FAILED Wrestling Companies That Went Bankrupt

[@MoonlightStrider]

Fun Fact: Did you know, that the first three seasons of Lucha Underground were filmed in the same warehouse that was used for the Breaking The Magicians' Code: Magic's Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

[@kenchem9253]

That is a fun fact

[@JustinGewdin]

Thats awesome

[@la2beekay496]

They did a lot in that warehouse I think some filming or Hollywood studios owns it cause they did some inception scenes that I know and I think wrestling society x?

[@ChristopherJohn4389]

Of course. Everyone knows that's lol. Jk. Cool fact.

[@spartanisland9977]

I watched some of both that’s crazy lmao

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

Control Your Narrative was essentially EC3 skimming the Wikipedia article on "Postmodernism" and deciding to make a wrestling promotion based on it.

[@kidz4p509]

But even after CYN closed, he still acted like it was still a thing. From what I learned, he had some head problems or something at some point.

[@planetschlock]

@@kidz4p509 He's had head problems at EVERY point lmao

[@Stranglehold138]

Didn't know postmodernism was so homoerotic but I'll take your word for it.

[@imnotsickler]

​@@kidz4p509that describes every wrestler

[@SkyDog1972]

0:26 WrestleCircus 3:03 Chikara 6:01 Control Your Narrative 10:24 WhatCulture Pro Wrestling/Defiant 14:01 Hulkamania Let the Battle Begin Tour 17:18 Lucha Underground 20:54 Wrestling Society X 22:39 World of Sport Wrestling 25:08 Five Star Wrestling 32:55 Wrestling Entertainment Series

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

Wrestling Society X is a dumpster fire in the best ways possible. So fast paced that you didn't know why opponents had beef, if there even was any animosity. "I'm mad at you!" "Well, I'm mad at you too (for reasons)" And then they fight. But it was fun. WCPW and Lucha Underground were badass in their days.

[@Theclap94]

I was maybe 12 or 13 when it was in tv for that brief moment in time , it was pretty wild lol.

[@impulse_xs]

I have a weird soft spot for WSX. “Dumpster fire in the best way possible” sums it up perfectly lol.

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

​@@impulse_xsI'd agree with "worst ways possible" if I didn't like it so much.

[@impulse_xs]

@@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545 Oh that was a misquote I meant to say *best lmao. But Yeah I probably enjoyed WSX way more than I had a right to lol. It was so fast paced you didn’t have time to question the ridiculousness of it all and you’d just enjoy the circus. If nothing else it was definitely memorable. I still have the original DVD set somewhere…

[@staple_gun6367]

WSX walked so Lucha Underground could run

[@Ibmyselfman]

WCPW didn't go bankrupt, Defiant went bankrupt. There was a big difference in product, especially when the WhatCulture stars left to form Cultaholic.

[@anthonymacgregor9790]

WCPW and Defiant ware the same promotion.

[@Ibmyselfman]

@anthonymacgregor9790 I'm very well aware of that lol. Product/ratings went downhill after the Whatculture 6 left and the name changed.

[@DbpLukcy]

I wanna watch both I keep hearing about them

[@StormNZero]

@@Ibmyselfmandon’t forget that some left to form the WrestleTalk channel included Blampied before he had to leave again

[@M.S.Fitness]

Stars? 😂😂😂😂

[@ryanwaslawski6088]

Wonder what would’ve happened to whatculture if the KZbin ad revenue crap didn’t happen.

[@oddishhonor]

The cultaholic crew would’ve still left, it was going to end one way or another

[@greenkoopa]

@@oddishhonor also Ben and Peter at Triple Jump

[@okyep]

Adam has a sex addiction and allegations that caused a rift between what culture.

[@Showbiz_Stuff]

​@@okyep huh, what

[@zeldabombsquad1144]

​@@Showbiz_StuffAdam Blampied is a confessed sexual predator

[@kadharefinley224]

WCPW and Lucha Underground are the only two companies that I really watched. Both companies had a great roster and amazing matches

[@WWECodyEra]

Lucha underground still exists the call it cmll

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

I was pumped when I pulled into a bank parking lot and saw someone with a Lucha Underground sticker on the back of the car. Unfortunately instead of talking to a fan it was a woman borrowing her son's car.

