Modern Indie Wrestling

[MikeCampbell]

A couple of 2CW's boys are headed to the far east. Jay Freddie (who has worked some ROH dark matches and preshows) and Brute Van Slyke are headed to Wrestle-1 for three months to train and wrestle.

[concrete1992]

VERY hopeful that VanSlyke comes out better from the experience. From Twitter, you can tell he wants to work like those big men, Vader, Hansen, ect.. Live though he comes off as someone that can't quite hit those notes. If he works stiff then he would be a real dreadful wrestler. Has a lariat but not much more as far as nice offense. Working against at least a couple brutes(son of a bitch) he hopefully will take that and run with it.

 

Fingers crossed Jay Freddie and Yusuke Kodama pair off in W-1 at least a couple times. Assume he either teams or works across Rionne but who knows. W-1 has been hotter this year it seems as far as in-ring but not sure where these two come into the mix.

[BillThompson]

Coming off of this weekend I now place EVOLVE Wrestling as the #3 indie promotion behind only PWG and NXT. The former top indie RoH keeps falling down the charts, but this isn't so much an indictment of RoH as it is a tale of how EVOLVE has started getting everything right. The only issue with EVOLVE (which is the same issue NXT shares) is that they are in actuality part of a larger whole. I think the World Wrestling Network is on the verge of becoming pretty big, for an indie at least, but I still like to differentiate between the promotions under that banner. Either way I think the Hero versus Grappler's Three storyline as well as the influx of new blood and tighter focus is what has led to EVOLVE progressing so rapidly.

 

Basically even if you're like me and don't have much time for guys like Gargano and Ricochet then EVOLVE is a promotion you should be checking out. If you're like others and don't have much time for guys like Thatcher and Gulak then EVOLVE is a promotion you should be checking out. Gabe is doing a great job of presenting a varied promotion that is very easy to watch.

[concrete1992]

AIW out of Cleveland is running their annual JT Lightning Invitational Tournament on May 22nd & 23rd this year and have announced the first 3 entrants:

 

-Little Guido

-Nick Gage

-Athena

 

Like the entrants or not, it'll be hard not to have a more diverse 3 American talents on the indie scene. Based on some info last night(not to do with the tournament) I'm going to be making a strong effort to be there.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

AIW out of Cleveland is running their annual JT Lightning Invitational Tournament on May 22nd & 23rd this year and have announced the first 3 entrants:

 

-Little Guido

-Nick Gage

-Athena

 

Like the entrants or not, it'll be hard not to have a more diverse 3 American talents on the indie scene. Based on some info last night(not to do with the tournament) I'm going to be making a strong effort to be there.

Nick Gage is out of prison? I've never attended an AIW show but would be interested. If my financial situation improves by this point I may make the trip.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

A thought/question I had last night while watching some old CZW vhs tapes I found: If Trent Acid hadn't had his demons and lost his fight with them, would he have ended up breaking out? I honestly haven't watched my old indie tapes since high school so all I have are hazy memories at best. I remember him being pretty entertaining as a personality and someone who, if he wanted, could have an enjoyable match. He only would be a year older than Bryan at this point and was younger than Punk. If he'd have been clean, do you think he would have been picked up around the time of Punk?

[concrete1992]

THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT'S 2CW SHOW:

 

Not too good. Joe was too hurt too work singles so it ended up being a tag match between him & AR Fox vs. JT Dunn & Cheech. Disappointing is an understatement.

[shoe]

When did you find out they switched his match up. Was it announced at the start of the show?

[concrete1992]

NOPE! Worked the marks with an angle to set up the tag.

 

EDIT: The crowd they drew really didn't give a lick as long as they got Joe to be honest. Match was fine. Joe looked good in his short bursts.

[Bierschwale]

I am hyped for a Gage-Gulak match to a stupid, stupid degree.

[concrete1992]

So, two tournaments have been booked for the weekend of May 22nd with JLIT and now PWG's DDT4.

 

PWG DDT4

 

 

Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr) make their PWG debut
Forth Gunn (Drew Gulak & Biff Busick)
Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds)
World’s Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae)
Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet & Rich Swann)
Monster Mafia (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander)
Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee
Love Gun (Chris Sabin and Matt Sydal)

 

AIW's JLIT 2015

 

1.Little Guido

2.Nick Gage

3.Athena

4.Eric Ryan

5.Raymond Rowe

6.Dick Justice

7.Louis Lyndon

8.Tyson Dux

9.Josh Prohibition

10.Heidi Lovelace

11.Cedric Alexander

 

For what is considered the ultimate indy fed in North America, I'm not so sure they are putting on a more interesting lineup with their annual tag tournament. Actually think PWG stealing Gargano and Ethan Page for the 22nd increases my anticipation for this bad boy. I made this point on Twitter but I'm not sure if there are 3 wrestlers in the entire DDT4 (Gulak, Busick, and Sydal) that I'd consider clearly better than Little Guido in 2015. And not more than 4(Hero) on that entire card. While I think the percentage of interesting talent for AIW is bound to go down, I still think they have a good shot at surpassing DDT4 on overall, on paper quality and at the very least surpass that card in the intrigue factor.

[S.L.L.]

Also, shouldn't "Monster Mafia" just be Da Hit Squad?

[goc]

Anyone know anything about Paragon Pro Wrestling? I just read a story on 411mania about them getting a TV deal with Pop TV (formerly the TV Guide network)

[concrete1992]

Truthfully don't know much about them. Wanna believe they have a connection to WCWC up in Portland since there is some crossover in the roster that you don't see everywhere like Ethan HD, Hammerstone, Caleb Konley, and Gangrel. Weird grouping. I think it is safe at this point to not assume a TV deal from one of these indies is as good as they make it sound i.e. pay to play programming.

