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I'D RATHER DIE WITH MY BALLS AND DIGNITY: The 2020 Indy Wrestling Compendium

King Kamala

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Well, I said at the beginning of the 2019 Indy Wrestling thread that I was hoping we'd end up the year with less questions than answers but that isn't the case at all.

I think in the past year, promotions like Beyond and GCW have done great job of doing more with less but I have gut feeling that we're all going to figure out the cupboards are pretty bare. I think the depth charts have really eroded, I think most notably with female wrestlers.

There was a mini controversy with Beyond only booking one female wrestler on their NYE show. First, Beyond is probably the last promotion someone should call out for lack of inclusivity but I think unspoken fact and I hate to say it is IMO, there really isn't a wealth of super talented ladies left on the indies. Don't get me wrong. There's some great workers still left but as far as ones I'd want to build an entire card around? There's maybe 2 or 3.

I think indies will be somewhat stabilized by the fact that GCW, Beyond, and PWG all have selected AEW wrestlers making guest appearances (plus ROH wrestlers in PWG...for whatever that is still worth). But will the indies survive on guest appearances from AEW midcarders? Who will emerge to become the next big name in indy wrestling? Will there be a random old guy making a huge comeback like PCO two years back?
 

alkeiper

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My daughter is five now. She sees me watch wrestling occasionally and takes an interest, especially when females wrestle. I've gone to a couple indy shows so I asked her if she wanted to come. I haven't been able to interest her in baseball but maybe this is something we can do?

We went to Pennsylvania Premier Wrestling in Hazleton. They run a show Sunday evenings via a local station (WYLN 35). The Blue Meanie and Veda Scott made appearances. Of course I wanted to see the Meanie as an ECW fan but I also like Veda. My daughter is much too shy to actually talk to anyone, didn't want to talk to Veda and didn't even want to get close to the Meanie (though she had questions). But I got her a couple autographed photos, but her a mask like a good parent. I'll try and post a pic later. She really enjoyed it though. Veda ended up being her favorite, she also likes Adena Steele who is a local wrestler who seems to make every card. My daughter got suitably mad at the heels and just had a blast otherwise. Family friendly wrestling in front of small crowds is great.

Some talent on the card: Façade, KC Navarro, Breaux Keller all made the PWI 500. Façade is a good flyer. I see him in multi-person matches so it's difficult to say if he's a good worker. But he's moving into top positions. Keller has a good look, again gets stuck in multi-person matches. Navarro was in the main event. He put on a good performance though he's only 140 pounds so it'll be tough for him to get noticed. Indy wrestlers are freaking tiny these days! Two things that make me chuckle. One, the belts look like they were printed on cardboard. Two, four different wrestlers named "Adams" wrestled on the card.

PPW has a placeholder on Youtube for their next episode. Look in the corner and you might see a familiar face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRg0zGTNQ0w
 

Laz

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Facade is alright in the "low budget Jeff Hardy" role. He's fine when he does his flips and can hide his shortcomings in tag/multi-man matches but his singles work is usually full of botches.

My biggest hope for indies in 2020 is that we'll get a territory-like company going, I don't care where it's based, that offers a style which isn't shared by all others. PWG has been the "get your shit in" company for years, Beyond strikes a great balance but leans into tongue-in-cheek more often than not, and GCW is trying to recapture that 2003 CZW feel (often succeeding), but I want a company that really emphasizes a grittier approach without the ultraviolence gimmick to lean on. I had a lot of hope that MLW would've done it, and sometimes they really come close, but talent leaving and Court scrambling with the booking hasn't helped their cause.
 

King Kamala

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Façade has low key been around forever, by indy wrestling standards. He was one of the stars of Shane Douglas' awful ECW revival attempt Extreme Rising in 2011/12. I always thought of him as a hybrid between a less problematic Teddy Hart and even goofier, more Juggalo looking Jeff Hardy.

Beyond's gotten a lot less goofy/tongue in cheek with Season 2 of Uncharted Territory. A lot of their comedy acts (Team Tremendous, Anthony Greene) have become serious heels. I think the fact that they had no comedy matches on their NYE show is just as astonishing as them only having one woman on the card.
 

King Kamala

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https://twitter.com/BLabelPro/status/1213143724160692225
Well anyone who was hoping that indy wrestling would be less weird and random this year...your hopes ended 3 days into the year.
 

Epic Springs

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Indy star Rory Gulak (Drew Gulak's brother) is being accused of diddling. Several companies have already severed ties with him.

https://twitter.com/pwwhistleblower/status/1213542530677182464

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2020/01/06/indie-wrestler-fired-after-allegations-of-misconduct/
 

King Kamala

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81902777_10157790716959471_5354217621170421760_o.jpg

Woah mama.
 

King Kamala

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https://youtu.be/0DnX37LNT50?t=1h15m1s

Dirtbag Teddy Hart says dirtbag things. How has he not been completely blackballed from wrestling? Why would someone who likes to portray themselves as progressive like Joey Ryan say "Yeah. This is a guy I should work with."
 

Hawk 34

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You mean a guy who based his entire career around other men and women touching and kissing his genitals isn’t of the highest moral value? Surely you jest!
 

