Could Great Britain sustain a major Wrestling company?

[Lover Boy]

I was thinking about this the other day, do you think Great Britain could sustain a large Wrestling company? Both of the two main wrestling companies largest attendances (WWE and TNA) have been in London, England. Wembley and Wembley arena respectively. Does this shown that Great Britain has a big enough fanbase to sustain a major wrestling company? I main problem I see with this would be the talent. Great Britain produces some fine wrestlers, Magnus, British Bulldog and Douglas Williams to name a few but I don't quite think we produce enough of them. This is probably due to not having as much interest in wrestling as America does. Another good thing about having a wrestling promotion in England would be the travelling. England obviously isn't as big as America so travelling from city to city wouldn't be as much hassle. They wouldn't even have to go on the plane very often. Wrestling hasn't been big in Great Britain since the ITV Era with wrestlers like Giant Haystacks, Jackie Pallo and Big Daddy. A wrestling company in England could really see the fine art take off over here. What do you think about the matter in question?

Just to add something here. WWE has messed about with the attendance figures over the years so take the largest WWE attendance with a proverbial grain of salt.

 

[Kushikimi]

It could go two ways...

1) The Way it has gone in Puerto Rico: WWE and TNA come here once in a blue moon but they get the arenas full, something that doesn't happen very often. But that's due to them coming here as seldom as they do. In contrast, the major companies in Puerto Rico, WWC, EWO (IWA is dying right now)... can only produce 1 or 2 shows per week and in major programs getting around 500 people in the same arenas that WWE and TNA get 5,000.

or it could go

2)The way that you might think it goes... it revives the spirit of wrestling in England and people start going to the shows, because it's more accessible than a WWE or TNA show... and/or is more common to see those guys wrestling near you than what the WWE or TNA could do. In theory, England can host a major company and the problem with few talent could be resolved easily, there are a lot of guys in PR, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico... to name a few.. that are looking for exposure. Not to mention the guys in the US and Japan that don't get enough publicity in their countries and could explore the option of going to Great Britain.

It could be a nice project and those are the two ways I see it going.

 

[Halfbreed]

It's an interesting proposition to be sure. I will say though that, in general, the monopolization of American wrestling has had a pretty big impact on the product overseas. Outside of Japan and maybe Mexico, pretty much everyone recognizes the WWE as the world's most prestigious wrestling organization, even if McMahon doesn't like to associate with the term 'wrestling'. Any new company overseas will have to overcome the stigma of being 'second fiddle' to the WWE in terms of talent or production when they first start out, which is not an easy burden to overcome. Could they become a successful regional promotion in England? Perhaps so, yes. The geographic size of the land has drawbacks as well as pluses—whereas travel is easier in Great Britain, you also minimize the markets that you can tap into because you have much less territory to work with. Overexposure would be a potential problem to overcome for a major promotion; you'd really need to have a group that tapped into all of Western Europe to have a viable 'major' promotional feel, yet the expenses involved there are astronomical.

 

[Sabretooth]

I think it would be rather sudden since WWE and TNA have been going on for years. I'd think the fans would be too invested in WWE and TNA to get into another company. But if the fans are strong than why not?

 

[Kushikimi]

It's an interesting proposition to be sure. I will say though that, in general, the monopolization of American wrestling has had a pretty big impact on the product overseas. Outside of Japan and maybe Mexico, pretty much everyone recognizes the WWE as the world's most prestigious wrestling organization, even if McMahon doesn't like to associate with the term 'wrestling'. Any new company overseas will have to overcome the stigma of being 'second fiddle' to the WWE in terms of talent or production when they first start out, which is not an easy burden to overcome. Could they become a successful regional promotion in England? Perhaps so, yes. The geographic size of the land has drawbacks as well as pluses—whereas travel is easier in Great Britain, you also minimize the markets that you can tap into because you have much less territory to work with. Overexposure would be a potential problem to overcome for a major promotion; you'd really need to have a group that tapped into all of Western Europe to have a viable 'major' promotional feel, yet the expenses involved there are astronomical.

^^ This

Also, adding to what I've said and what Halfbreed said... it could also work as many other places in the world work now... developmental ground for WWE or TNA. Because, once again using the example of Puerto Rico (is the one that's more accessible to me), many wrestlers use promotions overseas just to polish their abilities and try again or try for a first time with WWE or TNA... example Murphy for TNA (came to PR to polish), Damien Sandow for WWE(came to PR to polish)... as well as Richie Steamboat among others.

 

[Postman Dave]

To echo Halfbreed, no.

Traditional British style wrestling is no longer the draw it once was back in it's heyday. Part of the effects of McMahon's globalisation is that now the WWE style is what every one recognises as "wrestling". People mock TNA at times for being "too much like WWE" but that's what WWE have conditioned the audience to expect from their wrestling.

If you were to start a wrestling company in the UK with plans to go big, you need recognisable names and talent, and they're all in America. Sure, you could get a few well known British stars like Jody Fleisch and Darren Burridge but they can't even pretend to have the impact that established American talent do. Ad sadly it costs a lot more money to get them in due to higher wage demands and travel costs.

And finally, there's no platform to draw a large audience in the UK. Major TV networks are highly unlikely to take on an upstart UK wrestling promotion with little to no recognisable talent, and using iPPV means essentially appealing to the American market again.

The pieces just aren't in place for a sustainable major wrestling company in this country I'm afraid.