7. Strong Style
For years, many of the wrestlers in New Japan have utilized a fighting technique known as Strong Style a martial arts-influenced discipline that relies on hard strikes and legitimate submission holds. Popularized by bad dudes like Akira Maeda and Riki Choshu, Strong Style matches tend to look a bit more "real" than their more traditional counterparts. The Strong Style continues today. Obsessed with MMA, former New Japan Chairman Antonio Inoki hired shootfighters to compete for New Japan, and in turn, sent many wrestlers into the realm of legitimate fighting. Unfortunately, this often turned out poorly for many of the wrestlers, and may have inadvertently caused MMA to boom in Japan at the expense of pro wrestling. Nevertheless, in today's New Japan, there are plenty of wrestlers with shootfighting experience (Shinsuke Nakamura, Katsuyori Shibata, and Minoru Suzuki, to name a few), and they incorporate the skills they've learned into their pro wrestling styles. While Strong Style wrestling isn't for everyone, the wrestlers who practice it make for an interesting juxtaposition with the rest, adding another element of uniqueness to New Japan.