10 Things Japanese Wrestling Does Better Than WWE

Pro wrestling promotions in the U.S., especially WWE, are notorious for providing a clean, sterile product, where characters seldom venture into any extreme. Furthermore, because the product is PG, many traditional aspects of wrestling, especially face-heel dynamics, are ignored in favor of appealing to children.

For example, then-heel Triple H mouthed off at a kid who was heckling him, and when the kid started crying, HHH broke character to console him. That speaks volumes not only of the ‘walking on eggshells’ mentality in WWE vis-à-vis public perception, but of the audience as a whole.

In contrast, Japanese wrestling has some promotions that completely disregard the possibility of offending viewers by featuring extremely outlandish characters. Two particular characters stand out more than others: Danshoku and Hard Gay (yes, that's his actual ring name) who demonstrate arguably every single stereotype of the gay community. 

There’s no way that such a character would last more than five minutes in WWE before someone would take offense, the company would have to issue a public apology, and someone would be fired or have to take sensitivity classes.

That’s why Japanese wrestling's in a better place than American wrestling: the audience knows full well that these over-the-top characters are just caricatures, and their antics aren’t meant to seriously wound anyone. If only the same could be said in the United States…