Greatest Wrestling Promotion of all time?

[Microstatistics]

What is the best wrestling company/promotion ever? Pick your own criteria but try and account for its entire run rather than picking based on specific eras. My rough list:

 

1. NJPW

2. WWF/WWE

3. EMLL/CMLL

4. AJPW

5. AJW

6. NWA/WCW

7. RINGS

8. BattlARTS

9. UWF (the second one)

10. Joint Promotions

[iamthedoctor]

Greatest promotion of all time? Thats a tough one because I loved WWE & WCW and some moments for me stood out from the other like I prefer early 80s NWA but I like late 80s WWE, then it would be early to mid 90s WCW and late 90s WWE. Id say ECW comes in next because I liked the hardcore style they was putting together but couldn't decide this or USWA Dallas as remember watching it. NJPW for their alternavive style and gotta love some British wrestling from the 80s.

 

1. WWE (Just by a landslide)

2. NWA/WCW

3. ECW or USWA Dallas

4. NJPW

5. Joint Promotions

[shodate]

10 IWRG

9 ROH

8 Dale Martin Promotions

7 EMLL/CMLL

6 JWP

5 AJPW

4 LLPW

3 AJW
2 UWF [ the first 2 ]

1 RINGS

-----------------

Honourable mentions

U Style

Real Japan

New Japan

Hamada[uWA]

JCP

[Sean Liska]

I' think if we had complete WMC TV and Mid-South Coliseum shows Memphis would run away with my vote. Although CMLL's 35 years of consistency in footage we have is something else. And WWE has had the highest highs. Can post more later.

[Boss Rock]

Tough one as there's loads I haven't watched. I think when it comes to a pure in-ring standpoint, AJPW and it isn't even close in my book. Angles and characters? WWE.

[Loss]

CMLL runs away with this for me, if only because they've peaked as high as any company anyone can name, and they're still kicking after all this time. JCP/WCW from 1986-1994 has a special place in my heart because it's where I cut my teeth and in spite of being classically inept, sometimes the chaos would result in a hellacious show.

[Mad Dog]

I think my votes would be WWE, New Japan and CMLL. You can talk all you want about creative and match output. But I think survival and continued relevance counts for a lot.

[Grimmas]

Greatest is really dependent on how you define it. Also for companies that have been around forever, they can be great for periods and shit for periods. It's really a difficult question.

 

I would probably say CMLL, since they are the oldest, own their own building and always make money, and have had many many great periods and their down periods are never shitty like most other companies.

[ohtani's jacket]

It would have to be one of the major promotions that are still in existence, namely the WWE, CMLL and NJPW.

 

Dale Martin/Joint Promotions had quality TV wrestling from 1955 to1984 and they even had some decent stuff in the final few years. I dont think any promotion can compare to thejr TV.

[Britwresdvds]

It would have to be one of the major promotions that are still in existence, namely the WWE, CMLL and NJPW.

 

Dale Martin/Joint Promotions had quality TV wrestling from 1955 to1984 and they even had some decent stuff in the final few years. I dont think any promotion can compare to thejr TV.

 

And Brian Crabtree MCing in a bright yellow jumpsuit on at least one TV taping. What's not to like?!

[Sean Liska]

CMLL runs away with this for me, if only because they've peaked as high as any company anyone can name, and they're still kicking after all this time.

I'm glad you said CMLL because they get slept on so much. We have 35 years of footage and outside of a maybe a brief period in the mid 90's, they've just always been putting out high quality stuff with their best stuff being epic and their big apuestas matches being the most emotional things in wrestling. They've maintained just a remarkable level of consistency that goes somewhat underappreciated.

[NintendoLogic]

What about the fact that CMLL has no real footprint outside of Mexico? Virtually every promotion on Earth has been WWE-ified to some degree. And the puro influence has obviously been felt far and wide. Even British wrestling has consistently punched above its weight in terms of influence.

[Loss]

Really? CMLL has a presence in the U.S. and Japan through their deals with ROH and NJPW, and before that, they leased their brand name to a third party to run as CMLL Japan. Their style was also copied (and altered) by Hamada's UWF, Michinoku Pro, Dragon Gate, Toryumon, etc. Top stars like El Hijo del Santo and Blue Panther have toured Europe. Rey has been a big influence on hiring practices in the U.S., with smaller guys actually getting a real shot. The working style also has more high flying than ever, which I'd attribute to the lucha libre influence. What am I missing?

[Mad Dog]

They also run an annual crossover event with New Japan.

[fxnj]

If you're a big fan of the CMLL house 6-man style and don't mind the restrictive formula, CMLL is #1. I'm not a fan, so I find the majority of CMLL matches a chore to watch with the exception of the handful that break the mold every year. AJPW, NJPW, and WWE have had worse matches, but they've also had a lot more matches that I'd care to watch, so they'd be my top promotions in some undecided order.

