The 3Maj vs The Strong Style

Lore & Background

In the broader NJPW narrative, 'Strong Style' is not merely a slogan but a generational philosophy. Wrestlers like Riki Choshu, Kenta Kobashi, and later the Aja Kong and Togi Makabe lineage built their reputations on the idea that a match should hurt, that a pinfall should feel earned through accumulated damage, and that the ring is a place of consequence rather than spectacle. The 3Maj, by contrast, leaned into the visual poetry of the sport—high spots, dramatic entrances, and a willingness to let the crowd's energy drive the pace. Their clashes were never simply about who was 'better'; they were a philosophical argument about what professional wrestling was for.

The rivalry gained its sharpest edges during mid-card and upper-card storylines where the 3Maj's showmanship clashed with the Strong Style veterans' insistence on legitimacy. Promos would devolve into the 3Maj calling the hard-hitting style 'outdated' and 'boring,' while the Strong Style faction responded by treating every match as a test of endurance, often extending contests well past the point where a conventional match would end. The tension was less about personal animosity and more about competing visions of the product.

What made the rivalry culturally resonant was that both sides had genuine champions in the audience. The 3Maj drew the younger, more theatrical crowd; the Strong Style faction commanded the loyalty of long-time fans who grew up on the 1990s era of NJPW. The back-and-forth kept the card unpredictable and gave the promotion a built-in narrative engine that required no external villain to sustain.

In Their Own Story

The arena smelled of sweat and old canvas. Three figures in matching gear vaulted the top rope in a synchronized arc, landing in a heap at the feet of a man who hadn't moved in forty seconds. He stood in the center of the ring, shoulders rolling, jaw set, watching them scramble up with a look that wasn't anger but something worse: patience. The crowd was split—half screaming for the high spot, half chanting a single word that meant *work, work, work*. The man in the center cracked his neck, stepped forward, and the next ten minutes belonged to no one but the mat. When the dust settled, the three were on their knees, breathing hard, and the crowd that had been divided was now, somehow, one.

Reader's Guide

The 3Maj were never a formally announced stable with a single manager or a unified entrance. They coalesced around a shared aesthetic: fast, aerial, visually spectacular, and unapologetically theatrical. Their philosophy was that the audience came for the show, and the ring was a stage. They drew energy from the crowd's volume, from the music, from the split-second of a high-flying move landing exactly right.

The Strong Style faction, by contrast, was less a group and more a creed. Wrestlers who subscribed to it believed that a match was a negotiation of pain, that every chop and knee to the gut had to be felt by the audience in their own chests. Their philosophy was that the ring was a workplace, that the audience came for the truth of the collision, and that spectacle without consequence was a trick.

The feud escalated through a series of mid-card encounters where the 3Maj would attempt to shorten matches with flashy finishes, only to be met with the Strong Style faction's refusal to fall, their willingness to extend contests into the twenty-minute range, and their promos that framed the high-flying style as 'circus' and 'theater.' The 3Maj countered by calling the hard-hitting style 'brutish' and 'out of touch,' arguing that wrestling had evolved.

The resolution was never a single match. It was a slow mutual acknowledgment: the 3Maj began incorporating more mat-based sequences to earn their high spots, and the Strong Style wrestlers allowed a few more dramatic moments to breathe. The card became richer for the argument, and both philosophies remained visible in NJW's booking for years after the specific storyline cooled.

Did You Know?

• The term 'Strong Style' in NJPW is not a single faction name but a generational philosophy that has been invoked across multiple eras, from the 1980s Choshu and Kobashi era through the 2000s and beyond.
• NJPW's identity as a 'strong style' promotion was deliberately cultivated in contrast to the more theatrical, character-driven style associated with AJPW during the 1990s and 2000s.
• The tension between spectacle and hard-hitting wrestling is one of the oldest creative debates in Japanese pro wrestling, predating any single faction or storyline.
• NJPW's long-running use of the phrase 'Strong Style' in its own branding and marketing reflects how central the philosophy is to the promotion's self-image, independent of any one wrestler's tenure.