The Wrestling Bard 05.23.09: EVOSE Returns

Posted by Aaron Hubbard on 05.23.2009

The Evolution of Sports Entertainment: Part V: Power Wrestling and Part VI: Martial Arts.

A Brief Summation of This Column
Sports entertainment has evolved over the years. Social mores and current events have led to changes in booking and storylines. Over the years, it seems as though the "sports" aspect has taken a backseat to the "entertainment". Promos and skits take up more time the average RAW or iMPACT than the in-ring action. But it's not just the amount of in-ring action, but the content of the action that has changed. What was once an industry built on worked catch wrestling has evolved to include gymnastics, striking, power lifting, taunts, weapons, and crowd interaction.

This particular column covers Part V: Power Wrestling, and Part VI: Martial Arts. For Part I: Catch Wrestling, and Part II: Showmanship, you can read this column. Part III: High Flying and Part IV: Brawling are covered here.

Power Wrestling
Muscle has always been an important part of sports entertainment. Even when "catch wrestling" was the dominant style, men were known for their feats of strength. Martin "Farmer" Burns used to hang himself, holding himself up by his twenty inch neck (and whistling Yankee-Doodle, according to WWE Magazine). Joe Stecher would practice his famous bodyscissors on 100 lb bags of grain, causing them to burst. And Georg Hackenschmidt, the first widely recognized world champion in history, was a strongman who relied on his patented bearhug to put opponents away. However, power wrestling as we know it today is a far cry from these simple holds that squeeze the life out of people, and has grown to include slams, suplexes, and powerbombs of all kinds.

It may hurt the "wrestling purists" poor little egos to know that Hulk Hogan would be just as home in a real wrestling match as Chris Benoit. Wrestling is the oldest sport known to man (and if you honestly think people used to settle arguments with a foot race, you're delusional), and one could hypothesize that, in its earliest form, the winners were the bigger and stronger ones over the smaller and faster ones. Being able to bulldoze over your enemies or throw them around is definitely easier to learn than complicated holds. Even pinning is more based on weight and strength than skill. In fact, one could say that skill only develops because you have to find a way to overcome the size and strength disadvantage. So, while wrestling certainly had a science to it by the time it became a popular sport in the 1800's, in its earliest origins, power reigned supreme. Whenever Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels went into the ring against Yokozuna, Diesel or the Undertaker, they told this same story of skill vs. power.

To see a typical power match between Undertaker and Batista, Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong, or Abyss and Matt Morgan, you would never know that the myriad of slams and throws that are "low tier moves" in the grand scheme of things were once considered highspots. But if you go back to the iconic clash from Wrestlemania VI, you can see the famous test of strength between two of the most popular power wrestlers. The Greco-Roman Knucklelock is one of the time-tested maneuvers that proved you could tell a fantastic story with minimal effort. Sadly, the art of the test of strength, the battle within the battle, is almost lost in modern American wrestling. People's attention spans, not to mention the death of kayfabe, have killed off an age old psychological tool. I very much doubt the average fan of today could watch Bruno Sammartino vs. Superstar Billy Graham, with all of its knucklelocks and bearhugs, and appreciate the storytelling.

The origins of the more dynamic style of power wrestling can be seen in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Unlike the "folkstyle/freestyle" that is seen in at a typical high school wrestling meet, Greco-Roman encourages the use of throws and suplexes. When Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Tazz started popularizing overhead throws (belly-to-bellys and German Suplexes), they were showing off their strength as much as their technical skill.

It would be almost impossible to get exact names and dates for the origins of power wrestling's two most important moves, the scoop body slam and the vertical suplex, much less the variants thereof. To put in perspective, Lou Thesz invented a move that would later develop into the powerbomb, which has seen many modifications since then. However, aside from the aforementioned "test of strength" sequences and power submissions (bearhugs, body scissors, and racks), the majority of power wrestling is found in these three moves and variations thereof.

Once again, we can thank the WWWF/WWF/WWE for popularizing power wrestling. Bruno Sammartino was an Italian Strongman. The man who ended his first title reign, Ivan Koloff, though smaller, still used his strength over any other skill (aside from cheating) to win matches. But perhaps more importantly, the man who ended Bruno's second title reign, "Superstar" Billy Graham was a physical specimen. Graham was an amazing power wrestling, and his style, both in the ring and in his dress, has influenced some of the greats of the sport, such as Jesse Ventura, Triple H, Scott Steiner, and of course Hulk Hogan.

