They’re skinny, have floppy hair and are kind of pale. They’re also coming soon to a wrestling tournament near you. Well, if you live in Tokyo, that is. And there you were thinking Japanese wrestling was all about those big sumo guys!
These are bishōnen – beautiful young men. The first kanji character of bishōnen (美少年) is 美 meaning “beauty”, and the last part 少年 is “young man”. Bishōnen puroresu is the latest addition to Japan’s burgeoning puroresu (pro wrestling) scene.
Here are the chosen ten (the eagle-eyed among you will notice that it’s actually a team of twelve – there are two stand-ins, presumably in case someone needs to have a little sit down after all that posing).
▼ Sho is the guy in the middle, but why’s he wearing pyjamas?
▼ He really does like those PJs.
Compared to American pro-wrestling, the Japanese sport is generally less theatrical, more contact-based, and sticks harder to the pretense of being a legitimate fight. Bishōnen wrestling looks like it might be the exception to that rule, though.
The website also features these character profiles of the athletes, including their reasons for joining the gang. Some of their reasons are refreshingly honest!
▼ Sho’s aim is to make his lifelong dream come true. No, not getting off that drip, starting his own wrestling league!
▼”Sho is my best friend. I wanna make his dreams come true.”
▼ This guy, on the other hand, says “I want to escape from my parent’s control”.
▼ Kōichi goes for it idol-style with a cheery “I want to give everyone a happy smile!☆“
▼ “I dunno… Something to do with my time.”
Anyway, it looks like they’ve been hitting the gym (although not too hard…):
The website also promises merchandise, although none is available yet! For now you’ll have to do with these iPhone lock screen downloads:
▼It’s worth pointing out that virtually all of these captions read “hey, wanna do it with me?”
So far, so good. When we get deeper into the website, though, it becomes clear that not all these guys actually appear in the June show. In fact, the line-up for the show looks drastically different to those skinny guys on the front and profile pages.
▼ “But wait, where did the hot young ones go?” I hear you cry.
If you still fancy your chances at actually seeing some beautiful wrestlers at the June 13th show, which will be in Shin-Kiba, Tokyo, a seat in the stands can be grabbed for 3,000 yen (US$29.45). Top-price “special ringside seats”, meanwhile, are 5,000 yen ($49). I’ll be sticking with the free wallpapers for now though, I think.
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