Martial Arts were created for self defense. Wrestling may be the best marital art for defending yourself. If you can take a man down and stay on top of him until help arrives, you've done a very good job of defending yourself. also, like Tank Abbott said back in the day, "if you can't wrestle, you can't fight".
With that said, the argument about wrestlers avoiding the fight will never go away. I remember fights in grade school that went to the ground and the kids were saying to get up and fight like a man. That argument has been around forever. I think if wrestling is your strength, use it and ignore the critics.