Can American Wrestling Sustain a Third Major Company?

When everything is said and done September 1st 2018 and All In will go down as a pivotal date in American wrestling. For me it is up there with July 7th 1996 (Hogan is the third man), November 9th 1997 (the Montreal Screwjob) & March 26th 2001 (WWE purchases WCW) as some of the key dates which had a long standing effect and change the landscape of American wrestling. Without All In we do not get AEW and the kick that has given wrestling. We have seen only recently with the return of CM Punk after 7 years as well as WWE changing NXT and its whole outlook for hiring talents shift completely and I imagine this is only the beginning due to certain rumblings in the wrestling world.   

Rumours have circulated about a new third 'major' wrestling promotion coming to America. Between Jeff Jarrett dropping vague hints about a new promotion on his podcast and reports of this promotion being interested in signing up recently released talents in the wake of WWE's recent 'budget cuts' it means that we are either seeing the return of Global Force Wrestling (GFW) or something new. It is an interesting time with speculation mounting. 

The last Jeff Jarrett project Global Force Wrestling very much failed to get off the ground. No TV deal could be secured and it felt like no large funding was secured. as such no television network wanted to air the shows and even with that as well live event ticket sales were poor, the product as a whole was lacking something to help it gain footing in the American landscape at a time where it was less crowded then it is now. To succeed in wrestling at least on a WWE/AEW level you need money, these companies are owned by people with net worths that are at least in the billions and you wonder if there's another Millionaire/Billionaire out there who want to invest into wrestling. 

Looking at the state of play for American wrestling it's as crowded as ever. Not even in the heights of the late 90s did 3 major companies exists, while ECW was prominent I wouldn't exactly call it major it would be a step below WWF & WCW in the time. I look at the wrestling pyramid as it stands I would list it as such.

Tier One: Major Companies 
I'd list these as the companies getting the big attendance numbers and PPV buys and these are boosted by several international TV deals. At the moment WWE & AEW occupy this spot in America and those two alone. 

Tier Two: Minor Companies on TV
Minor is probably the wrong word but I am unsure of what to name here. I'm referring to a list of companies that normally pull the same sort of attendances in terms of TV and in building. A lot of these companies the majority of talent is not signed to exclusive deals. The TV deals for these companies are a notable step down from those in Tier One but all of these companies have regular weekly shows on TV which may put them over companies which have a bigger following. I'd rank the companies in this as the following 

NJPW - US Branch
Major League Wrestling 
Impact Wrestling 
Ring of Honour 
National Wrestling Alliance

Tier Three: Independent Companies 
Now while I would argue a company like Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) is more popular than the likes of the NWA the lack of weekly show (even if it is just on Fite) impacts listing here. A weekly show is seen as more important that irregular or fortnightly shows no on TV (or somewhere in which they can get sponsorships). I mean hypothetically if GCW got a TV slot I'd put them above NWA and maybe ROH in the tier above but for the purposes of this post it is about having TV shows in America and all over the world not just the events, live attendance and how wrestling fans view the product. Other companies like PWG & Warrior Wrestling I'd put at the top of this category as they are the other ones with GCW I hear and see the most of.  

So by looking at this a company that wants to position itself as a third major brand right away it has to leapfrog all these other companies in tier two & three and have the sustainability and TV deal (or deals but anything international you'd expect to come later). It's not impossible as AEW jumped the queue but backed by a billionaire owner is a massive help, I don't imagine they get the deal with TNT if not for the sheer money the Khan family have. Maybe this hypothetical third major brand has a billionaire backer that can replicate this. TV networks should see AEW on TV and the success it has had with key demos with Dynamite & Rampage topping their time slots in key demos to see non Vince McMahon wrestling can draw an audience. 

Beyond the money and TV another main issue is getting a roster together. Here is where some kind of advantage can be seen, WWE changing its policy of hiring and with releases coming more frequent the days of them hoarding talent is over and with a change in what they look for in talent being athletes with little to no wrestling experience to get them to work 'the WWE style' and as someone that sat through the last time they tried to make everyone learn the one WWE style I am glad I don't watch any WWE shows. Regardless of my wrestling preferences it will leave a lot of talent locked out of any WWE contract and could lead to big names being let go. You look at people like Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman who were released. AEW cannot sign everyone and same goes for those listed in Tier Two, when it comes to getting a roster together NXT losing the 'Wednesday Night Wars' will help them at least in terms of some name value. Another major promotion which works to hire independent talent and not concerned would be a benefit to those wanting to make wrestling their career coming up the ranks of independent wrestling. Of course this third company might look to do things more in line with how WWE currently does things (doubtful but could be possible). If that's the case they'd need to prepare for a few harsh years of building people as they wouldn't have prior appeal coming in. 

All in all I think that a Third Major Company in the United States could be a benefit if only for it being more places for people to earn money in wrestling. I don't know if the talent pool has enough people to sustain a company as a major company for the moment it's more likely that any proposed company would fall into tier two, the lack of big name free agents and needle movers will hurt any new company wanting to be major. However, with the rate WWE is going with roster cuts that could be different in a months time to me writing this. Either way it is a very interesting time to be a wrestling fan and if another company launches to instant success of a major TV deal and more it will help change the landscape of wrestling for fans and wrestlers for the better and I mean as far as major companies go I believe Prime Time on Thursday's for American TV is still available, the pieces are there to set something up to be that number 3 promotion all that's left to see is if someone has the money, patience, team and want to make it happen.