Puroresu

Rikidozan, cited by many as the father of Japanese Professional Wrestling, otherwise known as Puroresu

Puroresu (プロレス) is the popular term for the predominant style or genre of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan following World War II. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of "professional wrestling" (プロフェッショナル・レスリング), which is shortened to puroresu. In this sense, puroresu could be transliterated as pro-wres. The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe (a Japanese Wrestling fan)'s activities in the online Usenet community. Growing out of origins in the traditional US style of wrestling, it has become an entity in itself. Japanese pro wrestling is distinct in its psychology and presentation of the sport. It is treated as a legitimate fight, with fewer theatrics; the stories told in Japanese matches are about a fighter's spirit and perseverance. In strong style, the style most typically associated with puroresu, full contact martial arts strikes and shoot submission holds are implemented.

The first Japanese to involve himself in catch wrestling, the basis of traditional professional wrestling, was former sumo wrestler Sorakichi Matsuda. There were subsequent attempts before and after World War II to popularize the sport in Japan, but these generally failed until the advent of its first big star, Rikidōzan, in 1951, who became known as the "father" of the sport. Rikidōzan brought the sport to tremendous popularity with his Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) until his murder in 1963. Following his death, Puroresu thrived, creating a variety of personalities, promotions and styles. It has also created a mass of other cultural icons in Japan including: Giant Baba, Antonio Inoki, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask, Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Kenta Kobashi. Throughout the years, a number of promotions have opened and closed, but a few have persisted to remain the most popular and thriving companies: New Japan Pro Wrestling is currently considered by many as the top promotion.

Etymology

The name "Puroresu" (プロレス) is a portmanteau derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the English term "pro-wrestling." It is the transliteration of the English words "pro" and "wrestling" into Japanese, where "プロ" (puro) stands for "pro" and "レス" (resu) is short for "wrestling", as with many phonetic adaptions of loanwords from other languages that are adapted into the Japanese language.

The term "Puroresu" gained widespread use in Japan through media coverage of early professional wrestling events in the 1960's. As Rikidōzan’s matches became some of the first televised sporting events in Japan, with the term being frequently used in broadcasts, media coverage, newspapers, and promotional materials, cementing its place in the Japanese lexicon. By the 1970's, "Puroresu" had become firmly established whithin Japanese culture. With the establishment of major wrestling promotions such All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) both formed in 1972, the term was further solidified, with these promotions using "Puroresu" in their branding and marketing through Engrish promotional material, ensuring its continued prominence.

In the modern era, "Puroresu" is the standard term for professional wrestling in Japan, encompassing various styles and promotions. It distinguishes Japanese professional wrestling from other forms of wrestling, such as sumo and amateur wrestling, which have different historical and cultural contexts in Japan. In the West, the term gained more usage due to to Hisaharu Tanabe (a Japanese Wrestling fan)'s activities in the online at Usenet community, with the term being further cemented following the international expansion of Japanese promotions into the other global markets such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2014.

It should be also noted that the term "Puroresu" in Japan refers to all professional wrestling, regardless of country of origin. For example, American promotions WWE and Ring of Honor are referred to as "Puroresu" in Japan. Japanese wrestling historian Fumi Saito noted: "Puroresu is completely Japanese-English, and in the U.S. the same word is used for both pro and amateur wrestling. It may be easier to understand if you think of wrestling in the U.S. as having the same nuance as 'sumo' in Japanese. You call both 'wrestling' even if it's competitive or professional wrestling."

Rules

Puroresu has a variety of different rules, which can differ completely from wrestling in other countries. While there is no governing authority for puroresu, there is a general standard which has developed. Each promotion has their own variation, but all are similar enough to avoid confusion. Any convention described here is simply a standard, and may or may not correspond exactly with any given promotion's codified rules.

General structure

Matches are held between two or more sides ("corners"). Each corner may consist of one wrestler, or a team of two or more. Most team matches are governed by tag team rules (see below). One notable difference from North American and, in recent years, European professional wrestling is that puroresu rarely has matches between more than two parties.

The match is won by scoring a "fall", which is generally consistent with standard professional wrestling:

• Pinning an opponent's shoulders to the mat for the referee's count of three.
• Submission victory, which sees the wrestler either tap out or verbally submit to their opponent.
• Knockout, the failure to regain composure at the referee's command
• Countout, the failure of a party to return to the ring at the referee's command, which is determined by a count of twenty (some federations use ten, but in Japanese wrestling they use twenty).
• Disqualification, the act of one wrestler breaking the rules.

