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I did a better write-up on a better wrestling forum, but this could be one of the most brilliant concepts introduced into wrestling in some time. Gedo is a fucking genius and I trust him with this. It allows completely fresh takes for old rivalries and allows the psychology of the wrestlers to extend into the strategy for their matches -- provided they get to choose which matches get voted on in their defenses.
Ex. 1: Okada vs. Tanahashi could be Iron Man (Okada) or Submission (Tanahashi). Okada wants to beat Tanahashi as many falls as he can in one showing. Tanahashi wants to make Okada submit as well as get more submission training for his rivalry with ZSJ or whatever. Tanahashi can win and then Okada has a submission loss he desperately wants to avenge and the idea of an Iron Man Match has been introduced to the New Japan audience. At some point, their rivalry can come full circle to the point Okada wants a Submission Match with Tanahashi and Tanahashi wants to prove he can do the Iron Man with Okada.
Ex. 2: Tanahashi and Ibushi can have a match lined up for the title at WK. Tanahashi can choose Traditional Rules -- because it's WK and its sanctity is important. Ibushi chooses a Ladder Match, because he's the reckless younger guy who watched VHS tapes of Shawn Michaels growing up. You can either have a classic Ladder Match that has some sort of purpose behind it, or you can at least introduce it as a concept that is stirring around in people's brains.
Ex. 3: You can build up a wrestler's speciality match through this concept. Suzuki can constantly win matches where there are No Holds Barred, for example. This allows you to eventually knock him off in that stipulation.
It's potentially a fresh coat of paint for a lot of guys and a lot of programs that have been done to death. It also gives top guys something to do when they can't be the champion because you've got to see this Naito story through or whatever. Allows you to tell some pretty clear and dramatic stories, which would have this unique feel to them.
Look, I love gimmicks coming out of the feuds themselves. Suzuki beats the piss out of Tanahashi so you get a No DQ Match between the two. But in New Japan that leads to a regular match anyway. Which isn't a bad thing, but these guys exist in a world where all these ideas exist, but there is just not that justification to grabbing them and bringing them into the New Japan realm. This appropriates them in a way that it almost feels like a comic series or RPG game, where each wrestler comes equipped with a speciality match type that trumps another guy or his speciality match type.
Seriously, you could make a New Japan trading card game out of this stuff. You have the base wrestlers and their values or whatever, but then you have a King of Pro-Wrestling "power" you activate. Great for engaging kids and hardcore wrestling nerds.
This could actually be an "evolution" of pro-wrestling psychology. Not that fucking bullshit Orange Cassidy stuff where the whole genre of what wrestling is supposed to be is subverted. This takes existing ideas and places them in a context which is, at least potentially, somewhat innovative.
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