Rank the Japanese promotions in terms of the us promotions

[Instant Classic]

Like obviously NJPW is the WWE of Japan but what are DDT, NOAH, and Dragons Gate compared to Ala AEW, Impact, ROH? I’m just curious because I don’t know much of Japanese wrestling.

[Bo Rida]

They're not really 1:1 equivalents so descriptions:

Were briefly ahead of the top promotion but always go back to the old guys rather than new stars
America: wcw
Japan: noah

Roster of tweeners that are mostly violent sociopaths. Liberal use of profanity. Unfairly maligned by purists but if they gave it chance they'd see some great in-ring work too.
American: Ecw
Japan: Tjpw

Apparently the best in-ring action around but antiquated methods of distribution leave it with a smaller audience than they could have.
America: PWG
Japan: Stardom

Some of the best up and coming talent on shows that try to showcase all wrestling has to offer but dismissed by people that don't like the niche they're known for. Weird booking of their top titles this year but should be back on track soon. Miss the top guy they lost to aew.
America: Gcw
Japan: DDT

In their own bubble watched mostly by die hard fans but they occasionally do supershows with other promotions.
America: Impact
Japan: Dragongate

Trading off past glories of the company name
America: NWA
Japan: AJPW (Sorry AJPW, that's not fair, nothing as bad as Tyrus)

[clifford]

WWE = NJPW
WCW= NOAH
ROH = Dragon Gate
NWA= AJPW
AEW= DDT/GLEAT hybrid

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Jun 15, 2023 1:16:12 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

Roster of tweeners that are mostly violent sociopaths. Liberal use of profanity. Unfairly maligned by purists but if they gave it chance they'd see some great in-ring work too.
American: Ecw
Japan: Tjpw

[魔界5号]

Directly i’d compare WWE and WCW to NJPW and AJPW respectively. The two top dogs for years, one took a massive hit and had began to fall by the wayside around 2000 while the other went on to survive and become the sole top company. Of course they’re not directly the same, given AJPW still exists. But for a good period of time in the 90s, they were even above NJ, much like how WCW was the only real viable competitor to WWF/E until AEW came along.

NOAH, i guess, by being newer and popular in the 2000s, would be TNA, except NOAH in the 00s was genuinely the biggest of the three and far more successful than TNA ever was. They did start to fall apart in the 2010s though, similarly to TNA.

ECW would be FMW, without question. The edgy and violent alternative to mainstream pro wrestling, they took off in the early 90s and made their name thanks to incredible hardcore matches and iconic characters (most of the ECW originals compared to the likes of Tanaka/Fuyuki/GannosukeHayabusa/Onita). They also collapsed at the turn of the century and was rife with seedy dealings. Much like ECW.

DDT would be, jeez, i don’t actually know. Chikara was silly but in a different way to DDT, Chikara always seemed more childish and family friendly as opposed to the mostly R rated shock humour of DDT. DDT is also very japanese in its very existence, I just don’t see the idea of a parody of pro wrestling promotions seriously taking off and lasting as long as DDT has in the west. If i would compare Chikara to anything; it would be more akin to like an Osaka Pro or Michinoku Pro.

I’m struggling to find any other ones you could directly correlate to each other.

[Fundertaker]

But for a good period of time in the 90s, they were even above NJ

I'm sorry, but this is outright false. The only period in the 90's where they were on par was the very early 90s (I'd say until '92. In 93 begins the NJPW vs WAR feud, then comes the Super Jrs. revolution, the NJPW vs UWFi feud, Inoki's retirement road, NJPW vs nWo Japan and ain't no way AJPW was bigger than NJPW then, aside from sellouts at the Nippon Budokan). Now if you want to say the 80's, there's definitely an argument there for All Japan to be the bigger promotion during a good chunk of the decade (first when Choshu and company come down and revolutionize the style presented, then in the late 80s with the Tsuruta/Tenryu/Hansen trio being more of a stable thing that New Japan's always fluctuating main-event).