Top 20 Wrestling Companies Worldwide in 2014?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

I was going through my old threads and saw that I asked this question four years ago. However, since then a great deal has changed. May not so much amoung what the top oneor two companies are, but certainly the further down the list you go it gets a little more difficult to rank them.

So from a size standpoint (NOT a quality standpoint) what are the top 20 wrestling companies worldwide in 2014?

Also, for those curious here's a link to the old thread: officialfan.proboards.com/thread/331780/top-20-wrestling-companies-worldwide

[Ken: The Hero of WWE]

1) WWE
2) NJPW
3) TNA
4) AJPW
5) CHIKARA
6) ROH
7) Dragon Gate
8-20) IDK

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Jul 13, 2014 19:55:56 GMT -5 Ken: The Hero of WWE said:

1) WWE
2) NJPW
3) TNA
4) AJPW
5) CHIKARA
6) ROH
7) Dragon Gate
8-20) IDK

IDK, isn't AJPW practically dead (or did the president leaving with just about all the wrestlers thing not happen?). Also, CHIKARA has drawn some TINY crowds when compared to some international companies so I wouldn't be suprised if they're not even in the top 20. The other ones you list could work (though I'd imagine ROH/Dragon Gate could be lower as well).

I'm hoping some more posters can take a stab at the full list. If no one else does than I can give it a shot, but identifying the top 20 by size is pretty tough (which is what I think makes this such a fun thread...at least for me .

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Okay, f*** it! I'm giving it a shot! Please weigh in or make your own list as I'd LOVE to get some more thoughts on this.

1) WWE
2) NJPW
3) TNA
4) AAA
5) CMLL
6) Dragon Gate
7) ROH
8) Wrestle-1
9) AJPW
10) NOAH
11) CZW
12) PWG
13) DDT
14) BJW
15) EVOLVE
16) WXW
17) Preston City Wrestling
18) IGF
19) IWRG
20) CHIKARA

[eDemento2099]

Jul 13, 2014 19:55:56 GMT -5 Ken: The Hero of WWE said:

1) WWE
2) NJPW
3) TNA
4) AJPW
5) CHIKARA
6) ROH
7) Dragon Gate
8-20) IDK

Where did you get your info from? I didn't see a single Mexican promotion, and wrestling is huge in Mexico (Perhaps moreso than in Japan).

[Woo]

Surely Shimmer should be above the likes of Preston City Wrestling?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Aug 24, 2014 19:42:42 GMT -5 Woo said:

Surely Shimmer should be above the likes of Preston City Wrestling?

Yeah, I was doing it off little more than the top of my head. PCW isn't even the biggest UK promotion either, but they just stick out to me the most because they bring in so many big American indie stars and the occasional Japanese wrestler. A fun sublist to this one would be the top 5 or 10 UK promotions.

[Deleted]

I thought NOAH would be closer to the top. Has it gone downhill since Misawa's death?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Aug 24, 2014 19:55:26 GMT -5 @tafkaga said:

I thought NOAH would be closer to the top. Has it gone downhill since Misawa's death?

Yeah, NOAH has gone way down hill. A lot of people have speculated it would have died years ago, but it keeps hanging in there.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Frankly I think that CMLL and AAA are doing better business than TNA right now.

[Deleted]

Aug 25, 2014 0:15:49 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

Frankly I think that CMLL and AAA are doing better business than TNA right now.

Technically, since TNA has lost over 45 million dollars in its history, any random indy promotion that has the common sense to not spend more than the shows make is "doing better business than TNA."

[TGM]

ICW is probably doing the best business in the UK right now.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

I'd say that TNA would struggle to make the ten. Sure they're more notable than AJPW or NOAH are these days, the ones above are either much bigger or have put in massive strides to improve. TNA has actively fallen apart.

[Steveweiser]

My guess in terms of size...

1: WWE
2: New Japan
3: CMLL
4: AAA
5: TNA
6: Dragon Gate
7: Pro Wrestling NOAH
8: Ring of Honor
9: All Japan
10: DDT
11: BJW
12: ICW
13: IWRG
14: CHIKARA
15: PWG
16: PROGRESS
17: Preston City Wrestling
18: STARDOM
19: Wrestle-1
20: wXw

[Mondai Rogue]

Aug 25, 2014 5:16:25 GMT -5 Steveweiser said:

My guess in terms of size...

