10 Things WWE Can Learn From Wrestle Kingdom 12

Anyone familiar with the events that led up to the collapse of WCW will know that, in wrestling (as in any other profession), absolute power corrupts absolutely. You can't go giving creative privileges to one set of stars and not another.

New Japan, however, seems to have struck exactly the right balance. While there's no indication that Kazuchika Okada threatened to walk out of the company unless he got to score a make-believe win in Wrestle Kingdom's headline match, it's clear that he - along with everyone else - gets to call his own spots in the ring.

This is something that the WWE decision-makers could do with incorporating in their show - that is to say, allowing wrestlers, in particular the experienced ones who can be trusted with their own choreography, much more freedom inside the squared circle.

We fully understand why they are reticent in this regard: Vince McMahon's punishing road schedule means that bookers must be conservative with their performers' bodies. But, on the biggest stages, there's surely no harm in loosening the shackles every now and then.