9 Ways WWE Owes A Debt To UFC

Back in the day (and I mean long, long ago), wrestling was less fake than you might think. The most famous wrestlers were ones with extensive grappling and submission experience - what people called ‘hookers’ - rather than big, flashy-looking guys.

Wrestling began the move towards being a fully worked performance with the prominence of the Gold Dust Trio: Toots Mondt invented so many of the moves we know today that he’s pretty much the father of modern pro wrestling.

That said, it was television that demanded style over substance, it was cable television that demanded flash and panache, and it was the globalisation of that larger wrestling audience that demanded bigger, better, faster and more of all of it. That’s one of the side effects of increased exposure: familiarity breeds contempt, creating a constant need to up the ante.

Submissions didn’t escape this shift into nonsense, with great looking but ridiculous moves becoming the norm: for example, Frank Gotch’s vicious toehold developed a spinning motion and exaggerated heaving actions under Dory Funk and his sons.

That’s what characterised the ‘fake’ submission hold in wrestling from that moment on: an elaborate, theatrical set-up, and large, gonzo facial expressions and movements to appeal to the cheap seats and those at home.

MMA, and the huge rise in popularity of UFC continues to change all of that. Grandiose fooling about is less and less acceptable with submissions, simply because far too many people have seen real submissions applied now, and a simple armbar winning Ronda Rousey her title fights in seconds.

These days, Brock Lesnar’s kimura is one of the most feared submissions in wrestling, and the Undertaker’s Hell’s Gate - a gogoplata variation - has been portrayed as being pretty much unstoppable.

Both moves are slapped on in seconds, and the drama comes from the legitimate appearance of the move, not the ostentatious way in which they’re applied.

Substance has made a comeback over style.