Additional rules govern how the outcome of the match is to take place. One such example would be the Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation, as it does not allow pinfall victories in favor of submissions and knockouts; this is seen as an early influence of mixed martial arts, as some wrestlers broke away from traditional wrestling endings to matches in favor of legitimate outcomes. Another example is that most promotions disallow punches so a lot of wrestlers utilize open handed strikes and stiff forearms; this rule was also applied in the early stages of Pancrase.

Styles

Main Style

Despite some similarities to the much more popular style of professional wrestling in the United States, Japanese wrestling is known for many differences from the Western style. Puroresu is known for its "fighting spirit" and the wrestlers are known for their full contact strikes. Many Japanese wrestlers have some degree of knowledge in many different martial arts and wrestling styles; because of this, there are usually doctors and trainers at ringside for assisting the wrestlers after a match. Most matches have clean finishes and many of the promotions don't use any angles or gimmicks. Japanese wrestling is also known for its relationship with fellow mixed martial arts promotions. Wrestling and martial arts icon Antonio Inoki usually organizes wrestling matches and MMA fights on the same card. Puroresu still remains popular and it draws huge crowds from the major promotions. With this and its relationship with other martial arts disciplines, the audiences and wrestlers treat puroresu as a combat sport.

It should be also noted that the term "Puroresu" in Japan refers to all professional wrestling, regardless of country of origin. For example, American promotions WWE and Impact Wrestling are referred to as "Puroresu" in Japan.

Strong style

New Japan Pro-Wrestling, headed by Antonio Inoki, used Inoki's "strong style" approach of wrestling as a combat sport, influenced strongly by the styles of catch wrestlers Lou Thesz and Karl Gotch. Wrestlers incorporated kicks and strikes from martial arts disciplines, and a strong emphasis was placed on submission wrestling. Many of New Japan's wrestlers, including top stars such as Shinya Hashimoto, Riki Choshu, Minoru Suzuki, Shinsuke Nakamura and Keiji Mutoh, came from a legitimate martial arts background.

Ōdō ("Royal Road")

Ōdō ("Royal Road") is a style which originated in All Japan Pro Wrestling, and is most closely associated with the Four Pillars (四天王, Shitennō), the informal nomenclature for 1990s AJPW wrestlers Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Akira Taue. However, matches involving these four have been also referred to in Japan as Shitennō puroresu (四天王プロレス). As opposed to strong style's European catch wrestling influences, ōdō opted for a more "narrative" style, derived from the American model of professional wrestling as physical storytelling. However, ōdō distinguished itself from American professional wrestling by largely eschewing many of its storytelling devices. Angles and gimmicks were virtually non-existent, as all the storytelling in ōdō occurred through the matches themselves. Blading was also banned outright. Because Baba disliked submissions, they were also eschewed for decisive pinfalls. In 2011, Japanese wrestling magazine G Spirits cited Misawa's July 29, 1993 Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship title defense against Kawada as the first match in the Shitennō style, and the 1993 World's Strongest Tag Determination League final, in which Misawa and Kobashi wrestled Kawada and Taue, was referred to as the "completed form" of the style by Tokyo Sports in 2014. According to Kawada, ōdō matches, which placed a heavy emphasis on fighting spirit, were about "breaking the limit you set in the last". AJPW referee Kyohei Wada, who recounted that Baba told his talent "whatever you want to do, do it, and whatever you can show the people, show it", would later compare his job officiating these matches to "conducting a symphony".

However, this escalation eventually manifested through the use of dangerous maneuvers that focused on the head and neck, particularly during the finishing stretches of ōdō matches. The physical consequences of this style, or at least its use of head drops, has often been cited as the underlying reason for Misawa's death after an in-ring accident in 2009. Professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer noted after his death that Misawa "regularly took psychotic bumps", including back suplexes where he would land on his head. AJPW would steer away from ōdō after Misawa led a mass exodus to form Pro Wrestling Noah, particularly when Motoko Baba sold her stock to Keiji Mutoh, but Noah would continue to practice ōdō in its booking. This element of ōdō has been criticized for its negative influence on professional wrestling, and 1990s All Japan been cited as a cautionary tale in response to legitimately dangerous maneuvers. Meltzer wrote in 2009 that head drops were "never necessary", as Misawa and his peers in AJPW were already "having the best matches in wrestling" before they incorporated these maneuvers into their style.

Other styles

Throughout the 1990s, three individual styles—shoot style, lucha libre, and hardcore—were the main divisions of independent promotions, but as a result of interpromoting, it is not unusual to see all three styles on the same card.

