Global Force Wrestling was an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

promotion founded in 2014 by

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father ...

, the co-founder and former President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now known as Impact Wrestling), and his wife

Karen Jarrett Karen Jarrett (' Smedley and formerly Angle, born October 12, 1972) is an American professional wrestling Valet (wrestling), valet and personality. She was formerly the senior vice president of the Impact Knockouts Division. She is the former w ...

. It is owned and operated via its parent company Global Force Entertainment, LLC. The promotion ran several live events and tapings for a potential television show. Jeff Jarrett returned to Impact Wrestling in an executive role in January 2017 and Karen Jarrett announced that GFW had " merged" with Impact on April 20, 2017. Impact Wrestling assumed the GFW name the following month, but it was dropped when Jeff Jarrett departed the company four months later. Jarrett resumed promoting events under the name in December 2017, but has not run any events since October 2018.

History

Formation and live events

With Jeff Jarrett out as minority investor of TNA Wrestling, he debuted the branding of Global Force Wrestling (

business name A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Global Force Entertainment, LLC) in April 2014 and began promoting the brand and establishing international partnerships with wrestling promotions across the world. The organization had a strategic partnership with 25/7 Productions and David Broome (creator of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

The Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show '' The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash priz ...

''). Broome stated that the organization planned to create new on-air content 52 weeks per year. By August 2014, GFW announced working agreements with Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA), Japan's

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

(NJPW) promotion, multiple European promotions, South African promotion World Wrestling Professionals (WWP), and promotions from Australia and New Zealand. As part of GFW's relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, it presented NJPW's

Wrestle Kingdom 9 Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2015. It was the 24th January 4 Toky ...

at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

on the American pay-per-view market on January 4, 2015. The pay-per-view featured English language commentary from Jim Ross and

Matt Striker Matthew Kaye (born June 26, 1974) is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling commentator, actor and former high school teacher, using the ring name Matt Striker. During his career he has worked for WWE, Impact Wrestling, Luc ...

. Wrestle Kingdom 9 reportedly drew 12,000 to 15,000 buys in North America. Karen & Jeff Jarrett

Throughout May 2015, Jarrett announced talent for their roster, which included

Bullet Club (stylised as BULLET CLUB), sometimes shortened to BC, is a professional wrestling stable primarily appearing in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In the United States, the group currently appears on NJPW events run by the co ...

members Karl Anderson

and or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boolea ...

Doc Gallows Andrew William Hankinson (born December 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, who is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Luke Gallows. Hankinson began his career in 2005 and participated i ...

, the

Killer Elite Squad Killer Elite Squad, often abbreviated to K.E.S., was the professional wrestling tag team of Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer. The team made its debut in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion in September 2012 and have since worked to ...

, and

Chael Sonnen Chael Patrick Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...

as an expert analyst. Jarrett also announced that four champions (Global, NEX*GEN, Tag Team and Women's Champion) would be crowned at the July 24 tapings. The first Global Force Wrestling house show took place on June 12, 2015, at

The Ballpark at Jackson The Ballpark at Jackson is a 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium in Jackson, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1998. The Ballpark at Jackson was built by the municipal government of Jackson, Tennessee, and was the home of the Jacks ...

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson ...

, as part of GFW's "Grand Slam Tour", which entailed holding events at minor league baseball stadiums. In that show's main event, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows defeated the New Heavenly Bodies. On July 9, 2015, Jeff Jarrett announced that the name of GFW's

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

was "''Amped''". Tapings for ''Amped'' took place at the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming Corporation. The arena is the home t ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

on July 24, August 21, and October 23, 2015. In a December 2015 interview, Jeff Jarrett said that they had sixteen one-hour shows filmed at the Las Vegas tapings and hoped to have the programs air globally on television in the future. GFW announced that they had signed an international TV distribution deal with Boulder Creek TV in the UK on September 14, 2015, and with New Zealand's

