What are the chances of a third major promotion coming along?
 

For a while I was hopeful that The Rock would start his own wrestling promotion. He bought his own football league to “give back” to the sport he first tried his hand at. The Rock starting his own wrestling promotion would have made a lot of sense if we weren’t in a pandemic at the time a lot of these big free agents were around.

But regardless of who it is — a ViacomCBS, another billionaire, an international entity — there is value in a the television real estate/potentially right fees (or getting around them from a television network’s perspective) for a wrestling promotion that snags up John Hennigam, Shane Strickland, The Briscoes, Keith Lee, Kevin Steen, maybe makes a huge play for AJ Styles.

If it’s a ViacomCBS thing, there’s potential for them to use Tessa Blanchard, AJ Lee and the WOW crew/do a tie-in of some sort there.

Wrestling is being stretched too far as it is. MLW didn’t exactly debut on VICE with a bang. TNA and ROH find it harder to exist with AEW around and WWE adding more and more content. Ratings for basically everything but SmackDown seem to be falling. But I think there is the opening for an alternative to the WWE/AEW shenanigans. Something that feels big league but doesn’t wink so hard at audiences that it’s insulting. The difficulty there is making the splash needed to convince people to actually go to these shows in this market. Are they going to get the support of paying customers quickly enough to generate the healthy optics? I think the “Not WWE” factor will still there be with them and help them initially though. There’s also the possibility that they could even work with an AEW to get some of the bigger stars there involved, at least in the short term (although why Tony Khan would help out a competitor that could ultimately crush him is anyone’s guess — unless he’s looking for CW Network exposure or something).

The only story I have heard that makes some sense on a potentially viable new promotion is something with Conrad Thompson and Jeff Jarrett. I can't really imagine a promotion being as successful out of the gate as AEW but if they were able to run a regional territory and broadcast nationally and internationally I could see it being a successful business.

It’s unlikely to have the bottomless pit of resources that the Khans have, but truthfully I feel like AEW spent way too much to get way too little back. But by being the guys with resources and luring in Chris Jericho and Jim Ross, they got that cushy spot on TNT without any content to their name.

All you need is the TV slot. That could be harder for an outside entity to secure without giant stars and the right context (AEW came about at the right time), but if it were owned by a CBSViacom, the whole point would be to give it that slot.

I haven’t heard the Conrad Thompson/Jeff Jarrett thing. That wouldn’t shock me. Another name that is obviously going to be thrown out there is Eric Bischoff. Not as the money, but as an executive who has experience with these things.

There is also the potential for someone like JR to leave AEW when his deal is up.

Had no clue Jeff Jarrett left the WWE. I’m surprised he hasn’t done anything yet, lol.

Brian Last and Cornette were recently discussing how the industry could really use a third, well financed promotion. Have to agree. AEW didn't make it a year before their roster felt bloated.

Brian Last keeps bringing it up in a way that makes me think he knows something.

I was sadly calling for an alternative pretty much right into AEW’s run, lol. I feel like it got more “urgent” when you had Joe, Bryan, Punk and Brock all as free agents, and now that’s not the case. But it seems there are mumblings in a few places right now.

I was thinking about this the other day, and I do wonder if there is a roster available even if you pooled guys from MLW, the NWA and Impact Wrestling. The biggest star out there is probably Bray Wyatt and/or Braun Strowman, and that depends on whether or not they have actually signed deals with AEW or Impact, and whether or not they can or care to get out of them.

Am I going to be able to get giddy about a promotion headed up by Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff, for example, that is built around The Briscoes, PJ Black, Keith Lee and Mia Yim? I don’t know. I mean that genuinely.

The big free agent coming up is probably AJ Styles. It’s believed he signed a 3-year deal back in 2019. Is Styles going to risk leaving a cushy spot in the WWE though? It all depends on his circumstances, I guess. But is he going to go to a new thing or AEW (if he does leave?

It’s tough. I think the stars needed to make something work are either signed to the WWE or AEW. The timing doesn’t feel right, as much as the demand might be there.

0%

New Jarrett Pro Rasslin will probably not be "signing" big contracts considering they are going to be working out of a minor league ballpark in Illinois. But if they get some kind of distribution deal then I guess it could happen.

Can't imagine Jarrett finding a way to have an impressive attendance at that ball park on an ongoing basis with rasslin. Maybe I'm wrong, hopefully.

I can see a big main event tag with The Good Brothers vs Adam Scherr and Whindam though!

Conrad stopped doing Starrcast every year because THAT was too much work. Given that and his relationship with AEW, I can’t imagine him starting his own company.

It was revealed in July that he left sometime in January, though I can see why that's not exactly considered headline news.

I can't see a third major promotion happening unfortunately.

I like to see wrestlers getting paychecks but I just don't think the demand is there to be honest. ROH I'm not sure will really come back and I don't know how long NWA will last. MLW is kind of a mess now too.

Sounds like there is another interested party afterall

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/20...ing-promotion/

He got paid in WWE stock the whole time he worked there, would be funny as hell if he funded a new company by selling WWE Stock.

Jack Nicholson, a long-time wrestling fan, once said he would like to start a promotion if he could get Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp to go in with him. Who knows how serious he was. Imagine a promotion with that kind of starpower behind it though. It would instantly turn WWE second-rate.

Love Jack, but those would be some bad business partners. There would be pirates and pet detective gimmicks EVERYWHERE!!! :rofl:

@Noid: Please start your own third fed right here on TPWW, ARMCHAIR WARFARE style, and write out a few weeks of content and PPV.

he could be money mark for gcw.

WALTER and Chad Gable wrestle to a 120-minute time limit draw inside a Punjabi Prison "Hell in a Cell" Chief Morley on a pole match.

I remember when Freddie Prinze, Jr. was in the WWE, it coincided with Brian Kendrick’s short singles push. Doesn’t surprise me that he’s buddies with the guy. His flavor in wrestling seems hit-and-miss though. We don’t need more “cosplay” wrestling (as he calls it).

Yup.

Did he say that shit while he was on Ambien? I mean, he famously said he almost sleep-drove off a cliff while taking that stuff, so this sounds like something born from a prescription drug induced fever dream.

"But, what if you add Kurt Angle to the mix?" - Professor Scott Steiner

0% even with Scott Steiner math.

XPW ran their return show on 11/7 and have an LA show coming up. i think we have our answer...

I could see VTW going national

I was more looking for promotions that would be stepping up, not declining in stature.