Believe it or not, there are entire systems of martial arts dedicated to breaking bones and squeezing the life out of your opponents. Some better known than others, though no less effective in their own right.
Mixed martial arts and professional wrestling are kissing cousins. Both incarnations of modern-day entertainment that are pseudo representations of the same original Greek concept known as Pankration. One the result of big government solutions to problems that never existed in the first place; the other simply a more fan friendly version of an old concept. Both watered down, substitute systems of hand to hand combat with ancient and deadly origins.
In the days before television, video games, computers and many outside distractions miners and iron workers and local tough guys would wrestle as a recreation after a hard days work. The British Navy exposed the young men of their day to many forms of grappling from around the world.
Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling: A Brutal Ancestor
Still a relatively unknown martial art outside of educated circles, Britannica defines catch-as-catch-can-wrestling as a, “Basic wrestling style in which nearly all holds and tactics are permitted in both upright and ground wrestling. Rules usually forbid only actions that may injure an opponent, such as strangling, kicking, gouging, and hitting with a closed fist.” According to the widely used online encyclopedia source, “The object is to force the opponent into a position in which both shoulders touch the ground at the same time.
According to a YouTube video titled, “Catch as Catch Can Wrestling History,” this submission based style of grappling owes its origins to an ancient Greek style of wrestling that dates back millennia. “The art of catch wrestling, or hooking, is one of the oldest forms of fighting known to exist,” explains the documentaries narrator. “It’s lineage dates back to 646 BC when it was introduced to the Greek Olympics as Pankration.
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The documentary went on to describe the modern origins of this very old European martial art. “In the late 19th century a group of carnival wrestlers emerged that practiced a modified form of the original Greek style calling it hooking.” According to the report, “These hookers traveled show to show challenging any who would dare to step in the ring with them.
In an April 8, 2016 Singapore Sports Council report titled, “The Brutal Art - Catch Wrestling in Asia,” author Qin Yunquan writes that, “Catch Wrestling became immensely popular across both sides of the Atlantic during the late 19th and early 20th century - thanks in particular to the travelling carnivals.” According to Yunquan, “In America, a very brutal hybrid of catch known as ‘Rough and Tumble’ fighting where striking, submissions, eye gouging, biting etc. were allowed,” emerged. Very reminiscent to the contemporary Vale Tudo and No Holds Barred eras of mixed martial arts today, it was the UFC before there was a UFC.
The catch wrestler had to prepare for the worst case scenario with the unknown opponent stepping into the ring on a regular basis, so the need for quick and aggressive submissions were a necessity. Submission wins were preferred so there would be no chance for a challenger to argue if the match was stopped prematurely. The rules of the early matches were determined by the players themselves and would usually change from city to city (just like mma matches do from various promoters), negotiations could take forever.
Often times there were no time limits at all, with the winner having the best of 3 falls. There are no points for position in catch wrestling, the only ways to win a match are to pin or submit your opponent using one of the many fast and aggressive hooks (or submissions). Taping out, yelling “enough” or rolling to ones back were considered a sign of defeat.
In the late 19th century, catch wrestling made its way to North America and spread like wild fire. The chance of being pinned is one of the biggest differences between Catch and BJJ. A man by the name of Mitsuyo Maeda taught Carlos Gracie (older brother of Helio Gracie) to fight. What most do not know is that Maeda perfected his system competing in Catch-As-Catch-Can tournaments (as “Count Koma”) at the turn of the 20th Century. Another grappler Masahiko Kimura learned legitimate Catch-As-Catch-Can while working as a Professional Wrestler for Rikidozan in the early 1950s.
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The match in 1914 was one between two prime representatives of their respective styles, Ad Santel was the World Light Heavyweight Champion in catch wrestling while Tokugoro Ito claimed to be the World Judo Champion. Santel defeated Ito and went on to be the self proclaimed World Judo Champion. The response from Jigoro Kano’s Kodokan was swift and came in the form of another challenger, 4th degree black belt Daisuke Sakai. The Kodokan tried to stop the legendary hooker by sending men like 5th degree black belt Reijiro Nagata (who was defeated by Santel by TKO). Santel also drew with 5th degree black belt Hikoo Shoji.
The challenge matches finally stopped after Santel gave up on the claim of being the World Judo Champion in 1921 in order to pursue a career in full time professional wrestling. Although Tokugoro Ito avenged his loss to Santel with a choke, thus setting the record between them at 1-1, official Kodokan representatives proved unable to imitate Ito’s success.
Karl Gotch’s students formed the original Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan) in 1984 which gave rise to shoot-style matches.
