10 Biggest Mainstream Misconceptions About Pro Wrestling

5. Everything Is Scripted & Rehearsed

This is one that has gotten a lot more truthful over the years, especially in WWE, but when it was a more common talking point among non-fans, it was rare to see scripting and rehearsals. It depends on the wrestler. For a long time, guys like Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page were ridiculed for laying out their matches move for move even though they were getting great results. Wrestling is, at its best, a completely unique, improvisational form of theatre where the wrestlers are quietly communicating occasionally or even just working off their feel for what is best for that crowd. As the saying goes, it's not acting, it's reacting. Even if you have a match laid out move for move, you need to be able to adjust if something goes wrong. There have been multiple instances where, when someone was injured, an experienced veteran ike Shawn Michaels had to direct traffic as everyone else in the match looked confused. As legend has it, during the filming of Paradise Alley, the actors were making fun of the wrestlers when director Sylvester Stallone stopped filming and refused to resume until they stopped. Why? Because "these are the best improvisational actors in the world."