10 Bad Habits WWE Must Kick In 2019
4. Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds Rest Holds
New Japan Pro Wrestling in recent years has courted the attention of and expanded into the west. Great wrestling generates growth.
In many ways, this is a company that does everything we can no longer reasonably expect of WWE: NJPW crafts absorbing storylines, creates superstars, and books a product so intricately in the long-term that everything feels enriched. Every name performer has some intrinsic value, whether that investment is protected through fighting spirit or a streak of uninterrupted dominance.
NJPW also promotes outstanding pro wrestling matches, the quality of which dwarfs that of WWE’s main roster—which, to those who pay strict and fair attention to both products, is a point very difficult to argue. Your writer would welcome such an insightful argument, were it to help him reconsider that opinion and watch WWE with a renewed enthusiasm.
Emulating that style is both unlikely (it’s very dangerous, or at least looks very dangerous) and pointless (nobody on WWE’s bloated books is as good as Kazuchika Okada, and WWE fans enjoy good WWE-style wrestling). But there is a means of doing good WWE-style wrestling without dropping folk on their heads, and it involves not tasking limited heels with putting hapless dorks in rest holds over and over again across three interminable hours of RAW.
Daniel Bryan “put smiles on people’s faces” on Saturday Morning Slam by curling himself into a ball. People smile when babyfaces enter competitive performances in matches that don’t follow a damaging and tedious formula.
People smile whenever Baron Corbin doesn’t wrestle.