12 Wrestling Promotions That Tried To Compete With The WWE And Failed

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Many have remarked that competition breeds excellence, and this could not be more true than in professional wrestling. When two promotions go head-to-head with one another, it often provides a little extra motivation for the talent to put on the best show they can. Usually, one of the two promotions matched against one another is WWE. Former WWE Executive Vince McMahon is notorious for his competitive spirit, and was never one to shy away from a good fight. McMahon welcomed the challenge from Ted Turner in the '90s, and overcame adversity to become the industry leader in sports entertainment.

From then on, many have tried and failed to compete with McMahon and WWE. After all, having a target on one's back just comes with the territory of being the best. The longer a company or sports team resides at the top of the mountain, the bigger their target typically becomes. Some attempts at taking down WWE have been more well thought out than others. Tony Khan's All Elite Wrestling has given the folks at WWE something to think about, even if they are not yet stiff competition for the wrestling conglomerate. AEW has at least managed to give WWE fits in the key demographic, but for every AEW there are three more wrestling promotions who put WWE in their crosshairs just to get a quick rub. Regardless, several have felt the full consequences of what happens when they tug on Superman's cape.

Here are wrestling promotions that tried to compete with the WWE, only to fail in that endeavor.

"Cowboy" Bill Watts took a couple of turns at competing with the WWF. Watts booked WCW between 1992 and 1993, but his old-school ways failed to catch on. Prior to this, Watts was best known for leading Mid-South Wrestling between 1979 and 1986. After years of operating as one of the premier American wrestling territories, Watts opted to take the promotion national after years of flirting with the idea. In doing so, Watts joined a group of several promoters jockeying for pole position as the WWF's top competitor. The newly-named Universal Wrestling Federation landed a syndication deal that saw the program aired in major markets around the United States.

While the shows were well-received, Watts simply did not have the distribution to compete with the WWF and Jim Crockett Promotions, which had successfully positioned itself as the WWF's top competitor. A recession in the oil industry of Oklahoma also stunted UWF's growth, as many of the promotion's blue-collar fans had less disposable income to use to attend shows. JCP swallowed the UWF on April 9, 1987 after Watts sold the company to Crockett. Some of its top stars, such as the Fabulous Freebirds, Eddie Gilbert, and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams caught on immediately with the Crockett fan base. The UWF purchase is also how Sting came to join the fold in Atlanta, as he and his tag team partner, The Ultimate Warrior, had UWF deals. The Warrior would not be retained, however.

Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling may not have had the financial backing necessary to seriously compete with the WWF, but that did not stop him from convincing his locker room of wrestlers they could. "What was it like competing in the single most hyper-competitive environment in the history of this industry? With absolutely no sponsors, no advertisers, no big money-backers or trust-funds behind me? It was exhilarating," Heyman told Sports Illustrated. Owned by Philadelphia jewelry store owner Tod Gordon, ECW had been formerly known as Eastern Championship Wrestling, a subsect of the new National Wrestling Alliance, and became a force in the tri-state area under booker Eddie Gilbert. However, Heyman won a power struggle with Gilbert and officially took over as booker in late 1993. One year later, Heyman convinced Shane Douglas, the newly-minted NWA World Heavyweight Champion, to throw the belt down during a post-match promo, ushering in the era of "extreme."

ECW brought a new style of wrestling presentation to the mainstream, combining traditional pro wrestling with car-crash television to create a countercultural product. Heyman mastered the art of highlighting the strengths of his wrestlers and could just as easily hide their weaknesses. A solid blend of misused wrestlers from the two major federations and homegrown talent made up the roster, and the promotion began to grow organically under Heyman's creative direction. Raven detailed Heyman's motivational tactics in the Kayfabe Commentaries release, "Timeline: A History of ECW 1996, as told by Raven," praising Heyman's ability to squeeze the best out of his talent while positioning the WWF and WCW as the "enemy." (ECW went on to work with the WWF in an official and unofficial capacity in 1997.) Despite landing a television deal with TNN, ECW eventually filed for bankruptcy while Heyman found his way into backstage and on-screen roles with the WWF.

No promoter took as many swings at the WWF over the years as Jerry Jarrett, who was involved with the creation of Pro Wrestling USA and later Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He even attempted to buy WCW in 2001 when the company was on its last legs. However, Jarrett also took a chance on national expansion with his Memphis-based promotion, Continental Wrestling Association. With Dallas' World Class Championship Wrestling operating in dire financial straits, Jarrett stepped in to purchase controlling shares of World Class, then merged the promotion with the CWA to create the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) in 1989. The USWA promoted shows in both Tennessee and Texas and sought to occupy real estate in the vacuum left by the dissolution of Pro Wrestling USA, with which both the CWA and WCCW were involved. Jarrett had initially looked to merge the CWA with the AWA, but negotiations fell through on the Gagne side.

