Is European Wrestling on the way back up? And how far can it go?

[Stopspot]

This idea came to me after Senhor's latest thread in here and seabs post in it which I had to follow up on. It seems to me like European wrestling is on its way up.

With promotions like Preston City in England and GBG Wrestling in Sweden on the rise and gaining momentum. And Danish pro in Denmark and WXW in Germany going strong one could assume that European wrestling indeed is picking itself back up after dying down in the 80's. This is in my opinion good for the business overall since it creates a bigger scene for European stars to work to gain experience and build themselves up, to hopefully get a contract in America or Japan. It aso builds the scene as more credible and big, giving fans an alternative to American or Japanese wrestling. And I think fans would enjoy going to bigger wrestling shows without having to wait for the yearly European tours.

That also brings on the question, how large can wrestling in Europe become? Personally I'd say fairly big, bigger in some countries than others but overall big. It will never directly compete with WWE or NJPW but it could definitely become direct competition for companies like ROH, Dragon Gate and maybe even TNA if one company rises up just right.

So for discussion:

Do you think European Wrestling will experience a second golden age?

How big do you think it can become?

 

[seabs]

In the UK and Germany it could be huge mainly to the history, I honestly could see PCW getting a national TV deal before too long and making a deal out of it. Raw is inconvnient as the time it airs as is TNA, although they do repeat I can see a lot people wanting to see it live. I'm not saying they'll start on national tours but taping on the BBC or something could be huge for them.

 

[Senhor Perfect]

Germany and England have always been into pro wrestling. If they could somehow put on a good product and get it picked up by ESPN or a similar North American network, they could definitely be big.

 

[Stopspot]

I think GBG Wrestling could work well for Swedish wrestling. They are putting out quality product with good wrestlers (Especially considering how relatively small wrestling is here, you wouldn't expect seeing guys who are this solid in the ring from a small nation in the wrestling world). They have a pretty pro set up and have advanced as hell in a just a few years from what I can tell. Feuding with a company in Denmark that actually has TV deals.

But what I think will continue helping them and pushing wrestling in Sweden is their crowds. From the events I have seen the crowds are really good, loud and opinionated, and constantly growing. They aren't pulling TNA or WWE crowds but they seem to be solid 500-and around crowds. Which is ROH levels almost.

Some pics to give as examples of their set up and crowds:

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I could see a TV deal possibly for them in the future. Their two commentary men work for Eurosport so if they continue doing well I could see them end up on Swedish Eurosport. That would put them in front of a crowd of half a million.