IWTV Showcase of the Independents

[Sam Fain]

IWTV's Showcase of the Independents officially kicks off today! 12est/11cst IWTV Family Reunion - headlined by an IWTV title defense from Lee Moriarty against Edith Surreal - starts the proceedings off, but you'll want to stick around for AIW's Go For Broke - a new weekly series from one of the stalwarts of indie wrestling. Plus, the new reality show "The Life of __" premieres tonight with A Very Good Wrestler. And that's all just the tip of the iceberg. Check out the Dylan Hales interview on Roll Up for more if you haven't already, and pick up a subscription to IWTV as well. So much amazing content. And, of course, Filsinger Games will have more IWTV goodness coming in the future!

[Sam Fain]

I watched a lot of wrestling yesterday. A. Lot. And I didn't even get through everything. Close, tho.

That said, I thought I'd give a quick overview for anyone still on the fence or looking for standout matches to watch.

Basically, if it has the names Daniel Garcia, Kevin Ku, Lee Moriarty, or Tony Deppen attached to it, it's worth checking out. Alex Kane vs. Bryan Keith was a damn good match.

Other matches worth your time:
Daniel Makabe vs. Jaeden Newman
Wheeler YUTA vs. Adam Priest
Derek Neal vs. Cabana Man Dan
A Very Good Professional Wrestler, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Makabe & Tre LaMar vs. Dan Champion, Lucky 13, Arik Cannon & Jigsaw
Dan Maff vs Calvin Tankman
Jon Davis vs Dominic Garrini

Family Reunion parts 1 & 2 were both excellent and accomplished precisely what they set out to do. Nothing over-stayed its welcome, and rarely if ever, did I feel like I was watching an indy sprint where everyone gets their shit in. Most matches had really nice, easy-to-follow psychology and served as great introductions to the talent involved.

AIW Go For Broke was obviously the first episode, and I'm not a huge fan of their announcers, but the overall presentation was different and worked for me. The matches weren't anything spectacular, but the main event was very well done. I enjoyed the backstage and interview segments - they felt pretty genuine most of the time and not over-produced or scripted.

The Life Of __ was exactly what Dylan Hales described on Roll Up, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. A Very Good Professional Wrestler (formerly Dasher Hatfield) was really the perfect guy to kick this show off. Honest and open personality - a good guy with a great family - the kids stole the show, haha. For 40 minutes a week, I could definitely get behind this regularly. Don't expect a "shoot" or all wrestling-related content, but it's all the better for it. Recommended.


Moxley vs. Barnett - ok, ok, not IWTV, but the best thing to come out of 'Mania weekend thus far and likely to be the best thing you see all weekend. Moxley is just the damned best. I loved it.

NXT... Ok, ok, also not IWTV, but I felt like throwing this on here. I enjoyed everything listed above more than Takeover. Not because the matches were better, the talent was more athletic, etc... But Takeover just felt stale to me, and I had a hard time caring about anything on the card with a couple of exceptions. MSK winning the tag titles was an honest, genuine moment and the match that preceded was, as the kids say, a banger. O'Reilly and Cole felt over-produced in some moments, and the ramp spot was horribly predictable and oversold by the announce team something awful. The creative use of chairs went too far and took away from the match. Why set up a "spot" if you want to "Kill" a guy? These two are incredible talents... It just felt like they let a lot of the chair stuff, in particular, get in the way of an otherwise stellar brawl. I'll never buy Karrion Kross over Finn Balor. Sorry. I'll also never buy Raquel Gonzalez over Io Shirai. I get it, it's a work, and they need to elevate new talent... But... You put two B+ players over two of the best in the whole world, period. Ok.

I'll report back with more later, but today we get another stacked lineup kicking off with one I'm really looking forward to - Have Fun Be Sad from SUP & ACTION at noon est.

[Sam Fain]

Yesterday gave us one of the best shows of the week, hands down. SUP/ACTION Have Fun Be Sad was, top to bottom, one of my favorite indie cards in a long long time. Something for everyone, nothing over-stayed its welcome, and everyone rose to the occasion. Highly recommended if you're interested in the indie scene or have maybe fallen out of step with the indies. Great introduction/re-intro.

The Pit Fighter X tournament was a mixed bag for me. Some may love it wholesale, some may love the deathmatch f***ery, others may love the worked shoot aspect... Some of it was too much for me, some of it was perfect. But I do question the winner with the allegations that cost him his job at ROH muddying the waters... Alas, your mileage may vary. Nolan Edward continued to impress, though.

I'm still getting caught up on JJSB, but I hear there's some good stuff there. Of course, the main event post-match will be the thing that gets the most buzz, perhaps rightfully so.

Deppens Bier Haus is on now and the first two matches have been great! It's going to give Have Fun Be Sad a run for its money if it keep s this up!