Why are there so few Japanese wrestlers in WWE

[hil]

I've been a fan of WWE for a several years and was just wondering why there have been so few Japanese wrestlers in the WWE. Given the popularity of wrestling in Japan surely there should have been more wrestlers from the Orient?

The only guys I can think of over the last 15-20 years are Tajiri, the Orient Express, Tenyru (w/ Kitao), Mr Fuji, Funaki, Taka Michinoku, Funaki, Kenzo Suzuki, Kai En Tai and Hakushi (Yokozuna was Hawaiian). Did I miss anyone?

[tardis99]

How many Americans are main players in NJPW?

[rko]

u forgot to mention little tokyo

[DSR]

I think Vince doesn't think Asian guys will get over.

[brutuscheesecake]

Perhaps they get paid well to wrestle in Japan? There is no real need to try the WWF?

[DSR]

Yeah, that could be it, too.

[hil]

tardis99 said:

How many Americans are main players in NJPW?

There have been a lot of Americans that have been big players in Japanese wrestling promotion. On TWC there are Japanese shows and Americans are featured regularly. I'm not familiar with the NJWP, but it has a training camp in the US so if the amount of American talent there will no doubt be on the rise soon.

[samachine]

Vince doesn't like azns, I'm not even kidding.

Like, Heyman and the rest of the writers wanted to push Ultimo for a HUGE cruiserweight title run and a tag team run, but McMahon was against it.

[vinniemac]

tardis99 said:

How many Americans are main players in NJPW?

A proportionately healthy amount, juxtaposed to the WWE, and they are given mostly respectable gimmicks, not antiquated, WWII based stereotypes Vince gets all gaga over.

[vinniemac]

dsr said:

I think Vince doesn't think Asian guys will get over.

I think Vince doesn't like Asian guys taken seriously.

[Deleted]

tardis99 said:

How many Americans are main players in NJPW?

Brock Lesnar's their champ. Matt Morgan and Mark Jindrak and Giant Bernard (A-Train) have been getting pushes. In AJPW Team 3D were given major pushes before canceling their bookings to focus on TNA. Theres others as well. In history some of the biggest stars in Japan have been American. Stan Hansen was huge and i believe the first triple crown champion. Bruiser Brody has a huge following to this day. Vader was NJPW champ and later Triple Crown champion. The list goes on.

Personally I think the Japanese have more respect for American workers than the modern day American fan. Partly because of the difference in styles and the different kinds of fanbase. Not many Japanese workers have been able to alter their styles for the American market. The same is true for American wrestlers but more seem to be willing to make the jump.

[vinniemac]

samachine said:

Vince doesn't like azns, I'm not even kidding.

And how.

Like, Heyman and the rest of the writers wanted to push Ultimo for a HUGE cruiserweight title run and a tag team run, but McMahon was against it.

Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko had ot have a two-on-one meeting with the McRacist about how doing the proposed 'Hirohito" gimmick would not only hurt the Suzuki's career in the U. S., but in Japan, hurt the WWE fan base in Japan, and was, well, dumb ass.

Ask Taka Michinoku about the WWF's original idea for KaiEnTai.

Let's put it this way, if it went through, the boys would have been lucky to only be missing their pinkies when they returned to Japan.

When a wrestler is of Asian personage in the WWE, if they are not a stereotyped heel, they are a buffoon babyface (ala Sho Funaki), or booked into oblivion (see Ultimo Dragon).

[Deleted]

I think travel is a major aspect as well. Not too many Japanese wrestlers are going to up and move out of their home country for a long time.

[Skeleton Crew]

It Could Happen Now Most Of The Japaneese are mysterio's size.

[The Deadly Snake]

The biggest reason are usually domestic. No matter how good the condition of WWe was, and no matter how wililng they were to take Asians seriously, as long as Japan was still a good place to make money, they won't come to the USA.

[vinniemac]

flaminghalo said:

tardis99 said:

How many Americans are main players in NJPW?

Brock Lesnar's their champ. Matt Morgan and Mark Jindrak and Giant Bernard (A-Train) have been getting pushes. In AJPW Team 3D were given major pushes before canceling their bookings to focus on TNA. Theres others as well. In history some of the biggest stars in Japan have been American.

AJPW has a plethora of gaijin, as does New Japan. AJPW was made a driving force based on the work of Bruno Sammartino, the Funks, Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, Vader, Steve Williams, Johnny Ace, British Bulldogs, Dean Malenko, Gary Albright, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, The Patriot, Doug Furnace, Kamala 1 & 2, Abdullah the Butcher, and more....