King Kamala

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I probably should have put quotations around the word "progressive". You could probably find a picture of Joey Ryan in the Wikipedia entry for "Performative Wokeness". I'm just surprised that anyone thinks the guy who forces people to grab his dick is a progressive minded fella.

That being said, I'm still surprised that's the person who was like "Yeah. I'll start working with Teddy Hart in the year of our lord 2020.
 

alkeiper

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Seen some buzz for Tony Deppen. He's a local from Shamokin so he wrestles in the area quite a bit. January 31st he's wrestling Ace Austin here in Wilkes-Barre.
 

909

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He’s great and I can’t believe he’s still working the indies.

I saw him in PWG and he was a show stealer.
 

Laz

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I just watched a few highlight comps of Deppen. Seems like a guy who people will initially say "look at this geek" and then will be praising him by the end bell. He does a lot of little things that other guys don't do when they work that style, stuff like actively pulling at somebody tonsuplex them instead of just going through the motions, and I'm going to be very interested in what he can do with some more seasoned talent.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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Tony Deppen is considered the gatekeeper for GCW. If you want to show what you have, you go against him. I've said in the past that if someone can't have at least a very good match with him, that's on them. He's that good. He made Alex Zayne a household name to indy fans with their Backyard match. He vs Chris Bey (another stud starting to really get out there) was in my top 5 for last year. Jake Atlas' final indy match was this past weekend in GCW, and he requested it to be against Tony. They had a match in LA about 10 months ago that tore the roof off, and they became close after that. Jake reported to Florida last week, and had one more indy match on his schedule. He was supposed to have it against his trainer at Santino Brothers in SoCal, and he cancelled that match to have the one with Deppen.
 

alkeiper

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Deppen was on the first True Wrestling show I went to. I was a bit overwhelmed with new faces but I remember him looking awfully goofy but putting on a good match. There are guys on these shows who can go, stalwarts who are 400-500 range in PWI and then there's local talent that's a bit iffy to say the least.
 

King Kamala

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It took me a little while to get past Tony's really goofy mannerisms but he is a hell of a hand and will probably be on TV sooner than later. I think it's telling how many guys he has worked in the past year or so that have gotten that national TV contract. It's really only a matter of time but I also get the sense that he loves the indies and will probably spend a bit more time there.

Also Gabe Sapolsky has agreed to pay all of his talent on EVOLVE shows after David Starr finally wore him down on Twitter.

The biz needs more David Starrs and less Gabe Sapolskys.
 

Valeyard

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Dude was Heyman's protege. Learn from the best.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
My former co-worker, dubbed "Shit hands Jim" for his habit of shitting at work and then going and stocking groceries w/o washing his hands, is now a Green Bay indy promoter, taking over for an established (and disgraced) promoter. He went right into wrestler mode when he told me about his first show ("We ran out of seats. Sold out!") Of course the bar holds around 100 people, but still...
 

King Kamala

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Brodypedia said:
My former co-worker, dubbed "Shit hands Jim" for his habit of shitting at work and then going and stocking groceries w/o washing his hands, is now a Green Bay indy promoter...

For his talents' sake, I hope he uses Venmo
 

King Kamala

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https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/enzo-amore-alberto-del-rio-cage-vs-elgin-great-khali-more-set-qpw-superslam-2?utm_source=TW-FightfulWrestling&utm_medium=Fightful%20Wrestling%20News&utm_campaign=dlvr.it.organic

QPW SUPERSLAM 2

Friday, February 21, 2020
Doha, Qatar
Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena

Featuring:

nZo vs. Brian Pillman Jr

QPW General Manager Eric Bischoff
QPW Champion Alberto El Patron
Hall of Famer Kevin Nash
Hall of Famer "World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry
Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal
Rob Van Dam
The Great Khali
"Reborn" Matt Sydal
Brian Cage
Rich Swann
PJ Black
Caprice Coleman

To be broadcast live worldwide with legendary wrestling director Craig Leathers leading the production staff!

Plus much more to be announced!
What a random ass lineup.
 

Laz

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If I'm a narc officer, I'm shadowing wherever RVD and Matt Sydal disappear to.
 

King Kamala

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Yeah. All of those guys in Qatar seems like recipe for international incident.

The whole card seems like a mirror universe version of WWE's Saudi Arabia shows. I love (hate) it.
 

King Kamala

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https://twitter.com/aiwrestling/status/1218208597080829952
I love all of the random '90s midcarders coming out of the woodwork after PCO's comeback. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE RETURN OF THE ICE TRAIN!

Somewhere, Kenny Kaos is sitting in a Home Depot breakroom wondering if he has another run in him.
 

Laz

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Blitzkrieg returning would make me mark the fuck out, but it would need to be in tag action with Jack Evans (who began his career as Blitzkrieg II).
 

King Kamala

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Didn't Blitzkrieg retire to join tech industry? For all we know, he's a millionaire rn.


Sick Boy is frantically asking around to see if anyone will give him Joey Janela's phone number.
 

King Kamala

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Let's give PCO's Team Canada stablemate "Prime Time" Elix Skipper another run!

(looked on Cagematch and Elix Skipper's last match was in January 2009 against Tyler Black. Now there's A Matches You Don't Know Existed thread candidate if there's video out there of that)
 
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