8 Wrestling Shows With EMBARRASSING Attendances

5. NJPW New Beginning (Nashville, TN)

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NJPW 1972

The 16,000 that packed into Madison Square Garden for the aforementioned New Japan fronted G1 Supercard special suggested the company's ambitions for the American market weren't just coming to fruition, but had fully ripened. That fruit, unfortunately, didn't bear seeds, and would soon turn mouldy.

A number of factors, chief amongst them the emergence of AEW and the company's lack of significant English-language television in the region, saw NJPW completely fail to capitalise on their April 2019 momentum. By the fall, the promotion were drawing well under capacity for the Super J-Cup finals in Long Beach, California, the prestige and occasion of MSG failing to translate forwards.

It probably doesn't help that company, one huge show notwithstanding, has treated the market like a glorified house show loop. The lack of appreciable star power goes some way to explaining why their most recent tour of the USA has drawn some of the lowest attendances in organisation's history. The nadir came in Nashville, TN. Just 400 people - only a portion of whom paid - made it to the War Memorial Auditorium. Numbers were described, with a smidge of understatement, as "hugely disappointing".

 
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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.