7 Wrestling Promotions Which Tried To Beat WWE
5. GFW
What does Global Force Wrestling mean to the industry? In 2018, it might seem like nothing more than an elaborate front for a Ponzi scheme with Jeff Jarrett as King of the Mountain, but when it launched three years ago, its queasy chartreuse branding stood for much more.
An extremely comprehensive posting on the company's official website ahead of its first show outlined the key tenets of GFW, amongst them "fun", "variety", and "passion". Most strikingly amidst the bluster was the claim that the company was out to "achieve the improbable" - tacitly, to challenge McMahon's hegemony. According to the hyperbole, only Jarrett had "ever taken a wrestling company completely from scratch and turned it into a global entity" - and he was out to do it again.
How did that work out, then? Not brilliantly. The company became embroiled in scandal after Jarrett started selling 'Global Force Gold', encouraging investors to buy into bullion as part of an alleged pyramid scheme. It took over two years for episodes of GFW's television show, Amped, to air, and a proposed merger with Impact ultimately ended in bitter acrimony as Jarrett was forced into an indefinite leave of absence.
Following the split, Jarrett took the GFW brand with him, and has forged a partnership with FITE TV. The company has since helped produce All In's Starrcast and the NWA 70th Anniversary Show, but as an ongoing wrestling concern of its own, is a non-starter.
Status: Technically alive, like a sea sponge.