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

​@@WWECodyEraIn name only.

[@emilianogarciacisneros2727]

​@@WWECodyErait's not the same thing by any means

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

I remember they aired Lucha Underground segments including the promoter actor guy on MLW. I stopped watching when WWE became watchable. I was excited

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

Lucha Underground was special. I really miss that one.

[@sampleoffers1978]

Some these shows need to make splash on tv when getting is good but plan on being cancelled from tv and work internet presence hard post tv, which remains history asset.

[@TheWorldFromJ2Z]

I really enjoyed that company because they would lean into the gimmicks of having powers and being supernatural

[@staple_gun6367]

There was a point where Lucha Underground was legitimately my favorite show on television.

[@Bunbunfunfun]

Lucha underground ending was a sad day. My fave wrestling show of the last ten years.

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

Lucha Underground was the only thing I watched for years.

[@thegreatestshowonearth7623]

I wonder is it awkward between Nia Jax and AOP now since they all have comeback to WWE now on the same show lol

[@greenkoopa]

WCPW was really great, when it swapped to Defiant and left youtube I did not care anymore. Same with NWA

[@greenkoopa]

I watched aew Dark every week on here

[@charlottestreet3301]

​@@greenkoopa WCPW probably had to stop international wrestlering stars because it was really expensive to fly from the us to the uk

[@pimpinpres]

Jake Hager/Jack Swagger/Jack Strong being the last champion of a soon-to-be closing company says a lot about the guy's aura, like a walking nail to the coffin.

[@anonluxor470]

I was really getting into lucha underground when watching clips and matches from it's KZbin channel because I didn't have El rey network back then but when i did it was already dead

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

I get the expanded DirecTV package just to get El Rey because I heard about Lucha Underground. I was very happy I did because Lucha Underground was absolutely amazing.

[@sampleoffers1978]

I watched it a little, it was on my terrible cable system in city that was too expensive and channels disappeared rando lol

[@kurtpaulsen6579]

I watched the first two seasons on Netflix back in the day... And then the next ones on various free sites online... Would've watched it on their network, but like you said, didn't have access to it

[@danielcantu859]

I know tubi has it all

[@Noobie2k7]

Lucha Underground was so good. Needs to be a new Wrestling Promotion like it. I loved the way it was filmed and how it was much more story focused. It wasn't just another indy promotion with good matches.

[@daksto]

Thank you so much for this video alot of research has gone into this i can tell

[@davidfitzpatrick6535]

13:51 Whatculture Wrestling has also said that the formation of NXT UK in 2018 also made a big difference as a TON of British talent that basically WWE were interested in but the wrestlers didn't want to move to the USA such as Tegan Knox Walter (now Gunther) Bea Priestley etc hurt them as they lost almost all of the British indie talent with name power.

[@NoTengoDinero69]

I miss Chikara so much. So many special memories at their shows. Trios was my favorite PPV for years. Long live The Colony 🫡

[@suoquainen]

Maybe you wanna take a look at Brian Kendrick's promotion WPW (Wrestling Pro Wrestling...i know it's a stupid name). It's not the same, but you may find some CHIKARA like gimmicks and maybe some similarities. There's also HTW (Hight Tension Wrestling...former known as Camp Leapfrog). I would say that's the closest to CHIKARA you can actually find and there are also a lot former CHIKARA wrestlers in the roster like Crummels & Defarge, King Crab and many more.

[@speedlemon]

I miss Wrestlecircus. Got to see a few of their shows and it was always a good time.

[@tafua_a]

5 Star Wrestling was released to critical acclaim! Sorry, I miswrote there: it was released to the same critical reaction as Acclaim.

[@DiabolikalRA]

I can't stand ec3. He's way to confident in his shit abilities

[@danielcantu859]

I have never thought he was as good as people claimed

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

He's really good. One of the best TNA stars. The last TNA star to ever matter

[@185MDE]

You nailed the difference between WCPW and Defiant. Well done.

