The Art Of Pro Wrestling
"The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power" - This is the literal definition of art.
Now, let me break this definition into three parts and show how pro wrestling is an art.
1) Expression or application of human creative skill and imagination - Kenny Omega once said that if you can imagine something, you can do it in pro wrestling. So many times historians and people who follow them will tell you that there's a particular way of doing this.
Psychology is a word often used in pro wrestling and particular historians will emphasize on the fact that the definition of this word is quite limited. But ask yourself what do you mean by psychology. Ask another wrestling fan. Put this question on social media and ask other people. You will find a vast variety of answers. This will automatically disqualify any opinion which says "This is the way to do this. Your way is wrong". Nothing is wrong. Art cannot be limited.
And storytelling, the basic foundation of pro wrestling is an art. Over the years, particularly in this generation, we have seen how storytelling has evolved in wrestling. More layered and intricate stories have become common. Giant Baba excelled at this which resulted in 90s All Japan Pro Wrestling getting a pretty decent following. We have seen a renewed version of this from Tony Khan in AEW. The Elite Saga, Darby Allin taking almost a year and a half in order to surpass his first big rival in Cody Rhodes and one that is currently unfolding in front of our eyes, CM Punk's comeback. I recently watched Tam Nakano vs Saya Kamitani from Stardom's Dream Queendom show and I was mesmerized by their ability to convey the story to a first time viewer as well as they did. The action was amazing too but solely for that reason alone it got propelled to my top 10 matches of 2021 list.
But this art form isn't just restricted to storytelling. This can be seen in how matches are worked too. I personally feel that comedy matches help to expand the realms of pro wrestling a lot because there isn't a serious story that's forcing you to stick to it. Be it Kota Ibushi repeatedly taking Canadian Destroyers from Yoshihiko or Orange Cassidy literally falling asleep against Gentleman Jervis.
The conclusion to this would be the cliche of "You're limitation is only your imagination". You can tell all types of stories in wrestling. Kazuchika Okada holding onto Hiroshi Tanahashi's wrist at Wrestle Kingdom 10 or CM Punk messing with the fans at Target Center when they started chanting for Eddie (Kingston) but he gave them the 3 Amigos.
2) Works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty - Bret Hart. Let's move on.
No, but seriously, The Excellence Of Execution wasn't just a nickname. Bret had the ability to make you stare at something as simple as snap vertical suplex just because of how good he'd make the move look. I vividly remember his plancha to British Bulldog at Summerslam 1992 because it's one of the most beautiful planchas ever done.
The range of moves what you'd appreciate start from Bret Hart to Rey Fenix doing batsh*t insane spots. Dax Harwood's snap legdrop, Ricochet doing a moonsault off the ring post from the apron to the floor against Johnny Gargano, Okada's dropkick, pretty much all kinds of bridging suplexes all help bump the quality of a match greatly for me.
But this aspect isn't restricted to how well moves are performed. Imagine Kenny Omega vs Bryan Danielson without that opening bell pop. Imagine Shawn Michaels kicking out of the tombstone piledriver and JR going "I just had an out of body experience" without 72,000 people losing their minds. Beauty can be in the atmosphere as well which helps enhance a match to an immeasurable degree.
3) Emotional power - This is the reason we all love pro wrestling. This doesn't happen all the time though and you need to be patient for this. AEW made you wait for almost 3 years before you could finally see Hangman Adam Page stand tall and overcome his biggest doubter, himself.
The sight of Daniel Bryan becoming champion at Wrestlemania. Hiroshi Tanahashi falling in early 2018 and working his way up and up and up to make his way back to the Tokyo Dome main event and reclaim his spot as the Ace of New Japan. But for you to emotionally invest in something, the promotion needs to earn your trust first. Few promotions ever have rewarded their viewers. But when pro wrestling hits your emotions gland, there is probably not a better feeling in the world.
