The Art Of Pro Wrestling

When was the first time you ever laid eyes upon two men, or women about to wrestle inside the squared circle? I can give you the answer to that question very vividly. As a young kid growing up, i was the only boy in the family. My whole life i have been surrounded by women. Four sisters, all with uniquely distinctive personalities. I was always attracted to violence as a kid. There is nothing wrong with that, majority of boys grew up fascinated with the nature of combat.

I recall one night, my parents were surfing through every channel on the television. Remember getting my first glimpse into the world of professional wrestling. Just witnessed this huge red monster with the creepiest, yet sickest mask i have seen. Walking slowly down the ramp, while thousands of fans from all ages & walks of life. Screaming with joy & happiness! well, honestly i could not tell if they were screaming out of terror at the time. I come to find out when i got a bit older, i saw "The Big Red Machine Kane". Funny enough he is currently the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. The real-life name is Glenn Jacobs, yes sorry to break it to you, he is not exactly a real monster. How does someone go from being the brother of a dead man? Who chokes slams people into hell on live national cable. Then all of the sudden he ends up becoming this friendly mayor. That right there ladies & gentlemen is the fascinating world of professional wrestling.

Brothers Go To War

Only in professional wrestling do you get a sense of a real combat sports feel, fused with an artistic approach of storytelling. The image right above us is the perfect example of the art of professional wrestling done right. In the world of wrestling, stories get retold in different ways. Things honestly start to feel a bit jaded. You watch the show build up week by week, always leading up to big matches on the pay-per-view. But this wasn't quite that in its approach, for this spectacle of a match we did not have a weekly television show.

There was a time when the only dominant force for wrestling on American television was WWE. If you are not familiar with much pro wrestling other than John Cena or The rock. Sometimes i forget i'm part of this huge wrestling bubble, that many casual individuals like yourself don't know what has been going on. To give you a brief visual history of the sport. World wrestling entertainment isn't the only huge player in the game. In other countries like Japan, there is a major organization called, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Its style is more hard-hitting, & treated more like a legit sport. But in the United States, there have been smaller-scale organizations throughout history on television. But none of them were able to reach the heights WWE ever did. Audiences have been craving an alternative from world wrestling entertainment. That's where the landscape of professional wrestling changed forever. When All Elite Wrestling came along & hosted their first pay-per-view, it garnered the most buys for a non-world wrestling entertainment live event at the time. This was the event that included the emotional roller coaster of a match that told a beautiful story of brothers going to war.

This was easily the match of the night on that show! Nobody in that crowd, including me watching from home on a saturday night. Expected what a beautiful story was going to be in front of our eyes. Five weeks before the event took place. It was revealed that wrestler Cody Rhodes would wrestle his older brother Dustin Rhodes. Who recently at the time, was just granted freedom from WWE. It wouldn't have been the first time these two laced up their boots, & wrestled each other in front of a live crowd. They went head to head with each other in world wrestling entertainment in 2015 at an event called "Fastlane". That already gave a perception of what people expected to see that night. Oh boy, were we all wrong about what we witnessed.

The time has finally come for the match that defined what professional wrestling is at its core. The two brothers stood across from each other in the ring. Everyone was curios now to see what was going to play out in front of them, including me. This was Dustin Rhodes first match in 11 months at the time. Younger brother Cody Rhodes had his chance to prove to everyone, what he always had inside of him. When the bell finally sounded, the crowd started chanting "Dusty". That was their fathers name, who sadly passed away. He was a pioneer & legend in the world of pro wrestling. Each brother stood there & just soaked in all the chants from the crowd. With emotional tears building up from both athletes. Everyone was witnessing a full display of an athletic contest, with so much story & heart on the line.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water

Blood,sweat,tears, & so much pain was being shown to me on my television screen. Two siblings gave us spectacular showmanship, & did everything in their power to get one of their hands raised by the end of the night. Dustin the older brother was gushing out blood like a ketchup packet, all over the ring canvas. Fighting from underneath , while the crowd was behind him. It seemed like a blood bath took place. While the crowd was cheering from the top of their lungs. Cody ended up winning the match, but after the performance both brothers gave. The crowd gave standing ovation, while the two brothers were out of breath.

Cody finally stood up, while his older brother Dustin was sitting against the turnbuckle in the corner. Cody grabbed the mic, & told him he has a tag team match coming up soon. He told him in front of the whole crowd he needed a partner. While Cody was unable to fight back his tears. Cody said he didn't need a partner or a friend. All he truly needed was his older brother. While both brothers hug it out, you can see so many people in the crowd crying after what they just witnessed. This particular match told a beautiful story about family. It was not about the violence, it was about two brothers walking in the same shoes miles apart trying to prove a legacy like their father did. All the blood we see, shows the visual representation of family, blood family. That story told right there, is the true embodiment of the art of professional wrestling.