[Troy]

There's a pretty good indy here in Louisiana called WildKat. They're feuding with Booker's Reality of Wrestling. Stevie's main eventing the next show against Shane Taylor

[Tim Evans]

The indie wars of Orlando is heating up in about 8 days. Evolve/FIP is running a 2 show card and local indie Vintage Wrestling is running a show about 10 miles away at the same time. The Vintage card is a anniversary show with a bunch of no name local talent and the return of "Black Nature Boy" Scoot Andrews and Mr. 450 Jesus de Leon or whatever he's calling himself these days.

 

The FIP/ Evolve cards are

 

 

 

FIP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Roderick Strong defends against Rich Swann

FIP Tag Team Championship Match
Savages of Eddie Graves & Teddy Stigma w/ Trina Michaels defend against Jason Cade & Aaron Solow

FIP Florida Heritage Championship Match
Maxwell Chicago defends against Aaron Epic

Dog Collar Match
Blake Edward Belakus vs. Jonny Vandal w/ Trina Michaels

Jody Kristofferson vs. Jack Gallows

The Trailer Park Nation of Zane Riley & Earl Cooter vs. The Celtic Sinners of CJ O'Doyle & Sideshow

Newcomers Showcase
Arik Royal vs. Curt Stallion vs. Mike Outlaw vs. Nick Richards

 

Evolve

 

 

DGUSA Open The United Gate Title Street Fight
Caleb Konley & Anthony Nese with So Cal Val defend vs. Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann

Top Contenders Collide
Roderick Strong vs. Biff Busick

Pro Wrestling Clinic
Timothy Thatcher vs. TJ Perkins

First Time Ever
Davey Richards vs. Trevor Lee

High Flying Challenge
Andrew Everett vs. Rey Horus

Special Attraction Match
Ethan Page vs. Martin Stone

 

The FIP show looks like crap except for the main, the CWF Mid Atlantic guys and the dog collar match. I expect Teddy Hart to be involved somehow. The Evolve show looks alright since Thatcher is on there and I'm looking forward to seeing Fake Rey Mysterio live.

[stomperspc]

 

 

Newcomers Showcase

Arik Royal vs. Curt Stallion vs. Mike Outlaw vs. Nick Richards

 

I like Arik Royal. I hope this is the start of him getting a few more bookings outside of CWF Mid-Atlantic. For a guy that has been wrestling for 6 years, he isn't all that polished and can be a tad sloppy at times. There are at least a few glimpses of strong potential in every match of his I watch. He's one of those wrestlers where if you clipped his matches into a few minutes of highlights, they would look pretty good which is a start.

[concrete1992]

Weird of FIP to run that showcase. Or is it? I don't know but seems outta place. Assume there will be a North Cackalacky van coming down to Florida. Everytime I see Nick Richards I wish he was somewhere else where he could embrace being a scumbag brawler.

 

Sick to my stomach that Gabe didn't find a way to get Scoot on his shows to wrestle Thatcher. It is like, why even book wrestling if you can't put that together?

 

For Troy, what is Wildkat putting out these days? Awhile back I was running through their youtube videos and they had some fun stuff but it was all 6 minute matches and the ones going longer were filled with NOT GREAT talent. Though, find it hilarious for some reason that they have a feud with ROW.

[goc]

http://411mania.com/wrestling/ar-fox-comments-on-issues-with-evolve-wrestling/

 

So apparently AR Fox is done with EVOLVE.

[Troy]

I've been to two shows. First show had a great Bestia 666 (son of Damian) vs. Rey Horus (Rey Jr's cousin). It's a good mix of some decent wrestling and story-telling. I'd say there's one good match per show that's worth price of admission ($10) and while some matches aren't good, they're still entertaining. The gym is a great venue and the fans bring it

[BillThompson]

http://411mania.com/wrestling/ar-fox-comments-on-issues-with-evolve-wrestling/

 

So apparently AR Fox is done with EVOLVE.

 

I'm okay with this as Fox has quickly become a wrestler I loathe having to watch. Besides, I'm sure they'll bring in another flippy dude to replace him.

[goc]

Some more info on Paragon Pro & their TV deal:

 

 

Paragon Pro Wrestling, a newer promotion out of Las Vegas that has been running a little under a year, has a TV deal with Pop TV, a national cable network that was formerly the TV Guide Network.

The promotion has featured mostly Southern California talents of late as well as
former TNA star Jesse Sorensen (who is their current champion),
former WWE star Gangrel, former WWE Diva Lisa Marie Varon and EVOLVE star Caleb Konley.

The promotion is owned and operated by Jeff " Morty Lipschitz" Manning.

Len "The Grappler" Denton is the Director of Wrestling Operations and booker

Former TNA announcer Todd Kenely has been tapped to do the announcing for the show.

Former WWE star Matt Striker is producing and directing.

Pop TV launched in the summer of 2014. It is available in more than 80 million households and is owned in part by Lionsgate and CBS.

[concrete1992]

I am dying to know the detail that matters and that is which way the money is flowing. And how much.

[Strand Peanut]

How important is national TV ? Has anyone been able to turn that into solid attendance increases ?

 

I mean in today's USA scene.

[Memphis Mark]

http://411mania.com/wrestling/ar-fox-comments-on-issues-with-evolve-wrestling/

 

So apparently AR Fox is done with EVOLVE.

I

 

Well , I AR Fox was hard for Gabe to deal with. Now that he has Davey Richards and TJ Perkins , Gabe did not need Fox . Despite what Gabe said that the way it is . If Gabe wanted Fox he would have found a way to smooth things over with Fox.