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Mixed martial arts is cool and all, but the sport has a long way to go before it’s as interesting and balls-out entertaining as professional wrestling.
By Aubrey Sitterson July 5, 2010 at 12:24 PM EDT
http://www.ugo.com/tv/why-professional-wrestling-is-better-than-mma <--

11. Beautiful Brawlers

When it comes to watching people beat the bejeezus out of each other, folks tend to prefer it be men doing the fighting. However, women’s mixed martial arts has been gaining steam recently, as the ladies are eager to show that they’re just as capable of locking on an armbar to make an opponent tap out.

However, while the women of MMA are clearly in awesome shape, they don’t tend to be exceedingly...feminine. Whether you call them Divas, Knockouts or something else entirely, women wrestlers tend to be pretty damn foxy. If you’re going to be watching women on television, why not kill two birds and make sure they’re good looking ones?

10. The More the Merrier

Ask any wrestling fan: The only thing that can make a match between two awesome competitors better is by adding a third incredible wrestler. Or fourth, fifth or sixth for that matter. Hell, Money-In-The-Bank Matches typically have eight competitors, and they’re generally one of the most fun matches of the year.

But outside of some wackadoo promotions putting on skeezy three-way shows in Masonic Lodges, mixed martial arts is strictly a one-on-one affair. And with good reason, since there’s absolutely nothing safe about two highly-trained fighters teaming up on a third. But unfortunately, this means that UFC is never going to give us a Three-Way Dance, much less an Elimination Chamber Match.


9. Even Better Live

WWE, the world’s largest wrestling promotion, travels incessantly. In fact, the organization has two completely separate groups touring the country at all times, putting on multiple shows a week in addition to their television tapings. Add in TNA’s frequent house shows and there are hundreds of high-caliber live wrestling events a year.

While it’s relatively easy and shockingly inexpensive to see one of the main wrestling promotions live, it’s a completely different story with mixed martial arts. Sure, you can probably find a backwoods honky-tonk that gives local townies an open bar in exchange for slugging it through a few rounds, but that’s an entirely different story. There are much fewer major MMA shows a year, and the ones there are will cost you a pretty penny.

8. Variety is the Spice of Life

A five-star wrestling match is truly a thing of beauty – a performance that will have you forgetting that the entire contest is fixed. However, sometimes a match needs something to give it an extra boost, or maybe fans just want to see something different. Luckily, professional wrestling regularly puts numerous different match types to use.

Be they Steel Cage Matches, Ladder Matches, Table Matches or even a balls-out No Disqualification Match, each special match stipulation has its own unique storytelling possibilities. But to enter one of these matches unscripted, you’d have to be completely off your rocker, so don’t expect to ever see a Singapore Cane on a Pole Match in Strikeforce. Have fun watching the same match-type repeatedly ad nauseum, nerds.

7.Tradition of Spectacle

Professional wrestling is a fascinating form of entertainment, not just because of what happens in the ring, but also because of all that has come before. With its roots in catch wrestling of the 1800s, today’s professional wrestling has a long storied history, with many of today’s finest wrestlers having been trained by the previous generations’, providing a direct link to the past.

While it’s true in the broadest sense that people have been competing in mixed martial arts since the first time two cavemen wrestled over the last piece of wooly mammoth meat, as an organized sport, MMA is an incredibly recent development. MMA may very well one-day have the detailed, intriguing history that wrestling boasts, but that day just isn’t today.

6. Gimmicks Galore

While there are clearly some notable exceptions, generally when you go to watch a mixed martial arts fight, you’ll find yourself cheering for the lean, muscular guy with short hair...or the other lean, muscular guy with short hair. If you’re lucky, one of the guys might be black, giving the proceedings at least a little variety.

Things couldn’t be more different in professional wrestling, however. In fact, the genre goes to great lengths to make sure wrestlers are recognizable figures, with corresponding outfits and mannerisms. Oftentimes, they even have their own unique fighting styles, which makes the matches more entertaining than just watching to see who does a better Muay Thai/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu hybrid.

5. Up in the Air

Ever since Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka first started leaping off of tall objects to deliver his Superfly Splash, wrestling audiences have been enamored with those competitors willing and able to take to the skies in their quest for victory. Now, it’s common to see wrestlers do any number of incredible, gravity-defying aerial maneuvers.

While watching a wrestling match might involve a diving crossbody, a moonsault or a hurricanrana, you won’t see anything that flashy in a mixed martial arts fight. In fact, you’re more likely to see two guys throw a few punches and kicks before falling to the mat and rolling around with each other for a while. Give me a call when someone starts doing shooting star presses off the cage.

4. Talk the Talk

A superhero physique and incredible in-ring abilities are requirements to become a truly great wrestler, but those things alone won’t due the trick. For wrestlers to really get over, they need to be able to connect with the audience, and while some of that can happen with their in-ring work, the bulk of it is done on the microphone.

While professional wrestling boasts some incredible talkers, able to play the audience like a fiddle, the oratory abilities of most mixed martial arts fighters leaves much to be desired. Instead of a scathing promo on an opponent or a firm browbeating directed at the audience, we have to listen to these out-of-breath guys talk about God and respecting their opponent? YAWN.

3. Faces and Heels

If you’re a mixed martial arts fan, you no doubt have a favorite lean, muscular guy in shorts to root for. But even so, the sport doesn’t really have villains per say, since these are real people with real lives who want to make money through endorsements. Nobody wants to sponsor a guy who’s a total d**k.

However, this means that in most matches you’ll have no idea which fighter you should be supporting. By contrast, professional wrestling goes to great lengths to establish certain wrestlers as heroes and others as villains. Usually, this can even be seen in wrestler’s in-ring styles, meaning that contests aren’t just a random competition, but a struggle between good and evil.

2. Watch for Free

While shows like Ultimate Fighter and occasional primetime network specials allow mixed martial arts fans to get their fix, the vast majority of important MMA fights occur on pay-per-view. If you want to really follow mixed martial arts, you can look forward to paying out the nose for these specials – sometimes for matches that are over in a matter of seconds.

It’s true that professional wrestling also puts on a number of different pay-per-view events (WWE alone does at least one per month), it’s perfectly reasonable to keep up with the genre without ever buying one. WWE for instance has four weekly shows developing its storylines, all of them airing on free, basic cable channels.

1. Booking

Professional wrestling isn’t fake, but it is fixed. Interestingly, this is one of the criticisms lodged by many mixed martial arts fans. “I like MMA because it’s REAL fighting,” they say. But what MMA fans see as wrestling’s weakness, is actually its greatest strength.

Since the outcome of professional wrestling matches is always decided in advance, promoters and bookers can be sure that every contest carries the maximum amount of impact. This practice also ensures that a heavily hyped match won’t end with an anticlimactic submission early on in the contest. Most importantly though, the scripted aspect of wrestling is what allows it to operate as more than just a sporting event, but as a kick-a** soap opera with a balls-load of fighting.

*feels the need to invite Yuke to michigan so his brother can hear that cuz tho he likes UFC..he's tired of his brother cramming it down his throat when wrestlings on*

YMMV

These are all slanted to make wrestling look better. Sure, I agree, and prefer pro wrestling, but some people may not like the cartoonish gimmicks or soap opera storylines, and thus turn to MMA.

It's called bias Joey! If you read The Sun Or Daily Mirror you'll see tons of it! rofl

You do realize that 11 was about female wrestlers in general talk2hand

No it's not, and for you to think that is simply sexist. talk2hand