FAILED Wrestling Companies That Went Bankrupt

We all know of WWE, AEW, TNA and other TV wrestling companies but outside of them exist a whole world of wrestling companies all over the globe. And many of them don’t last with some going bust due to a variety of reasons whether it be poor decision making, bad spending or finding themselves in controversy. So like the video and lets talk about it, lets talk about FAILED wrestling companies that went bust.
Video title: FAILED Wrestling Companies That Went Bankrupt
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[@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

[@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.

[@TaylorGriffing-rj2on]

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

[@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

[@TheMattrking]

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

[@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

[@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_CH]

​@@okyep huh, what

[@zeldabombsquad1144]

​@@Showbiz_CHAdam Blampied is a confessed sexual predator

[@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

[@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

[@NormanHoward17]

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

[@M.S.Fitness]

Stars? 😂😂😂😂

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@speedlemon]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@daksto]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@tafua_a]

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

[@AdLamb]

It’s a shame AEW completely fucked over WOS, if only Sky had outbid ITV & we’d still have it.

[@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.

[@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.

[@jetman80pops]

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

[@Pawlacz2137]

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]

⁠@@Pawlacz2137I don’t think Cultaholic is much better to be honest. It is all the same content it feels like

[@jetman80pops]

@@Pawlacz2137 oh I totally agree I love cultaholic and yes whatcultures quality has really dipped

[@Pawlacz2137]

@@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.

[@babarazamsucks]

A storyline shutdown.😂

[@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)...

[@Atomykpimp]

Herb Abrams UWF.

[@jimmysdadgoingcrazy]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@nightwing1822]

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

[@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

[@Gofioneta]

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

[@babarazamsucks]

Last year. Geez. Time just flies. I knew it was a long time ago though.

[@hellchrome01]

15:27 YOUMANGA!

[@AlecMcphee]

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

[@SpewChoob]

Briz Bain.

[@shopaccount8909]

MLW is still trying to get it over.

[@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.

[@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.

[@shanecaddell]

Those first 2 episodes of wcpw were unbelievably good

[@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

[@babarazamsucks]

Pfft. Adam Pacitti.😅

[@HalianTheProtogen]

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

[@shaneoleary9919]

Awesome video yay

[@craigbiggam2111]

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

[@galacticbreakdown2804]

quick fix: Wrestling Society X did not begin in 2003

[@JUSLOFI]

FIVE STAR sounds like AEW! Yikes!

[@ryanjohnson5343]

Damn WCPW was fucking great, The Pro Wrestling World Cup is probably my favourite wrestling tournament ever

[@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.

[@Omega5678]

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

[@StevenDaniels81]

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

[@JeromeDoyle]

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

[@farhanfmx]

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

[@Beastthepoker]

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

[@steveirvinejr1672]

Hulk was a tour only

[@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. :)

[@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!!!

[@yeoedwin1619]

Worth mentioning: AWF, FWE,

[@HenJoedry]

Wait, what? AEW is on ITV? Which channel of ITV? I was (today) years old when I found this out. 😂

[@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.

[@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.

[@kamiloalvarez5800]

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

[@hishamulhadi17]

chicara storylines pls 👇

[@mikeawesome9212]

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

[@matthewb4412]

Hi i have the dvd from the Brisbane show of the hulk hogan australia tour in 2009

[@MCPunk55]

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

[@onzasyne]

Moral of the story is never give Swagger a title

[@michaelcooke4333]

Whatculture is the worst thing to happen to wrestling

[@mitchcolburn1216]

If you do a part 2 Smoky Mountain Wrestling easily belongs on it.

[@citizensnips7949]

I would watch Eugene vs. Heidenreich

[@rickisgrate]

Destineeeeeeeeeeeeee this is my destineeeeeeeeeeeee lives in my head rent free from watching whatculture lists

[@calebmaybin6896]

The one good thing CYN ever did for me ... introduced me to Man Bun Jesus. ✝️ 🐼

[@TheAC420]

Voice sounds familiar

[@adden2242]

Wow sooo sad,I only remember the EC3 stuff,still horrible!!

[@CT9905.]

Hey! You forgot about WOW!

[@ryanjohnson5343]

Mojo is a real one

[@jamesrynott3742]

It was supposed to be fully controlled by the talent

[@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.

[@kanoaikawach]

It didn't help that CYN was mostly a bunch of dudes who were fired for being knobs and/or racist.

[@blcktale]

I mean, they tried

[@d33v3r]

World of sport is coming back again

[@DemonKingHiei]

Wasent Jake strong supposed be revealed as some type of god

[@babarazamsucks]

I searched up stock simulators and befittingly, this was uploaded just hours ago since the title has the word “bankrupt” in it.

