5 Things That Could Change Professional Wrestling Over The Next 12 Months

No matter whether you call it "professional wrestling" or "sports entertainment", this is an interesting time in history for wrestling fans. While there is truly only 1 major wrestling company, largely in part due to WWE's acquisition of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001, there has been a growing rise in wrestling-related alternatives in recent years.

In turn, a wrestling fan that sees Raw or SmackDown as having been more quality-oriented in the past can still have plenty of hope for the business.

As of July 2018, there are a lot of interesting developments going on within the wrestling world. Not only are there independent promotions with growing fanbases, but there is also independent talent being buzzed about on an international level.

In other words, the concept of wrestling territories from decades ago exists in some fashion, as you have talent such as Austin Aries, John Morrison, Cody Rhodes and Shane Strickland working with multiple promotions at any given time.

But this writer is particular intrigued by a variety of current happenings and rumors, all slated to take place within the next 12 months, which can change wrestling in a big way. Here is a look at 5 of those things and what can possibly happen as a result.

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#1 All In

The story of All In goes back to a little over a year ago when a tweet from the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer inspired Cody Rhodes to take on the challenge of booking a wrestling show that would sell 10,000 tickets. The show was announced in January 2018 and went on-sale on May 13th of this year, selling out in less than 30 minutes.

That immediate success is surprising not only because it All In is set to take place at a large arena, the Sears Centre right outside of Chicago, but also because only 1 match on the card had been announced.

The actual wrestling of the All In event is far from its most important area. What undoubtedly matters more is the fact that an independent wrestling event, with minimal advertising, can deliver a capacity crowd to a venue that holds more than 10,000 spectators. It shows that independent wrestling scene is healthy, and when branded correctly with recognizable names, that an indie show can deliver results comparable to WWE.

Should the initial All In -- and its accompanying Starrcast event -- deliver a noteworthy event, there is no reason that further All In shows can't happen. Or better yet that an All In arena tour cannot become a reality.

Many American arenas and stadiums have a minimum number of events to host each year for the sake of union requirements, so All In's ability to deliver an arena-level show on September 1, 2018 is something that can change how independent wrestling is booked, packaged and presented to the masses.

#2 ROH/NJPW Present “G1 Supercard”

If you have been following wrestling news and rumors related to Ring of Honor over the past few months, you are most likely aware that ROH wanted to book an event at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden.

For one reason or another, this booking did not come into fruition and fingers were pointed at WWE for keeping it from happening. However, several days ago it was announced that ROH is hosting a joint show at the Garden with New Japan Pro- Wrestling called the "G1 Supercard" during Wrestlemania Week on April 6, 2019.

As with the aforementioned All In, this booking is a bold step in taking popular niche wrestling talent and moving them into an arena. In the case of Ring Of Honor, its regular New York City venue is the Hammerstein Ballroom, which holds a little over 2,000 people when configured to do so.

MSG -- the home of the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers -- can also be scaled with an adjustable capacity but is known to hold over 20,000 attendees as needed. This is a big jump in terms of expected attendance, to say the least.

While ROH is owned by a major broadcasting company, but ROH and NJPW's weekly television shows are not carried on all American cable providers. In turn, the strength of these wrestling promotions likely comes from podcasts and other Internet-related outlets. If these 2 companies can band together and pack MSG, it is a sign that they can do the same in other major markets, showing that WWE is not the only arena-level promotion out there.

#3 WWE considering the purchase of EVOLVE

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at the 2018 NBCUniversal Upfronts

Founded by former Ring of Honor booker (and Dragon Gate USA VP) Gabe Sapolsky, EVOLVE Wrestling was started up in 2010. Initially, not a full-time promotion, EVOLVE booked talent from other promotions. In 2015, EVOLVE announced a working relationship with WWE which has led to Evolve using the WWE-contracted talent on some of its live events.

Right now there are rumors that WWE is considering the purchase of EVOLVE. It has also been rumored that WWE is considering adding EVOLVE's video library to the WWE Network, in addition to that of other independent wrestling companies. Considering that WWE has signed a lot of talent that has previously worked for EVOLVE -- including Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly -- it would not be surprising that WWE wishes to expand its involvement with Evolve.

Where this relationship goes is particularly of interest for a number of reasons. First, it relates to WWE's interest in independent wrestling. Also, it potentially adjusts the role of NXT as WWE would have another place to have its talent develop before getting on televised programming.

Furthermore, it implies that WWE may be on the market to buy up other promotions, realizing the need to not let any of the indies grow too big. But at the very least, WWE's acquisition of EVOLVE would mean for more interesting content on the WWE Network, likely some of that including a lot of WWE and NXT Superstars before they were such a big deal.

#4 Whether Netflix picks up GLOW for a third season

When Netflix announced the development of GLOW, as loosely based on a documentary about the all-female wrestling promotion of the 1980s, devoted wrestling fans were undoubtedly happy. A show about wrestling which would include some former WWE talent within its cast? Interesting on all levels.

Fortunately, GLOW turned out to be a hit for Netflix, and it absolutely crossed over to non-wrestling fans. Season 2 was released earlier this year, and while this writer has not watched it, reviews have been generally positive. A third season has not yet been announced by Netflix or the show's producers but is currently rumored to be likely.

The continuation of GLOW would not only make current fans happy but also show the non-wrestling sector of the entertainment industry that wrestling-related content is profitable. People who develop movies and television shows are seeking long-term profitability with the entertainment properties they develop, so the realization of GLOW being critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful could send the signal of wrestling being acceptable on a grand scale.

Famed television producer and writer Norman Leer had attempted to helm a wrestling series years ago, and Dwayne Johnson has been rumored to be worked on one for network television, so another pick-up of GLOW by Netflix could have a lot of meaning for wrestling as a whole.

And speaking of the original GLOW wrestling company, it was announced last month that WOW: Women On Wrestling will be premiering on AXS TV -- the American carrier for New Japan Pro-Wrestling -- next year.

WOW is the product of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Mark Burnett of the MGM Television and Digital Group, and David McLane, who was behind the GLOW TV series. This means more wrestling coming to television thanks to AXS TV.

#5 The return of Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan and Triple H at the premiere Of HBO's "Andre the Giant" documentary

It has been almost 3 years since Hulk Hogan was fired by WWE as a result of his infamous remarks on what was intended to be a private recording. Immediately the company changed directions to minimize the importance of Hogan within the overall legacy of WWE, comparable to what it did during Hogan's tenure with TNA Wrestling.

WWE's backlash against Hogan was so strong that the company even put the kibosh on a Mega Powers tribute tag team that it then had going on with Damien Sandow and Curtis Axel.

Within months of Hogan's departure from WWE there were already rumors of his return. These rumors have never gone away. Several times since then something historic that was related to Hogan -- like HBO's recent documentary on Andre the Giant -- has come up and WWE has put out a denial about Hogan returning to the company.

Regardless of how you feel about Hulk Hogan the person, Hulk Hogan the wrestler helped make wrestling a big deal. WWE stands to gain a lot from employing Hogan, even if he has more apologizing to do in the eyes of today's overly-politically-correct society. His name still means a lot to millions of people. In turn, his name would sell tickets to live events and plenty of new merchandise.

The return of Hogan to WWE's ranks would mean a lot of things. First, it would show the ability to do business with people it did not see eye to eye with, which arguably the company did in recent years with Goldberg, The Ultimate Warrior and the estate of "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Second, it would show that the company is not overly concerned with political correctness since wrestling really does involve bullying and xenophobia within its storytelling. Also of importance is that Hogan's return would show to be following through with its "then, now, forever" mantra by further bridging the gap in its current timeline.