5 Things New Japan Pro Wrestling Is Doing Better Than WWE

On January 4th, 2017, Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada had the best wrestling match of the decade. Maybe. Probably. In some ways this was New Japan Pro Wrestling’s coming out party. Almost without western fans noticing, New Japan had become the world’s number two wrestling promotion, and with Wrestle Kingdom 11 they captured a pop culture moment far beyond Japan alone. People were talking about them, and other people were starting to listen.

For most of my life I’ve been a WWE fan. It started when I was nine years old, in time for me to witness the final tepid year of WCW and the climax of the Attitude Era. Over the years I’ve drifted in and out, only for CM Punk’s pipebomb to pull me firmly back in. To me, WWE was wrestling. I’d heard of places like TNA and Ring of Honor, but they were so far away. Just places where WWE could harvest the next Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens. Then last year WWE talent raided New Japan, and I discovered a whole new world.

Image Source:
New Japan/ Asahi TV

And even as I grumbled and griped about WWE and the Roman Reigns experiment, New Japan introduced me to Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito. I wasn’t, and still am not, an expert on New Japan. I probably don’t know that much about how wrestling works on a microscopic level. But New Japan left me gobsmacked time and again. So much of what WWE got wrong, New Japan got right.

With wrestling fans still buzzing about Wrestle Kingdom 11, let me tell you all the things New Japan does better than WWE.

 

1. Main Event Matches

Elimination Chamber
Image Source:
The Sun

New Japan’s undercard is probably no better than WWE’s. I can’t name a huge amount of their lower card talent, but they usually fill the bottom half of a show with short singles matches and big overcrowded tag bouts. Maybe these matches are less overbooked than WWE, but no one here is trying to revolutionise the business.

Man oh man, though, those main events. When New Japan puts one of its top singles belts on the line, it’s a work of art. Each one tells a story without words. Great psychology, excellent selling and jaw dropping spots. Whether it’s the company’s cocky champion Okada taking on sadistic veteran Suzuki, or disinterested anarchist Naito fighting big man Michael Elgin, every featured player goes out to steal the show and capture the crowd.

Where WWE believes wrestling is merely soap opera, New Japan knows wrestling is supposed to be a drama. Each impact looks real, each competitor looks more pained and desperate as the match builds. Spectacle means nothing unless the audience can feel the stakes. John Cena falling off the side of the elimination chamber would have meant nothing unless he and AJ Styles hadn’t build up tension in the previous minutes, as well as weeks and months.

In WWE the drama is so often overbooked. Roman Reigns can’t eat a clean pin or there’s some big gimmicky match stipulation. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the Elimination Chamber, but it can never surpass a well told singles match. Even WWE singles matches, like Cena and Styles’ Royal Rumble bout, don’t quite match the depth of storytelling and emotional investment of a New Japan Main event. All of WWE’s top stars must look strong, rather than face setbacks and overcome conflict. It’s a failure of basic storytelling.

Go watch Kenny Omega Vs Kazuchika Okada. If you’ve seen it already, watch it again. Try telling me the match doesn’t work perfectly as a display of athleticism as well as a story, even on mute.

 

2. Long term planning

Bayley
Image Source:
Sky Sports

Last year, Vice ran an article about how WWE television was typically booked. They had insider sources, and the picture wasn’t pretty. Vince McMahon, patriarch of the WWE empire, could change his mind on a whim. Winners and losers for major shows could be up in the air until the day of the show. Great for unpredictability, not so great for long term storytelling.

I can’t tell you for certain how New Japan approaches its booking. All I know is Kenny Omega didn’t go from a goofy junior heavyweight to the biggest western star in the company’s history in less than a year by accident. It was a slow build, first pinning Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag match, then beating Hiroshi Tanahashi and holding the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, and finally winning New Japan’s flagship G1 tournament.

Imagine WWE planning the main event of Wrestlemania a year in advance? A lot can change in a year, but imagine the payoff from such a story? Building Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe with the intention of a massive Wrestlemania pay off at Wrestlemania 34 would be astonishing. Instead, the card isn’t settled until probably February. Wrestlers are shuffled around with no sense of direction, and storylines end abruptly without resolution.

 

3. Commentary and Presentation

David Otunga
Image Source:
Business 2 Community

Watching the recent WWE Elimination Chamber show was like being fed a takeaway pizza by the delivery driver, who was chucking each slice across the room toward my face. The pizza was fine – it’s a greasy takeout, what did you expect? – but the delivery drove me crazy.

Why – I mean WHY! – do we need four people on a commentary desk? Why do they insist on shilling us soundtracks, network subscriptions and KFC? How do they all have so little chemistry with each other? Why is David Otunga a commentator?

And another thing. Kevin Dunn – and I know it’s you Kev, you’re in charge of TV production over there – please stop with the shaky cam. And the constant cuts and zooms. I’m watching wrestling, not a Michael Bay movie.

Want me to believe your action is more real? Let me see it, undiluted by your gimmicky camera stuff. New Japan does not shy away from big impact moments or cut away to three different shots when one will do. In fact, Dunn’s stylistic signature was so ingrained in me that it took me months to figure out why New Japan felt more real than WWE. But not only does it feel realer, it allows us to connect more emotionally to the wrestlers and their struggles in the ring.

Oh, and Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino (or Don Callis now Corino has moved on) exemplify why simplicity is better than saturation. New Japan’s English commentary team has genuine chemistry and knows exactly what to say and when. They even know when to shut up and let big moments have real impact, as with Okada’s recent Wrestle Kingdom entrance.

 

4. Championship titles

Okada
Image Source:
NJPW/TV Asahi

A wrestling championship is only as important as its company helps us believe it is. The WWE title, with its legacy and pedigree, should be the premiere belt in all of wrestling, Right now it is not. Right now the belt which feels most valuable is the IWGP World Championship.

It feels a big deal because every time Okada defends it, the match is a barn burner. Each fight is built up like a battle of inner strength, skill and resolve. The champion is the top man in the company and is treated as such. Nowhere else are the battles so dramatic, making the IWGP title feel like the most legitimate prize in wrestling.

Naito and Los Ingobernables De Japon
Image Source:
Youtube

But there’s more! New Japan have a second title which they let us believe is nearly as important. Held by the nefarious Tetsuya Naito, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship has headlined just as many shows as the world title in recent years.

Now, I’m not saying WWE don’t care about the WWE title. The match at the Royal Rumble was pretty good. But as recently as last December AJ Styles was defending the belt in a comedy storyline against James Ellsworth. Who can care more about that belt when they see Naito or Okada walk to the ring looking like a million bucks?

 

5. Big Money draws

Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks
Image Source:
eWrestling News Online

WWE has always been a company built around one superstar. Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin and John Cena. It’s never not worked for them, once they’ve found the right star. And that’s fine, until that superstar gets old and doesn’t want to make so many appearances.

New Japan does not have anyone who can make money on a global scale like John Cena can for WWE. Within the Japanese market, though, New Japan has three (possibly four) stars who can main event a show anywhere.

On their recent New Beginning tour, their two major shows were headlined by Okada and Naito respectively. Both men can fill arenas, as can long time Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. There’s a good chance we’ll be adding Kenny Omega to that list in 2017 too. New Japan don’t put their eggs in one basket. It’s why they were able to rebound so quickly from WWE’s talent raid in 2016.

By having multiple guys as the stars of the show, they rely on none of them. Should Okada leave or get injured, they have Naito to hold down the fort. It’s a system WWE have the talent pool to achieve, but not the inclination. They have one top guy, and it’s Roman Reigns, and I’m already bored typing his name.

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