Deathmatch

See also: Japanese Deathmatch

Joshi puroresu

See also: Joshi Puroresu
Puroresu done by female wrestlers is called joshi puroresu (女子プロレス) or joshi puro for short. Women's professional wrestling in Japan is usually handled by promotions that specialize in joshi puroresu, rather than divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions as is the case in the United States (the only exception was FMW, a men's promotion which had a small women's division, but even then depended on talent from women's federations to provide competition). However, joshi puroresu promotions usually have agreements with male puroresu promotions such that they recognize each other's titles as legitimate, and may share cards.

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was the dominant joshi organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda, known as the "Beauty Pair". The early 1980s saw the fame of Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami, major stars of the second wave of excellent workers who took the place of the glamour-based "Beauty Pair" generation. That decade would later see the rise of Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka, known as the "Crush Gals", who as a tag team achieved a level of unprecedented mainstream success in Japan, unheard of by any female wrestler in the history of professional wrestling all over the world. Their long running feud with Dump Matsumoto and her "Gokuaku Domei" ("Atrocious Alliance") stable would become extremely popular in Japan during the 1980s, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television as well as the promotion regularly selling out arenas.

It was during the 1990s that joshi puroresu attracted much critical acclaim internationally, and several classic matches during these era competed by select joshi wrestlers were awarded 5-stars by the American wrestling publication Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Notable joshi wrestlers of the 1990s include Manami Toyota, Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto, Cutie Suzuki, Aja Kong, Megumi Kudo, Shinobu Kandori, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue (no relation to the former), Dynamite Kansai, and Mayumi Ozaki.

In 2022, New Japan Pro Wrestling inaugurated their own IWGP Women's Championship, followed by the Strong Women's Championship in 2023. In 2024 Pro Wrestling NOAH followed with their GHC Women's Championship.

Puroresu on television

Since its beginning, Japanese professional wrestling depended on television to reach a wide audience. Rikidōzan's matches in the 1950s, televised by Nippon TV, often attracted huge crowds to Tokyo giant screens. Eventually TV Asahi also gained the right to broadcast JWA, but eventually the two major broadcasters agreed to split the talent, centering about Rikidōzan's top two students: NTV for Giant Baba and his group, and Asahi for Antonio Inoki and his group. This arrangement continued after the JWA split into today's major promotions, New Japan and All Japan, led by Inoki and Baba respectively. In 2000, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split, NTV decided to follow the new venture rather than staying with All Japan. Nowadays, however, mirroring the decline that professional wrestling in the U.S. had in the 1970s and early 1980s, NOAH's Power Hour and New Japan's World Pro Wrestling have been largely relegated to the midnight hours by their broadcasters.

The advent of cable television and pay per view also enabled independents such as RINGS to rise. WOWOW had a working agreement with Akira Maeda that paid millions to RINGS when he was featured, but eventually was scrapped with Maeda's retirement and the subsequent RINGS collapse.

In 2009, due to the bearish global economy, NTV cancelled all wrestling programming, including NOAH's Power Hour (lesser affiliates still air large cards), marking the end of a tradition going back to Rikidozan.

The advent of cable television and pay per view also enabled independents such as RINGS to rise. WOWOW had a working agreement with Akira Maeda that paid millions to RINGS when he was featured, but eventually was scrapped with Maeda's retirement and the subsequent RINGS collapse.

In 2009, due to the bearish global economy, NTV cancelled all wrestling programming, including NOAH's Power Hour (lesser affiliates still air large cards), marking the end of a tradition going back to Rikidōzan.

Between 2014 and 2024, various New Japan Pro-Wrestling live specials have been broadcast on AXS TV in the United States.

Relations with professional wrestling beyond Japan

Foreigners in Japanese circuits

Since its establishment professional wrestling in Japan has depended on foreigners, called gaijin, particularly North Americans, to get its own stars over. Rikidōzan's JWA and its successor promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling were members of the American-based National Wrestling Alliance at various points, and used these connections to bring North American stars. International Pro Wrestling was the first Japanese promotion to link into European circuits. It was through IWE that Frenchman André the Giant got his international reputation for the first time.

In recent years, many of North America's most popular wrestlers, such as Sting, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, Big Van Vader, Mick Foley, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Mil Máscaras, El Canek, Dos Caras, El Solitario, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Travis Tomko, Giant Bernard, Goldberg, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Low Ki, Brock Lesnar, Davey Richards, Chris Hero and others have wrestled in Japan, whereas others such as Stan Hansen, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Kenny Omega spent much of their careers in Japan and thus are (or have been) better known there than in their homeland. (Omega has since become more recognized in both his homeland of Canada and the US through his involvement with All Elite Wrestling). Even in joshi puroresu, a few notable foreigners have found success wrestling for joshi promotions, such as Monster Ripper, Madusa, Reggie Bennett, and Amazing Kong. The now defunct World Championship Wrestling had a strong talent exchange deal with New Japan, Ken Shamrock was among the first Americans to compete in shoot style competition in Japan, starting out in the UWF and later opened Pancrase with some other Japanese shootfighters.

