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thefootballlife · 7 years

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Elevation - How Kazuchika Okada and @kennyomegamanx transformed wrestling into art

Wrestling is a fairly poorly hidden passion of mine. In the eyes of many, it is the hallmark of someone a bit weird and almost a little subsect of society to itself, rarely interacting with the norms outside of it’s little bubble.

This is, of course, not something I’d agree with. Since 13, Wrestling has been an escape. Locked away on a farm in Scotland in an area recently described by the Guardian as a “desolate wilderness”, wrestling was a colourful escape from a world that was, at best, hum-drum. Long after many gave up on it (mid-2001), I persevered and have been rewarded as the Attitude Era evolved into something that became less palatable to the adolescents but more sustainable financially and, eventually, into what we are in now.

Some term it the “Reality” Era given storylines have blurred with real life and social media has been used to further feuds. Fake TV Beef has become Fake Twitter Beef and has added extra dimensions and ways for performers to get their message across to their audience, be it through a YouTube show or a pithy tweet. They are extra layers of personality with which to whip fans excitement up that they can’t necessarily do on TV.

The Reality Era, however, it is not. I prefer to term it the work rate era.

Today’s performers are better trained, better educated, more aware and have evolved wrestling the sport beyond its traditional roots. The audience watching, in turn, is both more educated about how the “business” works and more mature in their tastes. There is less in the way of flagrant misogyny and using women merely as soft porn. In WWE, the product is still of wildly varying quality in terms of plot, but of consistently high standard in the ring.

Still, it has suffered in this era not due to the product they put out but in how it is consumed. I may have a running record on Raw and Smackdown on my Sky+, but they rarely get watched because I can see everything I need on Youtube or through Social Media. Wrestling is, at once, both more easily accessible and less of a burden on time.

And it is that first element that is important. Because while the “Workrate Era” may be little more than a diversion from story in America, it is, as it has always been, the driving force of everything in Japan. And little more could show that more than the incredible achievements of Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada in New Japan.

In 2017, they have had three matches. The first redefined the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer’s “Star Rating” system (Wrestling’s version of a Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael), forcing him to class it as the first ever Six Star Match. The rematch broke even that enforced boundary of quality reaching 6.25 start. The most recent battle (not yet rated) was a barnburner of a match that pushed those incredible boundaries yet further in terms of pace and action.

It is, for a wrestling fan, even one newer to Japanese wrestling than myself, one hell of a thing to see. Okada, the almost arrogant Rainmaker - the shining star of Japan, a man positioned front and centre of the entire wrestling world because his natural ability is that far ahead of anything we have seen before. A man with a TV star girlfriend, gold around his waist and who is not even 30 years old (conventional wisdom would hold that this means he isn’t even near his peak years yet). He ascended to the peak of New Japan after overhauling the “Ace” of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi (who had, himself, a few years earlier dragged New Japan back into Japan’s premier company) and, by rights, became the man at the forefront of the entire industry.

In Kenny Omega, Okada’s Yin has found it’s Yang. Where Okada could be described as a wrestler naturally engineered for greatness, Omega worked his ass off. He took setbacks and turned them into opportunities, once nearly even leaving wrestling altogether. In Japan (where was could be described as a weakness on the microphone could be obscured by the relative lack of reliance on talk to forward story), he was able to reimagine himself away from what he felt others would want him to be and not just more into what he was, but to refine niches of his character into maximum effect - showing off his personality and fun side on social media and in less vital matches, yet exuding menace and a true never say die spirit when it was all on the line.

A simple story, then. A man who has been given everything because he simply has the god-given ability for it against a man who has worked and scrapped and found the perfect version of himself to be the person he needs to be right now. But what happens in the ring…

I appreciate that this site is mainly read by people who will not get what these two do or why I like it. But the sheer quality of performance, of athleticism and of drama in their battles has elevated wrestling as a whole. It is Brazil in the 1970 World Cup. It is England’s 2005 Ashes Win. It is an example of one particular sport for one particular being elevated out from its normal confines and being writ large not just on the history of it’s own sport, but through culture and into art itself.

Sport does that, on occasion. A perfect storm of moment, combatants and atmosphere combining to laugh in the face of those who would normally belittle it and demanding attention. That is what these two men have been able to bottle. Arguably, both have equals in terms of matches, etc (certainly, Okada vs Shibata from earlier this year is the equal of his fights vs Omega), but equality in quality does not necessarily mean an equality of importance. Sometimes things are set apart not just because they are brilliant examples of their own specialities, but because of an unknowable, unpredictable factor - simply being in the right place at the right time.

In Okada and Omega’s case, that right place and right time has been to be perfectly placed at the point where technology and coverage have allowed New Japan to be more visible while only dipping a toe into the waters of a so-called “Westward Expansion”. English commentary is a tiny thing in normal circumstances, but it is part of why New Japan has been able to bottle fire in 2016 and 2017. The truth is that their expansion to the west is no such thing, it is an expansion on the internet using new technologies to be more accessible than ever, using word of mouth to interest more people and then looking at where their NJPW World Streaming service subscribers are to target where to have live shows such as their G1 Specials in Long Beach California. There is no pandering, no having a particular champion based on the colour of their skin because that’s the market you want to open up - there is simply intelligence and confidence in the quality and the direction of their product.

And all driven by two men - Okada and Omega. There are popular wrestlers besides them (Tetsuya Naito at the forefront of that currently, but there are a long list of performers who are “over”). There are great wrestlers besides them. But none have hit upon the seam of magic that they have. They have elevated the sport into an artform - I could do little justice to them to write out descriptions or list moves from their matches given they are spectacles to be witnessed and experienced that defy description. It is not merely an “event”, it has become a once in a generation battle that has defined this era and is driving it to new heights, heights unthinkable even 18 months ago.

The intersection of the right time, the evolved technology, a level of performance hitherto unattained and the natural compatibility of the two competitors and their personalities - all combine to leave wrestling as no longer something to be looked down on. Something to be ashamed of.

This is art.

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