With so many great independent wrestling promotions, it can be difficult to keep up. As a huge fan of indie wrestling, I thought it’d be a good idea to bring you a weekly roundup of the best matches, news, and announcements from across the world. I’ll also give my picks for my wrestler of the week, and what matches you should make the effort to watch. So without further ado, let’s get stuck in, shall we?
This week, a lot has been happening. We’ve seen Reklusa aka Chelsea Green showcase just why she’s one of the best females in pro wrestling today when she took on Pentagon Dark in Lucha Underground, the victors of wXw’s Tag Team League crowned, and Mark Haskins and Jimmy Havoc return to ICW, but first, the main event of this week’s TV tapings of MLW.
Pentagon Jr. defaced by the Mexican savage LA Park
In what was one of the most brutal matches in MLW, wrestling legend LA Park faced Pentagon Jr. in a Mexican Massacre Match. The two went back and forth with various attacks featuring steel chairs and trash cans, and at one point, LA Park tore pretty much the top half of Pentagon Jr’s mask straight off; if you know anything about Luchadors, it’s that their masks are sacred. It didn’t take long before Penta showed zero fear, namely when he performed a dive on Park that drove him straight through a table outside of the ring.
The match came to an end when Pentagon through a fireball at Park, but the referee got caught in the line of fire, and after getting clipped with the trashcan, the ref counted a fast three after LA Park low-blowed Pentagon. After the match, the two had a heated exchange in their native tongue which ended in a match being made for the Tag Team Championships, which will see LA Park and his son El Hijo challenge Pentagon Jr. and his brother Fenix.
Jim Cornette is at it again
Unfortunately apparently both these morons lived–it's a shame when real pros are injured doing real wrestling, while somehow these cretins walk away from this foolishness. What's worse is some of us walk the same streets with people that pay to see this type of horseshit. https://t.co/89fBCMGJOa
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) October 8, 2018
Perhaps one of the most outspoken guys in professional wrestling, Jim Cornette decided to share his views on a botched video doing the rounds on Twitter. We all know the hardcore tendencies some indie wrestling promotions have, but after seeing some footage circulating online, Cornette couldn’t help himself from weighing in.
“Unfortunately apparently both these morons lived–it’s a shame when real pros are injured doing real wrestling, while somehow these cretins walk away from this foolishness,” said Jim on a post via his Twitter account. Whether you agree or not, it’s always frustrating when he bad mouths two guys doing their best to entertain wrestling fans. Some people enjoy a good deathmatch, and listening to know-it-alls like Cornette run his mouth in this way is massively annoying.
Meiko Satomura: Femme Fatale extraordinaire
If you’re unfamiliar with Satomura’s work, I heartily suggest you jump on YouTube and put her name in the search bar. She’s having one of the best years of her life, wrestling in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, capturing the Fight Club: Pro Women’s Championship, and now, winning the wXw Femme Fatales Tournament. After going through Wesna, and Millie Mckenzie, she faced LuFisto in the final where she won with a Death Valley driver.
At 38, many wrestlers will have already seen their best years, but with Satomura, I firmly believe she’s still got a great future ahead of her, and if she doesn’t win this year’s Mae Young Classic, I’ll be surprised.
Reklusa makes her in-ring debut
I’m a huge fan of Chelsea Green. If you got to see her match at All In you’ll know just how versatile she is in the ring. With her new character Reklusa debuting in Lucha Underground, I was excited to see just what she was capable of, and I was not disappointed. Facing Pentagon Dark (or Pentagon Jr.) was a bold move by the bookers, but she proved how good she is as both a wrestler and a character. A huge tornado DDT, a cross body from the top rope, and a suicide dive transition into a DDT were just some of the highlights, but it wasn’t enough to get the win. I can see this feud going on a bit longer, especially after the events post-match when Pentagon Dark got the thumbtacks from under the ring, thankfully being stopped by Marty “The Moth” Martinez.
