Sports entertainment

Theatrical entertainment mimicking competitive sport

Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competitive event using a high level of theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertaining an audience. Unlike typical sports and games, which are conducted for competition, sportsmanship, physical exercise or personal recreation, the primary product of sports entertainment is performance for an audience's benefit. Commonly, but not in all cases, the outcomes are predetermined; as this is an open secret, it is not considered to be match fixing.

## History

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Part of a series on

Professional wrestling

History

* History of professional wrestling
* By year
* Early wrestling championships
* Gold Dust Trio
* 1980s boom
* Black Saturday
* 1994 NWA World Title Tournament
* Monday Night War
* Attitude Era
* 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus
* The Invasion
* Wednesday Night Wars

Notable promotions

* All Elite Wrestling
* All Japan Pro Wrestling
* All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
* All Star Wrestling
* American Wrestling Association
* Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
* Extreme Championship Wrestling
* DDT Pro-Wrestling
* Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
* Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
* Jim Crockett Promotions
* Joint Promotions
* Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
* Major League Wrestling
* Maple Leaf Wrestling
* National Wrestling Alliance
* New Japan Pro-Wrestling
* Pro Wrestling Noah
* Ring of Honor
* Soft Ground Wrestling
* Stampede Wrestling
* Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
* Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
* UWF International
* Women of Wrestling
* World Championship Wrestling
* World Wonder Ring Stardom
* WWE
* Raw
* SmackDown
* NXT
* Evolve
* Others

Notable people

Early 20th Century

* Bert Assirati
* Billy Riley
* Billy Sandow
* Ed Lewis
* Frank Gotch
* George Hackenschmidt
* The Great Gama
* Jack Pfefer
* Joe Stecher
* Jim Londos
* Lou Thesz
* Orville Brown
* Salvador Lutteroth
* Toots Mondt

Mid 20th Century

* Blue Demon
* Bruno Sammartino
* Buddy Rogers
* El Santo
* The Fabulous Moolah
* Gene Kiniski
* Gorgeous George
* Karl Gotch
* Mildred Burke
* Rikidōzan
* Sam Muchnick
* Stu Hart
* Verne Gagne

1970s

* Akira Maeda
* André the Giant
* Antonio Inoki
* Big Daddy
* Billy Robinson
* Carlos Colón
* Dory Funk Jr.
* Dusty Rhodes
* El Signo
* Giant Baba
* Gordon Solie
* Harley Race
* Jack Brisco
* Mil Máscaras
* Negro Navarro
* Nick Bockwinkel
* Terry Funk

1980s

* Bobby Heenan
* Crush Gals
* Dynamite Kid
* El Texano
* Genichiro Tenryu
* Hulk Hogan
* Jim Crockett Jr.
* Randy Savage
* Ric Flair
* Ricky Steamboat
* Road Warriors
* Roddy Piper
* Satoru "Tiger Mask" Sayama
* Stan Hansen
* Vince McMahon

1990s

* Akira Taue
* Antonio Peña
* Atsushi Onita
* Bret Hart
* Eric Bischoff
* Keiji "The Great Muta" Muto
* Jim Ross
* Jushin Liger
* Kenta Kobashi
* Kevin Nash
* Manami Toyota
* Mitsuharu Misawa
* Paul Heyman
* Scott Hall
* Shawn Michaels
* Sting
* Stone Cold Steve Austin
* The Rock
* The Undertaker
* Toshiaki Kawada
* Triple H
* Vince Russo

2000s

* AJ Styles
* Batista
* Brock Lesnar
* Chris Jericho
* Eddie Guerrero
* Edge
* Hiroshi Tanahashi
* Jeff Hardy
* Jeff Jarrett
* John Cena
* Kurt Angle
* Místico
* Randy Orton
* Rey Mysterio
* Rob Van Dam

2010s and 2020s

* Becky Lynch
* Bryan Danielson
* CM Punk
* Cody Rhodes
* Jon Moxley
* Kazuchika Okada
* Kenny Omega
* Nick Khan
* Roman Reigns
* Rossy Ogawa
* Seth Rollins
* Tony Khan

By region

* Australia
* Bolivia
* Canada
* China
* France
* India
* Iran
* Israel
* Japan
* Mexico
* New Zealand
* Puerto Rico
* Russia
* Saudi Arabia
* United Kingdom
* United States

