Wrestling in Tongues: The Storytelling Barrier in Foreign Wrestling

Might as well be Greek to some
Photo Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Hey, remember when I posted the link to the Aggressive Art podcast I did for K Sawyer Paul? Yeah, good times, good times. Anyway, the topic went to Japanese wrestling for a short bit, and Paul described that there was a reason he couldn't get into puroresu. He made a pretty interesting point that made a lot of sense after he made it. He said that he was sure that there was a story going on in the match, but that there was a language barrier. It didn't have anything to do with the announcing, just with the wrestling traditions and how they did things.

Again, it makes sense. Much in the same way that foreign cinema has a different feel, even if the stories were the same at heart. I mean, pantomime is popular in France, but in America? It's mocked. Conversely, I'm sure there are cultures around the world that look upon NASCAR as an anathema, and it's huge here. It's the same with wrestling around the world.

In Japan, for example, the crowds are respectful and quiet, rather than participatory. There's more an emphasis on doing damage by any means necessary rather than going through spots and rarely repeating them. Fighting Spirit is ingrained in the culture. In Mexico, there are differences that they cherish over what we here in America might hold dear.

Is that language barrier insurmountable? No. Again, I think the stories are pretty much the same in each wrestling culture. It's just a matter of how they get there. Each culture has its tropes, and a lot of times, it's difficult to translate. That's why it drives me mad to see Fighting Spirit in American feds. It's something that's not ingrained in the American culture, and a lot of times, it's brought over by Americans who have Japanese experience and want to show they learned something by wrestling in the same land as Misawa and Kobashi. Those are revered names amongst the crowd that the offenders, but it feels like to me it's worship for the sake of worship. It doesn't translate to me into something meaningful into the story of the match.

I'm not saying that the cultures should never intermingle. However, there's rarely ever any explanation for the Fighting Spirit to be brought into a match except just to show off how awesome a guy is for having a Japanese influence. I wouldn't mind it if it was brought in with a storyline focus or some kind of backstory. But many times it isn't. It would be like throwing in a trope from foreign cinema into an Americanized film, and then scoffing at the audience for not getting it as "not cultured". Well, of course they're not going to get it, unless they've been exposed to that style in a way that makes sense, that isn't jarring.

If there's going to be intermingling, the foreign cultures need to be made accessible to the broader audience. Wrestling is great, but different cultures cultivate different languages inside of their rings. Sometimes, there's a language barrier. That's not a bad thing, it's just a consequence of the stylistic differences.

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