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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 14, 2018 15:27:48 GMT -5
Did pretty good over here for a few years too, mostly because I don't think anyone even knew that wrestling was happening in the UK outside the occasional WWE tour. I mean I only found out there was still UK wrestling when we got a channel full of Indy stuff for a few years and LDN and FWA were on it. Although I think their reach may have been hampered by the fact they headed their first tour with Jeff Jarrett vs freaking Road Dogg The second tour had more store power because they had Sting (First return to wrestling since WCW before his first brief run in TNA.) Also Luger was on it. Adding the the list XWF That came late 01 and did tappings for a TV show to sell to a network. Feel apart fast when Hogan and Henning went to the WWE. A couple other I thought off. NWE (I think it was called) The company that had the Warrior's last match in Spain. They seemed to draw very well and I heard a lot of them than the after the Warrior did his dead. They seemed to vanished. WWWA I remember seeing this company but was more a BSer than anything. This was like 05/06ish they first claimed to signed Steiner and others. Then said they had a MAJOR TV deal which never said what the network was. Then I read the first show that had a pic from it of Jim Duggan with a US title looked like the WCW one in some high school gym saying he was the new US champion and the first champion crowned in the WWWA. Nothing happened after that really and I don't think Steiner ever really showed up. Can we count the new AWA before it got closed by legal reasons? All I remember at one time Steve Corino had the belt. Than went away, Evan Karigous of all people had the belt and anybody who made ONE appearance was a roster member even if they signed else where. Hell, if we include territories and not just indies we can include the real AWA in this discussion. How are you going to expand to Alaska if you can’t draw in Minneapolis, Verne? |
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Sept 14, 2018 15:34:44 GMT -5
The second tour had more store power because they had Sting (First return to wrestling since WCW before his first brief run in TNA.) Also Luger was on it. Adding the the list XWF That came late 01 and did tappings for a TV show to sell to a network. Feel apart fast when Hogan and Henning went to the WWE. A couple other I thought off. NWE (I think it was called) The company that had the Warrior's last match in Spain. They seemed to draw very well and I heard a lot of them than the after the Warrior did his dead. They seemed to vanished. WWWA I remember seeing this company but was more a BSer than anything. This was like 05/06ish they first claimed to signed Steiner and others. Then said they had a MAJOR TV deal which never said what the network was. Then I read the first show that had a pic from it of Jim Duggan with a US title looked like the WCW one in some high school gym saying he was the new US champion and the first champion crowned in the WWWA. Nothing happened after that really and I don't think Steiner ever really showed up. Can we count the new AWA before it got closed by legal reasons? All I remember at one time Steve Corino had the belt. Than went away, Evan Karigous of all people had the belt and anybody who made ONE appearance was a roster member even if they signed else where. Hell, if we include territories and not just indies we can include the real AWA in this discussion. How are you going to expand to Alaska if you can’t draw in Minneapolis, Verne? Oh boy, poor Verne, actually going to espn killed him. Tim Hornbaker is putting out a book about how the territories self destructed, I think a lot of the companies mentioned on this thread will probably appear there, the book is called “Death of the Territories”. I would also like to learn about fake AWA, poor Steve Corino was so excited about it, he was talking about how they were gonna have a dojo and a dormitory, Dale Gagner conned him. |
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 14, 2018 16:06:11 GMT -5
Hell, if we include territories and not just indies we can include the real AWA in this discussion. How are you going to expand to Alaska if you can’t draw in Minneapolis, Verne? Oh boy, poor Verne, actually going to espn killed him. Tim Hornbaker is putting out a book about how the territories self destructed, I think a lot of the companies mentioned on this thread will probably appear there, the book is called “Death of the Territories”. I would also like to learn about fake AWA, poor Steve Corino was so excited about it, he was talking about how they were gonna have a dojo and a dormitory, Dale Gagner conned him. used to work with Dale Gagner. Here is a super old thread where he tells a bit about the experience: officialfan.proboards.com/thread/200283He’s also posted about it in some other threads over the years. If you’re curious about anything in particular maybe he’ll be kind enough to pop in here and share  There was also a news article about Gagner’s scamming that interviewed Gagner and wasn’t particularly flattering. www.citypages.com/2010-10-06/news/dale-gagne-wrestles-with-the-truth/http:// was the link to it, but it’s a dead link now. |
