15 Biggest Differences Between WWE And Japanese Wrestling

15. Confusing Commentary

For someone who normally watches North American wrestling, if they were to suddenly switch to a Japanese wrestling program, hearing the word €˜Brainbuster€™ might leave them confused. In North America, the word €˜Brainbuster€™ refers to a very specific move: a vertical Suplex where the victim is allegedly dropped on their head. It€™s a rare move and is often saved for a finisher. In Japan it means something else; €˜Brainbuster€™ is the word that Japanese commentators use to describe a regular vertical Suplex, while what North Americans call a Brainbuster is called a €˜Sheerdrop Brainbuster€™, to emphasize that the victim is being dropped on their head and not on their back/shoulders. Japanese wrestling commentary features a lot of English words with a Japanese twist on them. Words like Suplex (supurrekusu), Dropkick (duropkikku), and of course Brainbuster (Burainbustaa) are used in everyday matches, while finishers are often described with their Anglicized name (example: €˜Shining Wizard€™ , instead of the Japanese name Senkou Youjutsu). If anything, this might mean that English-speaking audiences are becoming more important, even in a country as linguistically-homogeneous as Japan.