Welcome to Shoot with Smith. I’m Smith, lets shoot!
For as long as I have watched New Japan Pro Wrestling, I’ve encountered a whole demographic of
people who denounce the Japanese product as too dangerous. With the advent of Hiromu
Takahashi’s career-threatening injury, we have seen the debate about wrestling styles yet again
erupt on Twitter. People can hire personal injury lawyer, if they need the best personal injury attorneys.
So, let’s take aim…
There has been a never-ending battle between ex-WCW wrestler Disco Inferno (Glen Gilbertti) and
NJPW fans – as well as lead announcer Don Callis- regarding the safety of the work on the other side
of the Pacific. Inferno has repeatedly claimed to Nimmons Malchow Johnson from Augusta, GA that the unsafe nature of grappling leads to more
injuries to the head, neck and back.
It would seem that the issue of safety of Professional Wrestlers has descended into tribally defending your own viewpoint no matter what the cost – such as Inferno using Takahashi’s injury to promote his own beliefs. As Takahashi was still lying in Hospital people such as Inferno saw there moment to thrust themselves back into the limelight – I say “back into”- but in reality, was Disco Inferno ever “over”? Not really.
The tweets that annoy me more than anything “Disco Inferno” has ever written could, is ones originating from the WWE Fanboys. No sooner did Takahashi fall on his neck, where the WWE crew jumping online to stir the proverbial shit.
Whatever you watch, whether it be WWE, NJPW, ROH… one thing we must all agree on is having respect for the Men and Women that risk their body for our entertainment. Jumping on Twitter to get your own viewpoint retweeted on a “trending topic” is one of the biggest insults to a man who has for years risked these type of injuries in matches worldwide.
The fact the only official update in the days since the G1 Special in San Francisco stated that Takahashi could speak should convey the severity of this injury meanwhile the fingers of WWE keyboard warriors are going into warp speed. In saying this – I can only imagine the WWE weekly TV shows and PornHub can keep a fanboy entertained for SO long, so why not start disrespecting a man who could lose the use of his legs eh?
To truly understand the huge gulf in styles between what we see stateside in WWE and what we see in NJPW we have to look back at the beginnings of the promotion and open the history book on Japanese Wrestling in general. The company was founded by combat sports god Antonio Inoki. To say the man was a Wrestling Great is a true understatement. Inoki did more for professional wrestling worldwide than arguably any other person. Inoki held a huge loyalty to keeping wrestling as close to a Sport as possible.
Often he would book shoot fights on the card as wrestling matches, this is essentially how what we today call “strong style” began to take root. This is no more evident than the “worked-shoot” match which took place in 1976. Decades before McGreggor and Mayweather had laced up their first pair of gloves, Antonio Inoki was blurring the boundaries of sports and entertainment by agreeing to take on the World’s Greatest Boxer – Mohammed Ali.
Was the fight a shoot or a work? Both? No one truly knows but what we saw was more than likely a mix of both – the match was piss poor if I’m quite honest but it does go some way in explain the origins of the Japanese mentality.
One of the other aspects that gets overlooked massively when talking about the wrestling style of non-WWE promotions such as NJPW – not many people take into account that New Japan pride themselves on match quality more than everything else. It is not because the dedication to the art is so much higher but because the NJPW allows the stars to go that extra mile. Giving the wrestlers this wide berth with parameters of what you are allowed to do in-ring is what has led to an exponential growth in the Japanese product without a doubt.
So what does America have to offer in the way of a safe style to grapple? Well when you look at the evidence, you begin to realise WWE has had a huge injury issue in the last few years. Granted, as the fanboys are ready to tell you, a lot of the injuries are not as serious as head/neck damage – yet it isn’t that simple. Studies in the last decade have shown the body shots can be just a detrimental to the long-term health of wrestlers. Dr Chris Nowinski (ex WWE wrestler if anyone remembers?) has been at the forefront of the research into these types of injuries and the results are extremely interesting in this regard. Dr Nowinski has been influential in changing the way WWE treats head injuries which must be applauded. This however does not insinuate NJPW are doing something “wrong”.
Both companies have one huge thing in common – injuries. Wrestlers get injured. Believe it or not – wrestling isn’t as “fake” as your parents might have told you. There will always be an element of risk involved, but this is the absolute antithesis of why we love the sport. Men and women putting their own safety at risk to perform some of the greatest wrestling we’ve ever witnessed…ever. There is credence to the belief NJPW could try to reduce the number of high risk maneuverers in the ring – BUT – so does American Football, Rugby, Boxing or any contact sport. If you begin to mitigate what people can do with their own bodies, when does it end?
There are small nuances that could be changed to the way NJPW work, the same could be said for WWE: but please god don’t use a wrestlers injury that night to justify your own bitchy tweet.
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