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Post by GuyOfOwnage on Sept 14, 2018 16:14:52 GMT -5
This is the story of my local indy Wrestlecenter. It was a WILD two years, where Christopher Daniels was out top champ for most of it. He was wrestling guys like AJ Styles (while he was IWGP champ), Samoa Joe, Lance Storm. We had guys like Mick Foley come in for guest shots. Bobby Roode. The whole mess. AMAZING shows, but I'm from one of the lowest wealth areas in Canada in a city with a population of about 500,000 with not all of them being wrestling fans. They had an awesome time but they flamed out hard. Didn't help that they took a four month break every winter. I'm also in Canada and one of my local indies does the exact same thing. The last show of the year wraps around late-October and they don't start up again until mid-March or so. Do some companies think they can't draw during the winter or something? |
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Sept 14, 2018 16:15:38 GMT -5
Oh boy, poor Verne, actually going to espn killed him. Tim Hornbaker is putting out a book about how the territories self destructed, I think a lot of the companies mentioned on this thread will probably appear there, the book is called “Death of the Territories”. I would also like to learn about fake AWA, poor Steve Corino was so excited about it, he was talking about how they were gonna have a dojo and a dormitory, Dale Gagner conned him. used to work with Dale Gagner. Here is a super old thread where he tells a bit about the experience: officialfan.proboards.com/thread/200283He’s also posted about it in some other threads over the years. If you’re curious about anything in particular maybe he’ll be kind enough to pop in here and share There was also a news article about Gagner’s scamming that interviewed Gagner and wasn’t particularly flattering. www.citypages.com/2010-10-06/news/dale-gagne-wrestles-with-the-truth/http:// was the link to it, but it’s a dead link now. Thanks the thread was great. I think I read that article, the f***er scammed a lot of people offering bullshit wwe tryouts, I don’t think he ever returned the money. The Steve Corino shoot I mentioned was from 1PW in England. It’s really depressing to watch in hindsight. Steve really thought him and Gagner were gonna start a revolution with companies both in the states and in Japan, when in reality Gagner was never allowed to use the AWA name. I hope Corino was never scammed by Gagner. |
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Post by Can you afford to pay me, Gah on Sept 14, 2018 18:34:13 GMT -5
Thanks the thread was great. I think I read that article, the f***er scammed a lot of people offering bullshit wwe tryouts, I don’t think he ever returned the money. The Steve Corino shoot I mentioned was from 1PW in England. It’s really depressing to watch in hindsight. Steve really thought him and Gagner were gonna start a revolution with companies both in the states and in Japan, when in reality Gagner was never allowed to use the AWA name. I hope Corino was never scammed by Gagner. It even more interesting seeing this stuff, I kind of knew some of it but not every detail, I know how excited Corino was about it at the start as I was a big follower of his work around the time with Zero One and so forth. |
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Sept 14, 2018 18:38:48 GMT -5
Thanks the thread was great. I think I read that article, the f***er scammed a lot of people offering bullshit wwe tryouts, I don’t think he ever returned the money. The Steve Corino shoot I mentioned was from 1PW in England. It’s really depressing to watch in hindsight. Steve really thought him and Gagner were gonna start a revolution with companies both in the states and in Japan, when in reality Gagner was never allowed to use the AWA name. I hope Corino was never scammed by Gagner. It even more interesting seeing this stuff, I kind of knew some of it but not every detail, I know how excited Corino was about it at the start as I was a big follower of his work around the time with Zero One and so forth. It was brutal, I think he retired for a little bit around that time after the fake AWA failing. I think it also hurt his relationship with Japan and Zero One, Corino said that Zero One was excited of using the AWA belt because it still meant something in Japan, I assume they weren’t happy about being tricked by Gagner. |
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Sept 14, 2018 18:46:23 GMT -5