[@185MDE]

I agree, WSX was great!

[@jetman80pops]

What really hurt WCPW was when the two Adam's and crew left What culture.

[@John_Souls]

They know they worth, and decide to bet on themselves. I would say it was worth it, Cultaholic doing great numbers, and WhatCulture is at this point a joke in wrestling community.

[@Stizzfoshizz]

⁠@@John_SoulsI don’t think Cultaholic is much better to be honest. It is all the same content it feels like

[@jetman80pops]

@@John_Souls oh I totally agree I love cultaholic and yes whatcultures quality has really dipped

[@John_Souls]

@@Stizzfoshizz Yeah obviously it's news + list videos, I was mostly talking about cast of characters, when you have good friends in Cultaholic, and this charisma vacuums in WC. Also Cultaholic have some great, long documentaries too.

[@kaylalaufeyson8828]

@@John_Soulswhy is it a joke im the wrestling community??

[@radleybuttons7830]

God I miss CHIKARA so much. The formation of the BDK and the subsequent 2 years was the best wrestling storyline I've ever seen.

[@kidz4p509]

I wish Mike Quackenbush can reopen it.

[@BlueOpinion]

2 of those 4 Hogan tour shows were actually given favorable reviews. Also the reason the company went bankrupt is Hogan's divorce was finalized.

[@TimTE01]

The reason given.

[@councilbaker7972]

Regarding the FIVE STAR WRESTLING game, I am reminded a bit of the old arcade game THE MAIN EVENT, where all the wrestlers were knock-off parodies of mostly WWF stars (and El Canek/Mil Mascaras)...

[@soullessmin]

I watched all the WOS Wrestling at the time, and have recently rewatched then all with great joy, I was so disappointed that more wasn't made, it was great having some awesome wrestling on free TV here in the UK.

[@mgunter]

5* Wrestling did have a unique feature in that if you cheated to much you lost by DQ, and you can turn that off.

[@SuperFata]

I was supposed to make music for 5* wrestling- mainly mock themesongs for the mock WWE wrestlers. As soon I pushed the comminication in the direction of contractual specifics, the communication… collapsed. I saw the writing on the wall and pulled out of the whole thing. Boy, am I glad I did 😂

[@richardtherichard26]

This video actually made me gain a lot of respect for Tony khan. Any schmuck with money can promote a wrestling show and more often then not they’re dead before they even take off. Tony khan has started a company, created a working relationship with the biggest non American company in the world, and purchased another company. All while trying to promote Aew as his main brand. I’ll give him credit where it’s due. That’s not an easy task to accomplish, good for him.

[@mikesnow4735]

Aew is ass at this point they have good matches not one good story line

[@Lightman0359]

To be fair on Hogan's shenanigans, many of those guys were in TNA at some point.

[@NEILAMALONE]

(feels like deja vu?) anyway, I was at the 5 Star Wrestling event in Edinburgh, not a bad show overall with some decent talent. Things were a little disorganised though, with members/associates of a (now probably defunct?) local wrestling company (Reckless Intent) stepping in to help organise queues and stuff for the meet and greet. The promotor of 5 Star had a really bad attitude though. I believe he lived in/near Dundee and was contacted by friends of mine (who also went to a local promotion at the time) interested in seeing if he wanted help promoting the likes of the Dundee show- posters, flyers etc handed out etc but the responses were just hateful, rude and aggressive. I think as said, a lot of people saw that the company was quickly falling apart when it ended.

[@Atomykpimp]

MLW 2003 on The Sunshine Network was the shit! You had Punk vs Raven Feud and the promo’s were amazing and the Extreme Horseman along with Fuego Guerrero aka Amazing Red. Joey Styles on Commentary.

[@liamgillett9068]

I was at that show in Liverpool and they had literally segments like big segments of the echo arena curtained off if I had to hazard a guess I would say 200 people were there

[@BlackslooklikeHarambe]

And you were one of the nerds to show up 😂😂

[@WWEDylanS]

Chikara is PG wrestling done right. Hilarious, but great wrestling. King of Trios is something AEW should do instead of trios titles. I’ll always love Chikara. So many great gimmicks and stories.

