{"id":28398,"date":"2018-10-16T02:11:38","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T06:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=28398"},"modified":"2018-10-16T02:11:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T06:11:38","slug":"beyond-wrestling-hits-1-million-subscribers-on-youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/10\/16\/beyond-wrestling-hits-1-million-subscribers-on-youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Wrestling Hits 1 Million Subscribers on YouTube"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the students surpass the masters. The current indie boom can be attributed by a series of waves of indie promotions starting up, gathering steam, working together in a near territorial format (sharing talent nationally while encouraging local\/regional talent). The recon mission in the late 1990s, as ECW was sputtering and WCW was start to show signs of meltdown, were the likes of Combat Zone Wrestling<\/strong> (CZW, 1998), Maryland Championship Wrestling<\/strong> (MCW, now MCW Pro<\/strong>, 1998), New Jersey’s Jersey Championship Wrestling<\/strong> (JCW, now\u00a0Game Changer Wrestling (GCW)<\/strong><\/a>), Montreal’s International Wrestling Syndicate<\/strong> (IWS, 1999), and IWA Mid South<\/strong> (1996). Once WCW and ECW fell in 2001 and the WWE assumed complete control of the mainstream scene, the indies suddenly became a breeding ground of talent. Lead by castaways and rejects from the WWE’s definition of what a wrestler could be, guided by the first waves “non-WWE” pioneers and the rejects from WCW and ECW, new promotions emerged as well – Nashville’s Total Nonstop Action<\/strong> (TNA, 2002), Philadelphia’s CHIKARA<\/strong> (2002), California’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla<\/strong> (PWG, 2003), New York Wrestling Connection<\/strong> (NYWC) lit up New York in 2003,\u00a0Florida’s Full Impact Pro <\/strong>(FIP, 2003),\u00a0and Ring of Honor<\/strong> (ROH, 2002). While WWE expected 100% loyalty and autonomy, for the most part, most of the indie promotions allowed some free travel between promotions, allowing both wrestler and organization to build their own brands.<\/p>\n