Styles

* British wrestling
* All-in style
* Mountevans rules
* Cruiserweight
* X Division
* French catch
* Hardcore
* Intergender
* Lucha libre
* Midget
* Mini-Estrella
* Puroresu
* Shoot style
* U-Kei
* Women's

Concepts

* Attire
* Masks
* Wrestling singlet
* Wrestling shoe
* Blading
* Championship
* World Heavyweight
* Dirt sheet
* Glossary of terms
* Kayfabe
* Gimmick
* Face
* Heel
* Shoot
* Heat
* Job
* Push
* House show
* Match types
* Music
* Ring name
* Sports entertainment
* Tag team
* Weight classes
* Wrestling ring

Culture

* Backyard wrestling
* Cauliflower Alley Club
* Cauliflower ear
* Comic books
* Fantasy wrestling
* Films
* Luchador films
* Magazines
* Paintings
* Gustave Courbet
* Thomas Eakins
* William Etty
* George Luks
* Rib
* Ribera Steakhouse
* Ten-bell salute
* Video games
* Wrestling personalities in politics
* Zubaz

Media outlets

* Botchamania
* Box y Lucha
* Dark Side of the Ring
* Fighting Spirit Magazine
* Live Audio Wrestling
* OSW Review
* Power Slam
* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
* Solowrestling
* Súper Luchas
* WrestleCrap
* Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Controversies

* Animals in professional wrestling
* Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide
* Death of Owen Hart
* Mass Transit incident
* Montreal Screwjob
* Murder of Bruiser Brody
* Murder of Rikidōzan
* Premature deaths
* Ring boy scandal
* Speaking Out
* United States v. McMahon
* Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal
* WWE–Saudi Arabia relationship

Lists

* Attendance records
* Championships
* Halls of fame
* Matches rated 5 or more stars by Dave Meltzer
* Moves
* Promotions
* Rivalries
* Rosters
* TV shows
* Wrestling families

Related topics

* Combat sport
* Comparison of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts
* Martial arts
* Mock combat
* Pankration
* Shootfighting
* Sport wrestling
* Amateur
* Catch
* Shoot
* Submission
* Lancashire
* Luta Livre
* Pehlwani
* Stage combat
* Theatre
* Theatresports

* v
* t
* e

The term "sports entertainment" was coined by the former World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) chairman Vince McMahon during the 1980s as a marketing term to describe the industry of professional wrestling, primarily to potential advertisers,[1] although precursors date back to February 1935, when Toronto Star sports editor Lou Marsh described professional wrestling as "sportive entertainment". In 1989, the WWF used the phrase in a case it made to the New Jersey Senate for classifying professional wrestling as "sports entertainment" and thus not subject to regulation like a directly competitive sport.

Some sports entertainment events represent variants of actual sports, such as exhibition basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters or baseball with the Savannah Bananas.[2][3] Others modify sport for entertainment purposes: many types of professional wrestling (which derived from traditional wrestling), and more recently many of the various mascot races held at numerous Major League Baseball games in-between innings.[4] Roller derby was presented as a popular form of sports entertainment in the 1970s, though modern versions are legitimate competition.[5]

## Perceptions

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Sports entertainment has a stigma of being mindless, low-level pop culture, in some cases glorifying violence for the sake of entertainment,[6] and has been criticized as such in popular media, often through lampooning.

## See also

[edit]

* Barnstorm (sports)
* Exhibition game
* Kayfabe

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Stephanie McMahon Explains "Sports Entertainment" Was Created For Advertisers | Fightful News". www.fightful.com.
2. ^ "The Whistle and Harlem Globetrotters Sign Comprehensive Partnership Agreement | Reuters". web.archive.org. 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
3. ^ "The Savannah Bananas: using innovative thinking to make sports fun". www.infront.sport. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
4. ^ Dan Majors (June 19, 2010). "Out at the plate: Pirates dump outspoken pierogi". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on June 21, 2010.
5. ^ Watson, Adam (May 1, 2011). "Tough Cookies: The Rollicking Resurgence Of Roller Derby". ThePostGame.com. Retrieved February 2, 2019. "Forget everything you thought you knew about roller derby. This is not the sports entertainment version that was televised in the '70s and '80s with predetermined winners."
6. ^ "Pro-fane". Americana. April 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2013.

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