1: WWE
2: New Japan
3: CMLL
4: AAA
5: TNA
6: Dragon Gate
7: Pro Wrestling NOAH
8: Ring of Honor
9: All Japan
10: DDT
11: BJW
12: ICW
13: IWRG
14: CHIKARA
15: PWG
16: PROGRESS
17: Preston City Wrestling
18: STARDOM
19: Wrestle-1
20: wXw

Yeah, this is the list I'd go with the most.

[kingoftheindies]

1.WWE
2.New Japan
3.AAA
4.CMLL
5.TNA
6.Dragon Gate
7.NOAH
8.Big Japan (just basing off tour numbers)
9.DDT
10.Ring of Honor
11.All Japan
12.ICW
13.CZW
14.PWG
15.WWN Companies (since they all kind of intermingle)
16.Preston City Wrestling
17.wXw
18.PWG
19.CHIKARA
20.Wrestle-1

Especially with independents it's hard to gauge because of tastes. I know a lot of people tend to not even give CZW a look because of the ultraviolence (even if it's toned down), but CZW also has a pretty big international following thanks to relationships with other companies (and they are touring Japan on their own in the fall).

While PWG and CHIKARA are beloved especially on this board, I think in some ways they get romanticized in the bigger picture. PWG absolutely could be the top promotion in the US, but they have no interest in doing anything differently or growing. CHIKARA just returned in May, and while they've done well since coming back, they either have a great crowd or almost no crowd.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Aug 25, 2014 2:52:48 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

I'd say that TNA would struggle to make the ten. Sure they're more notable than AJPW or NOAH are these days, the ones above are either much bigger or have put in massive strides to improve. TNA has actively fallen apart.

I think that's pushing it. I think you could make a great case for putting them out of the Top 5 with ROH and the Japanese and Mexican promotions edging them out, but I don't think I could find that many more promotions with the visibility that Spike TV and their international deals give them.

Of course, all bets are off if they enter 2015 with no American TV.

[Woo]

How about Shine? They have monthly shows featuring the best female talent in North America and during Shimmer weekends feature the best women wrestlers in the world.

I would still have Shimmer in the top 20. It's possibly the #1 Women's promotion in the world with only JPW really coming close and both of their championships are the most respected titles in female wrestling.

[Deleted]

Aug 25, 2014 5:16:25 GMT -5 Steveweiser said:

My guess in terms of size...

1: WWE
2: New Japan
3: CMLL
4: AAA
5: TNA
6: Dragon Gate
7: Pro Wrestling NOAH
8: Ring of Honor
9: All Japan
10: DDT
11: BJW
12: ICW
13: IWRG
14: CHIKARA
15: PWG
16: PROGRESS
17: Preston City Wrestling
18: STARDOM
19: Wrestle-1
20: wXw

This is pretty close to my list. I'd bump DDT up to #7 and flip ROH and NOAH but that's about it.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Aug 25, 2014 6:53:46 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Aug 25, 2014 2:52:48 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

I'd say that TNA would struggle to make the ten. Sure they're more notable than AJPW or NOAH are these days, the ones above are either much bigger or have put in massive strides to improve. TNA has actively fallen apart.

I think that's pushing it. I think you could make a great case for putting them out of the Top 5 with ROH and the Japanese and Mexican promotions edging them out, but I don't think I could find that many more promotions with the visibility that Spike TV and their international deals give them.

Of course, all bets are off if they enter 2015 with no American TV.

I'll give you CMLL and AAA as possible, but if we venture out of our smark bubbles a bit there is no way ROH is bigger than TNA if we're just talking about size (not quality). TNA may have lost $45 million (the number I see thrown around the most anyway), which is a number I don't think ROH has ever approached being spent on it whether earning or losing that much. Likewise, TNA may have a very, very small amount of TV viewers who casually watch it. However, even a very, very small amount of TV viewers translates to A LOT of eyes on TNA programming in comparison to other US promotions who have NO TV viewers watching them because there is no deal in place. I'm aware that ROH has shows on the Sinclair stations, but comparing Sinclair to Spike...well there is just no comparison.