[@neverangel24officialytchan87]

>PG Wrestling done right I wish it never was, along with pandering to Burgerland’s PC culture is one of its multiple COD of this company.

[@Atomykpimp]

Herb Abrams UWF.

[@manuelcastillotaylorsversi2551]

Lucha Underground was the true evolution of wrestling.

[@SavoxYT]

I wonder if Jack Swagger still has the Lucha Underground belt.

[@gabrielgray83]

I'd like to see the option to condense all the different personas of a wrestler into one character if you don't want multiples showing up on Universe mode (no matter your settings, they do sometimes show up in the Royal Rumble). You could also toggle on persona changes as storyline angles if you want it while still avoiding duplicates. I like to have mine a little bit more of a Sim, so that would add to the realism a bit.

[@ghostking6838]

so the WCPW thing also hit a mad snafu within the first 3 months cause YT began to block ads for ANY wrestling show

[@glenharper3875]

Loved Lucha underground, that killshot vs Dante fox three stages of war match or whatever it was called was amazing and pentagon vs that Asian girl , Jesus she could take some stiff shots

[@Lightman0359]

As a Chicagoan, when I saw "WCPW" I thought you were gonna talk about the real WCPW: Windy City Pro Wrestling, but then again, they still exist

[@TheMattrking]

“What his spirit animal? That’s right; a jaguar!” - Konan, Lucha Underground Episode 1, while introducing Prince Puma

[@DeadKoby]

Running a wrestling promotion must be super tough. You need name talent to get an audience.... and you have to HOPE that said talent doesn't phone it in. Non-contracted wrestlers are often past their prime, or really green........ so it just makes it really darn tough.

[@shanecaddell]

Those first 2 episodes of wcpw were unbelievably good

[@KidTonyGaming]

5 Star Wrestling had some many gameplay features that wwe still don't have. Damage played a big part, If I played with the Rock, and my opponent damaged my legs, it would make it harder for me to perform the rock bottom, as my leg may give out mid move, or my opponent has a bigger reversal window. You could also reverse a finisher into a finisher, i.e Randy Orton could reverse the F5 into the RKO. that's about all the game had to offer

[@EliteY33t2]

The 2017 KZbin adpocalypse killed WCPWs KZbin revenue as at that time they couldn’t dial stream shows on twitch and KZbin killing a majority of their online money

[@craigbiggam2111]

Grado was the first world of sport reboot champ. New year's episode Grado won it in a multi man ladder match 🤷

[@brandonalloway7128]

EC3 just watched fight club then it became his personality

[@planetschlock]

His original vision: "What if Project Mayhem...BUT WRESTLING?!" His vision in reality: A teenager from the early 2000's dressed as Neo and posing in his backyard with a katana sword purchased from the mall....but wrestling.

[@GBTwelveSixteen]

6:29 - "Never really did anything" Bullshit, the man rigged one of NXT's games with Daniel Bryan's help for the most entertaining NXT segment in the entire initial run.

[@jayeckberg774]

I don't know if it was the reason they changed their name to Defiant, but they were sued for using WCPW which had been trademarked by another wrestling promotion that had been around since the 1990's.

[@mikeawesome9212]

"Hogan was a wrestling promoter for a bit of time". Of course he was, we've all seen WCW.

[@Kurze1988]

....well played

[@edrayed]

Wow... Joe Coffey (now In NXT) score an unbelievable win during 5 Star Wrestling... Defeated Nick Aldis... Defeated Will Osprey... And Defeated Zack Sabre Jr. That's insane!

