You should know the usual disclaimer by now.
So there comes a time in every wrestling fans life when the product put forward by the WWE and TNA just isn't good enough to satisfy you any more, this is why smaller feds in the past like ECW and in more recent times federations like Ring of Honor, PWG and even CZW and CHIKARA have flourished and managed to stay popular in their particular markets, however most of these feds all make the same fatal mistake in the end, they try to compete with the big dogs and find their market just isn't big enough to sustain them on a national level. It happened with ECW, if the rumors are true it's happening as we speak to Ring of Honor and it has happened to other "flash in the pan" federations such as WSX in the past.
But still people dream of once again having a realisitic third contender to the wrestling crown, or at the very least they want a place that at least provides an alternative. You see wrestling fans crying out for this on every two bit board that has more than a dozen members. One that has come through the traps through my trolling of these message board is Juggalo Championship Wrestling or JCW for short. Before I go to deep into the opinion part of my column today let's put forth a little backstory
Juggalo Championship Wrestling (Or as it was once known Juggalo ChampionSHIT Wrestling, that's just clever juvenile humor. I like that sort of thing) is an independent wrestling company that is owned and run by the rap duo the Insane Clown Posse. I suppose I could best describe their shows as what would happen if ECW and an ICP music video somehow mated and then the baby was somehow mutated in a series of genetic experiments. With a penchant for hardcore matches, mixed with comedy in and out of the ring thanks to ICP doing their own commentary on the DVD's. JCW created a pretty good niche market for themselves, mainly because they didn't take themselves seriously and of course the Juggalos (Or ICP fans for the uninitiated) ate it up like a hot meal, JCW DVD's flew off the shelves, some of them beat WWE releases and for about 10 years now they've been going strong, putting on shows, releasing dvd's and generally making money.
JCW has a pretty solid independent roster, they've gotten big names like Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to wrestle for them, along with indy stars like Mad Man Pondo, Necro Buther and The Human Tornado, they have a current roster that matches up to a lot of indy feds out there yet in the world of professional wrestling, they're hardly ever mentioned. Why? Well as far as I can see there are three good reasons why they're not mentioned and until these are sorted JCW is doomed to stay in the wilderness
Problem 1: ICP
Ever hear the line "The fish stinks from the head"? The first major problem JCW has is its owners, the Insane Clown Posse.
Now I'm not going to get into the whole debate or whether or not ICP's music is great or garbage. I'm definately not a Juggalo but ICP have had their moments in music, I'd say I like about a quarter of ICP's music. But for most people Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are a galvanising force, there's litterally no middle ground, you're either Juggalo or you're not, you either think ICP are the worst band on the planet or you don't and it infects everything they touch, including JCW.
That's not to say ICP didn't try and get help, when they started out Dave Prazak helped book the shows but he left just a year into the job over...what else? Money. This is pretty common but it leant credence to the calls of those who said that ICP were nothing but control freaks. Right or wrong, if it has ICP's name on it chances are the non-fans aren't going to want to have anything to do with you and that just hurts your bottom line and standing in the wrestling world.
Problem 2: Their Fans
Ahhhh the Juggalos, a group more fanatical than the religious right and they will defend ANYTHING ICP to the hilt.....or at least make really lame flame posts that look like they were done by my 3 year old nephew. Usually their argument comes down to "FUCK YOU HATERS! YOU CAN'T STOP THE DARK KARNIVAL!" (You have to type in all caps cause that makes you EXTREME!....ooops sorry X-TREME!) and it goes on and on and on into a mindless flame war until noone remembers what the original topic was.
So it is with JCW. At a guess I'd venture 80-90% of the JCW audience comes from the Juggalos. The rest is made up of wrestling fans or people who are just fans of ICP's music without being hardcore about it. Therein lies the problem, when a wrestling fan goes to a JCW show and makes his own opinions of it, a good portion of the Juggalos rise up to attack him, because "He's not a Juggalo, therefore he doesn't get it". Wrestling isn't that difficult kiddies, get a few good talents, give the fans a reason to want to pay to see them fight and sit back and watch the cash roll in. That's it, it's the way it happens in the WWE, in TNA, in Ring of Honor, in any federation you wish to mention. Just because I'm not "Juggalo" doesn't mean I don't understand this and what these people don't realise is they're actually HURTING their heroes ICP, not helping. Because after enduring all the constant attacks from the Juggalos most wresling fans will throw up their hands, say "Why Bother?" and go watch wrestling at the next indy fed up the road. End result? Less money coming in, less cash to throw around, more chance that the federation will die.
Problem 3: The Product
When it began as I pointed out JCW became popular by not taking itself too seriously, the DVD's were hilarious, the action pretty good and it was a pretty entertaining distraction when you sat down to watch some JCW.
Nowadays though (And this is where the Juggalos will come out to play with me) from the outside looking in JCW looks like a federation that doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a serious hardcore alternative like the old ECW or does it want to be a mixture of serious wrestling and comedy like CHIKARA? It confuses a lot of people and when they're looking for a distraction, which wrestling is they don't want to be confused when it's a lot easier just to stick in another DVD from a rival.
If they're wanting to be serious, then they'll fail, even the greatest hardcore federation, ECW went to the wall and JCW are far from being as good as they are. If they go the comedy route, they'll stay afloat but they'll never be taken seriously. If JCW wishes to compete then they need someone with vision to put forth a compelling product because right now they don't have it.
If JCW somehow can fix these three problems, there's no reason at all why they can't be competive and become a strong number three in wrestling terms. However if history tells us anything it's that ICP and JCW are usually unwilling or unable to change. It's for that reason then, like it or not that JCW will always fall into the WSX "Niche Market" catagory. It serves its purpose for the fans that follow it but it will never get any bigger than it is now
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