My local indie fed: Anarchy Championship Wrestling lives up to its name

Taking a cue from Cagesider Finian1, I decided to continue using the "My local indie fed" title in hopes that others will submit similar write-ups of their hometown promotions. The wrestling industry does not begin and end with the WWE. Without independent companies -- from the rinky dink that run in high school gyms to the higher end like CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA -- that a wrestler can cut their teeth in, the talent pool for Vince McMahon's traveling circus dries up quicker than a spill covered with a ShamWow.

I had heard of Anarchy Championship Wrestling (ACW) before when I did a quick search of any wrestling promotions that might be in my neck of the woods, Dallas/Fort Worth. While I found a few -- most less stable than a three-legged table -- the promotion with the most mileage under its belt was the Austin based company.

Running most of their shows on the outside patio of a bar and with a sister promotion in St. Louis, ACW has established itself as one of the biggest indie shows going today. When my colleague Thomas Holzerman asked me if I had gone to a show, I had to sheepishly say no.

But no more! I made the three hour drive to ATX this past Sunday and soaked in some ACW action.

And here's what I learned.

Imagine 1995-96 era ECW transplanted from Philadelphia and dropped in the Lone Star State.

The booking is nutty and chaotic and is topped only by the fans in attendance. Having a full bar just feet away from your seat definitely has its advantages for some of those in the audience, let me just put it that way.

I finally bit the bullet and went to a show because A) the company had gotten the stamp of approval from several writers whose opinion I respect and B) Robert Evans was going to headline against El Generico.

I first saw Evans -- known as R.D. Evans in Ring of Honor (ROH) and Archibald Peck in CHIKARA -- back in 2006 when he opened up a Professional Championship Wrestling event in a hell of a crusierweight title match against local star James Johnson.

Needless to say, his match with the luchador did not disappoint. He came up victorious in the end but his celebration was cut short by Portia Perez who he had turned on previously.

Speaking of Perez, ACW takes their female wrestling very seriously. Yeah, there are some pretty faces but they all bust their asses in the ring. The show also had a six-woman ladder match for the American Joshi title which was just as brutal and just as fun as just about any other ladder match I've seen.

They run shows about once a month -- the next being Jan. 15 -- and I intend to make it to as many as possible. For $15, you get 10 matches and a night's worth of action.

And that's one hell of a deal.