Hogan's was a competent shooter, despite every jaded smart in wrestling history trying to say otherwise. But his main style consisted of brawling tactics such as punches, kicks, and gouges, getting the crowd involved, and in his impressive strength. Hogan's clotheslines, body slams, rib breakers, backdrop suplexes, and even his vaunted legdrop made use of his huge size and superior muscular development. They are staples in any power wrestler's arsenal. Perhaps the best sign of power wrestling's influence on sports entertainment is that the most memorable moment in the history of the genre was a feat, not of savvy or skill, but of strength. When Hogan slammed Andre the Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome, he immortalized power wrestling forever.

Andre the Giant is another guy who deserves mention in the history of power wrestling, although his style is vastly different from that of Hogan's. While Hulk was able to overpower opponents due to his Samson-like strength, Andre was able to do so due to his Goliath-like size. Andre was the quintessential giant in wrestling, the staple for all monster heels. Wrestlers such as Yokozuna, Great Khali, Mark Henry and obviously Big Show have had success using an offense that relies more on their girth than any other skill.

You might be wondering why I'm talking about power wrestling as if being a strongman could ever make you a good worker. There have been some incredibly successful power wrestlers, most notably Sting and Davey Boy Smith, who are revered as great workers, when in reality the only real difference in their movesets from Hogan is that they do it faster. The Andersons were wonderful technical wrestlers, but they weren't called the Minnesota Wrecking Crew for nothing. Arn popularized two of the best power moves in history, the spinebuster and the gourdbuster. The crispness and viciousness of Arn's power moves played a major role in developing the high-impact style of Brent Albright, Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong. Triple H is a gifted technical wrestler, a tough brawler, and a brilliant psychologist, but his power game is just as important and arguably more so as he begins to slow down. John Cena, for all the grief the IWC gives him, as a modern day Sting. He might not have the most moves, but he works fast and entertains.

Another aspect of power wrestling is in bullying. The bully in wrestling is the big guy who beats on smaller guys for the Hell of it, and enjoys torturing them. It should come to nobody's surprise than Bruiser Brody, The Blackjacks, and Stan Hansen popularized this style. These men were brawlers foremost, but it was their size that allowed them to be some dominant. It is this style that is used by Kane and the Undertaker, but was perhaps best showcased in JBL. While Michael Cole's cries of "That bully" may have been annoying, it was the exact style Bradshaw was using.

Last, but certainly not least, the style of the athletic big men. While it wasn't uncommon for a big man to throw a dropkick (even Andre could do it in his prime), high flying was typically not done by the giants of the sport. One of the earliest to do so was Bam Bam Bigelow, who would do cartwheels, enzugiris, diving headbutts and twisting splashes along with his finely tuned power game. It's no surprise that Bret Hart praised him so much as a big man worker. But while Bam Bam was often foiled by Bret, another athletic big man was dominating in WCW. Big Van Vader was as dominant a champion as they come. The mastodon bruised and bloodied Cactus Jack with his stiff punches, bulldozed over Ric Flair with slams and powerbombs, and crushed Sting with his moonsault and banzai splash. Vader was THE MAN. His title reign and his style served as the template for Awesome Kong's dominance over the Knockouts and Takeshi Morishima's run as Ring of Honor World Champion.

Power wrestling somewhat declined in the WWF in the 1990's. Men like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Mick Foley, and Steve Austin's mix of wrestling and brawling largely replaced Hulk Hogan's style. There were a few exceptions. Lex Luger was at one point an easy carry for guys like Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat, but he never amounted to anything more than a poor man's Hulk Hogan. Diesel started as monster heel, the bodyguard of Shawn Michaels. But he later became a poor man's Hogan during his year long reign as WWE Champion. Some are quick to blame Diesel as the sole reason that 1995 was so bad. I don't think that's fair. It's just that Diesel couldn't save a show that had the weakest roster, both in-ring and personality wise, as well as some of the worst storylines in a time period where American Wrestling was at a down point. Nash also doesn't get nearly credit for his part in the nWo storyline, which started pro wrestling's next big boom. Both of these guys would eventually go to WCW, where the style was a little more in vogue, thanks in no small part to Hulk Hogan. One of the most successful WCW stars was a powerhouse ex-football player by the name of Bill Goldberg.

