I'm not the biggest fan of Japanese wrestling, Like with WWE, it's everyone's own tastes, But this isn't about running it down. It's purely about putting across the reality of it's status as the "number two" company in the world, and its significance in the west over the decades.
It has become a trend as of the past decade in the wrestling community of the West, perhaps more because of one mans preferences because of his position and the "job" he does. Dave Meltzer has become the man for the online wrestling fanbase to tell them who and what is good and who isn't, because of this the shows that he likes suddenly become the latest trend. The reality is is that Japanese wrestling has never, nor will be to everyone's tastes, so even with English commentary or which ever language you speak, its not going to be a worldwide craze like the WWE became.
It's funny, because hardly anyone ever gave a damn about Japanese wrestling until it was incorporate into US wrestling shows, but even then, it wasn't cared about much bar the few exceptions like The Great Muta or Jushin Liger. I'm a big fan of the What Happened When podcast with Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson, and on one of the episodes, Tony mentioned about how no-one cared about the Japanese wrestlers that came on, except for Dave Meltzer who used to praise them on his Newsletter whilst disliking a good portion of the rest of the shows.
What needs to be realised is that Dave Meltzer at the end of the day is just a fan, who has his own opinions, likes and dislikes, no matter how famous or well known he is, Dave's word on what's good and isn't good isn't the final word, It's just one persons preference, and a fair share of the Internet's wrestling opinionators take his word for it. Now that may not be the case, but it certainly can be a plausible theory on NJPW and PWG's growth in fanship over the years.
If you ask anyone of the past generation about Japanese wrestlers, the type who used to watch the likes of Buddy Rogers, Mil Mascaras or Mick McMannus, I truly believe that most wouldn't have a clue bar a few names or stats, I know for sure my wrestling fan family of Mother, Grandmother, Grandfather or Great Grandfather would have no idea what I was talking about.
This maybe hard for people who love the Japanese style to understand, but Japan's biggest wrestling show New Japan Pro Wrestling will never be the number two wrestling promotion in the world, Because like strong foods, it's not going to be suitable or enticing for all audiences to sit and watch, no matter how hard they try to make it more International friendly. NJPW has been around now for a long time, and while it may become more popular, I truly don't believe that it will be as big as people claim or want it to be.
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