Puroresu vs Lucha Libre vs American Wrestling?

[Edwin]

They're highly regarded because said "guys in it constantly dropped themselves on their heads" in a way that gets massive emotional engagement out of people even watching it 20 years later.

So by your logic, if they didn't drop themselves on their heads constantly, they wouldn't have gotten massive emotional engagement out of people even watching it 20 years later?

 

2. Therefore, a match's quality is proportionate to its ability to project a sense of legit violence and perseverance.

So a death match is of higher quality than a standard match? They do project a higher sense of legit violence and perseverance.

 

Talking about wrestling that actually is like Greek tragedy, just look at that Undertaker/Lesnar Wrestlemania match. That whole thing was a fucking amazing bit of modern tragedy done on a pro wrestling stage, and most WWE fans shit on it.

That match was highly underwhelming. Take out the shock factor of Taker losing and it's straight up horrible.

 

Instead, the match most seemed to be calling the MOTN was that "ROH style" Bryan/HHH match. And the most talked-about spot from that was a head drop. Which just proves what I'm saying.

I've been reading the wrong reviews if the Tiger Suplex spot is the most talked about spot from that match then. Had that spot not happened, the match still would've gotten tons of praise since it's not even a key point in the match.

 

1. Wrestling is never going to top the stories seen in books or the acting seen in movies. Its main advantage is the same as "real sports" like boxing and MMA in its appeal to the strong primal aspects of human nature (the fight-or-flight response) through its ability to project a sense of legit violence and perseverance.

This is rather amusing.

[Loss]

The only reason Japanese pro-wrestling has gained a lot more fanfare stateside online is because of the huge gain in popularity of US indy wrestling in the early 00's namely ROH.

 

Actually, Japanese pro wrestling has the following it does stateside because of Dave Meltzer and the WON. When he started the WON, Terry Funk told Dave he should follow and cover the Japanese scene because it was a good indicator of where business in the U.S. would eventually go. He fell in love with the style and started trading tapes and praising matches. Everything evolved from there. Perhaps that's why some people have jumped on board since the 2000s, but there have been plenty of Americans following Japanese wrestling since the 1980s.

[BillThompson]

 

 

Instead, the match most seemed to be calling the MOTN was that "ROH style" Bryan/HHH match. And the most talked-about spot from that was a head drop. Which just proves what I'm saying.

 

That was a shoulder drop, not a head drop. Bryan's shoulder was the target, and having it hit the shoulder helped further the story in that match, as well as later in the night.

[Edwin]

 

The only reason Japanese pro-wrestling has gained a lot more fanfare stateside online is because of the huge gain in popularity of US indy wrestling in the early 00's namely ROH.

 

Actually, Japanese pro wrestling has the following it does stateside because of Dave Meltzer and the WON. When he started the WON, Terry Funk told Dave he should follow and cover the Japanese scene because it was a good indicator of where business in the U.S. would eventually go. He fell in love with the style and started trading tapes and praising matches. Everything evolved from there. Perhaps that's why some people have jumped on board since the 2000s, but there have been plenty of Americans following Japanese wrestling since the 1980s.

 

I'm aware of that, but it really boomed and gained a huge following stateside after the entire US indy thing.

[Loss]

Are there noticeably more people following Japanese wrestling post-ROH than were in the 80s and 90s? I'm not disagreeing as much as I am asking if that's really the case. Wrestling has more of a presence online so it's easier to track now, so who knows. I don't remember very many people talking about Japanese wrestling that much 2006-2009.

[Edwin]

Are there noticeably more people following Japanese wrestling post-ROH than were in the 80s and 90s? I'm not disagreeing as much as I am asking if that's really the case. Wrestling has more of a presence online so it's easier to track now, so who knows. I don't remember very many people talking about Japanese wrestling that much 2006-2009.

There was a huge boom in Japanese wrestling discussion online once ROH began acknowledging it.

 

I'm sure if you ask a lot of current Japanese wrestling fans, some will admit they began following after watching Joe vs. Kobashi.

[Loss]

I don't dispute that. But Kobashi got a huge reaction at that show that he wouldn't have gotten if many of those people weren't already watching Japanese wrestling.

[Edwin]

Remember, it was in ROH. Sadly the a lot of the ROH loyal were pretty uneducated on anything aside from whatever happened in ROH.

 

They could've brought in Survival Tobita and built him up as a huge star from Japan in the newswire and then have him go toe to toe with Joe and he still would've gotten a huge pop even if they didn't know who he was.

 

This makes me wish some of the old ROH board posts were archived so I could bring some of those posts back.