(28 Jan 2015, 1:25 pm)MurdnunoC wrote An 'old-school' territorial system would be impossible to implement today. There's not enough interest in wrestling to sustain a product which runs four or five times a week anywhere in the States. Some independent promotions are lucky to run four or five times per month with crowds ranging at the 250-300 mark. They're lucky to break even at the gate and most depend on DVD sales to keep going.Strong BJ, that sounds wrong for obvious reasons
Vince probably has become the victim of his own success. Personally, I've found WWE to be pretty dire from 2003 onwards. There are, of course, glimmers of hope and occasionally a decent few months of television here and there. But, for the most part, it's crap and it seems to be getting worse. The presence of competition makes everyones product stronger. That's why people have fond memories of 'The Attitude Era'.
New Japan is the biggest promotion in Japan and the second biggest worldwide - so yes, you could say it is to Japan to what WWE is to America. NJ has wrestlers working various styles from high-flying to strong-style (traditional NJPW style); from UWFI-style to Lucha. In WWE, everyone has to work the same 'WWE style' which is taught down in Florida. There is little variety which, arguably, is why some wrestlers can't stand out more than others.
There are 'hardcore' promotions in Japan but their heyday was in the mid-90s when you had the likes of Foley, Funk, Onita, Kanemura and Matsunaga pioneering all sorts of crazy 'death-match' stunts. I know Big Japan Pro Wrestling still have a 'death-match' division but I don't know of many others. However, Big Japan have the 'Strong BJ' tournament which always makes me laugh.
On another subject, when did Chris Benoit start finding his way back into WWE Productions??? just been watching Wrestlemania XX and Benoits title match is in full