These days, I seem to attend more indy wrestling shows than anything in the mainstream...I took a pass on Judgment Day when it was in St. Louis. I went to Lockdown(though that decision turned out to be a dubious one). Mostly, though, I check out the independent scene.
I've been fortunate to see folks from around these parts hit it big on the indy scene. Matt Sydal and Delirious are making a splash in promotions as big as Ring Of Honor and MsChif and Daizee Haze are among the top female wrestlers in the country. More recently, Dingo has been getting pre-show matches for ROH.
My schedule this month has included FIVE indy shows total. Last Saturday, I attended a show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in downtown STL, put on by a promotion called MMWA-SICW. This coming Saturday, I'm going to a Full Throttle Wrestling show in Mascoutah, IL. On the 22nd, Gateway Championship Wrestling has a show in Overland, MO. On the 23rd, GCW is in Mt. Vernon, IL. Then on June 30th, the Lethal Wrestling Alliance has a show in House Springs, MO with Samoa Joe on the card. Most tremendous.
Been a while since I've posted on this board...I doubt I'll post much since I honestly don't care as much about the wrestling scene as I used to. "Oh well", I say.
Maybe you should post about the stuff that does interest you instead of not posting at all. I for one would be interested in the indies in or near St-Louis.
How much influence does the history of the Wresting at the Chase have on the local indies?
Not too much really...maybe Harley Race's World League Wrestling but they rarely run near St. Louis.
GCW and LWA are clearly the best in the area and put on some strong shows. There's plenty of good talent in the other promotions but it's kinda mixed in with the proverbial riff-raff.
Originally posted by LlakorHow much influence does the history of the Wresting at the Chase have on the local indies?
Originally posted by PowerPB13Not too much really...maybe Harley Race's World League Wrestling but they rarely run near St. Louis.
Maybe I phrased that badly. I guess I probably meant how are the local indies influenced by Wrestling at the Chase?
At a guess, I would assume that the Harley Race promotion is an attempt to recreate it, but I would (also) guess that the local indies are influenced by the Chase in funny ways even when they would deny that influence. (and say booking opposite to the way that the Chase would have booked things is being influenced right?)
Taking Quebec as an example. Even though "my" fed the IWS would deny up and down that we are influenced by the old days, you can totally see the influence of the Rougeau/Garvin bloodbaths in our shows. (Though you would never believe that the Jacques Rougeau who was in that feud then and the Skrull mincing around now pretending to be him are the same guy.)
I wonder how true that is around the country. I've seen a bunch of the Virginia indys and they do seem descendant of the Crockett style. But in MD, which I guess would be a historic WWF territory, I don't see it as much. (disclaimer: not seen a show in MD since I stopped working for MCW in 2001.)
BTW, I've now seen a couple of the IWS guys in Chikara and enjoyed their work. Player Uno is such a wacky gimmick.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of Wrestling At The Chase(a bit before my time), so I don't know how I'd compare it to what's going on today. WLW does seem to push a more old-school product. GCW and LWA occasionally push hardcore-style matches which wouldn't really fit into that niche. Those are the two that I would recommend to anybody in the St. Louis area looking to see indy wrestling. The others are okay, kinda hit-and-miss...I check them out to see what's out there since a lot of folks only work under one banner.
Originally posted by PowerPB13Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of Wrestling At The Chase(a bit before my time), so I don't know how I'd compare it to what's going on today. WLW does seem to push a more old-school product. GCW and LWA occasionally push hardcore-style matches which wouldn't really fit into that niche. Those are the two that I would recommend to anybody in the St. Louis area looking to see indy wrestling. The others are okay, kinda hit-and-miss...I check them out to see what's out there since a lot of folks only work under one banner.
It is very sad that I know more about St-Louis wrestling history than someone who lives there.
The whole concept in a nut-shell about St-Louis wrestling was that as much as possible they pushed the idea of wrestling as competition. So they were not afraid to play with faces wrestling each other or heels wrestling each other. They routinely published articles looking at the win-loss career record of a certain wrestler and pushed the idea that certain wrestler's had the "number" of another wrestler.
But to say that St-Louis was not into hardcore would be a serious mistake. This was one one of the territories that ADORED Bruiser Brody. (I suppose we should make a distinction between Strong Style and Garbage Hardcore, but still I'm betting that the hardcore wrestlers in St-Louis all adore Brody or Foley his spiritual heir.)
Saint Louis (along maybe with Shire's San Francisco promotion) probably had the most "sports-based" companies in the country.
Listening to Larry Matysik over the years with Dave and/or Bryan, Sam was well-connected with the sports media in St. Louis and that was part of the equation. They had people like Joe Garagiola (and later Costas and Dierdorf) announce for the company.
*shrug* I've just heard through the grapevine that Harley and WLW kinda look down on the GCW/LWA types for their use of hardcore-style matches.
Going to a show tonight...the FTW show is actually in Sparta and not Mascoutah, so that would be a much longer drive for me. I may just go to MMWA-SICW in East Carondelet instead. Closer, can go home in between and won't have to rush, plus I have more familiarity with their wrestlers. At least the next couple of weekends are GCW and LWA so I won't have as much self-debate to go through.
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