From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Prowrestling (Was: sumo comes to America, ...)
Date: 12 Dec 1992 10:36:06 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Dec12.090615.24251@u.washington.edu> yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii) writes:
>In article <hit.724129598@sol> hit@sol.acs.unt.edu (Hisaharu Tanabe) writes:
>>Must be one of the last idea by Uncle Verne, another one of those victims
>>of the WWF's national expansion back in '84 which totally changed the pro-
>>wrestling from a brutal entertainment in no-kids-allowed arena to a 
>>kids-aimed total joke in non-smoking places.-- 
>
>I don't have anything against "kids-aimed" entertainment, but I do think
>American prowrestling is pretty boring. In the Japanese version, there's
>much more "high-flying actions" and different "wazas" whereas the American 
>wrestlers mostly flex muscles is statics fashion and growl at each other.  
>Also the "acting" is worse in the US version.  Maybe things were better 
>pre-'84?

American prowrestling was pretty boring in the late 80s, when WWF captured
market share from AWF and NWF, but yet had to improve its quality of acting.
However, as of the '90s, WWF has improved its quality of acting to more
acrobatic moves, appealing to a more cynical generation of viewers.  They
use Mean Gene Rudolph, whose lack of stature makes the wrestlers look all
the bigger.  Then the wrestlers have their "conferences," where they wear
their glittering orange or purple suits & it predictably turns into a
brawl, flipping over executive chairs & stuff, grabbing each other by
the collars in their business suits.  The audience is not supposed to take
it seriously, unless you are a kid or a true redneck like the wrestlers
themselves.  Rather, the fact that Nintendo is a big sponsor of WWF 
suggests that Nintendo takes WWF very seriously.  There were the good old
days, when Ricky Steamboat did his bizzare martial arts-esque moves against
dirty Mr. Fuji, illustrating just where exactly Asians were in the American
psyche; either as hardworking & sincere, or as dirty businessmen.
WWF captured market share when Mr. T agreed to a tag-team match with
Hulk Hogan, your LA-style all-American hunk, against Rowdy Roddy Piper &
BJ Mulligan, a corrupt wasp & his cowboy counter-ego.  RRP & Hulk Hogan
have starred in their own action movies since, and poses a serious threat
to German-accented Arnold Schwarzenegger.  But so far, Arnold has proven
the most suave, writing an autobiography confessing that his dad was a Nazi.
Professional wrestling overall has close connections to the White
Trash culture, the American equivalent of Buraku.  Simlarly, Japanese
pro-wrestling first received its rude awakening when champion Antonio Inoki
confessed that he is Korean.  A few years later, a top pitcher confessed
his mother is Black.  Both events triggered insecurities in the Japanese
psyche, leading to a reactionary embracement of Judo, as with TV shows such
as Yawara!  While the female judo athletes represent superficial acceptance
of social progress, Yawara perfectly retains the image of the archetypal
cute straight girl, and all her teammates also act this way, none of them
being the lesbian dykes that otherwise dominate female athletics.  As if
to illustrate the Japanese unacceptance of lesbian dyke athletes, 
lesbian dyke Watanabe lost to Kim Sejong, as did cutesy Tamura to tall
blonde French athlete.  Well, Gay Games '94 is coming up, but i guess
Watanabe isn't participating, lest she disturb the social edifice of the
Japanese mass-commie.  Well, I might as well say all this before some
shameless Japanese obatarian turns off the room lights and whispers all
this to you in the dark, so that you can say aha, the Japanese way is better. 
I see a light.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan