Puroresu Psychology + Terms.

[Ultimo_Fan]

I'm not specifically "new" to watching puroresu and I have noticed the differences to a degree, but I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to clarify things such as: how exactly is puro match psychology different from western match psychology, what specifically is involved in match psychology, what is "stron style" and "strong style spirit" and anything else that seems appropriate. It would be really cool if you folks could help me.

[darktowerchilde]

From Wilkipedia:

"Strong style
A strict Japanese pro wrestling discipline that originated in the 1970s by Antonio Inoki. Using a combination of stiff (hard hitting) and sharp moves and strikes, such as the lariat clothesline, the chest chop, and front kicks, Strong Style is a theory that has influenced several other styles."

Usually, Strong Style refers to New Japan wrestling, which is more "technical" than alot of other styles. When I think of strong style, I often think of people like Tatsumi Fujinami or Chris Benoit, who use dragon screw leg whips and Dragon Suplexes and such. Lots of other wrestlers use this and there is also a slightly controversial form that's developed called American Strong Style.

American Strong Style is a type of wrestling that utilizes many of same strikes, methods of building a match, and moves but takes them to the nth degree. Thus the matches are often notoriously stiff, with hard strikes and many head drop moves. Steve Corino has lost partial hearing due to a few strikes by Homicide (I'm not attacking him nor do I want to judge) and a few others have suffered some rather nasty injuries.

[Ultimo_Fan]

Hmmmm, OK. I sort of get Strong Style now...I think.
Would Kenta Kobashi be considered "Stong Style" then?

And, I still don't quite get the concept of "Match Psychology"...

[Uraken]

Well, Kobashi grew on King's road style, something similar to Strong Style.

Match psychology is the way you build up a match, from the beginning mat work to the finish.

It is explained better in this thread : Ring Psychology


Hope that helps.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Again, I think "King's Road" is not a style but is more of a slogan. All Japan's style has changed over the years, but they still use that slogan.

From Wilkipedia:

"Strong style
A strict Japanese pro wrestling discipline that originated in the 1970s by Antonio Inoki. Using a combination of stiff (hard hitting) and sharp moves and strikes, such as the lariat clothesline, the chest chop, and front kicks, Strong Style is a theory that has influenced several other styles."

No offense, but forget about Wikipedia. A lot of info about puroresu on Wiki is wrong....probably with an exception of the fact that I made the word "puroresu" famous among English speaking people.

Actually, I've read Lou Thesz using the term "Strong Style" somewhere when he wasn't even talking about New Japan. So, NJ may not be the origin of the term.

My understanding of Strong Style is not that detailed compared to what Wiki and you said. It's a style that emphasizes on wrestling technique and athleticism to entertain the fans (not relying too much on showmanship, such as angles, promo, playing to the crowd, etc.). The term became very popular when Inoki wanted to distinguish New Japan's style from All Japan's by saying, "Baba-san's is a showman style. Mine is a strong style."

Was Inoki not a showman? Definitely yes. What Baba was doing back then as a strong member of NWA is to bring the American style of booking with a lot of big name foreign wrestlers, but he never relied on the backstage angles like a lot of American promotions did. OTOH, Inoki, while he didn't have many big name foreigners but had to develop many (Hansen, Hogan, Bigelow, Vader, etc.), he had many angles that took place out side the ring. However, he didn't just do them in a typical American way. He did them in a manner such that Japanese people would buy easily. So, in that sense, Inoki was a "show man" who adopted the American style of booking into Japanese way. He even says that he was the first one to bring "American pro-wrestling" into Japan.

Still, when I was in elementary school (early 80s, that is), New Japan looked a lot more realistic than All Japan. It was Baba's NWA/AWA style that made me start thinking pro-wrestling might be "work" after all.

[Uraken]

Again, I think "King's Road" is not a style but is more of a slogan. All Japan's style has changed over the years, but they still use that slogan.

Oh yes, I forgot.


And I always thought All-Japan looked much more realistic than many others. I was even thinking at first ; "Is that worked or not?" Oh well. Didn't have a chance to see alot of New-Japan though to compare.

I still have a lot to learn.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

If you're talking about All Japan since the late 80s, yeah, very realistic. I was talking about the stuff from 70s and 80s.

[Uraken]

Yes, I was. Haven't been exposed much to the early stuff.

[darktowerchilde]

Ok, that's awesome that you're listed in Wilkipedia, Hisa! So many of these definitions are so roughly defined; I'm thinking Tradewyn might know more about this stuff, Ultimo_Fan.

[Toan]

I always thought that the best way to describe Strong Style would be it being the basics of wrestling (wristlocks, hammerlocks, chinlocks, etc) combined with elements of martial arts such as jujitsu or karate.

If you think about it... most of the wrestlers in Inoki's days were recruited from other sports such as martial arts or sumo which is where some of the moves they used come from.

I haven't seen much of 70s or 80s wrestling from the US but I don't think I saw much Cross Armbreakers or any jujitsu-style chokes in the matches.

From what I think Hisa has described, his is more of how a promotion runs it's business... which in Japan's case is basically a pure-wrestling promotion with little room for gimmicks, storylines, angles, etc... compared to an American-style promotion which would most definately have a few interviews and such to compliment the wrestling as American promotions emphasised more on the wrestlers' charisma and mike skills as well as their character compared to how the Japanese do.

[Luds]

No one knows wrestling unless they can define workrate right Hisa?

[darktowerchilde]

I'll give a cookie to anyone who can give me a universally accepted and persuasive definition of work rate

[Ultimo_Fan]

Wow, lot's of information so far.
And work rate does have too many possibilities to it for me to come up with a "universally accepted" version...

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

As someone once said, workrate means somebody has confused art with science.

[Ultimo_Fan]

That sounds like a great answer!