Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions.
Independent promotions are essentially viewed as a minor league or farm system for the larger national promotions, as wrestlers in "indie" companies are usually honing their craft with the goal of being noticed and signed by a major national promotion such as WWE, All Elite Wrestling , or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the United States, AAA Worldwide">Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide">AAA Worldwide or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, or New [Japan Pro-Wrestling], Dragongate, All Japan Pro Wrestling, World Wonder Ring Stardom or one of the CyberFight promotions in Japan. It is also not uncommon for veteran wrestlers who have had past tenures with major promotions to appear on independent shows, either as special attractions or as a way to prolong their careers as free agents. There are also plenty of wrestlers who also wish to not sign with any of the major promotions and therefore primarily depend on the independent circuit for work.
Origins
The "indie" scene in the United States dates back to the days of regional territories. When a promoter ran opposition in even one town controlled by a National Wrestling Alliance sanctioned territory, they were often called an "outlaw" territory. This is considered by some to be a forerunner to indies since some stars of the past got their start in these low quality local rivals to the big regional territories.The modern definition of the independent circuit came about in the mid to late 1980s and fully formed and flourished after 1990. These promotions initially sought to revive the feel of old school territorial wrestling after former territories either went national, such as WWF, went out of business, or eventually did both, such as WCW. Several indies did manage to tour different towns within a region and maintain a consistent schedule.
After Vince McMahon, seeking regulatory relief, gave in 1989 testimony in front of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission where he publicly admitted pro wrestling was a sports-based entertainment, rather than a true athletic competition, many state athletic commissions stopped regulating wrestling. This obviated the need for complying with many expensive requirements, such as the need for an on-site ambulance and trained emergency medical personnel at each bout. After the business was thus exposed and deregulated, just about anyone could be a promoter or a wrestler since no licensing beyond a business license was then required. Many thought they could save money by holding shows in smaller towns and smaller arenas with little to no televised exposure, leading to many shows being held only once a week or once a month in local towns.
By country
United States
Independent promotions are usually local in focus and, lacking national TV contracts, are much more dependent on revenue from house show attendance. Due to their lower budgets, most independent promotions offer low salaries. Most cannot afford to regularly rent large venues, and would not be able to attract a large enough crowd to fill such a venue were they able to do so. Instead, they make use of almost any open space to put on their performances. Some independent promotions are attached to List of [professional wrestling terms#S|professional wrestling school]s, serving as a venue for students to gain experience in front of an audience. As independent matches are seldom televised, indie wrestlers who have not already gained recognition in other promotions tend to remain in obscurity. However, scouts from major promotions attend indie shows, and an indie wrestler who makes a good impression may be offered a developmental or even a full professional contract.The advent of the Internet has allowed independent wrestlers and promotions to reach a wider audience, and it is possible for wrestlers regularly working the indie circuit to gain some measure of fame among wrestling fans online. Additionally, some of the more successful indies have video distribution deals, giving them an additional source of income and allowing them to reach a larger audience outside of their local areas.
Canada
Australia
Unlike the North American or Japanese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as WWE and New Japan Pro-Wrestling with several hundred smaller promotions, Australia only has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit promotions which exist in all but one of the states and territories, that being the Northern Territory. Tours from the North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.| No. | Promoter | Event | Location | Venue | Attendance | Main Event | - | |
| 1. | AWF | Wrestleriot | Melbourne, Victoria | Festival Hall | 4,000 | Jake Roberts vs. Jim Neidhart | - | |
| 2. | AWF | Wrestleriot 2 | Sydney, New South Wales | 3,500 | Road Warrior Hawk vs. Demolition Smash | - | ||
| 2. | AWF | Wrestleriot 2 | Melbourne, Victoria | 3,500 | Nailz vs. Big Boss Man | - | ||
| 2. | HRCW | High Risk Championship Wrestling TV | Melbourne, Victoria | Festival Hall | 3,500 | Nailz vs. Primo Carnera III | - | |
| 3. | WSW | International Incident | Melbourne, Victoria | 2,500+ | Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhino for the inaugural WSW Heavyweight Championship | - | ||
| 4. | AWF | Wrestleriot | Brisbane, Queensland | 2,200 | Jake Roberts vs. Jim Neidhart | - | ||
| 5. | WSW | International Assault Tour | Sydney, New South Wales | 2,100 | Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett for the WSW Heavyweight Championship | - | ||
| 6. | AWF | Wrestleriot 2 | Adelaide, South Australia | 1,450 | Big Bossman vs. Nailz | - | ||
| 7. | WSW | International Assault Tour | Newcastle, New South Wales | 1,200+ | Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett for the WSW Heavyweight Championship | - | ||
| 8. | AAP / HOH | HoH 28 | Sydney, New South Wales | Sydney Showground | 1,200 | Tommy Dreamer and Billy Gunn vs. The Young Bucks | - | |
| 8. | MCW | MCW 100 | Albert Park, Victoria | Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre | 1,200 | Slex vs. Will Ospreay for the MCW Intercommonwealth Championship | - | |
