Agree or Disagree: Japanese Wrestling in general(NJPW, AJPW, etc.) is overall better than the WWE...

[Aztecwarrior480]

as a pro wrestling organization?

I was just reading this interesting article about the 10 things that Japanese wrestlings does better than the WWE. 10 Things Japanese Wrestling Does Better Than WWE

I was also watching a video of Japanese wrestling and was pretty amazed of how well they sell their wrestling moves and how many variety of move they can pull off compared to their American counterparts. The vast majority of these wrestlers(even some of the midcarders) were actually taken seriously in Japan while pro wrestling is treated like an actual sport over there. Unfortunately in the WWE, it's mainly all about big roided-up men, favoritism from the people in charge of the wrestling business(*cough cough* Vince, HHH and Steph) and mic skills that gets wrestlers to the top rather than actual skills and talent. Then again, that's America in a nutshell with their "The bigger is better" mentality.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Agreed.

 

[Leo C]

I can't say I've watched much Puro apart from NJPW, but still, yeah.

 

[Roadster]

Puro offers a refresh but at the end of the day, most of us are fans from watching WWE.

On the fence, for this one.

 

[Stopspot]

It all comes down to opinion and taste.

WWE does some things better than the Japanese companies. And the Japanese companies does some things better than the WWE.

But here's something for you all to consider. Most if not all the companies in Japan that are doing well now have taken inspiration from the WWE. Mainly in their presentation of gimmicks and production/theatrics.

 

[Pop Tatari]

Has its moments as do wwe and other American companys.

 

[Rogue]

Every company goes through stagnant points, WWE is just more noticeable because a wider majority watch it. When a company like NJPW is good, it's really good. Same with the WWE.

Over saturation plays into it as well, it's easy to get tired of the WWE since it's on three to four times a week.

The point I'm trying to make is, neither are invincible. Quality wise. It just comes down to your preference, at the end of the day.

 

[Forrest OAKADA]

Both options.

Both have good points, both have bad points. As Stop said, each one does things better than the other.

Also, with over saturation, it goes the same with NJPW, only so many times you can see certain people fight it out e.g the limited roster they have, especially the tag and junior divisions while with WWE, depending on what programming, they'll usually have a fresh match up that hasn't been done on the last 3 shows but due to the amount of shows they have, it's easy to get tired of it when looking at how repeated the segments can be. If you count NXT, since it's relatively new in it's format compared to the dating of WWE and NJPW, they have fresh match ups almost every week but that's mainly due to the large roster it has due to it being developmental as well as signing up talents from the indies to compete.

 

[Stopspot]

Another example: New Japan was on its deathbed in 2005 because of Inokism. NJPW founder Antonio Inoki refused to get with the times and worked his own philosophy of throwing wrestlers against MMA fighters to "prove wrestling is the strongest sport" and they were heading to death faster than a speeding train.

Ten years later and look where they are now.

 

[Aids Johnson]

Two different deals. WWE is for casual Dan's and Japan is for you giant marks who just love wrestling

 

[Stopspot]

Two different deals. WWE is for casual Dan's and Japan is for you giant marks who just love wrestling

From a western smark perspective sure. There's a lot of casual fans in Japan.

Tons of women in their 20s show up to just oggle the muscled men in tights

 

[MGS32]

This isn't even comparable, like at all. They are both completely different styles from completely different parts of the world with completely different guys in the ring. This isn't a cut and dry discussion, there is opinion and tastes in wrestling. Like Dave Meltzer for example loves Japanese wrestling where as there are people who don't care for it myself included.

I personally don't really care for NJPW, it just doesn't do anything for me. I can name 2 matches from NJPW that I truly loved and that was Devitt/Ibushi from WK 8 (Its not even that great a match I just really enjoyed it at the time) and Shibata/Ishii G1 Day 4 2013. Outside of that I like some of the Super Jr stuff and thats about it, I used to really like it when I was younger but it just doesn't do anything for me. I like some Dragon Gate here and there and DDT is funny.

Its not really a discussion of this is better than this its all personal preference, just watch what you like.

 

[MGS32]

Also the idea that no Japanese companies have "favorites" is ridiculous, even more ridiculous is to say that in ring is all that matters and that peoples mic skills and "look" isn't a really big factor in what makes an overall good wrestler, sure you can be fantastic in the ring but if you don't have any mic skills and look like shit how is anyone supposed to market you? Pro Wrestling isn't always about what goes on in the ring, its a business after all.

 

[Geese]

I was watching the Hirooki Goto vs. Naomichi Marufuji G1 Climax match again and felt many of NJPW's matches are worthy of an encore viewing. I can't say the same about the matches I see on Raw or even Smackdown. Once I'm done watching the show, I don't watch it again. Even the AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton match on Smackdown, as good as it was, Styles has been in better matches. Styles had to water down his moveset to fit the WWE Style of Wrestling.

Many of New Japan's matches are worthy of an encore viewing. I watched Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto again. If a wrestling match is so good that it's worthy of an encore viewing then I gotta say New Japan is better than the WWE.

 

[Stopspot]

I was watching the Hirooki Goto vs. Naomichi Marufuji G1 Climax match again and felt many of NJPW's matches are worthy of an encore viewing. I can't say the same about the matches I see on Raw or even Smackdown. Once I'm done watching the show, I don't watch it again. Even the AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton match on Smackdown, as good as it was, Styles has been in better matches. Styles had to water down his moveset to fit the WWE Style of Wrestling.

Many of New Japan's matches are worthy of an encore viewing. I watched Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto again. If a wrestling match is so good that it's worthy of an encore viewing then I gotta say New Japan is better than the WWE.

TBF the G1 and RAW/Smackdown cannot really be compared. One is episodic TV and the other is a massive tournament that happens once a year.

Japanese wrestling and American wrestling are structured so differently. American wrestling is in large episodic. The TV matches are not there to be 5 stars, but to move the product forward towards the PPVs, where the memorable and rewatchable stuff happens. Japanese wrestling is not necessarily a TV medium, since most promotions only have 2-3 TV slots per month if they are lucky, and never on a set time table. All Japan doesn't have Tuesday nights in Japan, but airs whenever their networks find room to slot them in.

It very much is a apples and oranges argument really which one is better.