Why, at least in the United States, is wrestling not generally considered a martial art? It's arguably the single most important martial art in MMA and self defense, in addition to being one of the oldest known.
Is it because it's done in schools? Is it just taking a while for the term to catch up with society?
Television and movies give people impressions of things that are never corrected.
What is the first thing an American thinks of when they hear "wrestling"? World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which is definitely more entertainment, showmanship, and athleticism than wrestling or martial art. Wrestlers are enormous muscled men who jump off the ringside and hit each other with chairs. They talk smack, roar, and wear funny costumes. Kids see "pro wrestling" well before they encounter actual wrestling. Some people never learn that pro wrestling is not real wrestling. Most cannot name a real wrestler.
How about martial arts? Americans think of martial arts movies with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and people in uniforms that look like pajamas kicking to the head while making funny noises. These are Asian or learned from Asians, and they have foreign names. Martial artists do jump kick splits to two goons at once and don't look like they are on steroids.
These caricatures look different. If someone stops to think about it, wrestling, boxing, and martial arts in the movies all train to fight. But this requires actually thinking about it.
Wrestling isn't often seen as a martial art because it has been primarily pushed as a sport - much in the same way most people don't consider archery, javelin, or shot put, as war arts, though those are clearly origins for those sports.
However, one of the benefits of having achieved mainstream status is that it is not in danger of dying out or losing a good network of skilled practitioners.
One can, of course, find subsets of wrestling which are more biased towards their combative origins (for example, some Catch Wrestling styles) which also have the same problems a lot of martial arts have - with tactics or methods that are not designed for sport, it's harder to get regular support and practice to use them, and so it becomes about specialized training.
Of course, anyone looking for combative training can easily see the direct value, whether or not it tends to get promoted as such. (Likewise, actual traditional combative arts usually are a mix of weapons, strikes and grappling, and loss of the full art is often what removes their effectiveness).
Wrestling is a martial art for sure. I think people are just caught up with the Chinese/Japanese movies as opposed to real life combat
Martial: Of, or pertaining to, war
Art: Acquisition of skill through discipline, experience, study, or observation (also, Product of human creation)
Wrestling is a sport, not a martial art.
