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2018 INDIE WRESTLING THREAD


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I'm in Chicago visiting family for Thanksgiving so I went to AAW last night and saw Trevor Lee and ACH go to a 60 minute draw that I assume people will be talking about because it's a 60 minute draw between two good wrestlers. I'm interested to see what people on here that see it have to say about it. I certainly did enjoy seeing those two go on the mat for an extended amount of time, because that's not something you see very often and they're quite good at it. I do think that the length of the mat segment did make it somewhat obvious, even before the halfway point, that they were going all the way, but I didn't mind that so much (though some of the middle did drag a little).

The thing that really took me out of it, though, was Trevor Lee with maybe ten or fifteen minutes left picking up the mic and cutting a racist-ass promo mid-match, telling ACH to go back to "the ghetto" a few times. There's an argument to be made about wrestling as fiction and obviously I know that Lee's just playing a role, but I was mystified as to why he felt the need to do that; it's not like Trevor Lee has trouble getting over as a heel without that incredibly cheap fucking heat. The worst effect of this for me was that the handful of (white, obviously) dudes cheering for Trevor (over a pretty loudly pro-ACH crowd, including an incredibly cute kid leading the charge) kept cheering for him after the promo bit, now just straight up cheering for a racist, which is a bit of a different level from just cheering for a heel you like.

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On 11/12/2018 at 2:30 PM, RIPPA said:

I somehow missed this announcement

 

Just FYI, after seeing this over the weekend, I got the impression this is going to happen again (fast-count finish with Gage signaling they'd do it one more time in the future). So if this of interest to you I'd imagine it'll happen again, probably over WM weekend. 

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Two related things that make more sense here due to their impact on the scene

WALTER has officially signed with the WWE - specifically NXT UK

More importantly - a lot of NXT UK guys are getting new deals which comes with a twist

Quote

A new report indicates that WWE is looking to substantially restrict the number of promotions that their United Kingdom talent will be allowed to wrestle in.

A WrestleTalk report out today said that following this weekend’s tapings in Liverpool, a number of talent were given new contracts. These new contracts come with a pay raise, but also with new caveats: for one, they can only wrestle under WWE and WWE’s partner groups, which include PROGRESS, ICW, Fight Club Pro, Attack! Pro Wrestling, Futureshock, Over the Top Wrestling and wXw. They will be allowed to take the rest of their advertised booking through the end of the year.

Additionally, PWInsider reported that these promotions won't be able to film WWE contracted talent, leaving them in dark matches.

NXT UK talent under these new deals reportedly won’t be able to wrestle against talent contracted to promotions such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, World of Sport or any other promotion that WWE considers major. They also won’t be able to perform for a promotion if there isn’t a paramedic there.

More local, lesser known promotions in the UK will likely be hit hardest. Pro Wrestling Chaos announced this morning that Flash Morgan Webster, El Ligero and James Drake, all under WWE contract, would no longer be able to perform at their events. Tidal Wrestling also announced that El Ligero would no longer appear after their final show of 2018.

Before the new contracts, UK talent were only banned from promotions that had a significant streaming or television presence, like RevPro or Defiant. The report stresses that these new restrictions don't apply to everyone on the UK roster, but does apply to the majority.

This news comes as WWE is looking to ramp up their presence in the UK. With the establishment of the NXT UK brand, they look to regularly tape television there going forward. NXT UK will hold their first TakeOver event in Blackpool on January 12.

 

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Sunday in indy wrestling: "The Aria Blake Tweet and these indy promotions are unreasonable. They should pay all the workers a fair wage!"

Monday in indy wrestling: "HOW DARE THEY? How DARE these indy workers sign with WWE, getting paid very good wages and one of the most reliable promoters to pay money in the entire sport? They should be HAPPY to stay on the indy scene and wrestle for a hot dog and a handshake and injure themselves for our amusement!"

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I would never hold it against a wrestler for signing with WWE but I fucking hate WWE's predatory hoarding of talent so they can kill off bigger indies and cut off the supply of talent should The Elite start a promotion. What makes it even better is Linda's role in the White House (for now anyway). WWE has so much talent that they'll not be able to do anything with and the indies I adored watching have been hurt so much because of it. It really feels like the death of the indies with hopefully All Elite Wrestling potentially being the alternative while the indies shrink back down in talent and probably, as a result, size.

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17 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

I would never hold it against a wrestler for signing with WWE but I fucking hate WWE's predatory hoarding of talent so they can kill off bigger indies and cut off the supply of talent should The Elite start a promotion. What makes it even better is Linda's role in the White House (for now anyway). WWE has so much talent that they'll not be able to do anything with and the indies I adored watching have been hurt so much because of it. It really feels like the death of the indies with hopefully All Elite Wrestling potentially being the alternative while the indies shrink back down in talent and probably, as a result, size.

Even then, the problem with that is simple: They're both allied with each other.

WWE can pay more than any other indy promotion can- and judging from what we've seen, FAR, FAR, FAR MORE. They seem opposite, but they're intertwined for this.

