Shoot wrestling

Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that has its origins in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement. The name "shoot wrestling" comes from the professional wrestling term "shoot", which refers to any unscripted occurrence within a scripted wrestling event. Prior to the emergence of the current sport of shoot wrestling, the term was commonly used in the professional wrestling business, particularly in the United Kingdom, as a synonym for the sport of catch wrestling. Shoot wrestling can be used to describe a range of hybrid fighting systems such as shootfighting, shooto, pankration, the RINGS style of submission fighting, and shoot boxing.

History

Historically, shoot wrestling has been influenced by many martial arts such as freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and catch wrestling, then sambo, karate, Muay Thai and judo in the sport's final stages.