The USWA in its intended form would be short-lived, as World Class pulled out of the deal less than a year into the merger. The Von Erich Family still owned 40% of WCCW at the time of the merger, and Kevin Von Erich filed a lawsuit against Jarrett and television executive Max Andrews, alleging that they were concealing funds from the family. Rather than fight the lawsuit, Jarrett continued to operate the USWA without the support of WCCW, and did so to mixed results. The USWA wound up entering a talent exchange deal with the WWF that paved the way for local legend Jerry "The King" Lawler to sign up north. In exchange, bankable WWF stars occasionally appeared in the USWA while the promotion became the first de facto developmental territory for the company. The Rock wrestled matches in USWA under the name Flex Cavana, and the USWA also served as a playground for Vince McMahon to test out the "Mr. McMahon" character before closing doors in November 1997.

At around the same time McManus' World Wrestling All-Stars began to formulate, a second promotion called Xcitement Wrestling Federation (originally the X Wrestling Federation) came to be when entrepreneur Kevin Harrington pitched the idea to Hulk Hogan and his friends. Harrington seemed to have the financial backing to give the company legs and even anointed manager Jimmy Hart as company president. While the company shared most of its talent with World Wrestling All-Stars, it did carry some unique names such as Hogan, the Nasty Boys and Greg Valentine, with Tony Schiavone and Jerry Lawler on commentary, "Mean Gene" Okerlund as an interviewer and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as commissioner.

The XWF took on a slightly different business model than WWA, instead opting for a more traditional television-based approach. The promotion ran two tapings on November 13 and 14, 2001 from the soundstage in Orlando's Universal Studios ... but given the minimal amount of interest in WCW at the time of its closure, Harrington quickly saw the lack of upside in his investment and pulled out of the deal leaving full control to Hart. Before Hart could enter any serious talks with networks, Hogan inked a deal to return to the WWE, causing the company to die a peaceful death. Hart purchased the rights to the footage from the tapings in 2004, and released a three-disc DVD series titled, "In Your Face: The Lost Episodes of the XWF" in 2005.

Antonio Inoki's original vision for New Japan Pro-Wrestling may not have ever involved becoming a competitor to WWE, but top wrestling company in Japan has become a thorn in the WWE's side in recent years. Popular gaijin wrestlers such as AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and even Chris Jericho helped elevate New Japan to new heights with their performances at the Tokyo Dome, and enthusiasm for New Japan increased to the point of the company wanting to expand into North America. As a result, the company found a natural North American partner in AXS TV. NJPW signed with the network in November 2014 to air English-speaking NJPW programming on American television for the first time ever. The deal lasted for five years, and helped build to the company's first-ever stateside live events. The Long Beach shows on July 1 and 2, 2017 were the first the company had ever independently produced in North America, and the weekend of shows received significant acclaim from critics. 

Partnered with Ring of Honor and AXS TV stateside, many thought New Japan could become a force in North America and eat into WWE's market share. A co-promoted G1 Supercard in 2019 became the first professional wrestling event at Madison Square Garden not promoted by the McMahon family in nearly 60 years. The WWE allegedly did everything they could to put the kibosh on the event, but issues between the three parties would be resolved ahead of the event.

All Elite Wrestling was officially announced on New Year's Day 2019, and soon after announced the signings of Omega, Jericho, and The Young Bucks — all key players in the North American market for New Japan. As a result, AEW stole much of New Japan's thunder, channeling it into its own attempt to compete with WWE. This would not deter NJPW from westward expansion, however, as they announced a new touring brand, New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. Episodes of a new show, "NJPW Strong," stream live on NJPW World, the company's streaming service, as well as FITE TV.  However, the departure of embattled company president Harold Meij led NJPW to take its foot off the gas pedal in becoming a self-sustaining operation in the west. Instead, the promotion partnered with companies such as AEW and Impact to better expose its talent to western audiences.

The story of TNA Wrestling is one of a wrestling company taking on several different identities and creative visions. Jeff and Jerry Jarrett founded the company in 2002, fresh off of Jeff's involvement in World Wrestling All-Stars. From there, TNA sought to introduce a new breed of wrestlers to the mainstream wrestling audience, while operating as the clear-cut Number 2 wrestling promotion in the United States. When Vince Russo entered the creative picture, Panda Energy entered the financial picture, buying the elder Jarrett out of his shares while taking over as the controlling shareholder of the company. With solid financial backing, TNA began to stockpile former WWE talent in their primes such as Rhino, Christian Cage, and Kurt Angle, pairing them with younger talent such as AJ Styles and Bobby Roode and mainstays like Sting. As a result, the company began to grow organically, picking up a timeslot on Spike TV, the former home of "Monday Night Raw."

Though TNA casually mentioned WWE from time to time on screen, the company remained steadfast in its mission to become a viable alternative to WWE as opposed to becoming legitimate competition. Everything changed when president Dixie Carter brought in Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to run creative. While TNA stood to gain some eyeballs with Hogan involved, the company — still just seven years old at the time — switched to the Monday night timeslot, putting it directly against "Raw" hoping to capitalize on the lapsed fan's nostalgia for the Monday Night Wars. The move backfired tremendously. The ratings began to dwindle, and homegrown stars such as Styles began to leave for greener pastures as the company continued to hemorrhage money. TNA lost its TV deal with Spike TV along the way and never fully recovered, with Carter being forced to sell the rebranded Impact Wrestling to Anthem, a Canadian company that still owns and operates the wrestling organization to this day.