Joey Janela announces the first match for GCW’s LA Confidential event
When news of Joey Janela’s injury came out, it provided us with the harsh reality that we wouldn’t be seeing him perform again for a whole year. In spite of this, the “bad boy” isn’t shying away from announcing matches for his upcoming event in conjunction with GCW. The first and only match announced so far includes the hardcore legend and all-round tough guy Hardcore Holly face off against Brody King, a guy who’s having the year of his life on the indie circuit.
The magic of the wXw Tag Team League
We’re going back to wXw here, and more importantly, the incredible Tag Team League that took place between 5th and 7th October. The likes of Team SPLX (Angelico and Jeff Cobb), Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher and WALTER), Okami (Daichi Hashimoto and Kamitani), and The Lucha Brothers (Penta El 0 M and Rey Fenix) all put on sterling performances, but the final match of the tournament saw Jay FK (Francis Kaspin and Jay Skillet) take on the Calamari Catch Kings (Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham). It was a hard fought match by both teams, but the winners were crowned when Jay FK hit a uranage and backbreaker combo on Gresham for the win.
Insane Championship Wrestling welcomes Havoc and Haskins back
I won’t spoil the results, mainly as the tapings only went up on ICW’s On Demand service on Friday, but it was time for Jimmy Havoc and Mark Haskins to come back to ICW and face the Kings of Catch (Lewis Girvan and Aspen Faith). Haskins and Havoc reintroduced their own brand of violence on the show, putting on one hell of a match. Also on the card, Lionheart faced BT Gunn in a No. 1 Contender’s Match, and Grado faced Kid Fite.
Elsewhere…
DEFIANT Wrestling’s Fight or Flight took place on Thursday night in Sheffield, and arguably one of the best matches was Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo.
So @WillOspreay and @elpwrestling put on a epic match at #FightOrFlight in Sheffield. Watch the replay tomorrow on https://t.co/EPXuqomJly pic.twitter.com/81AGuuqPPV
— DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) October 11, 2018
The best that Britain has to offer will now be part of a WWE UK wrestling show on the WWE Network. I can’t wait to see what matches are planned, but as long as Eddie Dennis, El Ligero, Flash Morgan Webster, and Millie McKenzie are a part of it, I’ll be watching. It debuts on October 17th.
BREAKING: @NXTUK will begin streaming on @WWENetwork THIS WEDNESDAY, October 17, at 8 PM BT/3 PM ET! #NXTUK https://t.co/fHv5KZVoVS
— WWE (@WWE) October 11, 2018
Impact Wrestling’s LAX will be making their PROGRESS debuts as the tag team join the shows in Sheffield and Manchester this December. You can catch Santana and Ortiz attempt to retain their IMPACT Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory on Sunday.
After participating in possibly the finest tag-team match in our company's history, we can't wait to have #LAX with us in Manchester and Sheffield. Few tickets remainhttps://t.co/k9jcAjxzBa pic.twitter.com/xp7pSYqRtf
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) October 9, 2018
Too late to cover for this week’s Indie Wrestling Report, but AAW’s Austin 10:12 show is going to be incredible, featuring the likes of Jimmy Jacobs and Brody King facing Sami Callihan and Brody King, Kylie Rae against Thunder Rosa, and ACH vs Eddie Kingston. I’ll be giving my views on the best from the event next week.
AUSTIN TEXAS GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Tomorrow night
AFS Cinema
8:00pm
Tickets only $20https://t.co/9glYmjydOU
*No Count Outs
*No Disqualifications
*Just Professional Wrestling#AAWAustin #ATX pic.twitter.com/YpReucQNp5— AAW Wrestling (@AAWPro) October 12, 2018
Wrestler of the Week: Reklusa aka Chelsea Green
Match of the Week: LA Park vs Pentagon Jr (Major League Wrestling)
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Indie Wrestling Report. I’ll be back next week to bring you all the latest news from the indie wrestling scene, as well as reporting on all the best matches on offer. Thanks for reading, and have a lovely week.