10 Introductory Matches To The Unrivalled Art Of Japanese Wrestling

Japanese wrestling isn't limited to straight singles and tag team matches, predicated on perseverance and infused with a real sports flavour.

The Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling promotion innovated the art of the "Death" match, in which an unbelievable array of weapons were used to sate the bloodthirsty appetites of the fans who would turn up in their tens of thousands in its early-nineties peak.

You wouldn't expect much in the way of restraint from a match contested under a "No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match" stipulation, but some effort is made to consider psychology; before the lunatics willing to absorb this ludicrous punishment hurl themselves into barbed wire and explosives, they teeter agonisingly on their brink to generate palpable anticipation.

The structure is closer to an edge-of-the-seat thriller movie than a traditional pro wrestling match, based as it is upon the audience's anxiety and the suspense built expertly by the men who contest it.

In this respect, the Death Match is closer to a traditional Puro match than it's often given credit - the beginning is tentative, with the most frenzied action arriving at the climax.

The similarities end there - you wouldn't have caught Kobashi slicing his opponents open with a sword or bodyslamming Misawa onto C4 explosives.