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On Duty!
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The new millenium of wrestling
has showcased more newsworthy events
that an entire decade of wrestling that
preceded before. World Wrestling Entertainment
bought their longtime competitor, WCW.
The extreme Philadelphia-based Extreme
Championship Wrestling folds. Hulk Hogan
returns to the WWE. WWE becomes WWE.
A slew of world reknown workers pass
away, some violently others with the
passing of time. For the first time
in over 70 years, there is a defining
wrestling promotion with an undisputed
world heavyweight title. Most recent,
WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin,
one of the most famous stars ever to
grace the rings of the WWE, walks out
on the promotion that made him the superstar
that he had become. While at the same
time the WWE has broken the last sheds
of kayfabe in the wrestling industry
with shows like Tough Enough & Confidental.
To be a fan of the current product of
wrestling is a true showcase of the
dedication that we possess for the crafty
sport that is so often diminished &
not properly recognized in the publics
eye. We are the fans who didn't just
watch wrestling was wrestling was cool
again, we watched it because we have
an insational thirst for the sport.
The World Wrestling Entertainment currently
holds the most intense lineup of superstars
ever. With 2 seperate promotions working
2 seperate shows, WWE Raw & Smackdown,
and 2 farm leagues -Ohio Valley Wrestling
& Heartland Wrestling Association-
catering future WWE stars, Development
stars, Tough Enough stars & former
WWE, WCW & ECW stars, it is without
question that Vince McMahon is the consummate
example of a stategist.
It is also without question that the
product & fanfare has been at an
all time low. Vince enjoyed a 4+ year
rebirth with "WWE Attitutde"
and the development of Stone Cold Steve
Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, Triple
H & The Undertaker only helped further
the advacement of his successful product.
But with all highs come lows. It is
inevitable. Is that to say that wrestling
and Vince are doomed? Not a chance.
With the already established stars he
controls, not to mention the new stars
currently being developed as future
Main Eventers- Booker T, RVD, Kurt Angle,
Edge, Brock Lesnar, Hardcore Holly,
Randy Orton and many more- the WWE continues
to prove why it is the strongest wrestling
media promotion ever.
The unfortunate side that I see with
the WWE is that with one promotion comes
many workers without equal amount of
pay that the current cream of the crop
enjoy. There are so many dedicated workers
across the country who have the same
love for the sport, and have the same
amount of in ring capabilities as these
superstars, but for either political
or physical reasons, are not given the
spotlight that they deserve.
Vince has a deathgrip on the entire
wrestling industry. Promotions such
as NWA:TNA, WWA & XWF give the fans
a nice alternative to the WWE with talent
that is capable of drawing a crowd,
and a product that is different than
the WWE, and can be shown on national
syndicated television & pay per
views. Unfortuantely, for that product
to take off, there has to be an edge
that seperates them from the WWE that
captures a large majority of fans attention.
Eric Bischoff did it by bringing in
the "Immortal" Hulk Hogan,
and creating the NWO, but Eric only
enjoyed an 18 month reign before Vince
rightfully took what was his again,
the majority of the wrestling public.
However, there is a minority that are
not part of the Vince loyalists, who
venture elsewhere to find other products
of wrestling. Their thirst for being
enteratined cannot be quenched by storylines
of thongs, vomit & crucifixtions.
They are the fans who followed ECW during
its hayday to its eventual demise, they
are the fans who visit wrestling news
sites & attend independent events
in their area. Promotions such as XPW,
CZW, ECWA, All Pro, UPW, MCW & many
others have loyal fans who attend every
show, follow the news on their favorite
competitors and voice their outrage
when their product is trashed or tarnished
by others. It is unfortunate that those
who call themselves wrestling fans don't
get to see great workers like The Fallen
Angel Christopher Daniels, The Black
Nature Boy Scoot Andrews, The Future
Legend Donovan Morgan, Low-Ki, AJ Styles
and many more put on 5 star matches
day in and day out.
Unlike the WWE where Monday and Thursdays
involve entertainment storylines, with
a little spot wrestling involved, indy
workers give it their all every match
they are in, in order to gain a reputation
for being a good worker amongst the
fans, fellow workers & promoters.
Since the Indies are not up to scale
with the Wrestling Monopoly that Vince
runs, it is harder to get noticed by
promoters. Not to knock the matches
of current stars Kurt Angle, RVD, Guerrero
and many others who put in enteratining
matches for the fans, but unless they
are booked in gimmick matches to help
further their carrer, PPV's are the
only time when you will see workers
give it their all and then some.
But that is not to knock the workers,
they all put on terrific matches, it
is because most of them are told not
to go out and give it their all, they
are held back. Those who work opening
and mid card matches, unless are being
told they are being given a push, are
told not to upstage the Main Event guys.
