The Indie Legacy
Back in the day, the WWF took most of the good, marketable talent out of the territories, and then ran them out of business. We don't really have territories these days, and WWE really isn't as concerned with killing indie promotions. But a ton of the current crop of WWE Superstars didn't learn their craft in FCW or, more recently, NXT.
CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro and Seth Rollins were big stars in Ring of Honor before they ever signed with WWE. Dean Ambrose was a product of the hardcore CZW atmosphere. The NXT roster has dozens of great indie talent, and they are signing new future Superstars every single day.
My favorite thing about indie wrestling is watching guys travel around the country and slowly build their brand. When you watch WWE it's fully up to management to decide who goes over. Very rarely does anybody get popular organically (hello Daniel Bryan!). But on the indie scene, guys are made and destroyed based on their individual performances. I first talked to Adam Cole when he was half of Future Shock, a short-lived tag team with Kyle O'Reilly. Cole is the current PWG and ROH World Champion. I first saw Chris Hero at a live event in Chicago several years ago. Since then he took a trip to NXT and came back. You never know what's going to happen in wrestling. The industry is constantly evolving, new people are stepping up all over the nation, and what's true in 2014 may be totally different by this time in 2015.
I love watching indie wrestling because you get to see great guys and girls get over because they are good. Not because they kissed ass to the boss, or because they looked a certain way, or had a certain percentage of body fat. If you can connect with the fans, you will connect with the fans. If you're good, we'll let you know. If you're not, we'll also let you know. Mike Bennett's career has been great. When he started in Ring of Honor a few years ago, people were constantly chanting "you can't wrestle" in all of his matches. Let me tell you – that guy is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and he has more respect for the wrestling business than anybody I've talked to. He worked his ass off, and now the heat he gets in ROH is because he's the best heel the product has.
