Dominion, June 9. At Osaka-Jo Hall, Kenny Omega shocked the wrestling world by finally defeating his long-time rival Kazuchika Okada in a hellacious 75-minute bout to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, joining a lineage of fellow gaijins (foreigners) who managed to capture World Title glory in New Japan. Cut to present day, and all but two championships on NJPW are held by gaijins. And it's not just New Japan; various Japanese promotions, both male and female-centric, have a seemingly increased gaijin presence. So with that being said, what's the deal with it all? Is this a new direction puroresu is taking? And if it is, should we care either way?
Before we answer those questions, I feel it's important to look at the history of gaijins in Japanese wrestling: the most famous wrestlers, their success and why they were a bigger deal in Japan than they were elsewhere.
The History
Professional wrestling in Japan goes back as far as the 1950s; interestingly enough, that's where we also saw the genesis of gaijins. Rikidozan, arguably Japanese wrestling's biggest star of the 50s and 60s, would take on Western wrestlers such as Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski, Lou Thesz, Karl Gotch and others. Following his tragic murder in 1963, two of his top pupils Antonio Inoki and Shohei "Giant" Baba would strike out on their own; Inoki starting New Japan Pro Wrestling with Baba starting All Japan Pro Wrestling.
The biggest difference between NJPW and AJPW is while Inoki's promotion had much less on foreigners (at least until the 80s), Baba always had a steady stream of foreign wrestlers in AJPW, in part due to his promotion's membership in the National Wrestling Alliance. From there, wrestlers such as Jack Briscoe, Harley Race, Billy Robinson and The Funk Brothers (Terry and Dory, Jr.) dazzled the crowd with mat classics while Abdullah The Butcher and Bruiser Brody put on chaotic, often times bloody brawls. But there was one gaijin in AJPW that stood out above the rest, and that man was Stan Hansen.
Hansen fit into his role quite well as a wily, ill-tempered cowboy who beat the shit out of anyone and everyone who pisses him off, an American stereotype then perceived by many countries outside the U.S. He came in, mouth full of tobacco, swinging his bullrope and daring anyone to get in his way. Japanese audiences seemingly ate it up like catnip, as Hansen became the gaijin face of AJPW, winning the Triple Crown Championship (AJPW's World Title) four times and the Tag Team titles 8 times, among numerous other belts along the way, carving out a legacy other gaijins such as Terry Gordy and Steve Williams. But while Hansen was tearing it up in AJPW, there was another gaijin making a name for himself in NJPW.
December 27, 1987. NJPW founder and promoter Antonio Inoki is pummeled and defeated by a debuting Big Van Vader, a moment so shocking it incited a riot in Ryogoku Sumo Hall, even getting NJPW banned from the venue for a while. Not long after, Vader's stock rose as he became the top monster gaijin in NJPW of the late 80s/early 90s, securing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship three times as well as Tag Team gold with Bam Bam Bigelow. His success even spilled out even into AJPW, where he won the Triple Crown Championship twice, becoming the first wrestler (gaijin or otherwise) to have held world titles in New Japan and All Japan.
Gaijin presence in Japanese wrestling waned on and off over the next few years, without having that much impact (the less we talk about Bob Sapp, the better). That is, until 2013 when Bullet Club emerged. Founded after his turn on then-Apollo 55 teammate Ryusuke Taguchi, Prince Devitt (a.k.a WWE's Finn Balor) aligned himself with fellow gaijins Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Doc Gallows to disrupt New Japan at its core, disrespecting its ideals and traditions. From there, the group changed heavily, both in its membership (LISTEN UP SLAP NUTS) and its ideology. The group still exists today with longtime member Kenny Omega is its leader, though not in the same vein as the BC of yesteryear.
Current State
So I've talked at length about the history of gaijins in puroresu. Now let's talk about the scene looks like today. If you've paid any attention to New Japan in recent time, you'll know that gaijin presence has ramped up quite a bit. And if you don't believe me, take a look at the current champions:
-IWGP Heavyweight Champion- Kenny Omega (Canadian)
-IWGP Intercontinental Champion- Chris Jericho (Canadian)
-IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion- KUSHIDA (Japanese)
-IWGP United States Champion- Cody (American). Interestingly enough, all previous champions have been gaijins: Omega, Jay White (New Zealander) and Juice Robinson (American)
-IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions- Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, both Tongan)
-IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion- Taichi (Japanese)
-IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions- El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (both Japanese)
-NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions- G.O.D and Bone Soldier (aka Taiji Ishimori, Japanese)
As you can see, the focus on gaijins is still quite strong in New Japan, probably stronger now than at any other time in NJPW's history. This new transition has also seemed to touch the realm of joshi puro, especially World Wonder Ring Stardom. While many gaijin wrestlers have made their presence known in STARDOM (Bea Priestly, Viper, Kay Lee Ray, Impact's Tessa Blanchard and NXT's Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai and Deonna Purazzo), one arguably stands out above the rest in terms of popularity and impact. I'm of course referring to Toni Storm.
Storm won the World of Stardom Championship (STARDOM's top prize) Sept. 24, 2017 when during a match with Mayu Iwatani, the then-champion Iwatani suffered a dislocated elbow, prompting the referees to stop the match and award the belt to Storm. From then, Storm held the belt for 258 days, one of the longest reigns in the company's history. Her reign drew criticism from fans abroad, as she rarely defended the belt before dropping it to Kagetsu last month. Nevertheless, as far as recent gaijins go, Storm's run in the company is most definitely a noteworthy one.
So Why?
With all this talk about history, one starts to wonder: Why did gaijin presence become such a big deal in Japan? Why was it easier for these guys to get over in Japan than anywhere else? A multitude of reasons, actually. For one, the gimmick; this is epecially true in the case of Stan Hansen. It's hard to get a cowboy gimmick over in the states simply because it's old news, be it then or now. We've seen Gunsmoke, we've seen John Wayne and we've read our history books; we know what to expect and as a result, we sleep on it hard. But take it overseas, where the stereotype became prevalent to thanks to the American pop culture they consume, and it's an instant success.
The same can be said for the constituency of Bullet Club. Many of the gaijins that have come through BC either had no recognizable success and started out in NJPW or had meager success elsewhere and exploded in New Japan. This can be said especially for the idea of the group as a whole (at least initially). A team like BC wouldn't have gotten over as well in the West as in Japan because Western audiences had become so entrenched with the lore of the New World Order (NWO), that a team coming through with similar tactics and fundamentals would've just been old news in the West. But seeing a team disrespect and mock the time-honored values and beliefs of puroresu, especially to BC's degree, was unheard of; as a result, they made an instant impact and are still going strong today. I had said previously ideologies within BC had changed, but given the uprising of The Firing Squad (G.O.D and Bad Luck Fale), especially with Tama Tonga's run in the G1 Climax this year, it seems at least a small part of BC may be returning to its roots.
So What?
So at this point, I'm sure some of you might be the asking: What's the big deal? Why the hell is this so important? Well, it's all a matter of perspective. For most of us, we grew up with WWE/NWA/WCW/ECW/etc., so obviously we're accustomed to seeing loads and loads of Western-centric wrestling rosters with some meager outside presence. We grow so used to them that they become tiresome, and we seek out something completely different, dipping our feet into other foreign styles, such as Lucha Libre and the focal point of this article, Puroresu. One moment we're watching beefy Japanese lads chop and headbutt each other until their chests turn violet and their brains become oatmeal, the next we see a fellow Yankee Doodle Dandy stroll down to the ring and we're thrown for a complete loop. We've seen enough of this fancy-dancy American shit, give us some realness, dammit!
But more to the point, when we as a wrestling audience reach for something new and different outside the Western landscape, we want that to be special. We want that to be its own thing, separate from what we're used to. Because of this, when those two paths do converge, it can get frustrating. It feels as if they're somehow betraying us by bringing in we've seen a thousand. That being said, we have to think about the other side; what we see as fresh and original, they see as the same old song and dance. For them, bringing in Western talent is a refreshing breath of air.
"Hmph. You millenials with your Bullet Club and your Los Ingo-whathaveyou. Back in MY day, we had Kawada, Kobashi, Misawa, Akiyama and Taue! We had Hansen, Williams, Gordy and Vader! Now THAT was a time to be a puro fan." Unsurprisingly, puro fans aren't immune to the nostalgia bug. We've seen it with the Territory diehards, the Attitude Era fanboys and the ECW extremists, among others. Much like fans of any other form of popular media, we're always going to have those who gripe and complain about the current state of the product they consume and long for better days past.
For them, as well as the entirety of the wrasslin' fandom, I say this: in order to survive and thrive, professional wrestling needs to change and adapt. Obvious, I know, but it bears repeating. It can't just cling to the past; while it's nice to see them retain themes of the past, it's necessary they grow with the times in order to satisfy the ever-changing demographics. You can enjoy the Three Musketeers of NJPW, you can indulge in the (insert AJPW legend I already listed here) and you can immerse yourself in the days of Manami Toyota, Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto. That's all fine and good, just remember that it's a business, and to maintain relevancy, businesses need to keep their pulse on what's trending.
Professional wrestling, like any other popular medium, is ever-changing. Whether it's WWE, NJPW or anything in between, it has to evolve in order to survive. Much like how WWE bringing in talent from Japan/Mexico/etc. is a breath of fresh air to the product, we also have to see that Western talent will do the same for puroresu. So don't get discouraged when you see so many gaijin champions in puro. Rather, embrace it; acknowledge that while your favorite will always stick to tradition in some form, it needs to appeal to a wide demographic, and sometimes their tastes aren't as congruent with yours. In short, love what you love while also accept the changes. Nothing's perfect, after all.
Sources:
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=
https://www.cagesideseats.com/2016/1/11/10747164/too-sweet-me-a-history-of-bullet-club-in-five-parts
http://www.oocities.org/smokyrobmoore/jp052499.htm
http://theditch.us/riot.html
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