If they do, it causes heat between workers,
and could cause them to lose their job.
Jerry Lynn voiced his opinion on being
held back, and he works on the indies
once again. Hell, with the exception
of RVD, Mick Foley & The Dudley
Boyz, legends of the ECW era, all former
workers from ECW in the WWE are treated
with very little respect, and are mostly
booked to job or put over other guys.
Vince hates to bring in those who made
a name for themselves elsewhere, he
likes to build his own characters for
whatever reason.
That's why Hulk Hogan is the immortal
icon, why Kurt Angle has had a rocket
up his ass since the day he premied
on television, thats why the Rock is
media giant of the present, and Brock
Lesnar is billed "The Next Big
Thing", all Vince's creation. On
the Independents, you are given control
to build your own character, build a
fanbase for your solid work ethic &
hopefully land a deal with a big promotion
one day. You can work in Mexico or Japan,
where you can make solid pay, but to
work in those countries you have to
work a style completely different from
what the WWE perfers, strong style &
lucha libre.
Strong Style is a form of working very
stiff, leaving the fans with very little
notion or belief that what they just
witnessed was "fake" or "staged",
Strong Style is picking up on the indies,
much like Hardcore & high flying
did back in the early 90s. Workers like
Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Low Ki, American
Dragon & Michael Modest welcome
strong style & present incredibly
stiff matches that leave fans in awe.
Lucha Libre, famous in the early 90s
when WCW & ECW exposed it to a large
majority of fans, is fast based &
high flying leaving the fans in disbelief
not only at what they are witnessing,
but exactly what it is they are witnessing.
This is a far reach from the WWE's product
of finding one move that will captivate
the crowd, much like the spinarooni,
the worm, the people's elbow & the
Legdrop.
What you will also get from the independents
is the extreme of anything that has
been shown before on television. Workers
like Ray Mysterio Jr., Psicosis &
Eddie Guerrero captivated crowds with
their lucha-libre style of wrestling
not before exposed to the majority of
the wrestling public. On the independents
solid East Coast mainstays the Spanish
Announce Team (Joel & Jose Maximo
& Red) take high flying to a whole
new level. With spectacular daredevils
moves such as the red press (standing
shooting star press) & The Spanish
Fly (double backflip mission suplex)
and theatrical high spots, they are
the new generation of high fliers. The
new generation of extreme combatants,
most notably Combat Zone Wrestling,
have taken the term extreme & re-dubbed
it with the term known familiarized
as "Ultraviolence". With weapons
such as sheets of glass, wheedwhackers,
lighttubes, thumbtack-filled bats &
insane high spots that have caused tremendous
injuries to its workers, it has toppled
anything that ECW ever made famous.
The WWE & many magazine editors
also downgrade the independents, but
that is not their fault. The majority
of the public only knows of ECW as being
a small bit promotion, but compared
to many indy federations, ECW was Huge.
They have to write about the WWE for
the majoruty of their magazine, because
it is what the majority of their subscribers
know & care about. They always mention
School gyms & Bingo Halls, but Indy
events are held eveywhere, and it is
who is competing in these events that
make them special. The ECW Arena is
essence is a dingy arena, but it was
the magic of 9 years of tears, sweat
& blood that made the arena known
the world over.
My hopes is that my site, USA! Indy
Wrestling, can help bring the indies
to a much larger public. There are over
300 federations across the country,
and over 1200 workers competing for
those top spots that they craved during
childhood, adolesence & adulthood.
These are the guys who bust their ass
without the public watching them, who
travel from district to district in
hopes of getting the big chance. Sometimes
workers go for years never making the
big time, never getting noticed, and
never reaching the dream they once aspired
as a kid. If only Vince Jr. hadn't broken
that unwritten law years ago and swiped
the top workers from territories across
the country, workers wouldn't have to
bust their ass making a few hundred
bucks a show enteratining a small crowd,
each could enjoy equal limelight while
prevailing in their own territory of
wrestling.
So support your local indies & local
workers, they crave the same love you
all have for the sport. Why wait 3-4
months for the WWE to come around when
you can check out a decent wrestling
show every weekend that could be a lesser
distance than traveling to a sports
complex. Why sit 50 rows back and haver
to squint your eyes or use binoculars
to check out the action in the ring
at a WWE event, when you can get right
up close in the action at the indies.
They are not as bad as people make them
out to be, and I will show that to you
all over the course of time. The Indies
need to be showcased, they deserve it,
and I will not go on another day without
others knowing their are many other
quality products out there other than
the WWE. This is On Duty! and my duty
will be to expose the Independents at
a much larger level.
Take Care,
Chris Glavin
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