Analzying WWE's Rising Stars from the Land of the Rising Sun

Has WWE found itself a new talent pool in Japan?

During the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras, it was not uncommon for WWE to supplement its roster with talent it had either acquired from WCW during the Monday Night Wars; or had agreed upon to feature and promote from ECW, which was a precursor to the Invasion angle several years later. Fast forward a decade and a half, we’re seeing the same tactics being deployed yet again, only this time, instead of WCW and ECW, it’s Ring of Honor and most recently, New Japan Pro Wrestling.

WWE had been tapping into ROH’s wealth of talent for about ten years now, beginning with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, both of whom’s success in WWE has since opened the floodgates for the likes of Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Seth Rollins, bringing in an indie flair to WWE for the last four years. However, with the signing of Finn Balor and Hideo Itami (the former Prince Devitt and KENTA) in late 2014, WWE may have found itself another resource in Japan.

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After signing with WWE, Finn Balor has arguably become the face of NXT, holding the NXT Championship for nearly 300 days, a feat that not even the self-proclaimed heart and soul of NXT, Sami Zayn, accomplished. Balor’s the most popular wrestler in the company that a majority of the main roster audience doesn’t know about. He puts on fantastic, borderline match of the year candidates down in NXT on a dependable basis under the radar of the casual WWE fan. Much like how Punk and Bryan’s WWE success paved the way for Rollins and Owens, Balor’s visibility, popularity, and success in NXT has lent its way to WWE opening its doors to other NJPW stars.

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Since then, WWE has signed perhaps the hottest Japanese wrestler in Shinsuke Nakamura to NXT, and three of the preeminent members of The Bullet Club in AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson, to the main roster.

Nakamura’s much-hyped debut and subsequent encounter with Sami Zayn at Takeover: Dallas was one of the greatest matches to be aired on WWE programming within the last five years.

All four have made an immediate impact in WWE, especially during a time when the company was plagued with injuries sidelining their big time money making stars: Styles made his surprise debut at the Royal Rumble to much fanfare, and immediately jumped into a tremendous three month long program with Chris Jericho (including arguably the match of the night to some at Wrestlemania 32).

Styles would follow it up with two great championship title main event matches against Roman Reigns and is now currently embroiled in a high-profile feud with the face of the WWE, John Cena, in a mere six months. Meanwhile, his NJPW stablemates in the Bullet Club, Gallows and Anderson, have inserted themselves into WWE’s tag team division, in the process, defeating the veteran workhorse tandem in the Usos for their PPV debut, and now causing havoc in the title picture. Perhaps most notably, Nakamura’s much-hyped debut and subsequent encounter with Sami Zayn at Takeover: Dallas was one of the greatest matches to be aired on WWE programming within the last five years.

On the women’s side, while not obtained from NJPW, WWE signed Asuka, (the former Kana), who has been nothing short of a wrecking ball, demolishing and defeating nearly every woman on the NXT roster in convincing fashion on her way to the NXT Women’s Championship. Including a stunning upset over the beloved then-champion Bayley during Wrestlemania weekend, and most recently, a hard-fought title defense against Nia Jax at Takeover: The End.

Through it all, Asuka has looked to be borderline unstoppable, which is unique and revolutionary for women’s wrestling given the Empress of Tomorrow’s size; that role was normally reserved for the bigger competitors in the past such as Kharma, and by today’s comparison, Nia.

Shinsuke Nakamura’s immediate popularity and Asuka’s instant domination of the women’s division is proving that WWE is not only bringing in these Japanese wrestlers to their product, but also highlighting the very distinct Japanese style of wrestling, which is very much unlike WWE’s own.

Japanese talent is nothing new to the WWE universe or its audience, but for the most part, they were marginalized and left much to be desired in terms of personality. However, under Triple H’s guidance and direction, and through the NXT system, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, and to a lesser degree, Hideo Itami (although it is unfair to say due to his injury sidelining him relatively early into his WWE career and they may repackage him upon his return), have been able to shed the stereotype of what Japanese wrestling is all about, a far cry from how Japanese talent were used and portrayed during Vince McMahon’s day (such as Mr. Fuji, Taka Michinoku, Funaki, and Kenzo Suzuki).

Triple H and NXT are far more interested in accentuating the talent’s personality and in-ring work, rather than solely spotlighting their nationality

Where Vince used to play-up the fact that the talent was Japanese to exaggerate their character as it was done to Kenzo Suzuki and his geisha valet, Hiroko, Triple H and NXT are far more interested in accentuating the talent’s personality and in-ring work, rather than solely spotlighting their nationality.

A perfect example of this is Nakamura. You can’t help but be mesmerized by Nakamura’s mannerisms and subtle character tics, all the while, the fact that he is Japanese never truly enters your mind, even when he talks on the mic. During his debut against Sami Zayn, those in attendance couldn’t take their eyes off him, and when he does his trademark seizures and hand gestures, it’s not something fans can point at and think ‘oh that’s so obviously Japanese’.

WWE may have found its next goldmine in Japan, and while signing some of these NJPW talents is one thing, properly presenting and utilizing them to their strengths once they’ve been acquired, is perhaps the most important. In the words of Kevin Owens: “it’s not 1997 anymore”.

The era of racial stereotypes and gimmicks revolving around extreme national pride should, by all means, be coming to an end in WWE. And for the most part, WWE is becoming more open in rebuilding its relationship to Japan; the company held the Beast in the East event at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo; in a surprise one-off, NXT featured the legendary Jushin “Thunder” Liger in the opening match of Takeover: Brooklyn; and even used “Karate” from Japanese idol-metal band BABYMETAL as a theme song for Takeover: The End.

The fate of Japanese wrestlers and its style crossing over and appealing to western audiences rests in Shinsuke Nakamura’s success down in NXT and eventually on the WWE main roster, much like how the explosion of independent wrestlers in WWE today weighed heavy on the shoulders of Punk and Bryan between 2006-2012.

Given Nakamura’s work thus far in the company, this could be a sign of things to come for future Japanese wrestlers to travel abroad and work for WWE, none more make-or-break than Nakamura’s eagerly anticipated upcoming match against Finn Balor: a bout between a Japanese wrestler and a practitioner of the Japanese style.

While their respective reputations certainly precede both among wrestling fans, the Japanese in-ring style, in particular, Nakamura’s strong style, is relatively new to casual WWE viewers. The Balor-Nakamura match could be just the exhibition that permanently puts Puroresu on the map for mainstream western audiences and becomes an indelible part of the WWE product moving forward in this New Era.

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Analzying WWE’s Rising Stars from the Land of the Rising Sun

By AJ Balano | Jun 18, 2016

Has WWE found itself a new talent pool in Japan?