WWE News: WWE Planning To Launch Both A WWE Asian And Latin American Championship Tournament
With the new WWE United Kingdom Champion being crowned in a huge tournament this weekend live on the WWE Network, many wondered if WWE would be making other titles for other areas of the world and it seems to be that this is where WWE is headed sooner rather than later. As mentioned, the United Kingdom tournament will take place this weekend where a new WWE United Kingdom Champion will be crowned in the two day event.
WWE feels this is huge for the UK but it very well could be a world changing event when it comes to pro-wrestling. This new UK tournament is set to not only crown a new champion, but also see that champion lead a brand new show for the WWE Network focusing on only UK based performers. The plan is for this to be a weekly show that will take place in the UK, and it may very well kick off officially later this year as the plan would be to use various workers unsigned to make it work.
Ideally WWE would love to use all the members of the tournament and then some. Apparently the plan is to sign each person to do just the UK show, but this particular deal will not cut into their work with other local promotions like Progress, Revolution Pro, and ICW just to name a few. WWE would be allowing all to still work those shows and the iPPVs that accompany them. The only thing the contract restricts is the talent leaving for TNA, ROH, or NJPW.
Basically, it would keep them from any major company that would sign them to an exclusive deal. This is good for the performers as it allows them to say that they work for the WWE, which allows them to charge more on the independent scene. That said, not only does recognition go up but also their revenue. Plus the more popular they are, the more traffic that is driven into the UK based promotions they might work with. So the indie companies win a lot too.
Interestingly, WWE is not just focusing on the United Kingdom. WWE wanted to start here as it would be the easiest place to do so, which makes perfect sense of course. According to Cageside Seats, WWE has plans to launch both an Asian and Latin American tournament that would crown champions of each area. Of course, WWE may increase this to an African tournament, Canadian one, etc. Over time, WWE simply wants to increase their opportunities with talent across the world.
WWE loves to cater to every audience in the world, but it is not always easy to do so when you’re not using talent from those areas. WWE obviously knows there are a lot of hotbeds in pro-wrestling, but there are far more popular areas of the world where wrestling is basically part of the society. For example, in Japan pro-wrestling has it’s own style called the Japanese Strong Style, which combines submissions and holds along with devastating strikes that can come off as real as anything you have ever seen.
Japan treats what they do as a sport just like the United States would treat baseball. Meanwhile Lucha Libre, probably the most famous thing every associates pro-wrestling with, really came out of Mexico and Latin America as a whole. The masks and crazy over the top wardrobe truly came from here. Mexico is also home of the oldest promotion in the world, the CMLL. Like Japan, Mexico treats wrestling like a real sport.
All this being said, the hotbeds have only grown and Hispanic performers, as well as Asian performers, have only grown in the last few decades. If WWE can shine a light on the young stars there, it can equal opportunities for everyone involved. A lot of the best wrestlers in these areas are often overlooked because they are never caught until they have spent years and years working on the independent scene. Some get a lucky break, but a large percentage do not.
If by chance WWE does tournaments in all of these areas and then a show follows them all, WWE can really use every area in the world to its fullest extent. They will always have their finger on the pulse of the local scene and it’ll make it easier to connect to the local people. This combined with grabbing top tier wrestlers and selling WWE Network subscriptions is helpful.
While WWE has not decided on anything as of yet due to the fact that they are unsure how the United Kingdom tournament will go, the plan all along it seems was to make various titles to connect to the world. The WWE was smart to start in the UK as they would work with English speaking talent and with an area they go to a few times a year that clamors for more. It made sense for the UK to be first, but now that there are plans for other areas…things could get interesting over the next year.
[Featured Image By WWE]
