No, Catch and pro wrestling came out of Lancashire style English Catch wrestling and American style folk wrestling (what college and high school American wrestl

No, Catch and pro wrestling came out of Lancashire style English Catch wrestling and American style folk wrestling (what college and high school American wrestling later became). Vale Tudo is what developed into MMA, BJJ and to a lesser extent Luta Livre dominated the sport in Brazil and the Gracie family tried to export it to other countries. That became UFC1 and the birth of MMA in America with Royce Gracie being the driving force. In Japan it became Pancrase/PrideFC and Rickson Gracie being one of the most famous fighters. Real fights, not scripted at all with VERY few rules or often no. Two people walk into a cage or ring, they lock the door and the winner walks out kind of fight. No time limit and no banned techniques (also called No Holds Barred or NHB). Vale tudo fights where often held at carnivale or other festivals. Pro wrestling started in a very similar way, with Catch As Catch Can wrestling (a very real and effective martial art) challenge matches in fairs and festivals. Wrestlers would challenge fair goers for a fee and if the fair goer won they would win a large prize. In practice that almost never happened. Catch was effective enough that the managers of the fair started making the Wrestlers play with the challengers. From that they started scripting it for a show and selling tickets for it since that made a lot more money. Eventually that turned into fight theater style matches and Pro Wrestling like WWF etc... Interestingly Abraham Lincoln was a Catch Wrestler and won a number of championships, which was when it was a actual sport and non-scripted. Another reason Lincoln was a bad ass :). I have a passion for grappling (BJJ, Judo, and American Foldstyle/Freestyle/GrecoRoman Wrestling) and have done it form the better part of my adult/teen years.