Whether you’re a longtime fan or you couldn’t care less, it’s hard to deny how much skill — and blood — goes into professional wrestling.

Though plot lines are scripted ahead of time and the impacts are staged, the physicality is very real. At its highest level, pro wrestling is basically a decades-long soap opera acted out by highly-trained stuntmen, with improvisational elements in which the audience’s reaction and real-life injuries can upend the plot in a moment’s notice.

Pro wrestling is a global entertainment phenomenon, with traditions ranging from the Lucha Libre of Mexico to the Puroresu of Japan. But one of its largest wrestling markets has long been the United States, where for decades the spectacle has been dominated by Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE.)

Though WWE has

See Full Page