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Wrestling is a worldwide activity, defined by some universal logics and taking various forms. There are many geographically or culturally based wrestling styles that are generally considered traditional. Wrestling itself is the signifier of different dimensions, being altogether a challenge, a cultural element and a liminal interaction between the imaginary and the body. It is an example of body culture considered as a collective symbolic wealth, diffused by the reputation of some techniques and the association with some cultural or social groups. The notion of tradition is associated with the sports and rooted in a customary and cross-generational mode of transmission. This paper examines the cases of kurash (Uzbekistan), gouren (Brittany, France) and kokh (Armenia), three wrestling styles that recently experienced or are still experiencing an institutionalisation process. These symptomatic wrestling styles face the question of conciliating uniqueness and adaptation to the cultural framework of sport. In addition, they constitute forms of symbolic capital and signifiers of different values, which adds the question of cultural legitimacy to sport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]