling of two naked men and surrounded by crowds.
[4] A cast Bronze figurine,[5] (perhaps the base of a vase) has been found at Khafaji in Iraq that shows two figures in a wrestling hold that dates to around 2600 BC.
[6][7] Portrayal of martial arts sporting in Egypt has begun by the time of the 5th Dynasty mastaba tombs at Saqqara, circa 2400 BC.
Shuai Jiao is a legendary wrestling style of Chinese antiquity used by the Yellow Emperor during his fight against the rebel Chi You at the Battle of Zhoulu.
[citation needed] By the eighth century, the Byzantine emperor Basil I, according to court historians, won in wrestling against a boastful wrestler from Bulgaria.
One of the primary men to have shaped kampfringen at the dawning of the German Renaissance appears to have been Austrian master Ott Jud.
He is said to have developed a system of grappling to be used in combat, including joint breaks, arm locks and throws designed to cause serious injury.
[23] Other treatises that contain material both on ringen and on swordsmanship include those of Fiore dei Liberi (c. 1410), Fabian von Auerswald (1462), Pietro Monte (c. 1480), and Hans Wurm (c. 1500).
[24] Maybe the last book which deals with Ringen as a deadly martial art, is possibly "Leib-beschirmende und Feinden Trotz-bietende Fecht-Kunst" from Johann Andreas Schmidt, which was published in Weigel, Nürnberg in 1713.
Carvings and statues show that forms of belt wrestling existed in the region since ancient times, in addition to matches between humans and animals.
In Persia, Pahlavani traditional grappling or koshti (کشتی) was practiced by both the upper and lower classes both for sport and as training for battle.
In training halls known as zourkhaneh, soldiers practiced resistance exercises and grappling in a tradition now called Varzesh-e bastani (ورزش باستانی; lit.
In Ancient China, there were stories describing Chi You, the progenitor of jiao di(角抵), using punches and elbow strikes to the head and kicks to his opponents in wrestling tournaments.
Classical Chinese wrestling or jiao li (角力) was a public sport in the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) held for court amusement as well as for recruiting the best fighters.
The term shuai jiao was chosen by the Central Guoshu Academy of Nanjing in 1928 when competition rules began to be standardized.
Wrestling in the Indian subcontinent was differentiated into four types that progressed from sport (malakride) to combat (malla-yuddha) mentioned in Mahabharat 3050 BC.
[26] The systems of unarmed combat that were developed and practiced during the Muromachi period (before 1573) are today referred to collectively as Japanese old-style jujutsu (日本古流柔術, Nihon koryū jūjutsu).
[28] In 1848, French showman, Jean Exbroyat formed the first modern wrestlers' circus troupe and established a rule not to execute holds below the waist — a style he named "flat hand wrestling".
[28][29] Leading wrestlers during this time, such as Georg Hackenschmidt, Stanislaus Zbyszko, William Muldoon, Frank Gotch, Constant Lavaux, had the status of popular heroes.
[31] Gotch, regarded as "peerless" at his peak, was the first to actually claim the world's undisputed heavyweight championship by beating all contenders in North America and Europe.
Professional wrestlers during this time would participate both in sportive competition and in shows focusing more on spectacle and entertainment, as wrestling was introduced to the public as part of a variety act to spice up the limited action involved in the bodybuilder strongman attractions.
Georg Hackenschmidt, world champion after his 1905 win over Tom Jenkins, associated himself with British promoter and entrepreneur Charles B. Cochran.
The great demand for wrestling meant there were not enough skilled amateurs to go around, and many promoters switched to more violent styles, with weapons and chairshots part of the proceedings.
The popularity of wrestling experienced a dramatic decline in 1915 to 1920, north due to the World War, and as its reputation had suffered especially among the American public because of widespread doubt of its legitimacy and status as a competitive sport.
In response, three professional wrestlers, Ed Lewis, Billy Sandow, and Toots Mondt, joined to form their own promotion in the 1920s, modifying their in-ring product to attract fans.
