5 most important American wrestling promotions apart from WWE

Since the end of WCW, there has not been any promotion in the world capable of competing with WWE. NJPW appears as the second largest company in the world but its popularity is limited to Japan, Europe and North America. However, with its tour of Australia and the opening of a dojo in California, it seems that NJPW has started expansion plans.

However, the competition no longer means survival as in the era of WCW where everything was televised. Since 2000 there have been many promotions in the United States, some with greater popularity or uniqueness than others and that have used more resources in addition to TV to publicize their product.

In this opportunity, I present to you the five most important American promotions after WWE.

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#5 Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW)

It was founded in 1998 by wrestler John Zandig and five of his students in New Jersey. CZW tried to occupy the space left by ECW in terms of hardcore wrestling, but it was taking an identity of its own defined in its logo as 'Ultraviolent Entertainment'. Their types of matches include elements such as chairs, tables, stairs, barbed wire, chains, among others.

The most important annual event of CZW is the Cage of Death. It consists of a show whose main event is a match inside a steel cage that has different types of weapons and objects inside. Cage of Death is always performed in December, with the only exceptions of Cage of Death I (1999) and Cage of Death II (2000) that were held in October and June respectively.

In 2009, Zandig sold the promotion to DJ Hyde. Since 2017 Hyde is co-owner of CZW with Dave Marquez. Marquez is a promoter of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood (CWFH) and one of the most important names of United Wrestling Network, an association of several independent promotions.

With the arrival of Dave Marquez to CZW, the promotion has a greater presence in the media and even a television format, taking into account the success of CWFH.

CZW celebrates 20 years in this business this year and while it has managed to win the love and respect of the fans of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is time for CZW to consolidate in the United States as the largest in its style.

#4 Chikara

This promotion was founded in 2002 by Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth. It is characterized by its style that mixes lucha libre and wrestling, as well as its emphasis on high flying and tag team matches. Due to its collaborative relationships with numerous Japanese promotions, including Dragon Gate, the Chikara style also incorporates elements of puroresu.

The most important event in Chikara is King of Trios which takes place over three days. It consists of a tournament where each team, made up of three members, faces other teams in direct elimination brackets until reaching the final.

King of Trios was established in 2007 and after hosting all its editions in Pennsylvania, King of Trios 2017 was in the city of Wolverhampton, England. The final was between House Strong Style (Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne & Trent Seven) and House Sendai Girls (Cassandra Miyagi, Dash Chisako & Meiko Satomura), the 2016 winners.

Much of Chikara's success is not only due to the quality of its product, but also its ability to surprise the public with unexpected plot twists.

#3 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG)

It was founded in 2003 in Southern California by six wrestlers (Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super Dragon and Top Gun Talwar). The style of PWG stands out for its luchistic quality and for creating one of the most prestigious wrestling tournaments in the world: Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA).

Battle of Los Angeles consists of a direct elimination tournament that brings together the best wrestlers in the world. Four of his winners currently work in WWE: Sami Zayn, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Ricochet. The latter is the only one to win BOLA twice (2014 and 2017).

Other great stars that have won this contest are Kenny Omega (2009), Zack Sabre Jr. (2015) and Marty Scurll (2016). Winning Battle of Los Angeles means one of the greatest achievements that an independent circuit wrestler can achieve to boost his career.

PWG could take the next big step soon, i.e. to broadcast their shows live. Selling your shows by DVD in these times is almost anachronistic and circumscribes PWG only to the United States, when by its quality it could easily have some popularity in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

#2 Impact! Wrestling

Impact was founded with the name Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by former WWE Superstar Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett, in 2002. TNA was originally headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. In 2017, now named Impact Wrestling, the company moved its headquarters to Toronto and has since carried out its activities in Canada.

Impact has had many ups and downs throughout its history. It was thought by many as WWE's new competition in the new millennium, just as WCW was in the nineties. However, the company never managed to create an identity with the talent it had and became WWE's B team where all of WWE's rejects landed.

Despite the instability suffered by Impact in 2017 in economic matters that resulted in the departure of several talents, its average number of spectators per episode was 311,000. That number it is not close to the ratings of RAW or Smackdown, but is positive after all the problems that the company went through.

Impact is now chaired by Ed Norholm and has Scott D'Amore and Don Callis as executive vice presidents. With them at the helm, a new era in the history of Impact has opened. The company now has an agreement with Twitch where exclusive content is transmitted, as well as past shows and events.

#1 Ring of Honor (ROH)

Founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and a subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, ROH's headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland. ROH, unlike Impact, did manage to create its own identity since its inception with talents such as Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), CM Punk, Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) and Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro), all having successful careers at WWE.

ROH currently has collaboration agreements with NJPW (Japan), CMLL (Mexico) and RPW (United Kingdom). With NJPW, ROH has been carrying out Honor Rising: Japan since 2016. It is a two-day event where stars of both companies collide.

ROH also hots Global Wars and War of the Worlds tours with NJPW. The former is only in Canada and the United States, while the latter also included dates in British cities such as London, Liverpool and Edinburgh.

Although it does not have a tour or event with CMLL, the oldest Mexican lucha libre promotion, it is common to see talents of CMLL in the main pay per views. In Final Battle 2017, the last PPV that ROH held, we had The Hung Bucks facing Flip Gordon accompanied by Mexicans Dragon Lee and Titan.

ROH is the most important American promotion after WWE not only because ROH has created its own identity, but also because it has created stars, a unique PPV and a community of fans around the world that is expanding. With the launch of Honor Club in the coming months, ROH aims for this 2018 to become the best in its history.