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Post by DUCE on Jun 20, 2005 20:36:40 GMT -5
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Post by sam81 on Jun 21, 2005 10:49:01 GMT -5
Yes and no. Antonio Inoki (Owner of New Japan) has been pushing certain wrestlers to get into shootfighting to help bring back some legitimacy to wrestling. It's a practice he's encouraged for probably about 10 years or so. It started when he'd have shootfighters competing in New Japan (worked matches, no shoots) and then started to blur the lines having some shoot matches on New Japan cards and then finally guys like Shinsuke Nakamura, Liger, etc, took part in PRIDE events with mixed results... Nakamura did quite well, going 3 and 1 with one contreversial no contest. Inoki's idea has also met mixed feelings. Some think its a good idea, others think they should just stick with wrestling. Unfortunately wrestling in Japan has been in such financial trouble lately that they're willing to do just about anything to survive. So, yeah, LIger's trying something new, but it might not have been and probably wasn't entirely his idea. Has Inoki's idea worked? In some ways. Its brought a slightly different style to the forefront in the past 10 years its been more about submission holds in New Japan than strong strikes and high flying (not that that is all they were before). I think people do find certain wrestlers more credible because of their ventures into the shootfighting world, especially Nakamura who has sky-rocketed to the top of NJPW in part due to his shootfighting. He became one of the youngest IWGP champions ever, winning the title at only 23 years of age and only a year and four months into his career. So yeah its brought some legitimacy back, but really it didn't go away as much as Inoki thought. They still get press in big papers and spots of TV news. Its still treated like a real sport, with perhaps a bit more of a nudge and a wink than before.
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