For years wrestling has been struggling with it’s identity. Singlets are ugly, archaic, are easy to make fun of and leaves no appeal for the masses. For this reason wrestling needs to change not simply at the Olympic level, but at every level from little league, high school, college and beyond.- Wrestling Singlets are ugly: There is no getting around the fact that singlets simply don’t represent what is copacetic in style today. Unless you are an old European man, it is not acceptable to be wearing a speedo, and the singlet is not much better than this. Who wants their bulge sticking out for the world to see it. This could turn a man away from the sport who would otherwise join.
- UFC is in the 21st century, wrestling seems stuck in the 60’s: We have all seen clips of NFL players wearing leather helmets, and we have all seen John Stockton wearing those high skimpy shorts. These styles are not seen anymore because they aren’t cool. Wrestling has proven that it is the most useful base martial art in the world. Just look at UFC champs Cain Velasquez, Chris Weidman and what should be current champion Johny Hendricks all of whom were all-american wrestlers. Despite this useful base, wrestling is not seen as “cool”.
- Wrestling gets enough grief about being “gay”: The wrestling singlet only exacerbates the mentality that the sport is all about “Sweaty men rolling around with each other”. The people who say this quote never seem to have an answer for the fact that wrestlers turn into the best fighters, and 90% of fights find themselves on the ground. And I have never once heard anyone say that fighting is “sweaty men rolling around with each other”. The two sports are far too similar for one to get this negative stigma and the other to not. A uniform change alone won’t solve this problem, but it will be a start.
- Fight shorts look cool: Following up on point number 4, fight shorts are badass, they look cool, and are associated with the fastest growing sport in the world. If wrestling were to make a hybrid of these shorts, it could help bring the sport into the 21st century.
- Give the wrestlers some appeal outside the wrestling community: The only people who don’t want the change of uniform are archaic old wrestling coaches who are stuck in their outdated mentality. Wrestling singlets don’t reach the masses. Not every person who watches the NFL played football in their lives, in fact, most did not. But everyone can appreciate how cool a football player looks decked out in pads. People have similar affection for the baseball uniform, with the baggy white pants, and unique uniform top. Wrestling lacks that lamen popularity. Again, a change of uniform alone won’t solve the problem of reaching the masses, but it will at least do away with the negative stigma currently associated
Other Contact Sports do just fine without a singlet: The UFC and other MMA organizations are growing in popularity, and the wrestling community is dwindling and almost lost olympic status. The reasons for the two sports popularity is beyond the scope of this article, however, the wrestling community could at least seem more current with today’s martial art look.
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