[@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?

[@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.

[@FinleyHutcho4650]

It is pronounced Briz-Bin not Bris-Bane! You must think we were born in the darkness

[@itzreallyrhys]

Honestly man you gotta change these thumbnails, they suck so bad

[@lukasjames69]

Chikara brought down by the lies of a damn woman. Smh

[@neverangel24officialytchan87]

I hate Burgerland’s mainstream so-called “big leagues”.

[@Mr.Majestic77]

I have a feeling this will be TNA Wrestling's fate after TNA's partnership with the WWE.

[@TheSkyatollah]

Then you're a total halfwit. How would they go bankrupt after teaming up with WWE? I know wrestling fans like parroting stupid shit other wrestling fans say, but c'mon. At least rub two braincells together and try and make it make sense.

[@metsandjetsfan5174]

Not unless somebody who has the balls to buy TNA Wrestling ( and not let WWE get away with it) I'm talking about Allen Media, Fremantle Media, Liberty Global or Televisa-Univision one of these 4 will win it

[@Mr.Majestic77]

@@metsandjetsfan5174 or maybe Tony Khan. He did make a comment on possibly buying TNA Wrestling. Hell, Shahid & Tony Khan could easily become minority owners of Anthem Sports and Entertainment, thus partial owners of AXS TV.

[@coreyhendricks9490]

Wow, a lot of existing wrestling promotions that went bottom of the barrel, cool video as always Tom 💯

[@shakycameratheater]

Nia Jax is bad

[@VerdadTruth]

Put some respect on Black Pearl my guy. One of the legends of the land of Hardcore: PUERTO RICO.

[@Mr.Majestic77]

I have a feeling this will be TNA Wrestling's fate after TNA's partnership with the WWE. While EC3's Control Your Narrative fizzled out, he is currently the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Worlds Heavyweight Championship, and he now runs his NWA Exodus Pro MidWest promotion, which apart of the revived NWA affiliated territory system. The National Wrestling Alliance: Founded/Established on July 14, 1948. Georgia Championship Wrestling: Founded/Established in 1944. It great that William "Billy" Corgan revived and purchased the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) on May 1, 2017. It's also great Chils Nelms has help revive Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW not to be confused with Game Changer Wrestling), after the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) purchased the GCW assets (taped library), in 2001, due the WWE purchasing WCW, however rhe Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) trademarks still belonged to Grady Odom. After several GCW reunion events, the intellectual property of Georgia Championship Wrestling/GCW was transferred to promoter Chris Nelms in 2020. The NWA has recently did a restart of the NWA territories, which Pro Wrestling Promotions would be govened by the NWA. Those current NWA-affiliated promotions and territories are: [1].Michael Hutter (EC3) owned NWA Exodus Pro MidWest, located in Cleveland, Ohio; [2]. Joe Cazana owned NWA JCP Southeast, located in Coalfield, Tennessee; [3]. NWA Chicago; [4]. Kenzie Paige & Kylie Paige owned NWA Kross Fire, located in Sevierville, Tennessee. [5]. *Pending* Chris Nelms owned Georgia Championship Wrestling, located in Eatonton, Georgia. National Wrestling Alliance's NWA Powerrr show currently airs on The CW App on Tuesday nights at 6:05 PM EST and Georgia Championship Wrestling currently airs on the GA Championship Wrestling KZbin Channel. United Wrestling Network, ran by Dave Marquez, is Pro Wrestling governing authority, which has there own territory system such as: [1]. Nikko Marquez's Championship Wrestling, located in California. Championship Wrestling was formally known as Championship Wrestling From Hollywood. A few years ago, Championship Wrestling was formed from the merger of Championship Wrestling From Arizona and Championship Wrestling From Georgia; [2]. David & Maria Star's Memphis Wrestling (formerly Championship Wrestling From Memphis); [3]. Darby City Wrestling, located in Kentucky.

[@48waffles36]

Soon to be added AEW

[@kjl4983]

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

[@tomcooke6079]

WCPW didn't go bankrupt because if they did, then whatculture wouldn't be around right now, at least not as big as it still is

[@gunnercooper9405]

im pretty sure wcpw/defiant and the whatculture youtube channels became two different entities

[@tomcooke6079]

@@gunnercooper9405 yes they did but only when wcpw sold all their rights to defiant so therefore defiant went bankrupt, not wcpw

[@gunnercooper9405]

@@tomcooke6079 you’re giving 🤓 vibes bro