With the recent emergence of ROH on Destination America, turning Wednesday into the night of wrestling, and the recent debut of GFW, we would all like to think that there is an upswing in the wrestling industry. Jeff Jarrett will say it. TNA and ROH stars will say it in interviews. I’ve even read comments that this is some sort of a boom in the industry. But let’s look at this realistically.
First, we’ll get the big one out of the way. TNA, as much as I love them, doesn’t seem to be in the best of spots right now. With rumors of their possible cancellation in September, who knows where that will leave them? And while I hope for the best for TNA, I can’t help but to think that TNA’s cancellation is imminent but it will be a money decision for Destination America. I don’t think it has much to do with the product itself, and I’m not going to argue that with anyone so we’ll leave it at that. The point is, if TNA is taken off DA, and is unable to secure a new network deal and are forced to close their doors, then the second most notable wrestling organization is gone, which cannot be a part of a wrestling industry boom. I know many don’t want to believe it, or are of the opinion TNA is not as good as ROH, but the fact is, they are #2. Not by a large margin, but they are at the moment.
If TNA goes, that leaves ROH on DA exclusively. It’s good for ROH to have this avenue, however, DA seems to be a secondary priority to them at the moment as it airs a replay of the previous weekend’s episodes on the Sinclair affiliates. Maybe things will change in that regard when/if TNA is cancelled, but it really doesn’t seem like that will be the case. Sure, we’ve heard reports that DA is looking for ROH to do some live specials, but that report should be taken with a grain of salt at this time. But despite that, ROH has been more of a feeding ground for WWE developmental these days. Their biggest stars are constantly on the move to the greener pastures of the WWE, and with NXT being a gateway, who can blame them? Kevin Steen rolled out recently and now there are reports of Jay Lethal and Moose, two of the most over talents in the organization currently, could be headed over. In the end, ROH is only an indy promotion. One with a syndicated TV deal, but an indy nonetheless. They are ripe for the picking whenever WWE decides to go shopping.
Next we have Lucha Underground. I don’t know a whole lot about this promotion so I can’t really speak intelligently on the product itself. I can only go by common sense logic here. El Ray is a very small network and Lucha Underground is an El Ray original program. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, Robert Rodriguez, founder of El Ray Network, is an executive producer for Lucha. So much of Lucha’s future will depend on how he sees everything going for his network. All too often, we see these very small networks, especially the international ones, go under, change names, or simply disappear. Lucha might not even have a second season and it’s highly unlikely another network will pick them up. And El Ray is so small, if it does go under, it will do so without much notice to anyone.
GFW is Jeff Jarrett’s new upstart promotion. In it’s infancy, it’s barely pulling in 200 fans per show. I’ve never watched a wrestling or any kind of entertainment company start from the ground up so I don’t know if that’s good or bad. There’s definitely room for improvement. However, in one month, after only a couple more of these stadium tour dates, he’s planning TV Tapings. I don’t know how good of move that is considering all he’s really running with at this time is an idea. I doubt he has any kind of significant TV deal. It would be the shocker of all shockers if we found GFW on any notable network anytime in the next 3 years. I’m thinking more dual-promotion stuff getting on international tv and possibly iPPVs at the moment. That seems more realistic, but I also see GFW not doing any sort of binding contracts for their performers, so that leaves much to be desired. How many times do talents pull out of shows, either to do another show for better money, or taking on another committment altogether?
Finally, we have NXT. Now, the reason I am mentioning NXT is because this plays the most important role in all of this. NXT, despite having a different look, feel, and environment, is still a part of WWE. It is basically WWE’s indy promotion. So now you have what every indy promotion wishes they had. Money to put behind their product. NXT, being a part of WWE, has the money and the marketing resources to put everyone out on the streets. And in the end, what we have is one company owning it all…once again. While NXT may put on good shows and people are excited about it, it ultimately is WWE’s new plan to eliminate any potential threats. WWE plans to put all the notable indy promotions out on the streets. NXT is their answer to that.
So are we in a little bit of a boom period in wrestling? Not so fast. WWE will do what it can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Lucha could be gone as a matter of circumstance. GFW might never get off the ground fully, and may only end up as another House of Hardcore type when it’s all said and done, if TNA gets cancelled, who knows what that would lead to, and ROH would be the last indy standing but depleted of all their stars until it’s running shows with just 40 year old has beens or never weres.
As always, I hope I’m wrong, but until TNA or ROH, or preferrably both, find success and true growth, I’m afraid we are still stuck in the same boat. WWE isn’t getting any better. NXT will eventually become very commercialized and become RAW and Smackdown lite, and everyone else will be gone and any remaining talent will be stuck doing one-off shows in the low, low indy scene. I hate to be negative, but that’s where we’re at. This is, in no way, any kind of wrestling boom period. It is only in a state of potential. But I feel like WWE will do what it can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Thank you for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on this. And of course, my shameless plug of my FB page, www.facebook.com/voltageentertainment.
Be Safe Everyone.