If you want your favorite indy star to stay loyal to the indies and not go to WWE? Support the local promotions paying the workers more money. Be willing to say "I would rather see the talent get a fair wage, EVEN IF THAT MEANS paying more to see your show" (because protip: You're not going to get to see that show for 10 bucks if they are paying everyone a good wage).  And even then, expect that this may not save them from signing because WWE just has too much money.

As far as the other stuff, The biggest problem I see is less "you can only work with partner promotions", but the "no working matches against people signed with another major promotion" thing. That basically guarantees that if you're in NXT UK, there's an Indian caste system and someone on the lower end has little to no hope for getting more of an indy buzz to make them more of a star in NXT UK. It guarantees "a lowcarder in NXT UK will probably be a lowcarder in any other promotion in the UK" because they don't get the matches to improve their status.

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I think it was inevitable. WWE is using some of its resources to build up their UK scene and they are not really interested in other promotions taking their talent, selling tickets with them and putting their own guys over them. At first they were allowed more freedom only because WWE hadn't built up their infrastructure in UK, not because WWE thought that this was something that they'd love to be doing. In near future you probably will be able to see NXT UK guys only on promotions that go fully WWE like Evolve.

What is surprising to me is that Walter was signed by NXT UK. I expected him to get better deal than to get signed to 4-5th tier WWE show. And wonder how will it work out with OTT? They can't film him now if I get it right? And he is their champion? I hope there is an exception there and he'll be allowed to drop the title at major event, otherwise that is a big fuck you to OTT.

 

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On 11/24/2018 at 1:55 PM, Oyaji said:

Y'all need to see Brody King vs. PCO from night one of BOLA. Might be one of the best worst matches I've ever seen. Brody hit ~15% of his offense smoothly and PCO almost died doing a moonsault off the top to the apron. The former may be the worst pushed wrestler in 2018. He seems like a really nice guy and people who know him love him but fuck do I think Brody King is not a very good pro wrestler yet. And I can't stand the pretend tough guy presence. At least drop the halfassed, done at half speed poorly agility spots. It's embarrassing. 

I don't mind when Brody does some agile stuff, but when he does it all the time it comes off as really forced. On the flip side though, seeing him wrestle live in Melbourne for WSW's Australia tour, he totally lived up to the hype. Being Marty Scurll's tag partner, he cut down on the flippy stuff and just concentrated on chops, clubbing blows, kicks to the face and lariats, made him look like a monster. I wonder if being on a tour with Walter and Jonah Rock might've inspired him to start wrestling like his size more? Speaking of which, hopefully WSW will finally get their online distribution going better as Jonah vs Walter on night 2 in Melbourne was awesome and Robbie Eagles vs Aries in Sydney apparently tore the house down.

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3 hours ago, Norwegian Rudo said:

I'm sure he will be the centerpiece of whatever NXT are doing in Germany as well. 

Yeah - this part is apparently the big reason since NXT Germany (or whatever it ends up being) seems like it is gonna be announced within the next 6 months

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1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Yeah - this part is apparently the big reason since NXT Germany (or whatever it ends up being) seems like it is gonna be announced within the next 6 months

If this is a thing -- just merge NXT UK with whatever they are going to do with NXT Germany and call it NXT Europe, relinquish the NXT UK title and bring back the European title. That would be much more interesting.

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yeah pardon my ignorance but can you actually make a NXT Germany with more than 10 people in it.  There is WALTER and I guess the former Alex Deiter but who else.   I always saw the German promotions as 50/50 local stars and American/UK talent like David Starr, Matt Riddle, Timothy Thatcher,  some CZW guys from time to time, and others.  

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It might be that the wrestling stays under the NXT UK banner but they open their European Performance Center (or whatever they call it) in Germany

Again - this is mainly people guessing based on previous Triple H comments

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The main thing as a fan that annoys me with WWE signing up everyone is that I went from being able to watch guys like Keith Lee and Riddle and WALTER have fun high profile main event matches several times a month and now I may see them in one squash match a month, maybe a good TV main event if I'm lucky and possibly a high profile Takeover match two times a year.

For a company that is all about content, they have so much talent just collecting dust. I mean, great if you're attending the Largo Loop or on a NXT house show schedule tour but in this streaming era signing with NXT is basically witness protection. 

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Yeah, that's my feelings on it too. I'm glad guys are getting paid better and getting more exposure. But I can't see a majority of the roster wrestle. If they do end up in a major role they wrestle the same guys as nauseam. Just wait until we get NXT Japan. It's worrisome to see a monopoly in progress. 

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You're unlikely to really get an NXT Japan or NXT Mexico.  Unlike the UK, those two countries have pretty much a national identity when it comes to wrestling, and doesn't "fit" the WWE style.  It's neat for the locals in a once in a while kind of way, but it's not likely to catch on in the same way, especially with WWE's treatment of Japanese wrestlers in the past, or Mexican wrestlers not named Eddie Gurrerro, Rey Mysterio, or Alberto del Rio.

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