Puroresu literally means professional wrestling, and comes from the Japanese pronunciation of the American term. Puroresu (pronounced Poor-o-res-oo) is the Japanese incarnation of the sport of kings. The Japanese view wrestling much differently than we Americans do. Whereas many (though certainly not all) American fans view wrestling more as rasslin’, just some good old-fashioned sex and violence, the Japanese view it as a legitimate athletic event even though it is understood that the outcome is predetermined. If that’s hard to understand, imagine it this way: we watch Pairs Figure Skating and enjoy it as a legitimate athletic spectacle, even though it is a carefully rehearsed event. The same can be said for how the Japanese view Puro.
Puroresu is different from American-style wrestling in another way. Here, see for yourself.
Japanese wrestlers tend to have significantly shorter careers than their American counterparts, owing to the extremely intense and physical style of wrestling that they do. Moves that are verboten in the States are done on a nightly basis in Japan. For example, drivers are a prevalent move in the puroresu skillset. A driver is any move than involves picking up a worker and then slamming them down again head first. The piledriver is the most popular of these but there are many, many more out there, a lot of which are dangerous because of the pressure they put on the receiving wrestler’s neck and spine and because oftentimes they can’t be rolled with to absorb the blow. For the most classic example of this, witness the legendary, and infamous, Burning Hammer of puro legend Kenta Kobashi.
Watch as Mitsuhara Misawa lands right on his head, with his neck taking all of the pressure from the landing. Ouch.
If you want to see a physically intense product, with loads of crazy, hard-hitting moves, then give puro a try. There are numerous puro feds out there, but three of the most prevalent today are All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Youtube is a godsend for American fans of puro, and in just a couple of clicks you can be watching a vast variety of matches.
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