The Complete A-Z Of Wrestling In 2017
13. N - New Japan Pro Wrestling
There are several excellent articles on this site and others that will suggest 2017 may have been the best year for in-ring quality in wrestling history. Those may sound like lofty claims, particularly when the weekly diet of middling middle-of-the-road Raw and SmackDown matches overstuff viewers to such a degree that the suicide dive is now more of an instruction for the viewer than a high spot.
But New Japan Pro Wrestling's insanely high standard has irrefutably raised the bar for the wider wrestling world. Wrestle Kingdom, the G1 Climax and the Best Of The Super Juniors Tournament were all considered the best versions of each, despite the already-glittering legacies of the events. Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada became the short-hand for iconic in 2017, whilst the fusion with Ring Of Honor and numerous talented indie stars that ply their trade in an industry never more fertile has made NJPW the choice of mainstream and hipster fans alike for the first time perhaps in its illustrious history.
The Omega/Chris Jericho clash set for January 4th encapsulates the amalgamation between two ordinarily separate audiences. WWE marketed their global expansion in the 1980s by suggesting to viewers that the 'World' was watching. In the case of modern day New Japan, it actually is.