Does Wrestlecircus count? Sadly, it seems that this will be the case, and I'm not all that sure what could have been the cause. It could have been money issues, considering the indy talent they were bringing in for every show, but it legit seems like it was because Austin is just not a wrestling city. They had so many problems booking regular venues that it seems to have killed their ability to run shows in the city. The saddest part is, I swear they were the ones who started the trend of wrestling companies flocking to Twitch to run their shows and grow their fanbase, and they couldn't even grow past running out of Austin. Them trying to crowdfund to buy a building didn't help, either. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2018 19:50:53 GMT -5
I dont necessarily think they tried to get too big but DreamWave in the Chicago/Joliet IL area really started making a name around here with local talent (guys like Christian Rose and Money Matt Cage) and guys like AJ Styles, Matt Hardy and others showing up and unfortunately it fizzled out. Each show had big name talent or meet and greets with guys like Foley, Flair, etc...
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Post by wrestlingrecap on Sept 14, 2018 22:17:37 GMT -5
In terms of using big name guys and trying to run bigger shows.... yes. |
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 28,322 
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Post by chazraps on Sept 15, 2018 0:23:49 GMT -5
In terms of using big name guys and trying to run bigger shows.... yes. I mean, they sold out every show. I'm not sure why they stopped if it was financial. |
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Sept 15, 2018 0:27:50 GMT -5
Herb Abrams’ UWF, instead of starting small, he booked big casinos and never even filled out ten percent of the seats.
He still had the best death in wrestling’s history though.
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Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on Sept 15, 2018 2:01:37 GMT -5
That WWA company that popped up after WCW. Did some good business in Australia, mostly because Australia was incredibly thirsty for wrestling at the time. Then they tried to move straight into a big PPV in...Vegas, I think? And that show was an absolute disaster and we never heard from WWA again. If they had just stuck to Australia and New Zealand they would of lasted a lot longer. Which is a shame as their final PPV in Auckland was actually quite decent. |
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Post by nickcave on Sept 15, 2018 11:42:13 GMT -5
That all-women's GLOW like promotion Wrestlelicious that was started by a guy that won the lottery and Jimmy Hart. I think it actually ran for a season on some super obscure satellite channel.
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Post by MrElijah on Sept 15, 2018 13:37:54 GMT -5
It even more interesting seeing this stuff, I kind of knew some of it but not every detail, I know how excited Corino was about it at the start as I was a big follower of his work around the time with Zero One and so forth. It was brutal, I think he retired for a little bit around that time after the fake AWA failing. I think it also hurt his relationship with Japan and Zero One, Corino said that Zero One was excited of using the AWA belt because it still meant something in Japan, I assume they weren’t happy about being tricked by Gagner. And now said AWA Belt is the Zero-1 World Heavyweight Championship. |
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Sept 15, 2018 15:04:09 GMT -5
This is the story of my local indy Wrestlecenter. It was a WILD two years, where Christopher Daniels was out top champ for most of it. He was wrestling guys like AJ Styles (while he was IWGP champ), Samoa Joe, Lance Storm. We had guys like Mick Foley come in for guest shots. Bobby Roode. The whole mess. AMAZING shows, but I'm from one of the lowest wealth areas in Canada in a city with a population of about 500,000 with not all of them being wrestling fans. They had an awesome time but they flamed out hard. Didn't help that they took a four month break every winter. I'm also in Canada and one of my local indies does the exact same thing. The last show of the year wraps around late-October and they don't start up again until mid-March or so. Do some companies think they can't draw during the winter or something? It depends on the city, I guess? I think the worry is that Canadian winters can be pretty rough and unpredictable, and unless they're centered out of a major metro area that they can reliably pull attendees from--somewhere that has public transit and better winter infrastructure--it might be a hell gamble. The indies around Montreal all seem to do shows in the winter just fine, but barring really bad luck, moving around is only really a problem for like the first ten or so hours after a big snowfall. |
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 15, 2018 15:46:27 GMT -5
