Wednesdaymania 14

Let's talk about the Indie scene in wrestling.

Sure, we've got WWE, it's everywhere. They've made billion-dollar deals. They're ubiquitous. Their big stars move on to Hollywood now, for better or worse... Yeah, Rock, I'm lookin at you, pal.

But where do you go when the big dogs don't want you? Where do you go if they let you go early? What do you do if you're a wrestler without a WWE contract?

You work the Indie scene.

Indie in this case refers to "independent". I'll try to be thorough, but to be honest, it's hard to find Indie wrestling, sometimes! That's kind of why it's referred to as Indie, after all. Like Indie bands or Indie games, it's off-the-beaten path. It's sometimes better, sometimes worse than WWE, but it's wrestling, so I'm going to talk about it!

Back in the days of my youth, there were two major companies - WWE/WWF and WCW. WCW failed after a while (that's what happens when you hemorrhage money like a coked-up gambler), leaving only the WWE on national television. There was ECW, but that was consumed, like many other promotions before and after, by the WWE.

Then came TNA.

TNA was essentially the result of Jeff Jarrett getting mad at Vince McMahon and starting his own company. It was pretty big there for a while, and even here in the middle of somewhere-I-guess-if-you-squint it was on TV. They weren't quite a big-league, but they weren't really an Indie, either. Now they're shown on POP TV, which used to be the TV Guide Channel. For all its many rebrandings, TNA is still alive and still doing business. I'm not 100% sure how or why. It's good wrestling and bad, like any promotion, but when it's bad... well... it's really, really bad. Like... the woman who publicly ran the company (Dixie Carter) clutching Hulk Hogan's leg and begging him not to leave TNA bad.

AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Nick Aldis, Gail Kim, ODB, Mickie James, Awesome Kong, the list goes on of fantastic wrestlers who have come out of TNA. Seriously, the show was a great place to go for amazing wrestling, and I knew that even before I started to watch wrestling.

The next Indie I'd heard of before I really got into wrestling was Ring of Honor. ROH as it's known is a fantastic federation. It's got some of the best wrestlers and best wrestling I've seen outside of Japan. I'm not just saying that because they're one of the only two companies that come to my home state on a semi-regular (read, more than once a decade) basis. I'm absolutely going to a joint ROH/NJPW show in November. I'll report back when I return from it!

As for who worked/works for ROH, here's a list of my favorites. See if anyone sounds familiar.

Jay Lethal, Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks, Sumie Sakai, Tenille Dashwood (aka Emma from WWE), Hangman Adam Page...

The thing to remember about ROH is that they're one of the most cooperative major Indie promotions in North America. They have partnerships with New Japan, the new NWA, and CMLL (from what I've seen, at least!), and through those partnerships, we have seen amazing things. We have seen the Elite rise to power. We have seen the resurrection of Black Machismo. We have seen excellent match after excellent match, and it has been glorious.

Now, don't get me wrong, there's some bullshit there too. I'm thinking of the Briscoes and their outdated beliefs... I've seen some really clunky matches from people in ROH, too, but that's the thing. It's a wrestling company full of a wide variety of wrestlers. Some are amazing (Everyone in that list, for example). Some have some work to do. That's the way it goes.

I think I've talked so much about New Japan Pro-Wrestling that you're all maybe sick of it at this point...

I'll only say this - with a roster like theirs, it's worth crowing about.

Kushida, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, Minoru Suzuki, and here was where Shinsuke Nakamura made his start! This company is bananas. It's amazing to watch these matches. Even the worst New Japan match is still at least entertaining. I'm not as big a fan of, say, EVIL as Z is, but even I can see how cool his matches are! (I am as big a fan of Switchblade Jay White as Z is, though, so I'll just be over here, breathing with the Switchblade...)

Chikara Pro is a fun company. It's a fun company that has fun in the ring! Seriously - I want to go to a show and see the Ants in action! With names like Cajun Crawdad and El Hijo Del Ice Cream, you can tell that this is a company does not take itself overly seriously. I mean, there's a dog called Officer Magnum! Mike Quackenbush doesn't run his wrestling like most promoters, and I think that's because he's not really a promoter and doesn't view himself as one. He seems to be One of the Boys. He's a wrestler. He's an entertainer. He's a fan of the business himself. He appears to promote things he himself would want to see, and he doesn't put his wins first the way that some guys do (HHH, anyone?).

Somewhat related, we have the other super-fun-times wrestling fed that I've fallen in love with: Kaiju Big Battel! Yes, they've got a foil-wrapped potato, a can of soup, and an evil scientist with a box on his head. Yes it's ridiculous. Yes it makes 0 sense.

It's magical. Seriously magical.

This promotion basically invites wrestlers to fight under fun costumes, they do it, they get paid, they have fun. I've never heard of injuries happening during a Kaiju Big Battel show. That doesn't mean they don't happen, I just never hear about it!

The new NWA isn't quite a promotion. It's not really an Indie, but it is. I say this because it's a championship, rather than its own show. Then again, Mr. Corgan does have his own YouTube series called "Ten Pounds of Gold" which documents the journeys of the new NWA champions. If you want some good storytelling and wonderful wrestling, I highly suggest watching your way through the whole series. It'll also give you the background for the incredible Nick Aldis vs Cody Rhodes match at ALL IN!

Finally, I will tell you the tale of MLW. Major League Wrestling is amazing. I've been watching the show on YouTube, and I'm in awe. Seriously - between Low Ki's awesome Detective Satan voice (seriously, he sounds like a cross between the prince of darkness and an old-fashioned private eye) and the incredible work of the New Hart Foundation (complete with the sons of Brian Pillman and British Bulldog who are basically clones of their dads), the show has me hooked. And then you see the wrestling! Wow. It's just incredible.

I was going to talk about the history of these promotions, but to be honest, that's not my forte. I talk about the thing itself, not necessarily the lead-up to it, because I...

I wasn't very good at history, guys.

I'm not a historian.

I'm a Mark.

I love wrestling. I love watching it, I love hearing about it, I love the madness inherent in the business (the crazy personas, not the legitimate insanity because that's scary and sad), I love the wild storylines and completely unhinged moves in the ring.

I just really love wrestling, guys.

That's all for me this week. Stay tuned for more discussion about Wrestling, The Business, and crazy dudes and ladies in trunks.

Go Enjoy Something!
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