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Post: #876867
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Are there any countries that have never ran a wrestling event?
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 No DQ |
June 23rd, 2016 03:54 GMT |
 
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Post: #876868
PT: #2/60
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None that have been discussed here. 
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Post: #876874
PT: #3/60
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Maybe Cuba? Unless they had matches before the Castro regime.
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Post: #877052
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I'm sure that they probably did before Castro given Cuba's closeness to the US and that it was a hot vacation spot I'm sure there were shows there.
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Post: #877060
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Pro Wrestling in Cuba
There is some good info at this link. Includes some results and background, including Thesz appearances. I think Cowboy Luttrel ran shows there or had some connection.
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Super Mod
Post: #877248
PT: #6/60
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Cuba had a long history of wrestling. Remember before Castro kicked the US out it was considered almost like a Southeast version of Las Vegas. The boys loved Cuba, as it was like a working vacation where all the vices were very accessible.
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Post: #877287
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I would honestly be shocked if there was any major country on the planet that hasn't had at least one professional wrestling match in the last 100-150 years.
Given wrestling's easily understood rules set, the bare basics of hand-to-hand combat making for straight forward entertainment, and not requiring any more room than is necessary to set up a mat or a ring, I would imagine just about every populated country on the planet has seen at the very least a single wrestling match in their history.
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Super Mod
Post: #877290
PT: #8/60
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And wrestling was much, much larger globally years ago than it is today. It's almost hard for people to fathom just how far reaching wrestling was in countries that no longer show any interest in it.
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Post: #877301
PT: #9/60
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Quoted from: Matt Farmer, June 26th, 2016 16:56 GMTAnd wrestling was much, much larger globally years ago than it is today. It's almost hard for people to fathom just how far reaching wrestling was in countries that no longer show any interest in it.
Not to take this conversation too far off topic, but which countries have seen the biggest drop in interest in pro wrestling? I know in another thread we discussed how wrestling is not nearly as popular in Japan as it used to be.
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Super Mod
Post: #877351
PT: #10/60
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Many of the Eastern block countries use to have full time promotions that drew huge crowds. Or even countries in the Middle East, for example at times Iraq had a major promotion that drew huge crowds.
Other countries like Bulgaria had major promotions that had consistent business for years, and we're talking about promotions that were doing major arena business.
If you go back to the 1930's and look at the world wide scope of professional wrestling, you'd be amazed at the level of business going on around the world.
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Post: #877362
PT: #11/60
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I'd say Great Britain saw one of the biggest falls when it came to interest in professional wrestling. I'm still learning about this myself, but as recently as the 1980s pro wrestling in the United Kingdom was a really big deal with a national television program and immense popularity.
By the 90s (while the rest of the world was exploding with wrestling hysteria) it seemed like Great Britain's love of pro wrestling vanished overnight.
I think an argument could also be made for Canada which had its own professional wrestling identity and looked at guys like the Harts as national heroes. Now, even WWE has a hard time drawing any type of successful crowd north of the border.
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Post: #877363
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Quoted from: Matt Farmer, June 26th, 2016 21:49 GMTMany of the Eastern block countries use to have full time promotions that drew huge crowds. Or even countries in the Middle East, for example at times Iraq had a major promotion that drew huge crowds.
Other countries like Bulgaria had major promotions that had consistent business for years, and we're talking about promotions that were doing major arena business.
If you go back to the 1930's and look at the world wide scope of professional wrestling, you'd be amazed at the level of business going on around the world.
Very interesting. I do remember reading about WWF shows in places like Kuwait and Israel in the 1990s. As for the original post, I was thinking communist countries or very conservative religious nations would be the best guesses for a lack of wrestling but it seems like that may not be the case.
Perhaps we'd have to look at poor, remote countries, like perhaps Nepal or Bhutan in the Himalayas for countries that never had pro wrestling.
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Post: #877425
PT: #13/60
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I thought the same thing, but even notoriously isolationist North Korea has had a pro wrestling show.
I would say that your probably right with countries like Nepal.
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Super Mod
Post: #877449
PT: #14/60
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Quoted from: Glaurung, June 26th, 2016 23:18 GMTQuoted from: Matt Farmer, June 26th, 2016 21:49 GMTMany of the Eastern block countries use to have full time promotions that drew huge crowds. Or even countries in the Middle East, for example at times Iraq had a major promotion that drew huge crowds.
Other countries like Bulgaria had major promotions that had consistent business for years, and we're talking about promotions that were doing major arena business.
If you go back to the 1930's and look at the world wide scope of professional wrestling, you'd be amazed at the level of business going on around the world.
Very interesting. I do remember reading about WWF shows in places like Kuwait and Israel in the 1990s. As for the original post, I was thinking communist countries or very conservative religious nations would be the best guesses for a lack of wrestling but it seems like that may not be the case.
Perhaps we'd have to look at poor, remote countries, like perhaps Nepal or Bhutan in the Himalayas for countries that never had pro wrestling.
Nepal has a regular wrestling promotion now, and has drawn some major crowds in the past few years. In fact when they had their major earthquake a few years ago there was a wrestling tour taking place.
For a short time former WWE wrestler Big Vito was really over there. His main opponent, the Himalayian Tiger.
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| PeteF3 |
June 29th, 2016 03:07 GMT |
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Topics: 34
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Post: #877684
PT: #15/60
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As far as popularity drops go, yeah, I don't think there was *any* wrasslin' going on behind the Iron Curtain. Not until NJPW made their forays into Russia in 1989-90.
I'd be curious if there was ever any kind of old-school scene in any part of Scandinavia, Finland, or Iceland. I know there was an Iceland thread elsewhere that just descended into cold jokes, but outside of some modern-day indies I don't know of much that took place in the Nordic countries.
Of course I'm talking about worked wrestling here. The Iron Curtain dominated amateur wrestling and I don't think there's a civilization anywhere that doesn't have some sort of folk wrestling attached to it at least.
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