Puroresu

Matches are held between two or more sides ("corners"). Each corner may consist of one wrestler, or a team of two or more. Most team matches are governed by tag team rules (see below).

The match is won by scoring a "fall", which is generally consistent with standard professional wrestling:

• Pinning an opponent's shoulders to the mat for the referee's count of three.
• Submission victory, which sees the wrestler either tap out or verbally submit to their opponent.
• Knockout, the failure to regain composure at the referee's command.
• Countout, the failure of a party to return to the ring at the referee's command, which is determined by a count of twenty (some federations use ten, but in Japanese wrestling they use twenty).
• Disqualification, the act of one wrestler breaking the rules.

Additional rules govern how the outcome of the match is to take place. One such example would be the Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation, as it does not allow pinfall victories in favor of submissions and knockouts; this is seen as an early influence of mixed martial arts, as some wrestlers broke away from traditional wrestling endings to matches in favor of legitimate outcomes. Another example is that most promotions disallow punches, so many wrestlers utilize open handed strikes and stiff forearms; this rule was also applied in the early stages of Pancrase.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling, headed by Antonio Inoki, used Inoki's "strong style" approach of wrestling as a combat sport. Wrestlers incorporated kicks and strikes from martial arts disciplines, and a strong emphasis was placed on submission wrestling. Many of New Japan's wrestlers, including top stars such as Shinya Hashimoto, Riki Choshu, Shinsuke Nakamura and Keiji Mutoh, came from a legitimate martial arts background.

Ōdō ("King's Road"; also translated as "Royal Road") is a style which originated in All Japan Pro Wrestling, and is most closely associated with the Four Pillars (四天王,Shitennō), the informal nomenclature for 1990s AJPW wrestlers Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Akira Taue.[5] However, matches involving these four have been also referred to in Japan as Shitennō puroresu (四天王プロレス).[6] As opposed to strong style's European catch wrestling influences, ōdō opted for a more "narrative" style,[5] derived from the American model of professional wrestling as physical storytelling.[7] However, ōdō distinguished itself from American professional wrestling by largely eschewing many of its storytelling devices. Angles, gimmicks, and feuds were virtually non-existent, as all the storytelling in ōdō occurred through the matches themselves.[7] Blading was also banned outright.[8] However, as Baba disliked submissions,[9] they were also eschewed for decisive pinfalls.[10] In 2011, Japanese wrestling magazine G Spirits cited Misawa's July 29, 1993 Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship title defense against Kawada as the first match in the Shitennō style,[11] and the 1993 World's Strongest Tag Determination League final, in which Misawa and Kobashi wrestled Kawada and Taue, was referred to as the "completed form" of the style by Tokyo Sports in 2014.[12] According to Kawada, ōdō matches, which placed a heavy emphasis on fighting spirit, were about "breaking the limit you set in the last".[10][9] AJPW referee Kyohei Wada, who recounted that Baba told his talent "whatever you want to do, do it, and whatever you can show the people, show it", would later compare his job officiating these matches to "conducting a symphony".[13]

However, this escalation eventually manifested through the use of dangerous maneuvers that focused on the head and neck,[6] particularly during the finishing stretches of ōdō matches.[10] The physical consequences of this style, or at least its use of head drops, has often been cited as the underlying reason for Misawa's death after an in-ring accident in 2009.[10][14] Professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer noted after his death that Misawa "regularly took psychotic bumps", including back suplexes where he would land on his head.[15][nb 1] AJPW would steer away from ōdō after Misawa led a mass exodus to form Pro Wrestling Noah, particularly when Motoko Baba sold her stock to Keiji Mutoh, but Noah would continue to practice ōdō in its booking.[10] This element of ōdō has been criticized for its negative influence on professional wrestling,[18] and 1990s All Japan been cited as a cautionary tale in response to legitimately dangerous maneuvers.[19] Meltzer wrote in 2009 that head drops were "never necessary", as Misawa and his peers in AJPW were already "having the best matches in wrestling" before they incorporated these maneuvers into their style.[16]

Throughout the 1990s, three individual styles—shoot style, lucha libre, and hardcore—were the main divisions of independent promotions, but as a result of interpromoting, it is not unusual to see all three styles on the same card.