New Japan has had Flair, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Scott Norton, Brock Lesnar, Bob Backlund, Dean Malenko, the Road Warriors, Mike Rotunda, Charlie Haas, Bam Bam Bigalow, and more than I can rememebr off the top of my head.

Dragon's Gate have a substantial amount, with Jack Evans being a recent addition.

Big Japan had Homicide, Trent Acid, Madman Pondo, Necro Butcher, Zandig, and more.

Michinoku Pro have had more than I can remember, but the biggest gaijin to emerge from there of recent vintage was Christopher "Curry Man" Daniels. Lodi and Chad Collier are some others.

Zero-One have/had Corino, C. W. Anderson, Ricky Ladnell, Samoa Joe, Sonjay Dutt, and I think Alex Shelly.

Hustle - Mick Foley, Goldberg, Sonjay Dutt, Amazing Red, Spanky, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, C. W. Anderson, Steve Corino, Justin Credible, the Dudleys, and Spanky, as of late.

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Low Ki, Richard Slinger, 2 Cold Scorpio, Donavan Morgan....

Mike Awesome's awesomeness is mostly form his runs in FMW, All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH.

Defunct feds like IWA had Terry Gordy, Terry Funk, and Cactus Jack

FMW - Mike Awesome, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Cactus Jack, Sabu, and Terry Funk, among others

Pro Wresting WAR had Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, John Tenta, Abbdulah the Butcher, and Tommy Dreamer, to name but a few.


The history for gaijin involvement, let alone respectable gimmick and pushes have dwarfed what mainstream American professional wrestling has afforded the Japanese talent that comes over.

WCW had an improved approach over the WWF. TNA, while negliagent, has been lightyears evovled beyond the WWE, and back in the day ECW was one of hte first (in a long, long time) to offer up respectable runs for Japanese talent, sans the racist gimmick, no pushcrap.

[quote[Personally I think the Japanese have more respect for American workers than the modern day American fan. Partly because of the difference in styles and the different kinds of fanbase.[/quote]

I think it's more because the major (i. e. influencial) promotions conditioned them to natually accept it.

WWE has only reinforced racist stereotypes and passed around the kool aid for peopel to drink and believe.

Had WWE always pushed them on par with the rest of talent, perceptions would be the same.

It's not difficult for a lot of the talent to alter their style for the American market. The problem is going over and being stuck in crapty, racist gimmicks and pushes that rarely go beyond the mid card.

That's the facts, Jack.

[BrianTKessler]

Perhaps it's race. In general, Japanese and Mexicans, as a norm, doesn't get as big as white American males. While I'm on the subject of the race card, maybe most American wrestling fans are more accepting of whites.

Or perhaps it's because Americans can cut better promos in America, or they're easier to evalute due to distance. Could be any number of reasons.

[Marksus]

Kwang the Ninja could of been world champ.

[thehatman]

See what Vince Russo has to say about it, and apply it to Vince. I see no real reason for Vince to not share the same views as Russo.

[vinniemac]

ampulator said:

The biggest reason are usually domestic. No matter how good the condition of WWe was, and no matter how wililng they were to take Asians seriously, as long as Japan was still a good place to make money, they won't come to the USA.

You do realize that most gaijin workers make more money than the local guys, in Japan, right?

All Japan doesn't pay what it used to. New Japan has started to reduce the number of freelancers it allows in, and asked contracted guys ot take pay cuts, and a lot of friction exists because the gaijin haven't had a reduction in pay. Couple that with the attempted hostile takeover of NJPW by sharholders hat forced Inoki to negotiate with Yuuke's to buy majority interest to prevent losing control over the company - New Japan's pay days may eventually be substantially less.


I think the days of wine and roses for many workers in Japan (local and gaijin) are slowly ending.

I'd also add that Japan runs in cycles. The tours are much more forgiving for the style that is popular there, unlike the notoriously brutal WWE regime. A lot of workers there prefer it, since they can work indies in other countries on their down time, then return for the tours - and still work LESS than what the WWE requires.


Tajiri is an example of a guy who had had enough of it, and after Guerrero's death, he asked out of his (then) recently renewed contract.

Why die for the glass ceiling company? in WWE, Tajiri would never rise above the midcard. So, he got out.

Money isn't always the issue, I gather.