| 9. | OCW / HOH | HOH 15 | Burwood East, Victoria | Whitehorse Club | 1,100 | Andy Phoenix vs. KrackerJak vs. Carlito vs. Tommy Dreamer in a Number 1 contenders Fatal 4-Way match for the OCW Heavyweight Championship | - | |
| 9. | AAP / HOH | HOH 30 | Burwood East, Victoria | Whitehorse Club | 1,100 | MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer in a Three-Way Dance | - | |
| 10. | AWF | Wrestleriot | Adelaide, South Australia | 1,000 | Jake Roberts vs. Jim Neidhart | - | ||
| 10. | HRCW | Nailz vs. High Risk Warrior | Adelaide, South Australia | 1,000 | Nailz vs. High Risk Warrior | - | ||
| 10. | AWF | Psycho Slam Tour | Melbourne, Victoria | Camberwell Civic Centre | 1,000 | Sabu vs. Chris Candido | ||
| 10. | AWF | Supanova Sidney | Sydney, New South Wales | Sydney SuperDome | 1,000 | Spaceboy Dacey vs. Zander Bathory | - |
Mexico
Mexican professional wrestling has many more independent wrestlers in proportion to the rest of North America, because of the weight classes prevalent in the Mexican league system as well as its emphasis on multiple person tag matches; just about anyone with ability can emerge from an independent lucha libre promotion into either AAA or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and be a champion there. Independent Mexican wrestlers may use a lot of gimmicks, including some that may be based on copyrighted characters from American television shows, such as Thundercats and X-Men. |gimmicks] are often changed if the wrestler playing them makes it into AAA or CMLL; the most prominent example of non-compliance with this method is midget wrestler Chucky from AAA, whose gimmick is based on the ''Toryumon MexicoJapan
Until 1984, no independent puroresu promotion per se existed in Japan; potential talent went directly into the training dojos of either New Japan Pro-Wrestling or All Japan Pro Wrestling. The advent of the Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation offered a long-sought third alternative.From 1986 to 1988 the Japanese system went back to the two-promotion system, but then the UWF was reformed and another promotion, Pioneer Senshi, was started. Because of Japanese societal mores which implied that a wrestler was a lifelong employee of a company and thus identified with it wherever he went, neither AJPW nor NJPW made an effort to acquire wrestlers trained in other promotions; wrestlers from the major promotions who left, such as Genichiro Tenryu, Gran Hamada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda, Atsushi Onita, and Nobuhiko Takada had to start their own independent promotions in order to keep themselves in the limelight .
As the 1990s ended, though, things began to change. Independent promotions began gaining more prominence as they were featured in major specialized media such as Shukan Puroresu and Shukan Gong magazines. With the death of Giant Baba and retirement of Antonio Inoki, which effectively broke their control over the promotions they founded, the major promotions began looking to the smaller promotions for talent.
In 2000, the first major signing from an independent, Minoru Tanaka by NJPW from BattlARTS, took place; soon after NJPW stocked the junior heavyweight division with independent talent such as Masayuki Naruse, Tiger Mask, Gedo, and Jado. On the same year, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split, AJPW was forced to fill its ranks with independent talent; Nobutaka Araya, Shigeo Okumura and Mitsuya Nagai signed up
Noah admitted one wrestler from the independents, Daisuke Ikeda, to its ranks as well. Although AJPW, NJPW, and Noah remain committed to their dojos, the reliance on independents is growing as obscure talent is recognized for its ability.
United Kingdom
For most of the years of ITV's coverage of British Wrestling, the dominant promoter in the United Kingdom was the Joint Promotions cartel, which was originally modelled on the NWA and later amalgamated into a single company. Nonetheless, throughout this period, untelevised alternative promotions flourished with at least one significant competitor to Joint for live shows.Initially the main rival was the former dominant promotion in the territory, Atholl Oakley's BWA. By the time of its demise, wrestler/promoter Paul Lincoln had established himself as a major promoter with shows featuring himself as headline heel. In 1958, when Bert Assirati was stripped of the British Heavyweight Championship, Lincoln formed the BWF alliance of promoters to support Assirati's claim, later recognising Shirley Crabtree as champion. Lincoln's BWF was eventually bought out into Joint in 1970.
Welsh promoter Orig Williams also used the BWF name, promoting from the late 1960s up until the early 2000s and then sporadically until his death in 2009. From 1982 to 1995, Williams had a Welsh language TV wrestling show "Reslo" on S4C. Brian Dixon, a referee for Williams, set up his own company Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead later renamed All Star Wrestling. An alliance with promoter and former top star Jackie Pallo failed to prevent Joint gaining a five-year extension on its TV wrestling monopoly from January 1982 to December 1986.
However, by the mid-1980s Dixon had won over many wrestlers and fans from Joint who were tired of the Big Daddy-orientated direction of Joint. Eventually this culminated in All Star gaining a TV show on satellite channel Screensport and later, a slice of ITV's coverage from 1987 until the end of ITV wrestling in 1988. By the end of this period, All Star had effectively replaced Joint as the dominant promotion in the UK.
Joint, renamed Ring Wrestling Stars in 1991, dwindled down before closing with Crabtree's retirement in 1995, All Star has continued to be the dominant non-import live promotion in the UK up to the present day. Its principal competitors since that time have been Scott Conway's TWA, John Freemantle's Premier Promotions, RBW and LDN Wrestling. Since the 1990s there have also been numerous American-style "New School" promotions.
Attendance records
Note: Minimum attendance of 5,000.- Light Grey indicates event was a free show and/or held at a major public gathering.