I’m posting this here so when it becomes commonplace to regard pro wrestling as a martial art, and we can all agree that I came up with the idea.

So, listen.  Pro wrestling is a martial art.  It is a non-competitive, performative martial art.  Like aikido.

You ever heard of an aikido tournament?  They don’t have those.  They do have demonstrations, though, which are non-competitive and performative.

Heck, there’s a long history of non-competitive, performative martial arts.  Take, say, what Jackie Chan does.  He’s a martial artist, and his style is rooted in the martial arts taught to opera performers, which is to say, performative and non-competitive.

Additionally, most people study martial arts in non-competitive, performative ways.  Sets of moves that you practice alone, except for when performing for your advancement committee?  Performative, non-competitive.  Or do you imagine that hitting a bag isn’t non-competitive and performative?

(And as an interesting aside, professional wrestlers do better in competitive martial arts than most non-competitive martial artists.  Not a lot of aikido guys do well in MMA, but a whole lot of pro wrestlers do!  Hell, part of how MMA was formed is pro wrestlers in Japan wondering who would “really win” in a competition.  The promotion was called Pancrase.  You can check it out.)

Just sayin’ that professional wrestling is a martial art.  For realsies!