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

22:46 There was nothing remotely World Of Sport about WOSW which was INFURIATING because actual Traditional British Wrestling has remained alive at grassroots level on shows by All Star, Rumble and Premier. Guys like James Mason, Tony Spitfire and Dean Allmark who could REALLY work you a classic Traditional British Wrestling match were not allowed anywhere near the WOSW project, just as if WOSW got revived in 2024 they would have no place for the likes of Jordan Breaks, Nino Bryant, Ben Stone, Lewis Mayhew, Harry Sefton etc.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

ITV Wrestling ran 1955-1988 by the way. Up until the mid 70s there was a midweek late evening Wrestling show on 10:30pm after News At Ten. Even in the late 70s/early 80s there were occasional non WOS broadcasts on Bank Holiday Sports Special on Bank Holiday Mondays. Also, Welsh Language channel 4 S4C had a wrestling show RESLO which ran 1982-1995 (yes seven years after ITV cancelled wrestling) and there were a couple of episodes of wrestling on Grampian and STV in 1991. Many old school wrestlers in the early 90s appeared on Eurosport's New Catch show, filmed mostly in France.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

Oh and if you really want bang up to date Traditional British wrestling from 2024, Rumble has a channel on here and they regularly post videos of shows including clean technical goody Vs goody matches that would have warmed the cockles of Kent Walton's heart! They even use a proper old school ring with a blue and red corner.

[@kamiloalvarez5800]

the most overrated wrestling channels are always from british dudes, except top10wrestling he is one of the few that are not annoying

[@hellchrome01]

15:27 YOUMANGA!

[@AlecMcphee]

Sorry 15:24 15:28- onwards. Umaga lol

[@SpewChoob]

Briz Bain.

[@jasonchesson1709]

Lucha Underground is truly unique. It was the most fun I've ever had in 30+ years of watching wrasslin.

[@jimmysdadgoingcrazy]

The AEW Anarchy in the Arena matches remind me of Wrestling Society X

[@XXV_Flea333]

0:48 "Biggest stars..." Shows Wes Brisco

[@Hexx_Iztenze]

I quite liked Chikara. It was something very different. Wasn't the easiest to watch where I am, but I used to be able to get hold of some shows. Was rather into Ultramantis Black.

[@wweminehead]

Here we are 2 months on and WOS is back

[@nightwing1822]

Wonder if there will be a Fight Club Pro video as that was a very interesting company

[@Gofioneta]

I remember NWE, the only one who came to my city

[@sampleoffers1978]

It's inspiring in that each promotion is like off Broadway show. You do notice lack of exclusively women promotions, though some are on internet and maybe dont fail...Probably these promotions fail because theyre infiltrated/undermined behind scenes, and or theyre tax write offs from start...Failure is still stories though, and stories are the commodity/value...Like any small business, the live audience is vulnerability in model due to overhead/liability...so work arounds that're innovative for live feel are very so impressive. Would have been nice if you sectioned off each company on the video timeline for chapter reference.

[@Ellococrazy1]

MLW is still trying to get it over.

[@shaneoleary9919]

Awesome video yay

[@Kobra6510]

Of all of these companies, oh how i wish Lucha Underground would come back.

[@HalianTheProtogen]

I feel bad for only learning about WCPW and Lucha Underground after the fact. :(

[@TomAnderson.]

I feel that messed up the EC3 concept was the roster and that he was forcing it too much. But the idea of their shows had a difference in the world of wrestle that if done right they would have killed it.

[@SirPumpkinSlice]

Can't say I'm broken up over these companies dying.

[@galacticbreakdown2804]

quick fix: Wrestling Society X did not begin in 2003

[@CG_VON]

It would seem wrestlers will go to the bigger companies for more money and fame. The independent wrestling companies will have a hard time with more known wrestling companies unless they have a loyal fan base, successful media content, sponsors, etc. I think that wrestling has two segments: the business side and creative side. Some people are fans and not cut for owning a wrestling company. TNA making bad business decisions, AEW having issues with separation of talent and management, MLW not having enough revenue or ability to sign talent, among other issues. It seem the only company worth going is WWE for fame and money. However there are enough wrestling fans, sponsors, media rights, wrestlers, investors, to create a competitive market on both mainstream and independent wrestling.

[@MartinStableford]

I was at the 5 star show in Newcastle the attendance was more than 500 people the attendance was about 1200

[@michaelcotton4853]

The problem with alot of the small English wrestling companies if you weren't from were the company was , you'd never heard of it. So when u saw a flyer /poster for the shows, with the big stars on it you'd laugh and say whatever they won't turn up , so must people never went.

