# Professional Wrestling Professional Wrestling built its own internet meme ecosystem around botched moves, memorable promo lines, and iconic fan moments, spawning formats like Botchamania compilations and inside-joke phrases such as Steiner Math and Good Lucha Things. What started as niche wrestling forum humor grew into a wider meme catalog spanning YouTube supercuts, Reddit shorthand, and even a John Oliver takedown. ## Origin Pro wrestling as a scripted entertainment format traces to 1830s France, where showmen billed characters like 'Edward, the steel eater' and offered 500 francs to anyone who could knock them down[3]. The modern American style hardened in the late 19th century out of Lancashire catch-as-catch-can and Irish collar-and-elbow grappling, though the theatrical version only fully overtook shoot wrestling after World War II[3]. The internet meme layer arrived much later. Botchamania began on YouTube around 2007 with a user called TheOriginalMikey, and Maffew Gregg took over from installment 4 after deciding he could make a better video in his sleep, then went back and redid the earlier numbers[3]. - **Platform:** YouTube / wrestling forums (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2007 ## Overview The wrestling meme ecosystem runs on a shared vocabulary called kayfabe, plus insider terms like botch, shoot, work, face, and heel that fans deploy to snark on live segments and edits[3]. The dominant native format is the botch compilation, a short-clip supercut of blown spots, missed cues, and accidentally funny mistakes, popularized by Maffew Gregg's Botchamania series on YouTube[3]. Alongside the compilations, single-line memes recur across wrestling Twitter and Reddit: Scott Steiner's Steiner Math promo about his 33 1/3 percent chance against Samoa Joe, Booker T's 1997 Spring Stampede outburst at Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho's 'I invented that' interview quips, and Kalisto's 2016 'I'm here to bring you Good Lucha Things' stumble[3]. Jim Ross commentary lines like 'business is about to pick up' and 'Good God almighty, they've killed him' get dubbed onto unrelated clips as reaction audio[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Professional Wrestling? Professional Wrestling is a scripted athletic performance that presents itself as a real combat sport, and online it doubles as a meme category built around botched moves, promo lines, and kayfabe slang[3]. ### Where did Professional Wrestling come from? The entertainment format began with French showmen in the 1830s and hardened into modern catch wrestling in the late 19th century United States and United Kingdom[3]. ### What does Professional Wrestling mean? As a meme, it refers less to the sport itself and more to the fan-made supercuts, promo quotes, and inside-joke vocabulary like botch, shoot, work, face, and heel that circulate on YouTube and Reddit[3]. ### How do you use Professional Wrestling? Fans typically clip a moment (a botched move, a Jim Ross call, a Scott Steiner rant) and dub it over unrelated footage or quote it as reaction shorthand in threads[3]. ### Is Professional Wrestling still popular? Yes, it drew mainstream attention as recently as John Oliver's 2019 WWE segment, and Botchamania installments still drop on YouTube[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/john-oliver-calls-wwe-morally-subterranean-slams-vince-mcmahon-1198437]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_hlPHdGKqE]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/professional-wrestling]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7_5MMboo4]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/professional-wrestling Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library