Day: June 3, 2015

The Independents

I’ve been working on this post off and on for a couple weeks now, trying to find the right hook for it. So much has happened recently with NXT and big time independent wrestlers that it’s still hard to get a grip on. Independent wrestling fans watch for years as our favorites work in gymnasiums in front of dozens of people while everyone from anti-indy fans to anti-indy promoters tell us that they will never find mainstream success. The term “vanilla midgets” gets tossed around as an insult to anyone who doesn’t fit the 80’s style of big muscles and big personalities.

And then a guy breaks through. He signs that WWE contact and makes a name for himself on TV and then a different famous indy wrestler is on TV, then another, and the floodgates have opened and suddenly Kevin Steen is powerbombing John Cena on Monday Night Raw. How did we get here?
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