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View Full Version : Difference between American Strong Style and Japanese Strong Style?


redoneja
12-12-2005, 02:05 PM
Im assuming that American Strong Style involves more flashy moves, high flying moves, etc but am not for sure. Anybody know the differences and/or can give me an example of a wrestler who uses American Strong Style? Thanks

What Would Kevin Do?
12-12-2005, 03:27 PM
Paul London
American Dragon...
I may be wrong, but I was to say Low Ki.

It's not about being flashy, it's more about stiffness. Works who are associated with "strong style" usually appear very stiff, and may strike more than regular guys. Hence why you'll usually see them mention "American strong style" when London is kicking his opponent."

Here, this may help, it's an article off puroresupower.com


http://www.puroresupower.com/articles/zarnold081204.shtml
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#000000>THE MYTH OF "STRONG STYLE"</TD></TR><TR><TD>By Zach Arnold
puroresupower@hotmail.com (puroresupower@hotmail.com)

Today, all the rage amongst the net geeks for American independent workers is "strong style." A guy gets legitimately slapped in the face so hard that he loses hearing. A guy gets punched in the face hard enough to break his nose - on purpose. A guy is on the receiving end of a spinning chop so hard that he gets bursatis in his shoulder (or even worse, a separation). A guy gets a forearm to the face so hard that he suffers a concussion.

This is "Strong Style." No, "strong style" has always been a bulls--- marketing ploy. An excuse to cover up weaknesses and/or to try to define a style that really isn't creative, flawlessly-executed wrestling. It's the difference between working snug (stiff, but not stiff enough to hurt a person violently) and being a "crowbar" (literally hurt someone to the point that it feels like you're hammering them with a crowbar in the ring just to get yourself over and inflict punishment).

It's incredibly sad that so many people have bought into the marketing myth of "strong style." Because it never really existed!

For those who believe that such a "strong style" exists and feel that it should be defended, look no further than the marketplace numbers for strong style. In the peak years of core business, New Japan generated tens of millions of dollars (at one point, well over $60 million dollars a year). In 1998, that figure went down to $30 million a year. Today? The number is down sharply, with estimates around 25% of what the company used to take in for cash flow.

The marketplace said that "strong style" wasn't a draw in Japan over half a decade ago.

So why is it becoming such the rage with independent workers across the world?

The whole art of professional wrestling is to create an illusion of legitimately hurting your opponent. The bumps are real, the physical punishment is very real, but the purpose isn't to intentionally hurt or maim someone to entertain a crowd.

"Strong style" is an excuse to throw that proposition out the window. You can't create an illusion if the violence is all too real. When wrestlers have to wear mouthpieces to go into the wrestling ring and aren't in a position to use what they learned in wrestling school to protect themselves against "shoot" punishment, that's not just exposing the business - that's not living within the boundaries of what pro-wrestling is in the first place.

So why has "strong style" and elements of it that have crept into other wrestling styles alive and well in a business where the fans have (over time) been turned off by it?

The main culprit in today's industry for excessive stiffness is to cover up a lack of basic training skills (movesets plus psychology) in order to try to draw a reaction from the fans. Instead of chain wrestling, pop someone in the head, chop his throat, and use a head-spike finisher to try to draw a pop from the crowd. Instead of learning transitions to try to get fans involved in the match, just throw as many stiff spots out as possible in a "who can top this" mentality. Instead of actually trying to tell a story in the ring, let's just slap each other silly until both guys pass out and the crowd applauds the effort of both men.

There are other excuses as to why this non-marketable style of wrestling still exists. With MMA absolutely putting a strangle-hold on pro-wrestling in Japan and hijacking pro-wrestling's identity for their own marketing purposes, the response from pro-wrestlers feeling the heat from management and promoters is to try to incorporate as many elements of MMA as possible into their product. This is a flawed premise. Rather than focusing on the elements of pro-wrestling that MMA companies are using to draw big crowds in Japan, pro-wrestling is getting away from its bread and butter by getting more violent in hopes of selling fans on integrity and credibility. Therefore, pro-wrestlers get the mindset that they have to literally stiff each other so hard to make it look and feel as real as possible. Under Misawa's administration in All Japan, the use of stiffness and overboard, crazy, psychotic, daredevil moves was to cover up a lack of creativity in booking.

There's also a third element at play. With so many old wrestlers still around in Japan collecting paychecks, young wrestlers are feeling the heat to try to justify their job security and their paychecks. In order to try to gain the respect of the older wrestlers, many young stars are literally clubbing away on the veterans in matches and in turn have to absorb an insane amount of punishment in the ring. One such star is KENTA, NOAH's great Jr. Heavyweight wrestler who is supported by Kenta Kobashi (part of the NOAH office). However, for the punishment the wrestlers in NOAH deliver to each other, the line is set in stone as to what is snug versus what is stiff. You can be stiff to a point, but the wrestlers in NOAH not only know how to protect themselves but also know not to cross that fine line.

In New Japan (and with talent on the American independent scene), the actual value of learning how to work a legitimate pro-wrestling match is dwindling. The "strong style" is much easier to use because:
It requires less training and talent to apply
It's more violent, therefore it attracts attention from "hardcore" fans
Wrestlers think that it's easier for fans to believe in what they are doing if the brutality is actually legitimate. There's also one other factor at play - generally, wrestlers who believe in "strong style" also happen to be its biggest proponents because they are the ones who are often delivering, not absorbing the punishment. There's a reason why "crowbars" like Kensuke Sasaki still are around and why guys like Yoshihiro Takayama are taking trips to the hospital. It's what separates the Manabu Nakanishis and the Katsuyori Shibatas of the world from more established, polished pro-wrestlers such as Yuji Nagata.

Looking at a test case such as Yoshihiro Takayama, it's easy to see why he's in the hospital right now. When you work with as many opponents as he has, you often work with opponents in today's Japanese wrestling business who are so stiff, so hard that they only know one way to wrestle.
It also applies to Takayama.
When Takayama is in the ring against a worker such as a Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, he is not trying to obliterate the guy and damage him. He works an actual wrestling match! When he is in the ring with someone such as Shinsuke Nakamura, he delivers a legitimate beating to the kid. When he is in the ring with Mitsuharu Misawa, he allows Misawa to literally send him to the hospital. The latest hospital trip that Takayama made in Osaka was not the first hospital trip he has taken in his life (remember who sent him to the hospital in September 2002? It was Misawa, but nobody gave him an earful about that) and it certainly won't be his last trip.

Takayama's medical situation has received enormous press coverage in Japan and has also taken away the spotlight from New Japan's 2004 G-1 tournament. What it has not done is put the focus on what the actual cause was for the damage to Takayama's head. Wrestlers continue wrestling, saying to themselves, "Well, what happened to him won't happen to me." And even those who take trips to the hospital don't change their attitude on the wrestling business.

Stupidity or trying to cash in as quick as possible before retirement? Each wrestler has their own reasons for using "strong style" as an excuse, but ultimately its the "crowbars" of the wrestling world who will generate the rewards while the willing <STRIKE>suckers</STRIKE> participants are the ones taking trips to local hospitals.
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Indifferent Clox
12-12-2005, 03:49 PM
I don't know, i like shoot matches.. i don't use a strong style, but sometimes it's more fun to be legitimetly punched. Of course i'm masochistic so.. nevermind...

BigDaddyCool
12-14-2005, 11:45 PM
The hell are you even talking about?