10 Reasons Why You’re Watching WWE Wrong
4. Bemoaning The Safer Ring Style
Daniel Bryan criticised The Miz on Talking Smack last year for embodying the safe WWE style that is currently undergoing a shift - but the cause of his early retirement should not be lost on him.
The whole purpose of pro wrestling is to inflict as little damage as possible while making it look as devastating as possible. Somewhere along the way, the point has been missed. Bryan shortened his career by refusing to retire the diving headbutt - a move Harley Race is on record as regretting innovating. He had to hang up his boots because his style was too intense. Recent events in New Japan Pro Wrestling have damned his criticisms yet further; Katsuyori Shibata's career is all but over after he drilled IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada with a sickeningly real full force headbutt.
I'm a massive fan of New Japan - but the parallels with the All Japan Pro Wrestling scene of the nineties are becoming as clear as they are disturbing. You can't take a top rope dragon suplex without risking serious harm to the neck. You can't headbutt somebody full force in the face without risking serious head trauma.
Things in WWE are changing for the better, at least in terms of diversity, but if you watch the product to expect too stark a paradigm shift, you're watching the wrong company. Even if those reasons are dubious - McMahon advises talents to work a safer style so that they can endure the wringer for longer - they are ultimately (if unintentionally) merciful. You can't make long-term money with such a dangerous style. New Japan spent years building Shibata as a headline act. The rewards are not forthcoming.
Even Shinsuke Nakamura - the King of Strong Style - has implored his former colleagues to scale things back in recent weeks. It's a decree everybody should listen to.