Professional wrestling in Russia

The history of professional wrestling in Russia dates to the late 19th century. The progenitor of modern professional wrestling was the so-called "French wrestling" which was part of the circus program in many circuses in Europe, including the Russian Empire. The most famous representative of French wrestling is Ivan Poddubny.[1] French wrestling was replaced by catch wrestling, a wrestling style in which a variety of techniques such as grappling and striking were allowed, and which by the mid-20th century transformed into professional wrestling. By the 1980s, professional wrestling was flourishing in the United States, Mexico and Japan, but had yet to exist in the Soviet Union.

In 1989, Japanese wrestling promoter Antonio Inoki and New Japan Pro-Wrestling prepared an agreement with the USSR State Sports Committee, under which several wrestlers went to New Japan Dojo for training, which lasted a month.[2] Two of them, Salman Hasimikov and Viktor Zangiev then competed in NJPW and later, from 1989 to 1994, in UWF-I. They represented the Soviet Union at WCW Starrcade 1990 in a national team tournament called the Pat O'Connor Memorial Cup. On May 25, 1989, in Osaka, Hasimikov defeated Big Van Vader to win IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[3]

In American wrestling in the mid to late 20th century, there were several wrestlers who played the role of Russians for most of their careers, but they were not Russians — Boris Malenko, Nikolai Volkoff, Ivan Koloff, Nikita Koloff.[4] The first Soviet-born wrestler in a major promotion is Vladimir Kozlov, who competed in WWE in the late 2000s. Alex Koslov, also born in the Soviet Union, was popular in the independent circuit. Ilja Dragunov is the first non-kayfabe Russian-born male wrestler to have ever competed in the WWE. In 2021 Leyla Hirsch was the first Russian-born female wrestler had officially signed with All Elite Wrestling.

Thanks to good relations between Inoki and the USSR, the first professional wrestling show in the USSR was held on December 31, 1989, in Moscow at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports with the participation of NJPW.[5] It was called NJPW Martial Arts Festival, and was attended by approximately 15,000 spectators. Athletes from the USSR took part in the show: Viktor Zangiev and Salman Khashimikov, Shota Chochishvili, and others. On the NJPW side, popular wrestlers took part: Antonio Inoki, Junshin Liger, Masahiro Chono, and Bam Bam Bigelow. The show had a total of 9 matches with 20 wrestlers from 4 different countries: nine wrestlers from Japan, seven from the USSR, three from the US and one from the UK. There is a video recording of some of the matches from this show.[6]

In 1998, for the first time in Russia, professional wrestling shows began to be broadcast on national TV channels. A program called Titans of Wrestling appeared on TNT with Nikolai Fomenko as its announcer. Until 2000, the WCW Monday Nitro show was broadcast on it. Then WCW broadcasts were briefly replaced by the Women of Wrestling (WOW!) promotion. From 2000 to 2002, The World Wrestling, a shortened 45-minute international version of WWF/WWE SmackDown! was broadcast on STS, with voice actors Vsevolod Kuznetsov and Alexander Novikov as announcers. In September 2002, wrestling returned to TNT, with the new Titans of Wrestling airing a 45-minute version of WWE Raw. The broadcasts lasted exactly one year, until September 2003. After that, the contract with WWE expired and was never renewed. Since 2012, Eurosport broadcasts only two international programs from WWE — Review of the Week and WWE Vintage Collection.[8]

On November 30, 2010, it was announced that from February 2011, the 2x2 television channel would begin airing WWE Raw[9] and WWE SmackDown.[10]

On April 11, 2012, WWE held its first Raw World Tour house show in Russia at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports.[11] In the main event CM Punk defeated Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship. On April 25, 2013, WrestleMania Revenge Tour 2013 hosted the first WWE Raw show in St. Petersburg Ice Palace, and the next day, April 26, the show returned to Moscow at the Luzhniki.

Since April 2016, all new WWE pay-per-view shows have been available on the WWE Network with Russian-language voiceover, with Moti Margolin and Jean Pomerantsev as announcers.[12] After the end of the contract, 2x2 did not renew it with WWE, but switched to Lucha Underground broadcasts.[13][14] As of April 6, 2019, Lucha Underground is broadcast on 2x2 with commentary by Roman Alexandrovich and Alexander Barybin.[13]

Beginning January 7, 2020, the Match! Fighter channel broadcasts WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown shows in Russian.[15][16] The announcers are Artem Davydov and a representative of the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF) Mikhail Vakhneev. The channel announces that Raw and SmackDown live from the U.S. begins at 03:55 am Moscow time. Replays of the show are shown throughout the week.

In November 2002, the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF) held its first show in Moscow. The first two shows were The Physical Punishment Zone and Judgment Day. Since 2003, Danger Zone shows have been held monthly in Moscow and the Moscow region.[17] Once a year the shows President's Cup, King of Hardcore, and Wrestliada began to take place. The IWF also gives showcases, and wrestlers participate in various festivals. In 2006, one of the IWF shows was attended by Shane McMahon, who was in Russia to negotiate the return of WWE to Russian television.[18] At various times, professional wrestlers such as El Generico, Sonjay Dutt, Zema Ion and Matt Cross have appeared at IWF. From 2005 to 2010, IWF shows were broadcast on 7TV and Russian Extreme. IWF has its own school. As of February 2018, the IWF has hosted over 100 shows.[19]

In 2014, Northern Storm Wrestling (NSW) was established in St. Petersburg.[20] In 2015, the promotion's wrestlers performed at Comic-Con Russia.[21] NSW hosts a monthly Northern Storm show. On September 20, 2015, the company's first major show, Battle on the Neva, was held at the Leningrad Palace of Youth, featuring former WWE superstar and two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Colt Cabana.[22] In September 2015, NSW became part of the European professional wrestling alliance UEWA.[23][24] In November 2016, NSW wrestlers participated in the IWF Danger Zone 100 anniversary show. NSW has its school.