Puroresu (プロレス,Puro-resu) is a Japanese term referring toprofessional wrestling in Japan and abroad. It is aJapanese loanword that stems from the pronunciation of "professional wrestling" (プロフェッショナル・レスリング,purofesshonaru resuringu), which is abbreviated in Japanese topuro (プロ - "pro") andresu (レス - an abbreviation of "wrestling"). The term became popular among English-speaking fans followingUsenet member Hisaharu Tanabe's online activities.[1][2]
Puroresu grew out of the traditionalAmerican style but has become a separate entity that is distinct in itspsychology, presentation, and how it functions based on Japanese culture.[2] It is treated much more like a legitimate competition with fewertheatrics, and thestories told in Japanese wrestling are often about a wrestler's spirit and perseverance.[2] Professional wrestling in Japan led to the development ofshoot wrestling and has been closely related tomixed martial arts starting withShooto andPancrase, organizations which predate theUFC, along with influencing subsequent promotions such asFighting Network Rings andPride Fighting Championships. There is moreoverlap between professional wrestlers and mixed martial artists in Japan than other countries.
Despite some similarities to the popular style ofAmerican professional wrestling, Japanese wrestling is known for its many differences from the Western style.Puroresu in Japan is known for its "fighting spirit" (闘魂,tōkon), and the wrestlers are known for theirfull contact strikes. Many Japanese pro wrestlers have some degree of knowledge in differentmartial arts andwrestling styles, which has led to the common appearance of doctors and trainers waiting at ringside to assist them after a match.[3] Most matches have "clean finishes" (an ending in which a competitor wins without cheating or interference) and many of the promotions do not use anystorylines orcharacters. Japanese wrestling is also known for its relationship withmixed martial arts promotions.Puroresu is highly respected and popular in Japan, frequently drawing huge crowds for the major promotions. Due to this view of wrestling and the relationship ofpuroresu with other martial arts disciplines, audiences and wrestlers treat it as acombat sport more than a performance.[4]
The termpuroresu refers to professional wrestling as a whole, whether Japanese or not. For example, the American promotionsWWE andAEW are referred to aspuroresu 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."[5] Both amateur sumo and professional sumo are considered "sumo" in the same sense, as they have the same rules for competitions, such as the nature of the sport and whether the winner wins or loses. Professional sumo (ohzumo) has many elements that separate it from pure competition, such as wearing thechonmage hairstyle and the traditions involved in competing.
Puroresu has a variety of rules that differ greatly from wrestling in other countries. While there is no governing authority forpuroresu, there is a general standard which has developed. Each promotion has its own variation, but all are similar enough to avoid confusion. Any convention described below is simply a standard and may or may not correspond exactly with any given promotion's codified rules.
Matches are held between two or more sides ("corners"). Each corner may consist of one wrestler or atag team of two or more. Most team matches are governed by tag team rules.
The match is won by scoring a fall, which is generally consistent with standard professional wrestling:
Additional rules govern how the outcome of the match is to take place. One such example would be theUniversal Wrestling Federation, which does not allow pinfall victories in favor of submissions and knockouts; this is seen as an early influence ofmixed martial arts, as some wrestlers broke away from traditional wrestling endings to matches in favor oflegitimate outcomes. Another example is that most promotions disallow punches, so many wrestlers utilize open handed strikes and stiff forearms; this rule was also applied in the early stages ofPancrase.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling, headed byAntonio Inoki, used Inoki's "strong style" approach of wrestling as a combat sport, influenced strongly by the styles ofcatch wrestlers such asLou Thesz,Karl Gotch, andBilly Robinson. Wrestlers incorporated kicks and strikes frommartial arts disciplines, and a strong emphasis was placed onsubmission wrestling. Inoki became known for "different styles fights" which were predetermined matches against practitioners of various martial arts. This led to hisreal fight against Muhammad Ali in 1976 that was watched by an estimated 1.4 billion people worldwide. Many of New Japan's wrestlers, including top stars such asSeiji Sakaguchi,Tatsumi Fujinami,Akira Maeda,Satoru Sayama,Yoshiaki Fujiwara,Nobuhiko Takada,Masakatsu Funaki,Masahiro Chono,Shinya Hashimoto,Riki Choshu,Minoru Suzuki,Shinsuke Nakamura, andKeiji Mutoh, came from a legitimate martial arts background. This style led to the development ofshoot wrestling and the spin-off Universal Wrestling Federation. Sayama developed and foundedShooto, a pioneermixed martial arts organization, in 1985. That same year, Sayama's studentCaesar Takeshi foundedShootboxing. Funaki, Suzuki, and others would foundPancrase and hold their first event two months beforeUFC 1. Maeda foundedFighting Network Rings in 1991 as a shoot-style promotion, which began transitioning to legitimate MMA competition in 1995. Takada was a co-founder ofPride Fighting Championships andRizin Fighting Federation.
