|
There's also a history of fan involvement being consequential in New Japan. Naito's whole run is based on the fans voting him out of a WK main event. This is a way to take that potential influence and weave it into the fabric of your storytelling. You can have the fans boost babyfaces, hinder heels, and even provide authentic reasons for turns and/or evolution of character. Over time you can develop patterns. The fan vote could skewer one way most of the time (preferably favorable, of course), which means that fans have got the power to basically "vote" on a champion, without completing blowing kayfabe. And it doesn't completely box you in anyway. But those losses where the fans can't help the babyface or whatever can really stand out this way.
I feel this could have a lot of appeal to western audiences too. The sheer potential and intricacy of this division has me kind of wanting to spend my money on New Japan World. I'm not saying that the idea is going to be a huge draw or anything, but New Japan's booking recently has been a huge appealing factor to me -- a hardcore fan but someone that wasn't really willing to plug myself into New Japan for whatever reason. This has got me feeling stories for years.
|