10 Things WWE Can Learn From New Japan Pro Wrestling

Pay attention, Vince: these are very important lessons

New Japan Pro Wrestling Despite being the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, WWE has many, many flaws. While the company€™s top figureheads must be celebrating over their 1 million WWE Network subscribers, there are many other problems that are plaguing the company right now. Aging Superstars, irrelevant titles, questionable booking decisions, uncertainty for Superstars€™ revenue sources, other financial problems, low pop culture relevance, and a possibly-insane Chairman are all serious problems that need to be solved. In order to deal with these issues, WWE need look no further than the #2 wrestling promotion in the world, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Since 2009 or 2010, New Japan has experienced an explosion in international popularity and relevance in the wrestling industry. In terms of draws and financial success, it was the #1 Japanese promotion throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before an internal crisis in the early 2000s nearly destroyed it. Since then, it jumped back to the top, overtaking All Japan and NOAH, both of which had enjoyed status at the top during the 2000s. These days, New Japan is lauded for having the best wrestling matches, a roster filled with interesting stars for everyone, and the genius booking of wrestlers Gedo and Jado. Because of its recent success, it would make sense for a troubled company like WWE to look to their Japanese competition and see what they did to become so popular. Here are ten lessons WWE can learn from New Japan€
Contributor

Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.