Wrestling is a form of combat sport involving grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two (occasionally more) competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems.

The term wrestling is attested in late Old English, as wræstlunge (glossing palestram).

Wrestling is one of the oldest forms of combat with references to it as early as the Iliad, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War in the 13th or 12th century BC. The origins of wrestling can be traced back 15,000 years through cave drawings in France. Babylonian and Egyptian relief's show wrestlers using most of the holds known to the present-day sport. In ancient Greece, wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend and literature; wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, was the number one sport of the Olympic Games. The ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality.

Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and a professional wrestler with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand. He is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1996, he has become a one-time WWF European Champion and a two-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008, and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011.

Henry was a weightlifter, and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where he placed tenth in the super heavyweight division. Three years later, at the 1995 Pan American Games, Henry won a silver medal in the super heavyweight division. The following year, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACACI) champion. In 1996, Henry signed a ten-year contract with the WWF. Henry was trained by former Canadian professional wrestlers Stu and Bret Hart and Leo Burke. He made his television wrestling debut in September 1996. In January 1998, Henry joined the stable Nation of Domination. After the disbanding of the group, he acquired the moniker "Sexual Chocolate", which led him to participate in controversial angles.

Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon (born August 24, 1945) is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE. Upon acquiring World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), McMahon's WWE became the sole remaining major American professional wrestling promotion (until the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor).

As an on-camera character, he can appear on all WWE brands (though the majority of the time, he appears on Raw). McMahon plays a character known by the ring name Mr. McMahon, based on his real life persona. In the world of WWE, he is a two-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship and ECW World Championship. He was also the winner of the 1999 Royal Rumble.

Vince is the husband of Linda McMahon, with whom he ran WWE from its establishment in 1980 until she resigned as the CEO in September 2009.

Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969) is an American professional wrestler, wrestling executive, and actor better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Currently, Levesque works in the front office of WWE as the Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, and as Triple H appears on television as the (storyline) Chief Operating Officer, and part-time wrestler.

Levesque began his wrestling career in the International Wrestling Federation as Terra Ryzing before joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994. After briefly using the Ryzing name, he changed his character to Jean-Paul Lévesque, a French-Canadian aristocrat which would be similar to his character Hunter Hearst Helmsley, that he used in his early years with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1995 onward. He later abbreviated his name to Triple H and adopted an alternative image in the D-Generation X (DX) stable. After the dissolution of DX, Triple H was pushed as a main event wrestler, winning several singles championships. As part of a storyline Triple H married Stephanie McMahon, who later became his real-life spouse. In 2003, Triple H formed another stable known as Evolution, and reformed DX with Shawn Michaels in 2006 and 2009. He is heavily involved in the writing process of WWE programming, and holds complete creative control over his television character's storylines, win/loss record, and championship reigns.

Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972), better known by his ring name The Great Khali, is an Indian professional wrestler, actor, and powerlifter. He is currently working for WWE as a member of the SmackDown roster.

He debuted alongside Daivari and had alliances with Ranjin Singh and Jinder Mahal. However he spent most of his career as a singles superstar and in 2007 he became the World Heavyweight Champion.

Before embarking on his professional wrestling career, he was a police officer in the Punjab state police. He has appeared in four Hollywood films as well as two Bollywood films.

Singh was born in Himachal Pradesh, India to Jwala Ram (father) and Tandi Devi (mother); he is one of seven siblings. He is a Hindu Rajput. Although his parents are of normal stature, his grandfather was well over 6 ft 6 inches.

Under the ring name Giant Singh, Dalip Singh first became a professional wrestler for All Pro Wrestling (APW) in the United States, making his first appearance in October 2000, when teaming with Tony Jones against the West Side Playaz.