>>20268214
Crazy how that's what all wrestlers look like now

Cheetah Master deserved better. A wrestler who mastered all the abilities of the cheetah, fucking dimes.

>>20268214
These guys weren't trying to make a living on the indies, they were trying to make it the big leagues. Entirely different philosophy to modern indie guys.
That results in something starkly different about these guys and the top indie guys from the early 2000s compared to modern day. These guys could all do the impressive flippy stuff... but they could also bump and sell, work holds, not hurt guys, tell a story, and have a good match without killing the crowd for the rest of the show. At the time I'm sure they were seen as overboard workrate vanilla midgets or whatever, but these guys were in shape for the most part, taller than 5'8 and could actually work a match. I think things began to change in the 2000s , when indie wrestling was really focused more on DVD sales and message board buzz than being a touring wrestling company, so the goal was to have 3 hours of balls to the walls "great matches"... I dont blame the companies for this, they needed to make money and their consumer base were hardcore smarks that thought they wanted to see that kind of product. But it led to guys like Davey Richards and the young bucks taking over, I like Davey Richards and I think he's a good wrestler... But theres a major problem with guys like him, the young bucks, Adam cole, Gargano etc becoming the trendsetters. Some of the guys I just mentioned are fine on their own, but I'm sure you notice each generation after getting smaller and smaller, more focused on spots, less adequate with the basics, more botches, more over the top flippy kick out fests. As wrestling seeded more and more control to smart marks, wrestling became far more accessible to guys to become top names on the indies and secondary companies without necessarily having the talent or look to justify their spots

>>20268376
I'd take reckless youth, ace darling, Devon storm, blitzkrieg, Christian York, Joey Mercury, Steve corino , Jerry Lynn, X-Pac , Samoa Joe , low ki, homicide cm punk, Chris hero , Nick mondo etc over NATIONAL TV STAR DANIEL GARCIA any day of the week

Devon Storm aka WCW’s Crowbar’s ECW run is so wild to me. They put him in big match ups where he got a lot of offense but the commentary just shit on him non stop calling him a sabu rip off. He wasn’t even heeling. They were just burying him while we could see him holding his own against Taz.
As far as 90s indies go, I’ve tried to watch but it’s so poorly filmed, the video quality is bad and the sound is painful. Like ROH did a show in England early on where they had to film in a tent, and it’s easier to watch than any 90s indie I’ve seen. I think sadly it’s just a you had to be there thing.