[ohtani's jacket]

Really? CMLL has a presence in the U.S. and Japan through their deals with ROH and NJPW, and before that, they leased their brand name to a third party to run as CMLL Japan. Their style was also copied (and altered) by Hamada's UWF, Michinoku Pro, Dragon Gate, Toryumon, etc. Top stars like El Hijo del Santo and Blue Panther have toured Europe. Rey has been a big influence on hiring practices in the U.S., with smaller guys actually getting a real shot. The working style also has more high flying than ever, which I'd attribute to the lucha libre influence. What am I missing?

 

A lot of those examples don't apply to CMLL specifically. Don't forget that during the 70s and 80s, New Japan had a working relationship with the UWA. So most of the lucha influence in Japan comes from a different Mexican promotion. Hamada was predominantly a UWA worker and sent his MPro guys to work in the UWA as well. If you're talking about modern day lucha influence then CMLL obviously leads the way.

[shodate]

in ring wise New Japan has never had a down period even in downtime booking wise the in-ring action never dropped off

[stunning_grover]

This is the top 5 that comes to mind right now...

 

1. AJPW

2. AJW

3. WWE

4. CMLL

5. NJPW

[Jetlag]

It's funny to see WWE, CMLL, NJPW and AJPW get mentioned so much when these promotions have produced so much skippable content. I guess, if you want to only look at peak material...

 

If you go by peak output vs. average output CMLL wouldn't look good at all. Not to mention that if people were to nitpick every stupid booking decision or bad match CMLL has done the way they do with a promotion like TNA. The 2000-2010 period is pretty much a big void for the company too.

 

The most consistant wrestling I've watched is probably the Houston/Mid South stuff that we had on NWA Classics and the 80s set. As far as promotions go where I want to watch every single event they've run, U-Style is at the top followed by Futen and BattlARTS.

[iamthedoctor]

While NJPW is on most people's lists often wondered why AJW never gets the same love.

[shodate]

While NJPW is on most people's lists often wondered why AJW never gets the same love.

it say the same for the other big 2 Joshi Promotions

[fxnj]

While NJPW is on most people's lists often wondered why AJW never gets the same love.

It's not easy to find footage of a lot of the big matches from before the 90's. The 90's peak produced some universally loved classics, but a lot of it can be divisive due to how influential Toyota was on the overall style. Also they went out of business 15 years ago while NJPW is still producing great matches.

[shodate]

 

While NJPW is on most people's lists often wondered why AJW never gets the same love.

It's not easy to find footage of a lot of the big matches from before the 90's. The 90's peak produced some universally loved classics, but a lot of it can be divisive due to how influential Toyota was on the overall style. Also they went out of business 15 years ago while NJPW is still producing great matches.

 

but all the spin-off promotions from Zenjo are still producing stuff in the style its the only promotion that do not run on Kings road style and also LLPW is stiil active and h=is underrated as hell and Jwp only want way last year and is underrated as anything you also forgot New Zenjo

 

while i find Stardom is overrated via overexposure wave Pure j sendai TJP or even and alike are all very much better than stardom on consistency basis while stardom more high rateed match even in my opinion its also has si many more 50% or lower rated matches

 

while the other 4 less 85% or above matches thye have less bad stuff and once IO and Toni goes to WWE witch they will in the long im sorry imo that is death that of that roster to many more mainstream fans

 

the le last year, while no AJW 1993 Sendai had the most consistent year of any promotion in the world and JWP, did the year before best promotions is about consistacy imo

 

talking of consistency based on output alone WWE has never been the best consistency comes from how i would rate a match witch it would be for everyone i would wager how people rate matches is subjective though whp you rate how i I would rate or how Dave or Bryan i is very different.

[Loss]

It's funny to see WWE, CMLL, NJPW and AJPW get mentioned so much when these promotions have produced so much skippable content. I guess, if you want to only look at peak material...

 

If you go by peak output vs. average output CMLL wouldn't look good at all. Not to mention that if people were to nitpick every stupid booking decision or bad match CMLL has done the way they do with a promotion like TNA. The 2000-2010 period is pretty much a big void for the company too.

 

The most consistant wrestling I've watched is probably the Houston/Mid South stuff that we had on NWA Classics and the 80s set. As far as promotions go where I want to watch every single event they've run, U-Style is at the top followed by Futen and BattlARTS.

Any company with that much volume is going to have a lot of skippable content. And the CMLL for the 2000s looks awfully promising to me.

[Sean Liska]

Obviously what you think of CMLL's in-ring style will heavily influence how you think of them in this discussion, since it's not like we're watching it for the promos. If you think CMLL sucked from 2000-2010 then yeah, not good, but I think they produced lots of great stuff in that era and are still producing fun stuff today. It's all taste. A lot of it is how you feel about the formula they've used to death over the past 20 years of the rudos dominating the first fall, most of the second fall, the tecnicos coming back to win the second fall, and then back and forth in the 3rd fall. I'm a big match structure guy, I love a nice clear face/heel dynamic, it works for me, but I totally get people bored by it. My favorite stuff is more like 96-97 when it wasn't so structured but you still had some unbelievable talent doing great stuff.

 

Also, I love old territories, so I love the idea that CMLL has been running the same building weekly for 50 years or whatever with no end in sight, again that's just a personal taste thing.