What WWE Can Learn From “Independent” Companies

Written By Ben Hercik

WWE is seen as the top of the wrestling world, even if the weekly product is meh at times. But what if I told you that there was an alternative to WWE. You would probably say that you already know this. New Japan has been the talk of many wrestling fans since 2016. Yes, we always knew it was there and there were the fans that would watch it, but it always seem like it would never get as big as WWE. Then Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada 1 happened, and it helped set the wrestling world back on fire. New Japan has become the clear 1A to WWE. In a joint effort with Ring of Honor, they sold out Madison Square Garden for the G1 Supercard next Wrestlemania weekend. WWE couldn’t sell out a MSG House Show featuring Ronda Rousey and Undertaker on the same card. Many people see New Japan as the new face of wrestling, others still see WWE as the face of wrestling. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, but as a fan, I will admit this may be the best scene for wrestling in a long time. And it's not just NJPW that is thriving, its Progress Wrestling, Evolve, Impact, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Rev Pro, Defiant, Major League Wrestling, and so many more.

The reason I have independent in quotes in the title is that it is tough to describe what is independent wrestling these days. We used to associate it with not being WWE, but now many companies have stars under exclusive contracts. Look at Cody for example. He is signed to ROH, but thanks to ROH having a partnership with NJPW, he is allowed to wrestle there. Whenever other companies want to book him, they need to talk to ROH first. WWE can learn a lot from how these promotions handle business, and some of this has been shown on NXT and 205 Live, so some people in WWE do know what they are doing.

WCPW (C)

Tournaments Can Be Fun!

Recently I watched the entire G1 Climax every day it aired whether it was live or catching up with it after work. No matter what I would watch it and there was only like one day of the tournament that was skippable, Night 7 to be exact. I was watching and wondered why I am enjoying this more than anything WWE has done recently. Keep in mind this was before 4 quality Smackdown’s in a row. I realized that it is because the stories throughout the tournament were the point. Can Kenny run the table? How will the new Okada do in the G1? Can Tanahashi win it all again? How far against Chaos rules will Jay White go tonight? Can Ibushi win the big one? Will Naito repeat? Do the Tongans actually care? These questions and more were important through the tournament and only grew in prominence throughout the tournament. The same can be said for this years Best of The Super Juniors tournament. The New Japan Cup told stories throughout, as well as the Super Strong Style 16 with the run Ohno and Saber Jr went on along with the Grizzled Young Veterans running a muck in the tournament. The tournament on Jericho’s cruise looks phenomenal, and their are so many more examples, like wXw’s 16 Carat Gold Tournament. Someone in WWE *cough* Triple H *cough* seems to be understanding this. He orchestrated the Cruiserweight Classic, both Mae Young Classics, both UK Tournaments, Wrestlemania Cruiserweight Tournament, hell even the Dusty Classic. It seems like WWE is getting it, but I think they could do more. Maybe do it for who gets a title shot at Summerslam and one of the lesser pay per views for the Cruiserweights, Tags and even women’s championship if we could get that to happen. The more tournaments the better I say.

Stables Matter

Let’s go back to New Japan to start this one off. You look at stables like Los Ingobernables de Japon, Bullet Club Elite, Bullet Club OG’s, CHAOS, Taguchi Japan, Suzuki-Gun, and to a lesser extent Seki-Gun. British Wrestling has seen the likes of British Strong Style, CCK, and Ringkampf. Ring of Honor has The Kingdom and SoCal Uncensored along with other stables that they can bring in. The thing about stables are they can make guys that have been stale or doing nothing and make them relevant. Look at Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. These two flopped big time in WWE. They took their talents to NJPW, and joined Suzuki-Gun. While there, they formed Killer Elite Squad and are 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. WWE only has New Day on the main roster and Undisputed Era in NXT. The WWE even has an advantage for stables that NJPW doesn’t have, and Ring of Honor didn’t have for a long time until recently, a full time women’s division. If a women isn’t being used or has gotten stale, like Mickie James for example, instead of putting her back with Alexa Bliss you could have added her to a stable. She could use a breath of fresh air and follow the way of a stable. This could be hard, because while the main roster may be the most talented it has ever been, it is nowhere near as deep as it could be. Especially given the fact that the NXT roster and even the Performance center is stacked from top to bottom, the only issue is the matter that not everyone can get on the card, but that is where stables help. You can get multiple wrestlers on the card and save the hassle of getting all of the wrestlers on the card.

Commentary Is Important

Every week we hear Cole spill his nonsense about the WWE Network, all these sponsors, all these catchphrases, and many more things. The fact of the matter is that Cole is actually a good commentator. Go back and watch the WWE UK Tournament from 2017, or rather listen to it. Michael Cole’s commentary is amazing, and the only difference is the voice in his ear. Instead of Vince, it was Hunter. In NJPW, Kevin Kelly and Don Callis work so well off of eachother and have that chemistry that commentary teams need. Kelly also has the dramatic flair that a commentator needs, believing that any and all close counts could have been a 3 count, even asking the referee in the match if it was a 2 or a 3 count. Don adds in the factor of someone who does have his allegiances, he is Bullet Club through and through, but also adds the factor of someone who knows everything about every wrestler once they step inside the ropes and how to get out of every hold. Even in Progress, Glen Joseph and anyone who is on commentary, they change it up a lot, sell the fact that these opponents are literally trying to kill each other with every big move. Listening to WWE commentary, they are missing a ton of these features. The sad part is they have all the tools their. A key way to fix this is to go back to a 2 man booth. You can have Michael Cole and Corey Graves on Raw, and Tom Phillips and someone else like Rene Young or another former for that veteran former in ring competitor for Phillips to ask questions to.

History Between Wrestlers Is Of High Importance

In the G1 Climax A Block final, Kelly mentioned that Tanahashi is 3-5-1 (if I remember right) against Okada all time. I heard that and realize how big this match has become whenever they step foot in the ring with each other. We look at the history of this in WWE, where we saw Kane vs Undertaker so many times, Cena vs Orton, Orton vs HHH, HHH vs Cena, and many more matchups that WWE had countless times. The issue is that the matches happen far to often in a major promotion. When Tanahashi vs Okada happens, you know that it is a big deal. When you look at the amount of times WWE has had the same matchups hasn’t helped their case. Even on the independent scene there was a key point for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Marty Scurll, who was the defending champion had never lost to Will Ospreay in any promotion. And in the match, Ospreay pinned Scurll, but it was a multi man match, so the one on one win streak still belonged to Scurll until he finally beat Scurll at Sakura Genesis. Can this be seen as nitpicking? Yes, but it is the small things you notice in wrestling that is important. If WWE made it so big matches were more rare, then maybe they will be more successful than they have been recently. The best example of this is the Cena vs Orton match happening at 4 pay per views in 2009 and god that was awful.

Don’t Ram Ideas Down Our Throats

Did you know that Evolution is the first all women’s pay per view in WWE history? What about the fact that The Greatest Royal Rumble was the first pay per view from Saudi Arabia? Or the fact that the WWE Network is $9.99 a month? This is the biggest issue for WWE. They say the same thing at least 5 times in the same show. They think their fans have the attention span of about 5 seconds. No other promotions do this and it adds so much to the product, as the commentators can focus on the wrestling that is happening in the ring. We know all these facts, so there's no need to tell us about them all the time.