I'm also in Canada and one of my local indies does the exact same thing. The last show of the year wraps around late-October and they don't start up again until mid-March or so. Do some companies think they can't draw during the winter or something? It depends on the city, I guess? I think the worry is that Canadian winters can be pretty rough and unpredictable, and unless they're centered out of a major metro area that they can reliably pull attendees from--somewhere that has public transit and better winter infrastructure--it might be a hell gamble. The indies around Montreal all seem to do shows in the winter just fine, but barring really bad luck, moving around is only really a problem for like the first ten or so hours after a big snowfall. Also do they still do the Canadian death tours? For those who don’t know they are government sponsored tours in super isolated areas of Canada. I know some promoters made quite a bit off of them in the past and it was considered a right of passage for Canadian workers at one point. I’m not sure if those take place during the winter months and would affect workers being able to work prospective show or not. It’s probably unrelated but anytime I can bring up those tours and get more information about them, I take it |
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Sept 15, 2018 15:55:52 GMT -5
It depends on the city, I guess? I think the worry is that Canadian winters can be pretty rough and unpredictable, and unless they're centered out of a major metro area that they can reliably pull attendees from--somewhere that has public transit and better winter infrastructure--it might be a hell gamble. The indies around Montreal all seem to do shows in the winter just fine, but barring really bad luck, moving around is only really a problem for like the first ten or so hours after a big snowfall. Also do they still do the Canadian death tours? For those who don’t know they are government sponsored tours in super isolated areas of Canada. I know some promoters made quite a bit off of them in the past and it was considered a right of passage for Canadian workers at one point. I’m not sure if those take place during the winter months and would affect workers being able to work prospective show or not. It’s probably unrelated but anytime I can bring up those tours and get more information about them, I take it Yeah I believe they still run them every year, but it's a very narrow thing that unless you live up in those parts of the country--and very, very few people do--you don't see too much of. The major metro areas are all in the southern half of the country, where we just have wrestling normally. |
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Sept 15, 2018 16:01:04 GMT -5
Also do they still do the Canadian death tours? For those who don’t know they are government sponsored tours in super isolated areas of Canada. I know some promoters made quite a bit off of them in the past and it was considered a right of passage for Canadian workers at one point. I’m not sure if those take place during the winter months and would affect workers being able to work prospective show or not. It’s probably unrelated but anytime I can bring up those tours and get more information about them, I take it Yeah I believe they still run them every year, but it's a very narrow thing that unless you live up in those parts of the country--and very, very few people do--you don't see too much of. The major metro areas are all in the southern half of the country, where we just have wrestling normally. I was just thinking the way I could it see affecting indie shows is that if the workers who would usually be working there are on the Canadian death tours. As such the local promoters down South would be less keen to run shows due to a depleted roster. |
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Post by GuyOfOwnage on Sept 15, 2018 16:56:42 GMT -5
I'm also in Canada and one of my local indies does the exact same thing. The last show of the year wraps around late-October and they don't start up again until mid-March or so. Do some companies think they can't draw during the winter or something? It depends on the city, I guess? I think the worry is that Canadian winters can be pretty rough and unpredictable, and unless they're centered out of a major metro area that they can reliably pull attendees from--somewhere that has public transit and better winter infrastructure--it might be a hell gamble. The indies around Montreal all seem to do shows in the winter just fine, but barring really bad luck, moving around is only really a problem for like the first ten or so hours after a big snowfall. The indy in question hits up a lot of rural and lower population areas in southern Ontario, so you're probably right - it makes sense that they wouldn't want to take the gamble during winter. |
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