Wrestling right? or lie?

Wrestlers are given particular training to help them avoid injuries, although this does not always prevent them from the devastating repercussions of some techniques and attacks.

Professional wrestling is a type of 'performance' that combines combat and theatrical performance. It is extremely popular around the world, particularly in the United States, Mexico, and Japan. However, many people regard it as a contentious industry, with one of the most common queries being, "Is it a sport or a sham?"

Wrestling is well known for being organized as'shows' by numerous firms - the so-called promotions - each with their own set of programming and scripts.

And, as a gimmick, these scripts frequently incorporate injuries that the wrestlers are said to sustain.

The subject of injuries has become quite topical after the event 'TLC: Tables, stairs and chairs' –of the most well-known wrestling promotion, WWE, and held on December 15– was marked by several incidents , in which the fighters suffered traumas that were not part of the script.

Thus, the Japanese Kairi Sane suffered an apparent concussion after receiving strong blows from the American Charlotte Flair. In the end, the fighter managed to finish the match, in which she and her colleague Asuka successfully defended their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship titles, and even earned applause from their rivals for resisting until the end. But the fact is that, after examining her, the doctors determined that the so-called 'Pirate Princess' was not in a position to get into the ring at the moment.

For his part, the former NXT champion, the Dutchman Aleister Black, suffered what at first appeared to be a broken nose during his fight against the Australian Buddy Murphy. Despite the fact that his face was bloody, Black managed to resist until the end of the fight and obtain victory. According to specialized portals, the fighter did not actually suffer a fracture but only an injury, and the doctors have already given him the authorization to continue fighting.

Likewise, last Sunday the Mexican Andrade not only lost to his compatriot Humberto Carrillo, but also suffered a painful eye injury.

The incidents suffered by Sane, Black and Andrade are a further example that wrestling is not simply a 'parody' of actual combat. In fact, in the history of professional wrestling there have been much more violent and tragic moments.

Undertaker vs. Mick Foley, One of the most well-known incidents took place in 1998, during a 'Hell in a Cell' match between Undertaker and Mankind (Mick Foley) at the King of the Ring event. The two wrestlers then climbed to the top of the cage for Undertaker to drop Foley from about twenty feet. Although this was planned, the impact Mankind suffered turned out to be much harder than anticipated, resulting in a dislocated shoulder.

Mankind managed to get up and climb back onto the cage, but what no one expected happened there: upon receiving Undertaker's famous knockdown 'chokeslam', the cage broke, causing Foley's second fall, which left him with a concussion, dislocated arm and jaw, severely injured kidneys, and broken teeth.

Steve Austin's broken neck, In 1997 a match took place between Steve 'Stone Cold' Austin and Owen Hart, during the SummerSlam event, for the title of WWF Intercontinental Champion (former WWE name).

During the fight, Hart applied the 'piledriver' takedown on Austin, but he did it the wrong way and 'Stone Cold' ended up with a broken neck that left him partially paralyzed.

Although the fighter returned to the ring after recovering, that injury left a mark on his lifelong health and was one of the reasons for the end of his career in 2003.

Vader and his eye, Another notable match took place between Stan Hansen and Big Van Vader, during the 'AJPW / NJPW Supercard' event, held in Japan in 1990.

Trouble started before the fight even started, as Hansen, seeing Vader approaching the ring, hit him in the face with a special cowboy rope called a 'bullrope', breaking his nose and damaging his orbital bone.

Later, during the match, Hansen dealt his rival a fatal blow, causing Vader's eye to pop out of its socket. The wrestler was forced to take a break, took off his mask, simply 'put' his eye on his face, and then continued the match, which ended in a draw.

The open fracture of Sid Vicious, On an episode of the weekly show WCW Nitro in 2001, during a match against Scott Steiner, Sid Vicious suffered an open fracture of his left leg after landing on it with his 300-pound mass.

His tibia and fibula were snapped in half. Vicious underwent surgery and had a metal rod inserted. For some time he was forced to walk with a cane, but in the end he was able to rehabilitate himse.

Joey Mercury and the ladder, Another horrific incident occurred in 2006, during a four tag match at WWE's 'Armageddon' event. Then, Joey Mercury smashed his face on a ladder, courtesy of the Hardy Boyz. The wrestler had to stop the fight immediately and subsequently received 20 stitches to his face.

Fall onto a concrete floor

The match between New Jack and Vic Grimes at ECW's 'Living Dangerously' event in 2000 was scheduled to end with both fighters falling from scaffolding through several tables, but something went wrong: the two they lost containment from most of the tables and hit the concrete floor. New Jack was permanently blinded in one eye and suffered minor brain damage from the incident.

Deaths in combat, The history of wrestling also knows fatal cases, of fighters who died in full combat.

One of the most remembered deaths occurred in 2015, when Mexican wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr., from AAA, faced Rey Mysterio in Tijuana. The son of the famous wrestler Perro Aguayo was left unconscious on the ropes after receiving a blow from the 'master of 619' and, according to doctors, he died due to cardiac arrest caused by the fracture of three vertebrae.

Another well-known incident is the death of famous Japanese wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa in 2009. In a tag team match at Hiroshima Green Arena, in which he and Go Shiozaki faced Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith, Misawa suffered a serious injury. in the spine after the downed 'belly-to-back suplex' that Saito gave him. He was knocked unconscious and later died at a hospital.

Less dangerous tricks do not prevent injuries, Although WWE has decided to refrain from performing high-risk stunts in recent years, cases of injury to wrestlers continue to occur. Thus, in an episode of NXT broadcast in November, the Japanese Io Shirai broke Mia Yim's nose with a ladder.

She also gave a lot to talk about the episode that occurred during a recent SmackDown LIVE match, when Becky Lynch was left with a broken nose after receiving a hard blow to the face from Nia Jax.

Also, many remember the unexpected knee that Seth Rollins gave John Cena in 2015, which turned out to be much more brutal than planned and left the multiple WWE champion with a painful broken nose.

Swiss wrestler Cesaro also couldn't avoid an injury during WWE's 'No Mercy 2017' event, when he was thrown by Dean Ambrose into one of the corners of the ring and collided with the front of his face, causing him to collapse. of his two maxillary central incisors. He has since been forced to wear a mouthguard during fights.

In the end, is it a sport or a farce?

To sum up all of the above, keep in mind that while there have been no serious incidents in this industry lately, wrestlers continue to constantly sustain injuries.

In the end, is professional wrestling a sport or a farce? It seems that there is no single answer to this question. It's still a kind of 'sports entertainment' with predetermined tricks, moves and hits, but unpredictable situations often occur that can even end the career of one or the other fighter.