THE SLOW BURN EFFECT:
NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’S LONG TERM BOOKING STYLE
By Jasmine Olan
Among the most important elements of professional wrestling is storytelling, and one major factor in the huge renaissance New Japan Pro Wrestling has been experiencing over the past several years has been the way its matches are booked and its stories are told. Its unique style of long term booking has produced some of the greatest rivalries and best told stories of professional wrestling’s modern era. It has also helped make international mega stars out of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s top talents. While the promotion has utilized this approach in one form or another since its inception, much of the credit for its recent boom goes to the current booking team of Gedo and Jado. With Gedo acting as lead booker, the two have helped take NJPW to new and unprecedented heights of success.
When Gedo and Jado took over booking for New Japan Pro Wrestling, they were faced with the challenge of bringing the promotion out of its darkest times. They stepped up and made some adjustments to the company’s booking style that would lead to the current new golden age taking place today. This simple yet innovative approach allows for a successful fusing of multiple narratives with satisfying payoffs. Individual matches are structured to reflect overarching storylines, and those matches act as a microcosm of the bigger stories. This can be seen in the historic feud between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. From Okada first calling the Ace Of The Universe out at WRESTLE KINGDOM 6 to the iconic wrist control moment at WRESTLE KINGDOM 10, each encounter between these two legendary men played a vital in telling the story of Okada’s ascension to the top of the professional wrestling world.
New Japan Pro Wrestling also excels at incorporating smaller stories into larger storylines. Probably the best example of this is how the reunion of the Golden Lovers was woven into the larger scale story of the fracturing of the Bullet Club. This particular narrative has been heralded as one the best told and most groundbreaking wrestling storylines of its time by fans and critics a like. This is largely due to its portrayal of how Kenny Omega’s reunion with long time partner, Kota Ibushi affected his relationships with other members of the Bullet Club especially the Young Bucks as well as how it ultimately lead to the formation of the Bullet Club ELITE. Along the way, establishing short term ramifications within longer story arcs made for some amazing emotional payoffs here.
Storylines from other promotions are also allowed to carry over into NJPW and are maintained as well as respected and elaborated on. In keeping with the example of the Golden Lovers, their storyline began in DDT Pro Wrestling in 2008 and was successfully carried over into New Japan just about ten years later. Another great example of this is the rivalry between NJPW’s Hiromu Takahashi and CMLL’s Dragon Lee which began during te Ticking Time Bomb’s learning excursion in Mexico and continued in Japan when the two competed in Best Of The Super Juniors. In both cases, the wrestlers were given the creative freedom to tell their stories on their terms. At the core of these beautifully told stories is emotion.
With its incredible attention to detail and the unparalleled talent of its performers, New Japan Pro Wrestling has truly proven itself to be one of the best in the industry at telling complex human stories that fans can easily relate to. From Tetsuya Naito going through the process of learning to let go of his past to Kenny Omega finally being able to defeat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship these storylines also send important messages to wrestling fans on top of leaving them with something about. In Kenny’s case, he was able to ultimately beat Okada for the title because he finally felt like a complete person again now that he’d learn to let love back into his life. In Naito’s case, he is slowly realizing that learning to let go of who you used to be is never easy, but sometimes it’s something that just has to be done.
These complex human narratives allow fans to be able to identify with their favorite wrestlers. In a way they get to come along on these great adventures as these stories unfold in the ring. What drives these stories is emotion whether it be love, joy, sadness, or anger. For many of them, NJPW is not afraid to defy traditional wrestling logic in favor of following real life human logic. The promotion has truly excelled at telling stories that allow fans to share humanity with their favorite performers which helps set it apart from what we see in other companies in the industry. Telling theses stories over long periods of time makes the payoffs that much more rewarding in the end. Given the success of this forward thinking approach, there is no doubt that New Japan Pro Wrestling will continue to reap the benefits of this slow burn effect.
