fbpx

KidsKonnect

Wrestling Facts & Worksheets

Wrestling is one of the still-active oldest forms of combat, depicted in 15,000-year-old cave drawings in France and referenced in the Iliad

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /Sports /Wrestling Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Wrestling is a sport practiced in various styles by two competitors, involving forcing an opponent to touch the ground with some part of the body other than his feet; forcing him into a certain position, usually supine; or holding him in that position for a minimum length of time.

Key Facts & Information

History of Wrestling

  • Wrestling is one of the still-active oldest forms of combat, depicted in 15,000-year-old cave drawings in France and referenced in the Iliad. 
  • Artworks from 3000 BCE have also portrayed belt wrestling in Babylonia and Egypt. 
  • The Sumerian Gilgamesh epic has a description of such wrestling where it features its hero Gilgamesh establishing credibility as a leader after wrestling Enkidu.
  • Wrestling was always popular in ancient Greece and held a prominent place in the Olympic Games. Besides considering it an important sport, it was developed as a way to train soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.
  • The Roman Empire then borrowed from Greek wrestling buttoned down the brutal aspects, and so Greco-Roman wrestling was born.
  • In 1520 France, history states that King Henry VIII of England was defeated by King Francis I in a wrestling match at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
  • Chinese-style wrestling is called Shuai Jiao and is believed to have existed 4,000 years ago.
  • American settlers in the 1600s brought wrestling traditions with them from England and discovered them to be popular among the Native American tribes.
  • In Japan, sumo (Japanese belt-wrestling) and martial art jujitsu judo became professional sports beginning in the 17th century.

Modern Amateur Wrestling

  • Wrestling in many forms spread across the world but was mainly for entertainment, combat training, and some amateur wrestling fights in small tournaments.
  • Styles became prominent worldwide such as Greco-Roman wrestling and catch-as-catch-can, or freestyle wrestling.
    • Greco-Roman wrestling: holding the opponent only above the waist and forbidding wrapping the legs when the wrestlers go down.
    • Freestyle wrestling: holding the opponent above the waist, allowing leg grips, and is won by a pin-fall. In international freestyle, however, Greco- Roman touch-fall is preferred.
  • Amateur wrestling was further recognized when it first appeared at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis. It has since become a regular entry at the Olympics except in 1912.
  • College tournaments were established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, creating a scoring system of point awards applying the Greco-roman wrestling standards.
  • Modern wrestling standards and regulations were eventually developed by the International Amateur Wrestling Federation (FILA), an organization recognizing two categories of wrestling disciplines: international and folk.
  • International wrestling includes eight distinctive disciplines: SOURCE: https://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-wrestling.htm
    • Greco-Roman
    • Freestyle Wrestling
    • Grappling
    • Beach Wrestling
    • Pankration
    • Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Combat Grappling
    • Oil Wrestling (Turkish)
    • Sambo (Soviet Union)
  • Folk wrestling, a traditional form of wrestling unique to a culture or geographic region, lists: 
    • Pahlavani (Iran)
    • Pehlwani (India)
    • Benjang Gulat (Indonesia)
    • Schwingen (Switzerland)
    • Shuai Jiao (China)
    • Ssireum (Korea)
    • Khuresh (Siberia)
    • Backhold Wrestling (Europe)
    • Cumberland Wrestling   (England)
    • Lotta Campidanese (Italy)
    • Catch-as-Catch-Can (England)
    • Kurash (Uzbekistan)
    • Gushteengiri (Tajikistan)

Professional Wrestling

  • Unlike amateur wrestling where events are highly competitive, some forms of professional wrestling matches are theatrical – meaning the outcome of matches is planned in advance, typically between performers with established character roles.
  • Although it was a genuine competitive sport in America and Great Britain in the 19th century, wrestlers began choreographing some of their matches to make it less physically taxing, shorter in duration, and more entertaining.
  • Wrestling became popular in the media especially in Central/North America, Japan, and Europe.
  • Early wrestling stars include Abraham Cann, George Dole (who won the US Olympic gold medal in 1908), George Hackenschmidt, Khashaba Jadhav, Georg Lurich, and Giovanni Raicevich (world champion in 1907 and 1909.
  • Leading professional wrestling companies worldwide include:
  • US-Based – Impact Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Ring of Honor (ROH); 
  • Mexico – Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA);
  • Japan – Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and Pro Wrestling Noah leagues.
  • Today, the world’s largest professional wrestling company is the United States-based World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
  • Well-known modern professional wrestlers include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Paul “The Big Show” Wight, and John Cena, who later turned to Hollywood acting.

Popular Media

  • In its heyday, wrestling movies/documentaries became popular. They even cast the wrestling stars themselves.
  • The short film ‘Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling’ retells the story of Triple H and details his onscreen character.
  • ‘Queens of the Ring’ is a film depicting a mother gathering her workmates together in a bid to become professional wrestlers.
  • Other films include, ‘All the Marbles’ (1981), ‘Fighting With My Family’, ‘Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows’ (1997), etc.

Wrestling Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Wrestling across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready to use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about Wrestling, a sport practiced in various styles by two competitors, involving forcing an opponent to touch the ground with some part of the body other than his feet; forcing him into a certain position, usually supine; or holding him in that position for a minimum length of time.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Wrestling Facts
  2. Safety First!
  3. Training Etiquettes
  4. The Wrestler
  5. Greco-Roman vs. Freestyle Wrestling
  6. Folk Wrestling
  7. Wrestling Rings
  8. Wrestling for Beginners
  9. Biggest Wrestlers
  10. World of Pro-Wrestling
  11. The World of Martial Arts

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Wrestling Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, July 22, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources