Royal Road

[Haiku Warrior]

Could anyone fill me in on the Royal Road concept. Is it a series of matches by one wrestler (like a trial series)? Is it like the 'Road to Wrestlemania'? Is it just a philosophy of AJ (like Strong Style in NJ)?

[Muiyan]

Yes it is just a concept, King's Road (Or Royal Road, as you prefer) is to AJPW what Strong Style is to NJPW.

I've read somewhere before that Strong Style is more mat-based while King's road is the more hard-hitting, stiff action. But then, i've read elsewhere that Choshu and Sasaki are 2 very good examples of Strong Style, which would then render the previous concept as wrong. So i don't know. Someone should fill us in.

[Jason]

There's probably others who could answer this better than I can but I always took Strong Style to mean a style based on strikes and submissions. Definitely a very mat based, technical style. King's Road or Royal Road like you said places high emphasis on hard-hitting, stiff action, but is also very high on selling and drama. King's Road also seems to frown upon gimmicks although there have been a few exceptions (Abby, Tiger Mask II, etc.).

[Muiyan]

Thanks, Jason. But the thing is, Choshu and Sasaki are NOT very technical. They too rely on the drama and the likes. So what the heck?

[Jason]

Honestly, I'm alot more familiar with All Japan than I am with New Japan, especially during Choshu and Sasaki's prime so I really don't know. I would argue that some of Muta's NJPW matches weren't very technical either.

[Haiku Warrior]

Strong Style is what it says... STRONG. Choshu & Sasaki are good examples of that. Also though... throw in Fighting Spirit or Strong Style Spirt- then you have wrestlers like Chono & Nagata both powerful & mat based.

Choshu & Sasaki had their mat based technique down (wasn't Choshu the inventor of the Scorpion Deathlock??) But all wrestlers can't be known for just one thing. I think Fighting Spirit & Strong Style go hand in hand.

Just my thoughts....

[Tradewynd]

I remember hearing somewhere that Choshu picked up the sharpshooter from Stu Hart when he was on his pilgrimage. Does anyone else know about this for sure?

[Muiyan]

Yeah that's what i heard too.

[KAZUhiro Jyo]

From what I know of King's Road or Oudou is that, they have an original slogan that goes by –¾‚é‚_Šy‚µ‚_Œƒ‚µ‚¢ƒvƒ�ƒŒƒX
'Akaruku Tanoshiku, Hageshii Puroresu' which is known as
"Bright, Exciting, and Intense Pro-Wrestling".
I'm assuming that for 'Akaraku', they mean "Brilliant".

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Originally posted by Tradewynd
I remember hearing somewhere that Choshu picked up the sharpshooter from Stu Hart when he was on his pilgrimage. Does anyone else know about this for sure?

In Japan, it was told that Karl Gotch taught him the move. I believe Choshu used the scorpion in his debut match, and I'm not sure when he could have spent time with Stu Hart before his debut.

After his debut, he toured N. America and might have stopped by Calgary, but I never heard he did.

[Tradewynd]

I guess it really is true - you do learn something new everyday.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

When I hear "Strong Style", I always think of old days of New Japan, when people were able to watch live broadcasting featuring the guys like Inoki, Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Fujiwara, etc.

During the Showa era, New Japan was famous for the strong style with more realistic "fights" (often with MMA) while All Japan was known for the showman style with American style booking.

Whatever WJ website claims, I don't see what's so "strong style" about Kensuke and (today's) Choshu.

BTW, KAZUhiro, please don't use non-Western fonts here. I assume you've already noticed some "mojibake". This forum is not configured for those fonts.

[KAZUhiro Jyo]

Oh. Sorry about that, webmaster.
I promise that I'll never do that again.

[The Great Maijin]

Is Noah more like Strong style or Royal Road. same thing for 0-1.

[Jason]

Is Noah more like Strong style or Royal Road. same thing for 0-1.

NOAH obviously is Royal Road since basically they are 90s All Japan. Zero-One I wouldn't classify as Strong Style or Royal Road since they really mix in a little of everything.