8 Things WWE Can Learn From Other Promotions

3. NJPW, PROGRESS, PWG, And The Rest - Tournaments Work

Kenny Omega NJPW G1 Climax
NJPW.co.jp

WWE has turned a corner somewhat when it comes to tournaments. The Cruiserweight Classic and United Kingdom Championship brackets were undoubted successes, and the Mae Young Classic promises more of the same. The problem is that these competitions have existed in a vacuum, with little bearing on events in the main WWE Universe.

Almost every other major professional wrestling promotion on the planet runs at least one annual tournament that is hugely important to the company. New Japan's calendar is based around the things, with contenders for pretty much every championship decided through them. The G1 Climax is currently taking place, with a Tokyo Dome main event on the line for the winner.

PWG's Battle of Los Angeles is three days of incredible wrestling with a PWG Championship shot for the winner, a format that PROGRESS has mirrored with Super Strong Style 16. CHIKARA's King of Trios has long been one of the highlights of the wrestling calendar.

WWE's aversion to main roster tournaments with consequences needs to end.

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Kenny Omega
 
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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.