TVNZ Duke TVNZ Duke ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tiuka), formerly Duke and stylized as TVNZ DUKE or DUKE, is a New Zealand television channel run by state broadcaster Television New Zealand. It screens programming targeted at a male audience. It was launched on 20 ...

on February 18, 2016. Despite this, no tapings of ''Amped'' ever aired until 2017, when footage from them was aired as

Impact One Night Only ''One Night Only'' was a series of professional wrestling events held by Impact Wrestling launched in April 2013. The concept was announced on January 11, 2013 by then-Total Nonstop Action (TNA) President Dixie Carter as a part of a change to thei ...

pay-per-view specials. Overall, the promotion held 36 live events.

Association with Impact Wrestling and lawsuits

After returning to TNA in early 2017 as the promotion's chief creative officer, Jarrett stated that GFW and the newly renamed Impact Wrestling were "becoming one day-by-day". On the April 20 episode of '' Impact Wrestling'',

announced that GFW and Impact Wrestling had officially merged. In a press release issued on June 28, Impact Wrestling announced that their parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., had entered into an agreement to acquire the rights to GFW. After the announcement, Impact Wrestling rebranded and took on the Global Force Wrestling name. Jeff Jarrett took an indefinite leave of absence from the company in September and Anthem slowly reverted to using the Impact Wrestling name. Impact Wrestling's rebranding was officially over on October 23, when Impact announced that its business partnership with Jeff Jarrett and GFW was terminated. The deal for Anthem to acquire GFW was never completed and Jeff Jarrett continues to own the rights to GFW. On August 14, 2018, Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Anthem Sports & Entertainment in the District Court of Tennessee for copyright infringement over the GFW rights, as Jarrett owned all GFW properties since its creation in 2014. It was revealed on February 19, 2019, that Jarrett filed another lawsuit claiming that Impact Wrestling had deleted the master copies of all 16 hours of ''GFW Amped''. Jarrett also sued in attempt to get the trademarks of his name and likeness from Anthem. Anthem counter-sued in July 2019, arguing that they were the rightful owners of the "Jeff Jarrett" copyright, that Jarrett knew the master tapes had been deleted, that they made no money off of GFW's content and that the looks and trademarks of GFW and their former

Global Wrestling Network Global Wrestling Network (GWN) was a digital streaming service and mobile app owned by Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment and parent company of Impact Wrestling. It primarily featured content from the Impa ...

app are not similar. A

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

was declared on July 30, 2020. The jury had come to a verdict but this was voided by a judge after a motion by Anthem stated that comments made by Jarrett's attorney had prejudiced them. In October, Jarrett's request for a new trial was denied without

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

, meaning that he could have requested a new trial at a later date. However, Jarrett and Anthem reached a settlement in January 2021.

Promotional return

Global Force Wrestling returned with a private show held for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

and

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

on December 27, 2017. In May 2018,

FITE TV Fite (stylized as FITE by Triller) is an American digital video streaming service launched on May 20, 2012, that is dedicated to combat sports-related programming (including boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling). The network dis ...

announced that they had reached a deal with Global Force Entertainment to produce content for the streaming network. The first event GFW produced for ''FITE TV'' was Starrcast, which was held during the week of All In from August 28 to September 2, 2018. On October 21, 2018, GFW co-produced the NWA 70th Anniversary Show with the National Wrestling Alliance in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. Global Force Wrestling would become dormant in the following year, as Jarrett was hired by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

as a backstage producer and member of their creative team, a job which would last through to January 2021 as he left in order to pursue new projects potentially related to GFW.

Championships

GFW Global Championship

GFW NEX*GEN Championship

GFW Women's Championship

GFW Tag Team Championship

Other championships used by GFW

References

External links

* {{Professional wrestling in the United States 2014 establishments in Tennessee American professional wrestling promotions Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee American companies established in 2014 Entertainment companies established in 2014 Professional wrestling in Nashville, Tennessee Orleans Arena