The Rise of Mixed Martial Arts
In an April 8, 2012 bloodyelbow.com article titled, “MMA Origins: The Gracie Era in the UFC,” author T.P. Grant writes that, “The creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in November of 1993 marked the true start to American interest in mixed martial arts, known as No Holds Barred fighting at the time.
There from day one, another style of submission grappling made its modern-day debut at UFC 1 as well. Catch-as-catch-can wrestler Ken Shamrock advanced to the semi-finals of the inaugural No Holds Barred tournament by submitting the dangerous Patrick Smith via Heel Hook in the opening round. Shamrock would go on to succumb to the eventual tournament winner Royce Gracie via rear naked choke in the semi-finals but not before making a name for himself as a dangerous submission artist in his own right.
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No Holds Barred fighting quickly came under scrutiny in the United States, too real for its own good, by 1996 it had drew the ire of Senator John McCain and by 2001 the NHB era was officially over with altogether. In its place, a pseudo, watered-down version of the real thing known as mixed martial arts today. Hardly as real as it gets, the modern landscape of MMA is the result of political posturing and government overreach.
Intergender Wrestling: Breaking Barriers and Challenging Norms
Intergender wrestling is a pretty polarizing topic. Critics of intergender wrestling compare it to domestic violence, and claim young men will see it as an invitation to hit women.
For most of its history, men and women would rarely compete against each other in professional wrestling, as it was deemed to be unfair and unchivalrous. Intergender wrestling was first utilized in the late-1970s/early-1980s by comedian Andy Kaufman. invalidating New York State rule number 205.15, which stated, “No woman may be licensed as a boxer or second or licensed to compete in any wrestling exhibition with men.”[2][3] In his opinion the judge cited the precedent set by Garrett v. New York State Athletic Commission (1975), which “found the regulation invalid under the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions”.
After The MSG "Curtain Call" incident in 1996 when professional wrestling was exposed as being scripted, intergender wrestling became more common and accepted by the fans. Intergender matches experienced a surge of popular interest and were often introduced to the roster of events in major North American promotions such as Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.[5][6]
Perhaps the most successful female wrestler who competed in intergender matches was Chyna. A well-built ex-bodybuilder, she was regularly booked to wrestle her male counterparts during the WWF Attitude Era. She was a three-time Intercontinental Champion, a championship traditionally only contested by men, and was briefly the #1 contender for the company's world championship.
Four women briefly held the company's now discontinued Hardcore Championship: Terri, Mighty Molly, Trish Stratus and one of The Godfather's Hos. The title had a distinct rule that it could be won by pinning the titleholder at anyplace, anywhere 24/7.
In the Japanese wrestling promotion FMW, Superstar H (unmasked Hayabusa) wrestled Kyoko Inoue in a singles match on pay per view on March 27, 2000. Inoue pinned H in a tag match earlier that month. This match-type continues to meet controversy across North America as matches often straddle the line between sporting events and pure erotic entertainment, and also allegations over the depiction of gratuitous physical violence against hapless women.[8]
Although still commonplace on the independent circuit, WWE only permits intergender matches on a part time basis due to PG rating and if the timing was right due to its action figure contract with Mattel in order to avoid women being overpowered by men on TV),[9] although it has on past occasions featured some of their female competitors compete in the annual Royal Rumble event (a separate Royal Rumble match for women was introduced in 2018).
To date, four women have competed at men's Royal Rumble: Chyna (1999 and 2000, the only one to do so multiple times), Beth Phoenix (2010), Kharma (2012) and Nia Jax (2019, the first since the introduction of women's Royal Rumble).
In a reverse of this, at WrestleMania 25 wrestler Anthony Carelli (better known by his ring name Santino Marella) won a diva's battle royal while dressed in drag as "Santina Marella" (Santino's twin sister).
There has however been a number of intergender matches after the PG rating was introduced, mostly in comedic matches; Lita pinned Heath Slater after he was attacked and left unconscious by several veteran wrestlers prior to the match on the July 23, 2012, episode of Raw. James Ellsworth was also involved in few intergender matches, notably losing one to Becky Lynch on the November 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown Live.
In Mexican lucha libre promotions, intergender matches are more common in tag team matches. However, both male and female wrestlers are restricted to attack those of their own gender. Some tag teams of this kind are siblings (such as Cinthia Moreno and Oriental), trained simultaneously with the same instructor, or even are on a real-life relationship such as boyfriend/girlfriend (Cibernético and Estrellita) or, as an exceptional case, husband and wife (Billy Boy and Faby Apache).
