10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2017

2. The Rise Of New Japan Pro Wrestling

Triple H Jinder Mahal
NJPW1972.com

New Japan Pro Wrestling reached a previously unscaled critical summit in 2017.

Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega wrestled the consensus best matches of the year - or, depending on the extent of your adulation, the best matches ever wrestled. Tetsuya Naito cemented himself as the coolest wrestler on the planet, and merely the biggest star in his homeland. The junior heavyweights indirectly humiliated the WWE 205 Live roster by wrestling a spate of classics as spectacular as they were, somehow, believable. Hiroshi Tanahashi delivered a lesson to John Cena by perfecting the selfless elder statesman role.

In 2017, New Japan Pro Wrestling was the euphoric, creative antithesis to a turgid, practically regressive WWE. Chris Jericho was far from the only man to have his head turned by their intoxicating brilliance.

In 2018, the company is invading North American soil for the second successive year; as a measure of their growth, Gedo has opted to host Strong Style: Evolved at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California - a 5,000-seat arena. This is a major milestone for the company's US expansion - and something of a worry for WWE, thus far impotent in their attempts to stunt this growth à la early 2016. Kenny Omega has no desire to follow AJ Styles to WWE, regardless of how well the Phenomenal One has fared.

What's happening in the east - and the west - is much too special.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!