Luke Hadley Back­yard wrestling is a loose term used to de­scribe the con­tro­ver­sial prac­tice of pro­fes­sion­al wrestling as per­formed by un­trained fans in an un­sanc­tioned, non-​pro­fes­sion­al en­vi­ron­ment. Back­yard wrestling is a ti­tle ap­plied to home filmed and pro­duced pro­fes­sion­al wrestling shows, videos, or events car­ried out by un­trained ath­letes, most­ly com­prised of Amer­i­can males be­tween the ages of 16 and 30. In the years since its for­ma­tion, Back­yard wrestling has de­vel­oped in­to an un­der­ground scene, where fed­er­a­tions of­ten pro­duce, trade and dis­tribute their videos via In­ter­net, and oth­er wrestling pub­li­ca­tions. Though back­yard wrestling was not un­heard of pri­or to the 1990s, the mod­ern back­yard wrestling "craze" last­ed from rough­ly 1996 to 2001, dur­ing a time when tele­vised pro­fes­sion­al wrestling was en­joy­ing a pe­ri­od of un­par­al­leled pop­u­lar­i­ty. Many of those who prac­tice it em­brace a style that em­pha­sizes risky high spots (which can in­volve div­ing or tak­ing bumps from rooftops or lad­ders) and the lib­er­al use of weapons in match­es. These may in­clude thumb­tacks, barbed wire, ta­bles, ply­wood, fire, glass, and flu­o­res­cent lamps. Even among par­tic­i­pants who shy away from this, there still is a con­sid­er­able lev­el of in­her­ent risk in­volved. Many pro­fes­sion­al wrestling holds re­quire ex­ten­sive train­ing to per­form cor­rect­ly and safe­ly, which few back­yard wrestlers have re­ceived. These and oth­er con­cerns are at the heart of the con­tro­ver­sy sur­round­ing the prac­tice. Con­nois­seurs to the sport of­ten crit­i­cize back­yard wrestling as more slop­py and not as well thought-​out as pro­fes­sion­al wrestling, es­pe­cial­ly be­cause of the ten­den­cy of back­yard wrestlers to use more ab­surd gim­micks and sto­ry lines. Cre­ativ­i­ty and or­ga­ni­za­tion are al­so im­por­tant is­sues in cre­at­ing suc­cess­ful wrestling events, of which the ma­jor­i­ty of back­yard wrestling in­her­ent­ly lacks. In its his­to­ry, back­yard wrestling has changed sig­nif­i­cant­ly in terms of its pro­fes­sion­al­ism, safe­ty pro­vi­sions, pop­u­lar­i­ty, and hard­core style. Back­yard wrestling tends to fol­low the trends of pro­fes­sion­al wrestling and changes in ac­cor­dance with what are the fads and trends in the ma­jor pro­mo­tions such as World Wrestling En­ter­tain­ment or To­tal Non­stop Ac­tion Wrestling.

Al­though back­yard wrestling has been of­ten as­so­ci­at­ed with a Mick Fo­ley home video in which Fo­ley jumps off the roof of a house on­to his op­po­nent who is ly­ing on a pile of mat­tress­es, back­yard wrestling most like­ly be­gan in the 1950s em­u­lat­ing such stars as Gor­geous George, and lat­er Bruno Sam­marti­no, and Su­per­star Bil­ly Gra­ham