VIEW FROM THE RISING SUN
by Masanori Horie

A Brief History Of Gaijins

Various Japanese wrestling offices' bookers, such as Masa Saito and Joe Daigo (New Japan Pro), Johnny Ace (All Japan Pro), Victor Quinones (Michinoku Pro and Battlarts), and Doug Gilbert (IWA), who hire gaijin (foreign) wrestlers, must re-verify the reason for the existence of gaijin wrestlers and reconstruct gaijin-power in Japan. The Japanese recession has been in inverse proportion to the United States' prosperity, and it becomes very difficult to find and bring solid newcomers who can do Japanese style.

After professional style wrestling was introduced to Japan from the United States in 1951, its popularity increased when Rikidozan, a famous Sumo wrestler, became a pro wrestler (Sumo is considered to be the national sport since the Edo period [600-1868, Samurai's era] and amateur style wrestling was introduced to Japan in early 1930's). Pro wrestling has been a very unique spectator sport since its start. Gaijin wrestlers were simply designed as "big tall tough bad guys" in the position of being hated against the Japanese hero Rikidozan from the 1950's to the 1960's. Japanese had the deep inferiority complex as a defeated nation when the Japanese economy was still dependent on the aid and assistance of foreign countries in the early 1950's after World War II. Then, Japanese people could beat their frustrations and satisfy their wants when Rikidozan karate-chopped much bigger villainous gaijins like Ben & Mike Sharpe (1954), Jesse Ortega (1955), King Kong (1955), Bobo Brazil (1957), Don Leo Jonathan (1958), Bill Miller (1961), Freddie Blassie (1962), Skull Murphy (1962), Killer Kowalski (1963), and The Destroyer (1963). Gaijin wrestlers had a great reason for being with Rikidozan (unfortunately, Nature Boy Buddy Rogers didn't have an opportunity to come to Japan for life).

In the early 1960's - 1980's, the rise of Japan's economic strength totally cleared Japan's complex. Monthly magazines, such as Baseball magazine's "Puroresu" (since 1955) and Nippon Sports' "Gong" (since 1968) and imported magazines from the United States (Norman H. Kietzer's, Bill Apter's, and George Napolitano's) started to share more information about foreign countries' wrestling scene.

In the 1970's, Dory & Terry Funk and Mil Mascaras won huge popularity, and the NWA World heavyweight champions were really respected in Japan. Categories of "good guy / bad guy" and "Japanese / gaijin" lost their meanings. Japanese promoters got heat from American promoters because the Japanese boosted wages up to bring gaijin wrestlers in those days.

In the 1980's, Riki Choshu's so-called "high-spurt wrestling" and Akira Maeda's "UWF style" totally broke traditions and imaginations of gaijin wrestlers.

In the 1990's, CATV and satellite TV have come into wide viewing in Japan, and we can watch the WWF and WCW's scene on time. However, the Japanese depression and the WWF and WCW's unprecedented success have regular gaijins with the same wrestlers every time.

In a sense, there was a very pure, ideal wrestling world from the 1950's to the 1970's, a time when fans didn't have to use "insider terms" and could enjoy cheering and booing naturally. I really want gaijin wrestlers' restoration and new gaijin who can let us pay very expensive Japanese gate charges.

In recent years, the inner-workings of the wrestling industry have become more open, when "sheets" and "Internet sites" have become widespread in the world. Some of them are respected and become the news source for magazines and newspapers, some of them still keep the stance as "fanzines" or "results bulletins," and some of them are called "dirt" or "scandal" sheets, which write on the spur of the moment without any responsibilities. It's too much to mention about their merits and demerits. Then, we wrestling fans have become societies of the "knows and know-nots." Needless to say, it is the most important thing for us to have respect and love for wrestling and wrestlers.