Brehs....something has been bothering me. I know I am the butt-end of the marsupial jokes with my stances on professional wrestling (I'm a tree climbing hater). But peep game, you know why that's the case....the lack of Catch Can in wrestling. I mean grappling, submission holds, and Pancrase strikes. There was a time when a younger me used to be hype for the Dean Melenkos, the Beenwahs, and Bret the GOATman GOAT.
It hurts to see that style of wrestling being treated as an afterthought for some more flips, power moves, and random dips. Let's talk about the GOD....Karl Gotch:
This man personified the shooting technique and dedicated routine to keep the workrate a float. While your favorite GOAT during the times were style, profiling, and saying prayer...this man was putting on hour clinics like it was a part of life.
Fast-forward to the beginning stages of Puro:
Strong Style was a more accessible approach to the pure technique of shoot style. Grappling resorts to kicks and strikes, along with the focus on dedication and craft to the ring. Fans don;'t want to be bored, so it's all back and forth instead of ground techniques. Then there are alternatives for the more modern Western wrestling crowd:
Kings Road goes from the technical approach of Strong Style to a more aggressive approach with emphasis on suplexes, slams, and movesets that would be the cause of endless injuries and deaths. All Japan in the 90s was a whole entire beast while NJPW started to fall from its glory days leading into Inokism. What if we were to somehow have a promotion dedicated to the goodness of grappling and the experience of MMA before the term was on display...look no further than these promotions:
These promotions brought the essence of grappling and palm strikes to a new plateau. Before UFC became a huge sensation, these promotions were creating the feeling of a gladiator type of experience. The type of stuff you would see in movies like Bloodsport and so forth. Why did this had to end? What made the fans stop caring for such a passionate form of sports? I tell you...the lack of theatrics and storyline. We enter Ring of Honor:
Yes, that's the stuff. Kick pads, strong style antics, Kings Road strength, and a twang of flippy shyt all in the form of sports entertainment. This indie fed took the world by storm. While WWE was lost in the limbo of winning the war against WCW and ECW folding. Wrestling gravitated to the likes of TNA, the overly hardcore aspect of CZW, and the focus of honor in the ring of ROH. Yet, somehow the feeling started to shift away from the grappling and athletics outside coordinated move sets. Kurt Angle went from doing ground techniques to flipping off of the stage onto Abyss. The submissions went from Crossface Chickenwing to getting choked out from chicken wire. Wrestlers like Bob Backlund were joke characters, instead of elites to the craft of catch can.
Hell, Bret Hart got put on the permanent shelf for a kick to the head. As UFC gain traction, so did the end of the squared circle. We end up embracing human cockfighting in a octagon with folks that would rather strike, then take it to the ground. Even if they take it to the ground, the crowd bytch about boredom, instead of the human chess feeling of a proper ground game.
New Japan traded the strong style feeling for a more modern western take. No more grappling and takedowns for Inokism ended up being in the worst form of timing. Fast-forward to the present...
UFC focuses on strikes and theatrics, WWE craves the storyline and fast-paced action, AEW delivers the feeling of WCW/Territory wrestling with a twang of indie spice, and ROH the company that was last of the dying breed for the feeling of UWFI, ended up becoming a second version of AEW.
Pancrase itself ended up being swallowed by the MMA craze. Even PRIDE FC which I didn't mention, died because of background nonsense that spilled into the arena.
Overall, this is why I am jaded. I have always been a fan of catch can and grapple type of wrestling, yet I am the minority.
Not the main audience
It hurts to see that style of wrestling being treated as an afterthought for some more flips, power moves, and random dips. Let's talk about the GOD....Karl Gotch:
This man personified the shooting technique and dedicated routine to keep the workrate a float. While your favorite GOAT during the times were style, profiling, and saying prayer...this man was putting on hour clinics like it was a part of life.
Fast-forward to the beginning stages of Puro:
Strong Style was a more accessible approach to the pure technique of shoot style. Grappling resorts to kicks and strikes, along with the focus on dedication and craft to the ring. Fans don;'t want to be bored, so it's all back and forth instead of ground techniques. Then there are alternatives for the more modern Western wrestling crowd:
Kings Road goes from the technical approach of Strong Style to a more aggressive approach with emphasis on suplexes, slams, and movesets that would be the cause of endless injuries and deaths. All Japan in the 90s was a whole entire beast while NJPW started to fall from its glory days leading into Inokism. What if we were to somehow have a promotion dedicated to the goodness of grappling and the experience of MMA before the term was on display...look no further than these promotions:
These promotions brought the essence of grappling and palm strikes to a new plateau. Before UFC became a huge sensation, these promotions were creating the feeling of a gladiator type of experience. The type of stuff you would see in movies like Bloodsport and so forth. Why did this had to end? What made the fans stop caring for such a passionate form of sports? I tell you...the lack of theatrics and storyline. We enter Ring of Honor:
Yes, that's the stuff. Kick pads, strong style antics, Kings Road strength, and a twang of flippy shyt all in the form of sports entertainment. This indie fed took the world by storm. While WWE was lost in the limbo of winning the war against WCW and ECW folding. Wrestling gravitated to the likes of TNA, the overly hardcore aspect of CZW, and the focus of honor in the ring of ROH. Yet, somehow the feeling started to shift away from the grappling and athletics outside coordinated move sets. Kurt Angle went from doing ground techniques to flipping off of the stage onto Abyss. The submissions went from Crossface Chickenwing to getting choked out from chicken wire. Wrestlers like Bob Backlund were joke characters, instead of elites to the craft of catch can.
Hell, Bret Hart got put on the permanent shelf for a kick to the head. As UFC gain traction, so did the end of the squared circle. We end up embracing human cockfighting in a octagon with folks that would rather strike, then take it to the ground. Even if they take it to the ground, the crowd bytch about boredom, instead of the human chess feeling of a proper ground game.
New Japan traded the strong style feeling for a more modern western take. No more grappling and takedowns for Inokism ended up being in the worst form of timing. Fast-forward to the present...
UFC focuses on strikes and theatrics, WWE craves the storyline and fast-paced action, AEW delivers the feeling of WCW/Territory wrestling with a twang of indie spice, and ROH the company that was last of the dying breed for the feeling of UWFI, ended up becoming a second version of AEW.
Pancrase itself ended up being swallowed by the MMA craze. Even PRIDE FC which I didn't mention, died because of background nonsense that spilled into the arena.
Overall, this is why I am jaded. I have always been a fan of catch can and grapple type of wrestling, yet I am the minority.
Not the main audience
