Professional wrestling continues to be a popular form of entertainment, particularly among younger audiences. The allure of this sport can be attributed to a number of factors, including its entertainment value, which combines drama, stunts, and storytelling. Wrestling offers an escape from reality and allows fans to immerse themselves in a world of larger-than-life characters. Additionally, wrestling fans often form a tight-knit community, bonding over their shared love for the sport. Young people often view professional wrestlers as role models, admiring their physical prowess and confident personalities. The accessibility of professional wrestling, with events broadcast on television and available for streaming online, also contributes to its popularity among younger audiences.

Professional wrestling and teaching may seem vastly different on the surface, but upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that many of the same qualities are required for success in both fields. From quick thinking to the ability to captivate an audience, the traits necessary for success as a professional wrestler are not unlike those required of an effective educator. In this article, we will explore the parallels between the two careers, comparing and contrasting the attributes of showmanship and charisma, acting ability, adaptability, communication skills, work ethic and discipline, storytelling, openness to learning, understanding of audience psychology, and resilience.

Let’s break down why professional wrestling is popular among younger people and how each of these can apply to the teaching profession:

1. Entertainment Value: Wrestling combines high-flying stunts, drama, and storytelling, providing a form of entertainment that appeals to many people. We shouldn’t see entertainment as a dirty word in education.  Whether we like it, or whether we don’t like it, it’s the case that getting the attention of our students—and keeping it—is a never-ending battle, and it’s a battle that we have no choice but to win. Teachers have to create consistently engaging atmospheres for their students, whether it is through interactives, humor, or real-world applicability, entertainment is about engagement.
2. Escapism and Storytelling: Wrestling offers a break from reality, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in a world of larger-than-life characters and over-the-top storylines. Teachers too, must be storytellers. I remember a conversation I had a few years ago with a bright but unengaged student who simply didn’t care about our English class or the literature we were studying. I can accept that. I didn’t like every piece of literature I studied in school either. In our conversation, he shared more of what he was actually interested in: metaphysics, and subjects related to it. While not my field of expertise, I asked him who he liked to listen to on the subject and Neil DeGrasse Tyson was one of the names that stuck out. I pointed out that Dr. Tyson’s fame is not due solely to his intelligence, but due to his ability to understand elements of good storytelling. He allows his audience to become absorbed in his narrative and unwittingly engaged in learning about things they would not give the time of day if presented in a dry lecture. I said to my student, “I don’t care if you learn about Beowulf. That’s not really what you’re going to need to take from it. For your purposes, Beowulf is about how to tell a story—a timeless story.” He managed to take his F to a B by the end of the semester, and wrote his final paper on how to explain metaphysics to people without hard science backgrounds.
3. Sense of Community: Wrestling fans often form a tight-knit community, sharing a love for the sport and supporting their favorite wrestlers. As a wrestling fan in the late 90s and early 00s, we talked incessantly of WCW vs. the nWo, who would win between a match between Goldberg and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who was the real “People’s Champion” the Rock or Diamond Dallas Page, and if wrestling was “fake” explain Mankind vs. the Undertaker at 1998’s Hell in a Cell. From those very questions alone, we as kids were engaging in the content provided by professional wrestling—some of which was really inappropriate for our ages at the time. Nevertheless, having even a modicum of that sense of community in your classroom would be incredibly rewarding: for you and your students. Students who can eagerly find something about your class worth talking about outside of your class will find greater value in the skills and content their engaging with.
4. Role Models: Many young people look up to professional wrestlers as role models, admiring their physical prowess and confident personalities. Wrestling has “babyfaces” and “heels”, or the “good guys” and the “bad guys” respectively. Teachers in schools are hardly different—some are fun and affable, others are curt and serious, and some still might be embittered, wise, old codgers. Nevertheless, just like students need modeling to complete assignments, they need models to emulate in life. As a teacher, being a role model isn’t really optional. You spend too much time with children to not have some of them consciously or subconsciously begin modeling your behavior. Now, what kind of role model will you be? Firstly, never try to be someone you’re not. Be you (an appropriate you for school children), and take a lesson from wrestler-personas and turn it up to eleven! Take Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for example: his personas as a wrestler were very over-the-top, often rude, but also often hilarious. You can see a contrast in his more recent interviews, where he seems like a much nicer fellow, but still pretty funny and not averse to throwing a few playful jabs at people. He was successful in great part because he took his own personal brand of humor, dialed it up to eleven, and went in the direction the audience needed and wanted. He could also turn from babyface to heel and back again when needed. You, as a teacher, can do the same.
5. Accessibility: Professional wrestling is easily accessible, with events broadcast on television and available for streaming online. Let’s be honest, unlike wrestling you have a bit of a captive audience. You know it and the kids know it. So you don’t really have the same kind of competitive motivation we saw in professional wrestling’s Monday Night Wars or Nielson Ratings or anything like that. You’re just vying for reputation—and frankly, teachers while we like to be liked, aren’t so motivated by reputation alone… people who work primarily with children don’t have the luxury of thin-skin and huge egos. But maybe a bit more ego wouldn’t kill us. Your classroom is readily accessible—but is the content? Is engaging as accessible as it can be for students?