7 Wrestling Promotions Which Tried To Beat WWE
Can All Elite Wrestling be the one to break Vince McMahon's stranglehold?
This past week, the interest of the whole wrestling industry - and particularly that of those cosying in a Stamford boardroom - was piqued when a set of new trademarks bearing the familiar hallmarks of Cody and The Young Bucks' were revealed.
The filings listed a slew of new trademarks under the banner of 'All Elite Wrestling' - as clear a sign as any that the Being The Elite crew, hot off the heels of their All In success, are seriously pursuing an ongoing, weekly television venture.
What's more, the company is believed to be bankrolled by entrepreneur Shahid Khan, the billionaire owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars with a net worth estimated to be almost double that of Vince McMahon's. For the first time since 2001, the business may have a new Ted Turner - and wrestling fans are understandably excited about the prospect.
AEW might the most well-equipped venture to take on Vince McMahon's hegemony, a stranglehold he's held on the industry since WCW's collapse in 2001. But they are by no means the first. Heck, Jeff Jarrett's tried it twice.
So far, nobody has succeeded.
7. ECW (2001)
WWE's purchase of WCW on 23 March 2001 officially brought the Monday Night Wars to a conclusion. The conflict had been anything but internecine, with the renewed spike in the industry's interest proving bounteous for both parties - until the Atlanta group's own mismanagement scuttled their ship.
Paul Heyman's ECW - for so long defined as North America's 'renegade independent' - had been gnawing at the giant's heels for some time. Heyman had designs on being anything but a violent feeder promotion, and was already diving headlong into national expansion as WCW began to sink beneath the waves. The company's demise presented a power vacuum for a de facto number two outfit, and ECW should have fit the bill.
There was one problem: just 12 days after WCW barred its doors, ECW followed it to the skip. Heyman, having lost his TNN deal the previously December, had desperately scavenged for a new network home, but came up short. With no fluid income covering mounting losses, remaining pay-per-views were cancelled after January 2001's Guilty as Charged, and on 4 April, ECW folded. Shortly after, WWE stripped it of its assets. More Penn. Avenue than Park Place, it was nevertheless enough to complete Vince's monopoly.
Status: Both it and WWE's zombified version are as dead as a doornail.