The indie grind is proving to be a serious endurance test
If you have been watching the wrestling world this month, it feels like we are all stuck in a blender. On one hand, you have the major promotions hyping up massive events like AEW Double or Nothing this weekend. On the other, the independent scene is churning out content at a pace that makes your Netflix queue look empty.
You can barely keep up with the latest NXT developments where Saquon Shugars is taking his lumps after being kicked out of DarkState. It is the classic fall from grace that we love to watch over and over again. Then you have Lizzy Rain stepping into the fire for her first real test against Tatum Paxley, which honestly feels like a sink-or-swim moment that most rookies would handle about as well as a toddler with a grenade.
The Beyond Wrestling situation is just absurd
If you caught the Westminster Wrestler results from May 18th, you know exactly what I mean. Watching Bobby Orlando steamroll Bobby Casale in 7:56 was efficient, but it didn't exactly have the electricity you look for on a Sunday night at a brewery. The Wrestling Open Tag Team Champion, Steven Stetson, dispatched Corey Duke in 6:24, which is efficient but hardly memorable.
Then there is the messy fallout and weird overlap with the WWEID talent showcase. The recent breakdown on PWTorch about the crossover between Beyond and the developmental prospects is enough to give you a migraine. Seeing Rourke and Cunningham mix it up on the manifest is fine, but the booking is starting to feel like someone is just throwing magnets at a fridge and hoping they make a sentence.
Some things just don't age well
I caught myself listening to some old 2021 archives this week, and talk about a sobering reality check. Wade Keller and the crew were breaking down releases that felt earth-shaking at the time, and looking back, it is hilarious how much stock we put into those moments. We spend so much energy spiraling over mid-card shifts that don't matter five years later.
The current product is dangerously close to falling into that same trap. You see these newcomers like Romeo Moreno and Tristan Angels duking it out, and it is a perfectly fine match between two promising guys. Yet, I am left wondering if we are actually building stars or just burning through roster spots to keep the subscription services fed with fresh clips.
The lack of a coherent narrative thread between these shows is the real problem. Fans are being asked to memorize rosters for three different brands before they even finish their morning coffee. It is not professional wrestling; it is a full-time auditing job with worse benefits and more chair shots to the head. We need to stop pretending that every Tuesday night showcase is a revolutionary moment for the industry.
