Independent Wrestling is probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me

Hey all,

If you were to ask people who liked/grew up with wrestling before why they stopped watching the usual answer is because it got boring. After the merger between World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation now World Wrestling Entertainment there wasn’t an alternative that was exposed to fans. There wasn’t a big battle between two major companies. So either you liked the WWE or you didn’t and stopped watching. But there has always been an alternative. Something that isn’t televised but has great wrestling, awesome talents, and cool fans and that is Independent Wrestling. Just like music, wrestling also has an independent side to it. A side that show the talents of a large number of athletes that put their all into their matches. Blood, sweat and tears and you may be wondering why they do it. The reason they do it is for the passion.

My relationship with Independent Wrestling started when came across a podcast called The Art of Wrestling podcast created by professional wrestler Colt Cabana created in 2010 shortly after his release from the WWE. 

Before podcasts were popular as they are now Colt Cabana had the idea of starting a podcast where he could relax and talk to his friends about the life of a professional wrestler. Ever since I can remember I have been reading biographies about wrestlers and wanting to learn more so when I discovered Colt Cabana’s podcast I was excited to learn about wrestlers that I knew of/heard of. The conversations were fun and interesting so I got more invested and started listening to the stories of wrestlers I hadn’t heard of that were wrestling on the independent circuit. Every story was unique and that podcast helped me pass time on public transportation. I got to learn the stories and struggles of individuals. I discovered that going to the WWE was the dream of only some of the wrestlers not all of them. A large number of wrestlers wanted to wrestle in Japan. I didn’t know a lot about wrestling in Japan, but I wanted to know why wrestlers wanted to go there instead of the bright lights of the largest sports entertainment (wrestling) company in the world. As I did my research I discover new talents and new talents I never saw in the WWE. I was amazed at such wrestlers like Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Hiroshi Tanahashi and my personal favourite Kenny Omega. Kenny Omega holds a special place in my heart and its not only because he is a fellow Canadian but because he had a one on one match with a 11 year old female child and it was amazing. 

I got to learn about so many new people but it got to the point where learn wasn’t enough I wanted to watch them live so I looked for some Independent companies in the Toronto area to see world class athletics and I was able to stumbles upon Smash Wrestling thanks to James Kee who is the managing director of Smash. He told me about their next show and I was super excited to go to it. And it was an amazing experience that I attended the one after that and it did not disappoint. It’s safe to say I got invested in the Toronto independent circuit.

That was December, 13th, 2013; it’s almost been 2 years since my first independent show. Since then I have attended 9 independent shows, got to meet multiple wrestlers that I admire and got to enjoy countless matches with a crowd that was as invested as I was. I found out that wrestlers on the independent circuit are really awesome people when you meet them (you may need to watch out if they are on little to no sleep) but other than that you should be good.

On November, 15th I will be going to Hamilton for an event hosted by Alpha One Wrestling that features the man that got be invested to Independent Wrestling Mr. Colt Cabana himself. Super excited about that because I will get to thank him in person for changing my life.

This is the end of this week entry. Everyone who reads this should find their local independent companies and attend a show or two. You might have an awesome time. (You probably will have an awesome time).

I wanted to thank a few people here. Wrestlers who I’d met and were super cool and nice people.

The Young Bucks, Kevin Owens/Steen, Ethan Page, RJ City, Kyle O’Reilly, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano,  Drew Gulak, Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer.