10 Obscure Wrestling Secrets That Took Years To Discover

2. The Secret Of Strong Style

Triple H Blade
AJPW

Many moons ago, when your writer first braved YouTube to take in his first puroresu match (Kenta Kobashi’s unreal 2003 GHC Heavyweight Title win over Mitsuharu Misawa), he was astonished that these men weren’t brain damaged. The sheer force with which they struck one another took his breath away.

As the journey developed from Pro Wrestling NOAH to All Japan to New Japan Pro Wrestling, the amazement grew in parallel with disturbance. This thing was unreal, but almost too real to watch with a faint heart. Puroresu was gruesome.

Its history paints it as something too real indeed, but the commitment to working is as astonishing as the real violence. As was later discovered, the practitioners were working. Snug, clearly, but they were working. To avoid bruising and brain damage, the King’s Road travellers and Strong Style shooters alike were selective in which body parts to batter; the side of the face, with its wide surface area and fleshy cheek, was used to absorb the most vicious, full-on forearm shots.

And, to mitigate the absurdly disgusting neck-first suplex variations, an exploration of puro’s inner workings revealed that Young Lions within the dojo system strengthen their neck muscles for years, in anticipation of the dragon, to become myths themselves.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!