In one extreme, a 2011 intergender match in Japan had Kenny Omega wrestle with a nine-year-old girl named Haruka. Video of the match went viral, made international news, and led to Omega receiving numerous death threats.
Mildred Burke got her start wrestling in the 1930s, wrestling for her husband Billy Wolfe, who used to take her to carnivals and offer $25 to any man who could beat her. No man could. The story of how their partnership came to be began shortly after Burke gave birth to a son. She begged Wolfe to teach her to wrestle, but he refused. One day, he gave one of his students a bribe to beat up Burke, while pretending that he had agreed to train her. The student tried to slam Burke into the mat, but she instinctively spun out of his hold, picked him up, and body slammed him to the ground.
Although they eventually helped create women’s wrestling in the United States, Burke estimates that she wrestled more than 150 matches against men in her life, losing only one. That’s quite a lot of intergender wrestling! Mildred Burke was not alone. Wolfe recruited other women and had Burke teach them, as he was a true scumbag and wanted to get rid of her and find someone more pliable to work with. Burke had a fascinating life and at one point claimed to have made $50,000 in the late 1930s.
As Tamara and I mention on Women Wrestling Friends Podcast all the time: there are women large and/or strong enough (such as Charlotte Flair, Aja Kong, Jordynne Grace, and Tess Blanchard) to look like legitimate threats to small-to-average sized male wrestlers. As a wrestler myself, I am pro-intergender wrestling. I’ve grown up seeing smaller opponents beat larger ones (Rey Mysterio, anyone?), and I also know that there are several men in my life who I could legitimately tap out.
But, here’s the best thing about pro-wrestling: there’s something for everyone. If you loved the days when women were smashed through tables from the top rope, if you prefer serious, shoot style wrestling, if you like hardcore, if you prefer it all in the ring and by the rules, no women in your wrestling, no men in your wrestling: there is a promotion out there for you to enjoy!
Tools such as Twitch and other video apps have made indie wrestling more accessible than ever. So go out there and enjoy intergender wrestling! Or not!
Efforts Towards Gender Equity in Wrestling
Throughout wrestling history, efforts have been made to make the sport more inclusive. Over the years, the organization has taken various steps to uplift and improve the standard of women's wrestling around the world.
While Greco-Roman and Freestyle have a long history of World Championships, women got their first shot at world titles in 1987 when the first women's World Championships was held. Two years after its world debut, women’s wrestling shared the stage with the other two styles. With momentum building around the sport, women’s wrestling was showcased on the world’s biggest stage at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
In 2013, wrestling received devasting news that it was in danger of being dropped from the Olympic program. UWW responded quickly, making necessary changes to the sport, which included gender equity and increasing the women’s weights from four to six. The change was implemented in the 2016 Rio Games, where Greco-Roman, Freestyle and women each had six weight classes. Previously, Greco-Roman and Freestyle each had six weights, while women had four.
At the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, USA, Saori YOSHIDA (JPN) set a bar that is yet to be broken. In World Championship action, Yoshida was undefeated. At the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Kaori ICHO (JPN) earned legendary status, becoming the first female athlete to win four Olympic gold medals. Icho’s first Olympic gold came over Sara MC MANN (USA) at 63kg at the 2004 Olympics. After winning her second Olympic title at the 2008 Beijing Games over Alena KATACHOVA (RUS) at 63kg, Icho considered retiring but pressed on for two more Olympic Games, which included a 2012 win over Rui Xue JING (CHN), again at 63kg.
The Rio Olympics witnessed another significant moment when Marwa AMRI (TUN) became the first female wrestler from Africa to win an Olympic medal. A year later, Amri became the first African to reach the 2017 World Championships final in Paris.
In an effort to become more gender equitable, wrestling increased the number of female participants in Buenos Aires to 50, up from 32 participants in Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014.
After a 2019 World title run, Tamyra MENSAH STOCK (USA) was a favorite to take the crown at 68kg at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The match held a lot of significance as it was the first Olympic final in wrestling’s history to feature two Black women and ensured that for the first time, a Black woman would stand atop the Olympic podium.
In an initiative to achieve gender parity, UWW launched a program to help educate, train and bring up more female referees within the sport. As a part of its strategic plan, UWW, along with the Commonwealth Games Federation, agreed to include a majority of women officials at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Of the 21 referees assigned to the event, 15 were women for a total of 70 percent female representation.
Here is a summary of key milestones in women's wrestling:
| Year | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | First Women's World Championships | Provided women with their first opportunity to compete for world titles. |
| 2004 | Athens Olympics | Showcased women's wrestling on the world's biggest stage. |
| 2016 | Rio Games | Increased women's weight classes from four to six, promoting gender equity. |