I’m going to date this article because I feel what I’m about to talk about is pretty important. We are midway through 2019 (It is the fifteenth of July as I frantically type this to the Chaos Editor who asked for it at least three days ago). The reason why I feel this is important is wrestling is in a fascinating position. For the first time in years there are large and viable alternatives to the monolith that has been World Wrestling Entertainment. I’m writing this article to shed light on all the options you, as a wrestling fan, have available to you right now. I also want to talk about why they exist and what they can offer you because I do believe there is wrestling for every single person.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Since 1983, WWE has been a media juggernaut. Falling in and out of popular culture, it has always remained consistent in the zeitgeist of North American culture. With that size comes and awesome budget, with more wrestling content than any full-time working, part-time writer could ever consume, boasting two prime time TV shows (three hours a piece), one supplemental show (one hour), one developmental show (also one hour) and at least two large Pay Per View events a month , there is a HUGE volume of content being pumped out on a week to week basis. They also have a streaming service with a back catalogue of every show, spin-off and crappy reality TV thing that WWE could think of.
WWE has made a concerted effort to become the only wrestling you’ll ever need to watch and it does this by devouring all of your leisure time like a gaping Lovecraftian maw made of baby oil, spandex and pretending a lot of problematic things didn’t exist. And here’s the thing with WWE as a wrestling brand: there is some downright phenomenal pro wrestling going on in there. RAW will have one or two awesome matches, maybe even a really great promo or skit. So will Smackdown. 205 Live has some of the best wrestlers in the world and ditto for NXT. The problem is there’s way too much to sift through.
Wrestlemania is their banner show for the year. Wrestlemania makes or breaks how many lapsed or new fans will grow WWE as a company by absorbing all of that media. The show this year was seven hours long. You read that right seven. Almost a full working day.
WWE does some of the best character and family-friendly wrestling you can possibly see, but you have to be willing to get through it all to find what you like. WWE is like a 30c soft serve ice-cream from MacDonald’s. Yeah, they taste great, but $9.99 worth might be a bit much.
New Japan Pro Wrestling
NJPW has had a long history within its home country of Japan. When they made the move to become a global brand, they made an impressive effort.
Using their flagship Pay Per View, Wrestlekingdom, they attracted a lot of attention to fans who never would have thought to look overseas to get their violent spandex acrobatics rocks off.
NJPW is very sport-based. Their rules are strictly adhered to, cheating is infrequent and matches are given the main focus. Characters tend to be more exaggerated personalities than brandable characters, leaning more towards realism and recognised as athletes rather than superstars.
This whole vibe has good and bad elements. You don’t get a lot of the messing around that can happen in the WWE. Two guys will get in the ring and fight. Maybe more guys if it’s a tag match or multi-man, but that formula is pretty much it. The wrestling is top notch, sometimes scarily so. Hits are very hard and sometimes brutally real. Anyone using the “wrestling is fake” card in 2019 need only see Shibata legitimately headbutt someone so hard it sounds like two rocks colliding, to be immediately silenced.
Their streaming service isn’t as streamlined for western audiences as WWE’s, but it’s still navigable and functional. They are a little more conservative with their release schedule, barring the occasional week long tournament or special event. New Japan puts out a satisfying amount of wrestling. Enough to fill your time, but not so much as to ever feel overwhelmed.
All Elite Wrestling
The youngest and, in my opinion, one of the most hopeful new companies to come out in a long time. I talked briefly about AEW’s birth in my Double or Nothing review, but basically, they’ve turned into a melting pot of all the crazy and unique elements that form the Independent Circuit (something we will touch on in a moment).
Currently AEW is putting out a Pay Per View every month or so with a weekly TV show slated to start on TNT in October (how viewable this will be outside of the US remains to be seen).
AEW has a bit of a learning curve that comes with it. Whilst it is fun and crazy, with a very distinct flavour, it won’t hold your hand. I recommend watching AEW with your nearest superfan wrestling friend (the best ones won’t spend the entire show comparing it to WWE), and asking them “who’s that” whenever someone gets introduced. The commentators will brush over who someone is or why we should care, but the buttery context of the full picture will just make your AEW ham sandwich just that little bit better. I will also leave another shameless link to my own context laden review right here.
Independent Circuit (the indies)
Okay, so I am not going to just lump everything else into one big pile and say “and then there’s the rest”. There are your bigger companies that are kind of too big to be just simply “independent” as it means to most people. Some even have TV deals like AAA in Mexico, IMPACT, Ring of Honor, and Major League Wrestling. But you also have independent companies and, I can guarantee this, they are a fifteen-minute drive from your house.
The larger ones, tend to be broadly appealing with a specific tone or flavour. AAA has its roots in lucha libre (a very acrobatic and fast paced style of wrestling). Ring of Honor is very rules based with codes and systems. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has become this sort of “flavour of the month” wrestling show where all the biggest names go and make insane matches happen. The smaller independents fill every possible flavour combination you could ever EVER want in wrestling.
Do you want gory and insane wrestling with blood and weapons? Combat Zone Wrestling or Game Changer Wrestling will blow your mind. Want insane storylines with crazy cartoon characters? CHIKARA literally has had everything from a praying mantis shaman to an Estonian frog wielding a magic hammer. Do you want to watch something with more of a British style? Progress Wrestling brings the UK to the forefront of professional wrestling worldwide.
This is kind of where wrestling becomes art. Wrestlers express themselves in their purest forms with unique and experimental ways. It’s also the breeding ground for those that will become future names in wrestling.
If you can take anything at all away from this article, let it be two things. First, go on YouTube and just type in your favourite wrestler’s name. If they’re already in a major company just keep scrolling until you see them standing in what looks to be some sort of night club or bingo hall. Chances are there are matches, fan highlight reels and all sorts of media from before they became who they are today. Even a cursory Wikipedia search can yield some crazy independent company names with matches that will blow your mind.
Want to see Dean Ambrose get cut with a turkey carver? That exists. Want to see a young Seth Rollins doing crazy flips and being way too keen? Yep, got that! Want to see Kevin Owens just yelling swear words for ten minutes? There’s a surprising amount of that.
The second thing I would ask is probably the easiest thing you can do: go to one local wrestling event. There isn’t a weekend where wrestling isn’t happening. Go to Facebook or Google and type in “live pro wrestling”. If there isn’t something going on near you in the next month, you are living under a rock or in space. Pick whatever looks most fun to you and just go. It will cost between five and twenty dollars, maybe thirty if they’ve got someone you recognise on it. I guarantee you will find someone you enjoy, someone who you can see grow and learn, someone whose hand you can shake and tee shirt you can buy. You will find people who also like wrestling, who genuinely want the same kind you want and can show you where to find what you love. Because wrestling is way cooler than just two dudes in spandex punching on for fifteen minutes.
So, in closing, that’s a quick rundown of wrestling in 2019. It’s a diverse and unique platform that is constantly being redefined by people on the fringes who push the boundaries of what it means to wear a lot of spandex and yell big. If you look, it is out there and it can be whatever you want it to be. You just have to look.