[@hishamulhadi17]

chicara storylines pls 👇

[@StevenDaniels81]

I'm still sad about Chickara that was the most fun I've ever had at an Indy show

[@RoyStantz]

"[WOS Wrestling] had very good production" No it fucking didn't. The constant camera cuts were annoying, as were the commentary team. I know WWE does a lot of camera cuts, but to me, they always feel like they are still on the action. But with WOS, it's like changing the angle completely, going from one side angle to a diagonal angle makes it hard to watch.

[@bigtombowski]

World of Sport is nothing without Shirley Crabtree. Maybe a bit of Mick McManus lol

[@onzasyne]

Moral of the story is never give Swagger a title

[@TheNormalUnstable]

before i saw wack culture pro wrestling logo, i thought it was Kurt Angle on thumbnail

[@ReginaldRobinson-r7f]

Out of all of these promotions, I miss Lucha Underground the most. I was hoping MLW would revive it & I still am making it their own separate brand.

[@stevebutler3773]

After watching this, I think I’ll break out the WSX 4 disc set and watch again

[@razorm4527]

I was a referee for World Gran Prix Wrestling ever hear of it? no not surprised

[@bigjaysaiyan6916]

I'm pretty sure Killshot was in season one. Check out MLW if you want a Lucha Undeground fix. Cueto has returned.

[@kamiloalvarez5800]

unpopular opinion but i never liked whatculture and cultaholic, they are really overrated

[@desirayelawrence9676]

WCPW didn't even go bankrupt they were actually doing really really well and had tons of massive names. Their downfall was much like that of most companies WWE bought them and killed the company.

[@farhanfmx]

I'm wondering the backstage interactions of AOP with Nia now in WWE

[@JeromeDoyle]

i took a shot everytime you said event and now im blasted.

[@theJway822]

AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio drew 300 people? That's absolutely horrifying how tf does that even happen?

[@hsthatzo8063]

Because wrestling will never be that big in the uk, over here its all about MMA and definitely boxing. Only wrestling attractions are when wwe come to town and if that wasn't the case then aew would have sold out wembley twice bc all in were decent shows

[@glenharper3875]

Wrestling society x that was when Jack Evans and mdogg 20/son of havok were in their prime

[@arunsingla3452]

One thing to learn from this video is when companies is going down, jack swagger would somehow always be crowned world champion

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

The only wrestling game with knockoff characters worth something is the stuff MDickie makes.

[@Pitts_not_Pitty]

Wrestling empire is the peak of gaming!!!

[@BullRonin]

Buddy of mine is a super fan of Braun Stroman. Control your narrative announced our city for that tour. I tagged the buddy on Facebook as a goof. Control your narrative started DMing him so he bought a ticket. My bad.

[@gordyhowitzer]

Hager's nickname should be the "Kiss of Death" and he should come to the ring with the 5* and Lucha Underground world titles

[@Fortjul]

I do miss Lucha underground until the last season

[@Omega5678]

I remember watching a random episode of WOS Wrestling it was gd

[@turtlehead2]

Wcpw got me back into wrestling. First time I saw Ospreay was there. That was a good show that could’ve been great.

[@suoquainen]

WOS was very strange. It looked like a british 1-on-1 copy of WWE, but in very small. Not sure what the intention of this copycat was. :)

[@kjl4983]

My headcanon is that this channel is secretly Adam Wilborn’s channel

[@MCPunk55]

Well no one can say these people didn't at least give it a try, even if they were horribly misguided.

[@Beastpoker20]

Wrestling society x brought nostalgia to my life back in the days

[@northleedspoppa]

Tbf wcpw was so predatorty in British indie scene it pretty much killed it NXT UK wasn't even close to whatculture when it came to stealing talent

[@vongola11thboss67]

I never heard of WCPW being predatorial with talent. Could you elaborate?

[@beastmodegaming1490]

Wrestling Society X I watched on MTV around 07 wasn’t bad at all, I miss it truly, XPac & Vampiro and Teddy Hart was the shittt.