FROM THE GROUND UP:
NJPW STARS WHO FIGHT FROM UNDERNEATH
By Jasmine Olan
The Japanese wrestling culture is all about passion and fighting spirit. Those are two of its most fundamental elements. Over the past nearly five decades, New Japan Pro Wrestling has truly excelled at showing this. Many of the promotion’s top stars serve as prime examples of what it takes to survive as a wrestler in Japan. Those stars are taught to embody those central themes pretty much from the beginning of their careers. Embodying those themes often involves overcoming difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible odds. It involves fighting from underneath and few do that better than the top stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
For many of NJPW’s finest, learning to fight from underneath begins during their time as a rookie or “young lion”. At that point in their career, young lions are taught to never give up. This stems from the belief that if you give up in training you’re going to give up in a match. The principle of never giving up is something that stays with them throughout the rest of their careers. The New Japan young lions stand are among the best examples of fighting from underneath.
One performer who has continuously set the bar high for fighting from underneath over the past twenty years has been the Ace Of The Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi. His matches generally consist of him doing his best to beat the odds when the deck was stacked high against him. That passion and his overall attitude have earned Tanahashi the love and respect of fans and critics the world over. It has also made him a living legend and respected locker room leader. His career has been built upon making the seemingly impossible plausible. Over the years, the Ace has come to represent the New Japan lion’s mark stands for and few do it better.
The Golden Star, Kota Ibushi is another NJPW Star whose ability to overcome the odds has taken his career to historic new heights. That ability has even led to making history when he won the prestigious G1 CLIMAX tournament this tournament. With that victory, Ibushi became the first to ever win all three of NJPW’s major singles tournaments. In every match he gives it his all, fighting with everything he has to the very end. This has made fans and critics a like fall completely in love with the beautiful mad genius who first began capturing the hearts of the wrestling world fifteen years ago.
The ability to persevere in the face in the face of difficult challenges exists in pretty much everyone. It’s a common thread among professional wrestlers. It’s one of the most important aspects of NJPW’s storytelling. It has also contributed to some of the promotion’s greatest moments as well as its greatest stars. That ability is a testament to the power of the human spirit. New Japan’s finest have embodied that for nearly five decades, and for years to come, they will continue to teach the world how to fight from the ground up.