However, the most important big man in WWE since Hogan's departure was the Undertaker. While the Phenom has never been a pure power wrestler (he was originally little more than a brawler, and later showed off his agility with Old School), it has been an important aspect of his game. In 1997, Undertaker's best year in terms of kayfabe achievements and in-ring brilliance, Taker was the premier powerhouse babyface. It should come as no surprise that many big men emulate the Deadman these days. Wrestlers like Kane, Abyss, A-Train and Matt Morgan have blatantly ripped off his style.

In All Japan, one of the most famous "workrate" companies of all time, power wrestling continued to thrive and would achieve new heights. Stan Hansen popularized the lariat and made it a staple finisher. Steve Williams combined his physical strength with his intense personality and work ethic. Bruiser Brody was a vicious giant. These American heels necessitated good guys who could match strength with them. Men like Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta were master psychologists and hard workers, but never had the biggest moveset. That same practice would pass on to Akira Taue, whose power game has played a major part in the psychology of same of the greatest matches of all time. And while strength is just one of Kenta Kobashi's many gifts, it can't be denied that a good portion of his most powerful offense works because of his great physical power. Tests of strength also continued to thrive in All Japan. The most prevalent, the surfboard, is still used today to establish the pecking order of Japanese rosters.

The last truly influential big man was known as "The Next Big Thing". Combining the amateur background of Steve Williams and the athleticism of Undertaker with the dominance of Vader and the intensity of Goldberg, Brock Lesnar was a perfect big man. One of the reasons I loved watching Brock is that everything he did was believable. The guy had every athletic gift possible. He was big, he was ripped, he had stamina, he had skill, he had agility. The man was the perfect professional wrestler. His influence led to copycat Bobby Lashley and can be seen today in Jack Swagger. While I won't criticize Brock for pursuing competitive sports because of what drives him, I will always selfishly wish he could have given us another five-ten years. And while Batista might not have the technical skills of Brock, comparisons are always made between the two.

Power wrestling is an important, and in my book highly underrated, aspect of sports entertainment. Feats of strength mesh perfectly with drama, and when the two are used to perfection, as they are in this match, it makes for some of the most exciting worked bouts I've ever had the privilege of watching.



Martial Arts

This will be perhaps the most difficult one to do, simply because I don't exactly know how to define it, especially to the typical WWElitest. I don't want to say, "That style that KENTA and Low Ki use", because that seems highly informal for what has been a moderately well-researched project up until this point. And the mild follower of martial arts in me is quick to point out that while KENTA and Low Ki, or Kaval or Senshi or whatever he's called, have a similar style in wrestling simply because their offense is primarily striking-based, they are very different. KENTA's is more grounded, less flashy and more believable, while Low Ki is more creative and less believable. To martial arts movie fans, KENTA is Tony Jaa and Low Ki is Jet Li.

The reason I chose to call this section "Martial Arts" is for the last word. Technically, any fighting style, including wrestling, is a martial art. And while I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the "sweet science" of boxing, I think it's safe to say that most of us at least have some idea of how to punch, kick and stomp in a way that will hurt people. These things require little skill, hence why I called it brawling. However, the precise sciences of martial arts, both in sports entertainment and in reality, evolved from the basic "fighting spirit" that all humans have, the instinct to strike when we are in danger.

If you read my piece on brawling, you will know that striking was originally developed as a means of creating villains for "professional wrestling". Strikers were not recognized for their skill and were instead reviled for their lack of knowledge in the science of wrestling. Basic strikes, such as punches, headbutts, kicks and stomps were the start of it all. Still to this day, wrestlers who use striking as their primary offense are more often heels in North America.

However, as more ethnicities were making their way into wrestling, unique styles needed to be developed that were "foreign" to wrestling, but still showed skill and was believed to be dangerous. Pat O'Connor from New Zealand used dropkicks. Antonio Rocca slapped people with his feet. Native Americans like Wahoo McDaniel and Peter Maivia were famous for their Tomahawk and Knife-Edge chops. The Wild Samoans were famous for their throat thrusts and kicks. "Japanese" wrestlers like Mr. Fuji were famous for a style similar to that of the Samoans. Jimmy Snuka integrated chops into his offense.

Eventually, some aspects of these more precise arts were adapted by Americans. Ric Flair is so synonymous with knife-edge chops that you will hear cries of "Woo!" in almost any North American arena whenever anybody throws a chop. Andre the Giant also used chops as a primary offensive weapon. But perhaps the two most important figures in North American's acceptance of martial arts as "good guy" offense were "Gentleman" Chris Adams and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

Chris Adams popularized the superkick in America, but was a popular babyface. Since then, the Superkick has become a staple offensive maneuver of practically anyone who is physically capable of doing it. Most importantly, it has served as the dramatic finisher of Shawn Michaels. Steamboat on the other hand, was able to use his Asian heritage to his advantage. While he used chops and dropkicks his entire career, they became incredibly valuable to him in the WWF, where his gimmick was straight out of Karate Kid. The fact that he was hugely over with every demographic played a major role in moves like the enzugiri, superkick, and knife-edge chops becoming staples of smaller babyfaces.

However, it should come as no surprise that most of the Martial Arts style developed in Japan. Korean wrestler Mitsuhiro Momota was a sumo wrestler, but abandoned that to go into professional wresting under the name Rikidozan. The traditional palm strikes of sumo were brought with, even if they were originally called "karate" chops. His two brightest pupils, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki continued his tradition. Inoki invented the enzugiri kick and a more athletic, more aerial style of strikes dominated the style of New Japan Pro Wrestling. That company has spawned such legendary workers as the Great Muta, Hakushi, Jushin Liger and Ultimo Dragon.

Dragon and Liger both became successful stars in WCW's cruiserweight division, where the had matches with such great talent as Brian Pillman, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Psychosis and Rey Mysterio. Their success led to WWE bringing in such incredible talent as the Great Sasuke and TAKA Michinoku. Eventually, Tajiri would come to the WWE, where he stands as the most successful user of realistic precision kicks in company history. Other notable strikers to make their names for themselves in WWE include Booker T, who used a more traditional style of high impact kicks, and Rob Van Dam, an ECW legend whose unique mix of gymnastics and kickboxing set him apart from most of WWE's performers, and he is probably responsible for a lot of smart fans looking elsewhere for more strike based offense. Kicks continue to be a major part of the offense of such WWE performers as CM Punk, Brian Kendrick, Tyson Kidd, MVP and John Morrison. TNA's X-Division features men like AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley who use a similar style of martial arts kicks.

However, with the sole exceptions of Tajiri and possibly Booker T and RVD, all of the names above have used kicks to supplement their already impressive wrestling arsenals. The actual use of strike-based arsenals is a much more recent development. Perhaps the most notable practitioner is Toshiaki Kawada. Highly influenced by Genichiro Tenryu, Kawada stole many of Tenryu's big moves, including the powerbomb and the enzugiri. However, the majority of Kawada's offense was based in strikes, such as forearms and chops, but most importantly, kicks. Kawada's collection of kicks included the enzugiri, gamengiri, abesigiri, the big boot, the crescent hook kick, short kicks to the face, and numerous shoot kicks to the legs, midsection, arms, chest and head of his opponent. Kawada's participation in some of the most dramatic and exciting matches in history with the likes of Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue boosted the validity of it. Worked kickboxing was an acceptable part of professional wrestling.

Today, Kawada's legacy lives on. Wrestlers such as Montel Vontavious Porter and Samoa Joe site Kawada as influences, and use many of his signature kicks in their matches. Low Ki made a huge name for himself in TNA and the independents by using an arsenal that included the Dragon Clutch, Ki Krusher and…a LOT of stiff kicks. Ki's wide arsenal of strikes have allowed him to work long matches with some of the best in the business, including AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Bryan Danielson. In many ways, Ki can be credited for popularizing the stiff "King's Road" style of striking in America. Wrestlers such as Rocky Romero and Davey Richards use a style that is very reminiscent of Low Ki.

However, it is in NOAH's Jr. division that Kawada's hard hitting style continues to live on. Young talents like Naomichi Marufuji and Kota Ibushi use many kicks, but the two most important are the protégés of Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki. Kenta Kobayashi, better known as KENTA, has solidified himself as the REAL best pure striker in the game. The man invented two of the most impressive strikes in wrestling, the Busaikou Knee Strike and Go to Sleep. However, KENTA has kept his strikes grounded in realism, foregoing the flashier kicks such as the enzugiri and Capo Kick. Instead, his big finishers include impressive wrestling maneuvers. He is perhaps the best example of a man who has supplemented his striking style with wrestling, instead of the other way around. Today, his primary rival, Katsuhiko Nakajima, uses a more athletic series of kicks. Recently, these two have been tearing the house down in Japan. The style will continue to evolve into the next decade.







Next week, we will take a look at hybrid wrestling in Part VII, and finish with the "My Thoughts" in Part VIII.