From his newly published book “Why Hiroshi Tanahashi was able to change NJPW”

McDonalization of Pro-wrestling

During my U-30 IWGP Champion reign (2003-2005), I used to criticize wrestling styles that involve excessive use of moves as “McDonalization of Wrestling”. Here, I'm talking about wrestling that you can readily enjoy like fast-food. Type of wrestling where you throw in moves after moves, and make spots that will make the crowd on their feet as much as possible, so that the fans can enjoy them conveniently and efficiently.

As a result, wrestlers and matches start to lack in their color or individuality. In the end, there will be more wrestlers with same moves resulting in same kind of matches.

When you think of fast-food, it has its benefit for being simple, but in the long run, it has its downside as well.

As opposed to the “McDonalization of wrestling”, I tried to make every move matter… and constructed matches in style that has “introduction, development, turn and conclusion”. That may be one of the reasons why I looked out of place during that period in NJPW.

And at that time, I didn’t have what it takes to convey my intention to the crowd. Yet I had the ideal of “What a match should look like” from long ago, so I never had a doubt in what I was doing.

I wanted to give attention to the “space” in between my moves. If I throw in moves after moves, the crowd will be deprived of their opportunity to enjoy those “space” between the moves. The kind of “space” that the famous Ric Flair created in his matches. And when they are lost, you fail to give audience the aftertaste of each move. The beauty of pro-wrestling will be lost forever.

Pro-wrestling is about dealing with mannerism. As the chairman of BUSHIROAD (owner of NJPW) Takaaki Kidani always say, “Entertainment is done for when people are bored with the product”. And I agree with that. The more progress “McDonalization of wrestling” make, the faster fans will lose interest in the product. The fans will lose their expectation for the coming product in the future.

As for mannerism, there is a case when a certain move is sublimated from an ordinary “cliché” to a level of “art”. For example, I consider moves like Inoki’s Enzugiri and sequence where Ric Flair is thrown off the top rope, to be art.

It’s a test of endurance with the fans until it is established as their favorite routine. You have to keep on doing it to a point where the fans beg “I want to see Flair thrown off the top rope!”

When you perform a new move, people will be confused or not react at all at first. But you can’t just give up there. You must be patient until it is established. I underwent an emotional conflict, but I kept on going with the style I believed in.

Why I chose High Fly Flow as my finisher

In 2006, I started using a new finisher, which is now known as High Fly Flow. The reason I started using this move has a lot to do with getting booed day in day out at the time. I knew I had to change the way I think. Critics are going to criticize me for whatever I do. Then I should care less about the critics and care more about spreading pro-wrestling to people who has never seen it before.

“Wrestling that the first-timers can enjoy.”

And when that theme was set in my mind, I thought

“I need a finisher that leaves impact to the first timers. A move that you can imagine the pain.”

A flying move will do. If a 220lbs man flies off from the top rope and throws his weight on the opponent with speed, it would be easier to imagine the “pain”.

This comprehensibility was important.

From a core fan’s perspective, the move might lack in impact compared to “head-first suplex” or “kicking or punching someone in the face”. But I set a high value on my finisher being “Painful move that connects to people”.

Why wrestlers turned to dangerous moves

What stood in the way when I think about “Wrestling that women and kids can enjoy” is an exchange of dangerous moves.

I have long been claiming that “Pro-wrestling is a competition of winning three counts from the opponent, and it is by no means a ‘stunning contest’ where you stir up the crowd with series of dangerous moves.”

When I had the chance to fight in other promotions, I got worried watching exchange of dangerous moves on the apron and head-first moves outside the ring, which even seemed way too dangerous from a wrestler’s perspective. And since then, I’ve been raising an alarm at these actions.

When wrestlers turn to dangerous moves, the fans will be immune to them. An exchange of normal moves wouldn’t be enough to excite the fans, and wrestlers will turn to even more dangerous moves. Both the wrestlers and the viewers will be desensitized, leading the former to be driven in to the corner. Exchange of dangerous moves just keeps on escalating.

Punching the opponent until he coughs up blood, dropping the opponent head-first with a suplex he can’t take bump to… You must put an end to the never-ending spiral of dangerous moves.

And they are usually babyface vs babyface matches that tend to have no theme and result in exchange of dangerous moves for the sake of getting crowd reaction. And the rise of MMA also had effect on excessive use of dangerous moves. Wrestlers thought they had to appeal to the fans that wrestling is as intense as MMA.

But wrestling is supposed to be exciting in more other ways. From the viewer’s perspective, you can’t tell which to root for if you see two men in the same black pants with same black hair on the ring. The matchup is an un-friendly one for the first-timers.

And if you look at matches where I face Toru Yano and Iizuka, the crowd reacts really well in any venue. They can tell at first glance that I’m the good guy and that they’re the bad guys. The comprehensibility of appearance is really important, and pro-wrestling must value those points.

This seems like a good book.