10 Things WWE Can Learn From New Japan Pro Wrestling
10. Working With The Right Publications
While not every fan reads wrestling magazines anymore, third-party print material on wrestling sometimes has a sense of legitimacy. If the right magazine or journal says something about your company, then that would help boost your companys image. New Japan, like other Japanese wrestling promotions, has to answer to Tokyo Sports, a daily sports newspaper that was founded in 1958. The magazine covers every sport including wrestling, and they have awards and recognitions for great matches, rising stars, etc. If Tokyo Sports says something positive about one of New Japans stars, that help the promotion without them having to do anything themselves. So which magazines does WWE work with? Well, WWE Magazine was discontinued in 2014, after some thirty years of operation. Other than that, the only news site that WWE appears to have any sort of working relationship with is TMZ. Thats right; someone in WWEs top brass thinks its a good idea to give the celebrity gossip organization TMZ special access to leaked info and other tidbits about WWE. Because apparently its more important to be recognized by TMZ than by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Sports Illustrated, etc. While TMZ does benefit from media attention by providing breaking news from WWE, it doesnt make sense because TMZ focuses more on the reality side of WWE, ruining the validity of their storylines. If you were to Google search WWE and TMZ, the headlines they focus on are more about shock and scandals than about the actual WWE product. Lawsuits, firings, suspensions, deaths, Darren Young coming out (which, in hindsight, is actually historically-significant), these are the things that TMZ focuses on. You arent likely to find any kind of plug for WWEs actual shows other than weekly summaries, which doesnt really differentiate it from any other wrestling website. If WWE really wanted to make their product appear to be something cool, it might not be a good idea to associate with a media organization that has been criticized for attempting to portray people in the worst light possible.
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.
