I must credit Veda Scott for this new concept. She posted a message earlier today that really resonated with me. There is so much professional wrestling content in the world today that it’s literally impossible not to find something that excites you or interests you if you are a fan. Not all content is on TV and not all organizations have three main letters to their name (WWE / AEW).
I recently purchased a subscription to Title Match Network to watch some matches from Mission Pro Wrestling. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, you may be more familiar with its owner Thunder Rosa. In a recent interview with Renee Paquette, she outlines the need for Mission Pro Wrestling and the success the organization achieved in 2020 despite starting out during a global pandemic.
I watched the most recent event from December 2021 and was really excited about some of the matches on the card. Not everything is stellar, but there are some shining rays of talent on the card and in commentary that made me really excited to see what else was on Title Match Network. I watched an amazing match from Queens of the Ring 2 from early 2020 where Ivelisse faced Rok-C for the Ladies Night Out Championship. I commented recently on this on our Twitter account that both ladies had an incredible match and gave it their all despite the extremely small crowd on hand at the event. If you focus on the match itself, it is easy to imagine that match being on a major television show.
I started going deeper. New Japan Pro Wrestling has an amazing subscription service. I spent hours this week watching past Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay matches that I’d only ever heard of but never had the chance to see. Ring of Honor has the Honor Club subscription service. Likewise, my Ring of Honor knowledge and exposure has been extremely limited but with their hiatus until later this Spring, I wanted to see what some of the history was like and found countless hours of amazing content with the likes of Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), CM Punk, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and the Briscoes just to name a few!
After seeing Veda’s message, I decided to go deeper and see a little less mainstream content. I signed up for Fite.tv subscriptions of their Fite+ content and NWA. I’m definitely familiar with Nick Aldis and his run as NWA champion, but I have never seen an NWA match before. I used to be a huge fan of TNA around the Hulk Hogan era (I’m probably not the only one vomiting at that statement), but it was the history of the organization I had heard about that drew me to the product, not Hogan’s name. It was stars like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Beer Money, Motor City Machine Guns, and so much more that drew me there. The X Division was unlike anything else in mainstream pro wrestling. I signed up for Impact Plus so I can go back and watch some of the content I’d always heard about but never saw live.
I have a reignited passion for professional wrestling that I thought was lost. Locally, we reside in the greater Chicago area which happens to be one of the best places to find local independent professional wrestling. Warrior Wrestling, Zelo Pro, AAW, and so many others showcase both international and local talent with some of the best matches I’ve ever seen. For example, Warrior Wrestling 18 is headlined by Will Ospreay defending his Warrior Wrestling Championship against Brian Cage. If you don’t know either of those two names, then run a quick video search on Google or YouTube and you’ll find out very quickly! This is just a taste of the talent these local Chicago organizations bring to their fans each show.
It was one of my new year’s resolutions to attend a local Chicago event. We’ve been here nearly 5 years now and I’ve never attended a live event, but I’ve seen plenty on Fite.tv. I purchased tickets to attend the February 12 show for Warrior Wrestling 19 and will also be attending the VIP Fan Fest where I’ll get to meet the wrestlers on the show, get photos with them, and autographs. I will literally be geeking out hard for several hours. Special thank you to my wife for allowing me to attend this show alone on Valentine’s Day weekend. I’ll definitely have to make it up to her!
So… to come back to the “concept” that I mentioned at the beginning, it occurs to me – and Veda’s comment verifies it – that I am not alone in having very little knowledge of the global professional wrestling scene or non-Chicago-based independent pro wrestling action. In light of this, I’m going to make it a priority to watch and review as much as I can each week and post my reviews on here for you to read. If I can do audio or video reviews quickly, I will. Now, I am fully aware that not all independent or global wrestling is 5-star. In fact, I know it’s not. But I want to share when I find good wrestling or wrestlers to be on the lookout for because the independent scene is where stars are made. They reap the benefits of their hard work on AEW or WWE with those contracts, but it’s the independents where these stars learn their craft and figure out how to engage a crowd and fans. I’m beyond excited about this and will be posting my first review shortly.
