PWG has made a strong impact as one of the most important wrestling promotions in the world. The California-based independent promotion has existed for over two decades now. Many of the best wrestlers in the world have either worked there in the past or still appear these days with the smaller schedule.
There are quite a few interesting things to note when looking at the company’s changes throughout the years. Wrestling is a tough business to make money in if the promotion doesn’t have a television deal. PWG is the anomaly that didn’t want to grow in touring or have anything resembling a television presence. The following interesting facts about PWG will make fans appreciate the company more.
10 Super Dragon Runs The Show
Independent wrestling legend Super Dragon is the main person involved in making PWG’s decisions today after a few changes throughout the years. The earlier years of PWG saw multiple wrestlers having an ownership claim with Joey Ryan, Excalibur and the Young Bucks all having stakes at one point.
Super Dragon was always involved and viewed as the lead person in charge, but he’s now the only one in that role. The Young Bucks moving to bigger things and Ryan becoming a polarizing figure before his accusations saw Dragon on his own as the company grew in popularity.
9 Was Considered West Coast's ROH At First
The wrestling world was drastically different when PWG started all the way back in 2003. TNA was hoping to become a viable second major company, but the market took a huge hit after WCW and ECW went out of business within a few months.
Ring of Honor started getting some online buzz from the super in tuned diehard fans and PWG had the same appeal. Many of the new young workers like Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe wrestled for both companies. ROH was the bigger promotion, but PWG had a reputation for being the West Coast version for talents located there.
8 Still Uses Old School DVD Business Model
Many fans on social media express a desire to see PWG live stream or at least have a faster VOD release. The current PWG business model is the same that they’ve used since the early days with DVD sales being their biggest source of income.
DVDs are quite outdated today, but there is still a strong fan base that will purchase that or the Blu Ray form with shows released a month or two later. PWG does have a delayed streaming deal with Highspots that will see shows added a few months after the DVD release.
7 Michael Elgin Got In Trouble For Losing Match
Michael Elgin has become a controversial figure in wrestling after various negative stories about him surfaced. The most recent instance of this featured Elgin getting arrested during a Japan tour for stealing protein powder from a store.
One of the first stories of Elgin becoming a controversial name took place during his PWG career. Elgin lost a match to Trevor Lee aka Cameron Grimes without Ring of Honor’s approval during his time as ROH World Champion. ROH was livid about this and stopped contracted talent from working in PWG for a short time.
6 Made Tournaments Bigger Part Of Company
Wrestling fans often complained about a lack of tournaments in wrestling when WWE stopped doing the King of the Ring tournament as an annual thing. AEW and WWE each do tournaments a little more often these days, but it was a lost art in the 2000s.
PWG made the tournament concept part of their annual shows with fans often looking forward to them. The Battle of Los Angeles is a multi-day tournament with many future top stars winning the trophy. Even the tag division thrived with some epic tournaments for their DDT4 shows.
5 WWE Often Sent William Regal To Scout Talent
PWG became a huge source for WWE to find talents when on the free agent market. William Regal’s time as a lead scout for WWE featured multiple stories of him going to California to attend PWG shows. The wrestling passion of Regal saw him keeping up with the independents as a wrestler to make this an easier shift.
Names like Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano credit Regal’s time watching their matches for the WWE contract offers. Fans even had fun whenever getting a slight glimpse of Regal often peeking from behind the entrance area.
4 Dave Meltzer Attended Shows Writing Notes
Another interesting name to often attend PWG shows is wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer. Most fans know Meltzer for online reports or match reviews that lead to his infamous star ratings. Meltzer started attending shows in the 2010s since the location was within a close distance to him.
Fans shared stories and pictures of Meltzer writing notes in his notebook about each match. Wrestlers started playing to him with the Young Bucks investing the Meltzer Driver finish and fans chanting “that was five stars” at matches they felt were great.
3 Saved Kevin Owens During His ROH Departure
Kevin Owens is one of the most impressive all-around talents in WWE since he can talk and wrestle great matches. The career of Owens almost ended long before he got to WWE. Jim Cornette not being a fan of Owens led to him being sent home as part of a Ring of Honor storyline and not getting paid enough to make nearly enough to provide for his family.
Various interviews with Owens confirmed that he considered retirement since his best gig was no longer beneficial. PWG started booking Kevin again years after his first run in the promotion. This chapter of Owens’ career saw him getting over stronger than ever and returning to ROH, but the PWG time is what saved him from looking at retirement deeper.
2 Became Hot Spot For Celebrities
An independent wrestling promotion in a small sweaty venue with a few hundred people probably isn’t the ideal scenario for a celebrity to be seen. However, PWG became cool enough in the 2010s for it to become part of their reputation.
Names like Joe Manganiello, Sofia Vergara, Gillian Jacobs, and a few others became regulars at shows. Even familiar names to wrestling fans like Ronda Rousey and Rey Mysterio attended shows in the crowd. PWG didn’t give comps and tickets sold out within minutes to show that these names had to put in effort to even get into the show.
1 Bryan Danielson Vacated Belt Before Joining WWE
PWG took a huge risk for one of the biggest moments in company history. Bryan Danielson was viewed as the king of independent wrestling when he received a WWE contract offer in 2009. Ring of Honor had a great send off with The Final Countdown tour giving Bryan four big matches in his final two weekends.
Danielson had one specific night marketed as his final PWG show when competing against Chris Hero for the PWG Championship. This match is still the highest rated PWG match on Cagematch with Bryan winning the title in a shocking moment. PWG booked this to give Danielson the perfect send off and vacated the belt to add importance to the upcoming BOLA tournament crowning a new champ.