Ōdō (王道; "King's Road" or "Royal Road") is a style which originated inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and is most closely associated with the Four Pillars (四天王,Shitennō), the informal Western name for the 1990s AJPW wrestlersToshiaki Kawada,Kenta Kobashi,Mitsuharu Misawa, andAkira Taue.[7] However, matches involving these four have been also referred to in Japan asShitennō puroresu (四天王プロレス).[8] As opposed to strong style's Europeancatch wrestling influences,ōdō opted for a more "narrative" style,[7] derived from the American model of professional wrestling as physical storytelling.[9] However,ōdō distinguished itself from American professional wrestling by largely eschewing many of its storytelling devices.Storylines andcharacters were virtually nonexistent, as all the storytelling inōdō occurred through the matches themselves.[9]Blading was also banned outright.[10] Because Baba disliked submissions,[11] they were also eschewed in favour of decisive pinfalls.[12] In 2011, Japanese wrestling magazineG Spirits cited Misawa'sTriple Crown Heavyweight Championship title defense against Kawada on 29 July 1993 as the first match in theShitennō style,[13] and the 1993World's Strongest Tag Determination League final in which Misawa and Kobashi wrestledKawada and Taue was referred to as the "completed form" of the style byTokyo Sports in 2014.[14] According to Kawada,ōdō matches placed a heavy emphasis on "fighting spirit" and were about "breaking the limit you set in the last".[12][11] AJPW refereeKyohei 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".[15]
This escalation eventually manifested through the use of dangerous maneuvers that focused on the head and neck,[8] particularly during the finishing stretches ofōdō matches.[12] 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.[12][16] Professional wrestling journalist and historianDave Meltzer noted that Misawa "regularly took psychotic bumps", including back suplexes where he would land on his head.[17][nb 1] AJPW would steer away fromōdō after Misawaled a mass exodus to formPro Wrestling Noah, particularly when Motoko Baba sold her stock to Keiji Mutoh, but Noah would continue to practiceōdō in its booking.[12] This element ofōdō has been criticized for its negative influence on professional wrestling,[20] and 1990s All Japan been cited as a cautionary tale in response to legitimately dangerous maneuvers.[21] Meltzer wrote in 2009 that dropping an opponent on their head was "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.[18]
Throughout the 1990s, three individual styles—shoot style,lucha libre, andhardcore—were the main divisions ofindependent promotions, but as a result of interpromoting it is not unusual to see all three styles on the same card.
Joshi puroresu (women's professional wrestling) is usually promoted by companies that specialize in female wrestling, rather than female divisions of promotions featuring all types of wrestlers as is the case in the U.S. (a major exception wasFMW, 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 malepuroresu promotions such that they recognize each other's championships as legitimate and may sharecards.
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was the dominantjoshi organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed by the tag team theBeauty Pair (Jackie Sato andMaki Ueda in 1975. The early 1980s saw the rise ofJaguar Yokota andDevil Masami, major stars of the second wave of renowned workers who took the place of the glamour-based "Beauty Pair" generation. That decade would later see the rise of the tag team theCrush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo andLioness Asuka), who achieved a level of unprecedented mainstream success in Japan that was unheard of by any female wrestler in the history of professional wrestling.[22][23][24][25] Their long feud withDump Matsumoto and herGokuaku Domei (Atrocious Alliance) faction would become extremely popular in Japan during the 1980s, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television and the promotion regularly selling out arenas.[26]
In 1985, Japan's second women's wrestling promotion formed withJapan Women's Pro-Wrestling. The promotion ran its first show on 17 August 1986. It featuredJackie Sato returning from retirement and future stars such asShinobu Kandori,Mayumi Ozaki,Cutie Suzuki, andDynamite Kansai, who would go on to be top stars inLLPW andJWP.[27][28] In 1992, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling dissolved and split into LLPW and JWP.[29] These promotions worked together withFMW andAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling to create a critically acclaimed era with several classic matches covered by American wrestling publicationWrestling Observer Newsletter, featuring wrestlers such asManami Toyota,Aja Kong,Kyoko Inoue,Bull Nakano,Mayumi Ozaki,Megumi Kudo, andDynamite Kansai. This era was also notable for multiple wrestlers returning from retirement such asChigusa Nagayo,Lioness Asuka,Jaguar Yokota,Devil Masami, andBison Kimura.
New Japan Pro Wrestling inaugurated their ownIWGP Women's Championship in 2022, andPro Wrestling Noah followed with theirGHC Women's Championship in 2024.
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