Something that's taken for granted is the pro wrestler's ability to move, bump, fly, and fight in a ring without constantly having to surveil their surroundings. I can think of no better example of situational awareness or perception than a pro wrestler's ability to move within the ring. For safety and realism, they must always be aware of where they are.
Imagine a boxing match where you can throw your opponent over the ropes. Boxers would constantly be checking to see where they were in the ring, interrupting the flow of the match and making a legitimate shoot look awkward and fake (worked).
What we expect is for professional fights to look, well, professional. (The awkwardness of the early UFCs had people convinced they were works.)
Pro wrestlers not only look out for each other's safety but have to make the match logical and smooth. That takes mental mapping of space.
Since pro wrestlers regularly wrestle in new venues and use the surrounding area of the ring along with props, they have to adapt to new environments quickly. Not knowing their space comes with dire consequences.
A wrestler respects their space and acknowledges that the environment of the fight matters more than anything else. This is true for sports and even more so for self-defense and general injury prevention.
Space is both your friend and your enemy.
When a wrestler enters a new wrestling environment, the first thing they do is check their environment. They inspect the surface, measure the dimensions, learn where the barriers and obstacles are, note the entrances and exits, the potential danger spots, where they want the match to take place, how to use their surroundings, and block their terrain.
Perception or situational/external awareness is how you perceive your environment and the actions that take place there. Proprioception or internal awareness is how you perceive yourself. It's knowing the dimensions of your environment and your own dimensions to navigate your space.
Your mental map has to be personalized to you.
If you're running down a hill, how you'll approach that task will be unique to you. The number of steps before you reach the curb is unique to you. The number of steps before running into your sofa in the middle of the night is unique to you. But only if you're aware that environment (material conditions) is something to be acknowledged, memorized, and reassessed.
Proprioception is often overlooked, but it provides necessary information. Are you tired? How's your balance? How's your energy? Are you taking your usual steps? Should you be taking shorter steps? Are you embodied? Or disembodied and have no sense of your internal signals?
A pro wrestler will memorize the number of steps it takes them to get to the end of the ring for walking and running. Their perception and proprioception are that important.
An elite basketball player knows how many steps they'll take from the free-throw line to the rim. (This doesn't even have to be conscious.) Imagine you didn't know. You'd have to take a stutter step before jumping, perhaps even jumping off the wrong foot, increasing your likelihood of being blocked.
Take an elite running back, they'll know exactly how long it'll take them to run 30 yards. They also understand that running on a football field differs from running on pavement. They know it'll take more energy to push off a soft surface.
An MMA fighter needs to know exactly how far they are from the fence, how far their opponent is from it, and where their corner is. Getting their opponent to the fence is half the fight. Unfortunately, MMA fighters, unlike pro wrestlers, often overlook their environment.
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