As a result of the introduction of lucha libre into Japan, major Mexican stars also compete in Japan. The most popular Mexican wrestler to compete in Japan is Mil Máscaras, who is credited with introducing the high-flying moves of lucha libre to Japanese audiences, which then led to the style called lucha-resu, later embodied by Tiger Mask.

Foreign wrestlers from diverse backgrounds have earned huge followings, sometimes greater than those of Japanese top rosters in respective Japanese promotions they have wrestled in. American Stan Hansen, Indian Tiger Jeet Singh, Canadian Abdullah the Butcher, and British wrestler Dynamite Kid were among those cited as top foreign grapplers in a recent poll of Japanese fans:

Impressive "Gaijin" Wrestler Ranking

Rank	Wrestlers
1	Stan Hansen (USA)
2	Bruiser Brody (USA)
3	Abdullah the Butcher (Canada)
4	The Destroyer (USA)
5	Mil Máscaras (Mexico)
6	Hulk Hogan (USA)
7	André the Giant (France)
8	Tiger Jeet Singh (India)
9	Terry Funk (USA)
10	The Road Warriors (USA)

Japanese stars abroad

All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, as well as others, have also sent wrestlers to compete in the likes of the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and so on. Usually, these talent exchanges are chances for puroresu stars to learn other styles to add to their own strengths. Some of the more famous examples of these exchanges are Masahiro Chono, The Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger in WCW, as well as ECW which featured talent from Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling.

Before the advent of cable television some Japanese wrestlers in the U.S. adopted names that often were inconsistent and often portrayed by more than one Japanese wrestler, such as "Tokyo Joe" (Katsuji Adachi, Koji "Thunder" Sugiyama and Tetsunosuke Daigo), "Mr. Sato" (Akio Sato and Akihisa Mera) and "Great Togo" (Kazuo Okamura and Haruka Eigen). Some names and gimmicks of North American origin stuck to the wrestler and defined his in-ring personality permanently, such as Hiro Matsuda, Killer Khan, Great Kabuki, Great Muta, Mr. Hito, and Mr. Pogo. Japanese wrestlers sent to Mexico, where the wrestling mask was the rule, adopted mask-based personae; examples were Osamu Matsuda becoming El Samurai, Yoshihiro Asai becoming Último Dragón, and Masanori Murakawa becoming Great Sasuke. Despite the advent of cable television and the Internet, some Japanese wrestlers still adopt all-new ring names, particularly when they join WWE, which trademarks ring names frequently. Recent examples include Mitsuhide Hirasawa as Hideo Saito, Naofumi Yamamoto as Yoshi Tatsu, Kana as Asuka, Kaori Housako as Kairi Sane, Masami Odate as Iyo Sky, and Kenta Kobayashi as Hideo Itami. A recent counter-example is Shinsuke Nakamura, who continues to perform under his birth name in WWE. Japanese wrestlers who appear in other American circuits such as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) rarely change their names.

Some joshi stars from AJW had wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s and 1990s, with The Jumping Bomb Angels and Bull Nakano known for being particularly successful.

GAEA Japan once had a working agreement with World Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s, when the latter brought in wrestlers from GAEA to bolster the ranks of their then-fledgling women's division, with Akira Hokuto becoming the first and only WCW Women's Champion, and a WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship was even introduced and defended in GAEA shows.

Recent examples of Japanese wrestlers working in foreign promotions include Satoshi Kojima in Major League Wrestling, Kenta Kobashi, Go Shiozaki, Takeshi Morishima, and KENTA in Ring of Honor, Hirooki Goto, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Tiger Mask IV, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Seiya Sanada, and Ayako Hamada in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Aja Kong, Dick Togo, The Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki, Kaori Yoneyama, Manami Toyota and Mayumi Ozaki in Chikara, Hideo Itami, Yoshitatsu, KENSO, Taka Michinoku, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, Sarray, KUSHIDA and most notably Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE, and Ayumi Kurihara, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Tomoka Nakagawa and in Shimmer Women Athletes, Shun Skywalker, SB KENTo, YAMATO, Kzy and Big Boss Shimizu in Major League Wrestling and Riho, Hikaru Shida, Yuka Sakazaki, Emi Sakura, Konosuke Takeshita, Kazuchika Okada and Mina Shirakawa in All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor.