Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA Have The Right Idea for 'Mania Weekend

Lets face it, unless you work for WWE, during Wrestlemania weekend, if you're in the wrestling business, you're on the outside looking in. Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling show of the year. It's hard to compete with a show that has 27 years of history on its side. With that said, Two small wrestling companies have the right idea.

Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA, two smaller US promotions, are going to Atlanta, the host city for Wrestlemania XXVII, and running shows during the weekend.

Ring of Honor's weekend run, "Honor Takes Center Stage," will take place at The Center Stage Theater on Friday night, April 1st, and Saturday afternoon, April 2nd, for a matinee show. Each show can be seen on gofightlive.com. You can buy the shows individually, or if you're interested in buying both shows, you can purchase both at the same time for one price. Ring of Honor, which some consider to be the #3 wrestling promotion behind WWE and TNA, offers fans a product concentrated heavily on in-ring action. The roster is full of talent that showcases mostly technical wrestling. The crowd at a ROH show is similar to the crowd that was seen on ECW's TV shows back in the 90's. Fans really get into the show, and are enthusiastic with their reactions to the performance.

Dragon Gate USA, the international expansion of the Japanese company, Dragon Gate, will put on two shows this weekend as well, but will perform at The Presidential Ballroom. The first show takes place on the 2nd at night. The other is a matinee show on the 3rd, the day of Wrestlemania. DGUSA will broadcast Saturday night's show at wwnlive.com. DGUSA mixes talent from their Japanese promotion with talent signed to their American brand. Similar to ROH, Dragon Gate USA's brand of wrestling focuses mainly on the in-ring action. The matches are a little more diverse, showcasing poruresu, technical wrestling, and cruiserweight/high-flying action. While the in-ring part of the show is the focus, the company does have good mic workers who can get the audience going. Another similarity to ROH is the crowd. Again, the fans at DGUSA's shows really invest themselves in the show and are very vocal.

The idea, to go to Atlanta and perform these shows during 'Mania weekend, is very clever. Instead of trying to compete with WWE or being dwarfed by Wrestlemania, both companies are using the hoopla of the big event to capitalize. With thousands of people descending upon Atlanta, this is a great opportunity for both companies to get some exposure and to have their product seen by their target audience...wrestling fans.

In addition, this weekend is a bit of a make or break time for each company. Ring of Honor's weekly Monday night TV show, Ring Of Honor Wrestling, will air its last episode on Monday. HDnet, which was carrying the show, chose not to renew their contract with ROH, leaving the promotion without a network to broadcast on. DGUSA currently does not have a TV deal. Right now, their shows are run about once a month and are broadcast solely on iPPV sites or on PPV. With a strong showing this weekend, both companies can potentially show TV networks enough to secure a weekly TV slot.

As a wrestling fan, I'm rooting for these little guys. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I think competition is great for the wrestling business. Yes, WWE is huge. Yes, TNA has a lot of name-brand talent. But this weekend is a start. If these small companies can use these shows as a launching pad for bigger things, fans would have more options. Once fans have options, things get interesting (See: Monday Night War, WCW, ECW).