It was produced by Jacques Bobet for the French program branch of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
(Due to confusion with the wrestling promotor Don Owen, film scholars have incorrectly credited the NFB's Don Owen as being the cinematographer or assistant director on Wrestling; the latter did not work on the film.)
[2] The filmmakers had intended to make a film exposing, in slow motion, the fakery of professional wrestling, until a chance encounter with French philosopher Roland Barthes changed their minds.
Barthes was appalled by what they were planning to do, and spoke urgently about the beauty and social role of pro wrestling in the lives of ordinary people.
Persuaded by Barthes, the filmmakers set out to make a film that captured the spectacle of the sport, without judging it.