Why do some wrestlers have the ropes held open for them?

Why do some wrestlers have the ropes held open for them?

A puro wrestler who gets the ropes held open for him on entry to the ring, is a senior and the "ring attendant" is either a promotion junior who appeared earlier on the card and\or his trainee. Every wrestler in puro in his (or her) younger days would have done this (in the old All Japan days the wrestlers used to have to practically run the gauntlet when coming through the crowd and their juniors would knock people out of the way). So holding the ropes open is a mark of respect and akin to holding a door open for someone.

Trainees\juniors in puro are expected to wait upon their seniors; for example before the match they may fetch their clothes for the evening (Atsushi Onita was ticked off by Giant Baba once because he was asked to get his trunks, Onita couldn't find them so he stole some from a gaijin), help put up the ring and do anything else that is required of them backstage. During the match they will hold open the ropes, learn by observation what is going on in the ring ("minari" which is what you find in the Hanamachi in the Geisha districts between the senior and the junior), act as their seniors cheering squad, take his t-shirt, robe etc when he takes it off, clear the streamers out of the ring etc. If the fight goes into the crowd their job is to tell audience members when to move and to keep them away from the wrestlers (in early FMW see if you can find the match where then ring announced Shoichi Arai gets yanked off of his chair by one of the joshi).

After the match they will be expected to wipe down their seniors backs after escorting them out of the ring (a Japanese tradition), unlace their boots, put icepacks on their necks, fetch towels or put athletic spray on them (Kotaro Suzuki once had to carry a concussed Naomichi Marufuji out of the ring on his back) or support them to the medical office. A good example of this is Masato Tanaka in FMW and his concern for Hayabusa.

At the dojo they are not only taught moves etc, but also these days first aid, and expected to help clean the dojo and keep it in good shape. They may also be taught to cook a special dish called chanko (which is traditionally associated with sumo and probably came to puro with puro's founder, a Korean called Rikidozan who was a former sumo); each dojo and each promotion has it's own recipe (Go Shiozaki is said to cook a particularly good one).