Another common misconception about WWE, and professional wrestling as a whole, is that the ring is like a trampoline and very springy. Talent like “The Young OG” Je’Von Evans and other high-flyers make the ring look quite bouncy, but that’s not exactly the case. The ring of course, has some give, but it’s not like a trampoline you’d find used in someone’s backyard wrestling league. It’s also not cheap, as it reportedly takes around $5K to $10K to set up a WWE ring properly, ensuring the safety of the stars wrestling within.

WWE rings are actually quite reinforced. According to the Sportster, below the canvas, the ring is constructed with 12 beams, four crossbeams, and eight more beams on top. Wooden boards are placed on top of those, then some foam padding to help protect the talent bumping in the ring, then comes the multiple layers of canvas covers. Rings used to have springs before the foam padding was introduced, but they were phased out by the 1990s, prior to WWE’s Attitude Era, as they wore down too easily. When worn down, wrestlers could feel themselves hitting the wooden frames directly and nothing else would absorb the shock of them hitting the mat.

Even running the ropes is more difficult than it looks. Many influencers, WWE trainees, and others who attempt wrestling practice in this day and age post videos of their bruises from simply attempting to hit the ropes, as they are much harder than they look and not quite as easy to bounce off as one may think.