WWE Wrestles for Share of Japanese Marke...
Canadian Press | Today, 02:05 PM EST
By Yuri Kageyama, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO - Posing for a snapshot with a glittery championship belt in a packed theatre, Seigi Nishiyama was among some 600 fans who can't get enough of World Wrestling Entertainment.
"The stories are so much more detailed compared to Japanese wrestling - it's like watching a movie," the 34-year-old food manufacturing employee said Sunday.
WWE is famous in the United State for its brand of professional wrestling, a kind of simulated sport and performance art that combines brute force with elaborate soap-opera story lines and larger-than-life characters with names like the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio.
WWE's big push to market itself in Japan is nowhere clearer than at gatherings like Sunday's SummerSlam Festival, a raucous party that charges fans a US$30 admission fee to watch recorded WWE pay-per-view events on giant video screens.
The videos can also be watched at home, but going to events gives fans things they can't find in their living rooms - such as guest wrestlers flown in from the U.S., booths selling WWE T-shirts and key chains as well as plenty of camaraderie in this niche but seriously dedicated crowd.
WWE, based in Stamford, Conn.,... Read the Full Story
TOKYO - Posing for a snapshot with a glittery championship belt in a packed theatre, Seigi Nishiyama was among some 600 fans who can't get enough of World Wrestling Entertainment.
"The stories are so much more detailed compared to Japanese wrestling - it's like watching a movie," the 34-year-old food manufacturing employee said Sunday.
WWE is famous in the United State for its brand of professional wrestling, a kind of simulated sport and performance art that combines brute force with elaborate soap-opera story lines and larger-than-life characters with names like the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio.
WWE's big push to market itself in Japan is nowhere clearer than at gatherings like Sunday's SummerSlam Festival, a raucous party that charges fans a US$30 admission fee to watch recorded WWE pay-per-view events on giant video screens.
The videos can also be watched at home, but going to events gives fans things they can't find in their living rooms - such as guest wrestlers flown in from the U.S., booths selling WWE T-shirts and key chains as well as plenty of camaraderie in this niche but seriously dedicated crowd.
WWE, based in Stamford, Conn.,... Read the Full Story







