Rise and Fall of Indy Wrestling

[Montana]

The rise and fall of Independent wrestling. One would have had to think with all the exposure ROH is currently getting, TV, IPPV, and the current WWE/TNA superstars coming from ROH, they would really be booming business with tomorrow's stars. With ROH doing well, so would the other alternatives to wrestling be thriving. Chikara with it's unique and interesting style, PWG, Evolve, and DGUSA putting on some fantastic shows. But within the past few years these companies seem to be on a major decline. What do you think is the factor behind this?

I think it's of reasons that are possible causes:

1) Oversaturated market (Too many indies)

2) WWE/ TNA absorbing top Indy talent more frequently

3) DVD vs. IPPV market and the cost invovlved.

4) WWE / TNA are easier to follow, with a somewhat better wrestling product than years past.

5) Lack of new stars coming up fast enough.


6) Contracts.

What do you think is the cause, and what is the solution.... or is there not a solution, it's more of a changing of the times.

I personally think it's in the decline for all those reasons, and not a good solution at this point. I think some companies need to join forces to survive, and I think they need to figure out a way to get the product out there enough on a weekly/bi weekly basis, and yet drum up enough buzz to sell PPV's or IPPVS.

 

[Troy]

I find it odd that these days that the Indy scene is weaker than it was previously because there are so many advantages these days compared to say twenty years ago. They have easy exposure using the internet where they can reach fans all over the world to buy their product and it makes it easy for fans to follow their product. I guess that there is a draw back with the internet in that spoilers are so prevelant and that rather than attending a show you can just follow the results online. iPPV has made PPV accessible to small indy companies, given them another revenue stream and again made it easier for fans worldwide to keep up to date with the product rather than having to wait on delay for the DVDs to arrive.

I think that the biggest issue is that a large number of wrestling fans these days think that WWE is the only company out there. They completely took over wrestling in the past few decades and now with close to a dozen hours of content every week coming out of WWE headquarters there is really no need to get your wrestling fix anywhere else. The Indy companies that do seem to do well are ones that have a specific niche that makes them stand out from WWE. ROH was focussed mainly on great wrestling and that made them a profitable company. CHIKARA has a completely odd concept that worked very well for them because it was so different. They need to be a complete alternative to make them appealing to fans and to encourage fans to actually attend the show or spend money on an iPPV/DVD.

I do also think that there is an issue with a lack of talent coming through. WWE and TNA in recent years have picked up a lot of the top talent and it is going to hurt the indies when they keep signing their top draws. Maybe they need to put more time and effort into their wrestling schools to get more students involved and to improve the quality of wrestling students coming through.

Companies these days do work together a fair bit of the time since they share a lot of talent but it wouldn't be the worst idea for them to work more closely. ROH vs. CZW was great when it happened and helped out both companies by introducing new fans to each promotion. Company vs. company storylines can work even if it is difficult to decide who will go over since both companies would want to protect their wrestlers. It would be interesting if they decided to work together to promote one huge iPPV each year. Best of the Best with all the promotions working together to put on one stacked card.

There is merit to the old NWA system where they would all work under one umbrella and help each other out. If a company was struggling another company could send down a few name wrestlers to boost attendance and sales or they could send them another booker to help out if needed. Now the NWA is a complete joke since none of the major indies are represented there but coming up with their own board put in place to benefit all companies involved could work.

 

[Gimmick]

I think there's a lot of reasons as to why Indie wrestling isn't getting a bit more attention.

As Troy said, the biggest problem is probably that a lot of fans seem to think that there's no other companies out there a part from WWE. It seems that now more than ever the casual fan to smart fan ratio has gotten even bigger. You don't even need to look that much into it to see that it's the case. No matter how popular wrestlers such as Punk and Bryan have gotten, it's still all about John Cena. That's simply who the people want to see. Most casual fans like that aren't going to open themselves up to TNA, let alone indie companies.

Another reason is that I think the buzz has finally faded out of USA's main indie promotion, ROH. And when ROH doesn't have a strong following with a lot of talk about them, then I'm sure it's hard for other indie companies to create a buzz for themselves. Between 2005-2008 ROH were establishing themselves as the 'cool' indie promotion to follow. They had golden wrestlers passing through that time frame such as Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and CM Punk, and were also putting on consistently great shows in big following areas such as Philly, New York and Chicago. That kind of buzz and excitement wasn't going to last forever, and while ROH still has a decent following, it seems to have lost that spark.

New names like Adam Cole and Michael Elgin are bursting onto the scene, and the likes of Kevin Steen are remaining very popular, but I think it's going to take a good few years to come across a breed of wrestlers like I mentioned above again. When you don't have names like that it's hard to get that excited.

The only indie promotion who seems to have grown is PWG, who since around 2010, has put on excellent shows every month. Not only have attendance figures gone up in Reseda, but they also have a pretty strong following of people who but their DVDs. The only problem is that with them only wrestling in the one place they're probably never going to reach the heights that ROH once had, or even the heights they have right now to some degree.

I guess it just goes in cycles. In a few years time we might see bit of hype surrounding independent wrestling again. Right now though, there's not a whole lot promotions can do.

 

[The Cork]

Massive fail by OP citing exposure when ROH just dropped their iPPV's.

Not sure when this 'rise' was, indy feds have always drew >1k fans in bingo halls. The only successes have been ECW tribute acts which usually go bust in a month.

ROH take themselves too seriously and think 1970's style booking gets over today. Took them a decade to hire a hot woman to their roster ffs. Serious don't sell, hence why they lose their tv deal every other week.

 

[Deezy]

Too many indy feds, and wrestling stopped being cool. You have an oversaturated market with no demand, hence the fall from this supposed rise.

Need a real example of this? Look at Japanese Wrestling, big business when you had two big companies, and only a few indy feds. Then New Japan and All Japan got mudered by their bosses and then there was like 50 other companies on a tiny island, people flocked to the new shit MMA. Sound familiar?

New Japan stopped being fuckheads as Jado and Gedo are booking this shit with actual work and stopped that NOAH shit. Need some indy fed to jump up? Stop the marks from booking their matches.

MMA carbon copies are not what wrestling fans want to see, it waters down both professions, eventually the ADHD nature of casual people will eventually comeback, like Japan.

 

[Keith]

Am more on deezy's side of the argument than Cork's.

Think it is a very bad time for wrestling like the mid-90s. Also certain indie feds try too hard to move away from what it was which made them unique or could make them unique. ROH had a good run, think Dragon Gate could take over where they lefted off.

Some interesting promotions starting up in England, RPW which has taken over from IPW, as well as groups in Preston and London.

 

[Troy]

Massive fail by OP citing exposure when ROH just dropped their iPPV's.

Not sure when this 'rise' was, indy feds have always drew >1k fans in bingo halls. The only successes have been ECW tribute acts which usually go bust in a month.

ROH take themselves too seriously and think 1970's style booking gets over today. Took them a decade to hire a hot woman to their roster ffs. Serious don't sell, hence why they lose their tv deal every other week.

ROH's serious style is what made them successful and they have actually been profitable for quite a few years now. They managed to get in the black long before TNA ever did. Yes they might not be making huge amounts of money but a profit is a profit. They have recently dropped their iPPVs but they have expanded a lot in the past five years especially after being bought by a major broadcasting group. They are a long way from the number two spot but have a good niche worked out for themselves.