The state of independent wrestling right now is a lot like an Austrian physicist’s cat in a box— depending on who you ask and when they lift the lid, either it’s dying or it’s healthier than ever.
Well, Beyond Wrestling have opened the box for us today, and let’s see what they’ve found by way of quoting their press release, shall we?
Worcester, MA: Beyond Wrestling, a New England-based independent wrestling promotion and YouTube juggernaut, has announced that starting in April of 2019, they will produce “Uncharted Territory” - a live, weekly professional wrestling program. Electric Haze in Worcester, Massachusetts will play host to the series every Wednesday beginning April 3 rd, 2019. “Uncharted Territory” will be broadcast live each week on the new IndependentWrestling.TV subscription-based pro wrestling streaming platform, formerly Powerbomb.TV.
“Since partnering with Powerbomb.TV in September of 2017, we have been able to reach more fans than ever before,” said Beyond Wrestling founder Drew Cordeiro. “As their crew works tirelessly to relaunch as IndependentWrestling.TV, we are committed to growing our relationship throughout 2019. When you factor in the success of Beyond Wrestling’s YouTube channel, which has gained more than 1,000,000 subscribers in 2018 alone, we finally have both the support and resources to tackle a project I’ve been working on behind the scenes for years. For the last decade, Beyond Wrestling has been at the forefront of discovering the talented athletes who will push pro wrestling forward. Our goal with ‘Uncharted Territory’ remains the same - make the professional wrestling industry better by giving these hidden gems the platform to shine. With an unprecedented number of independent wrestlers signing exclusive contracts, our hope is that live weekly programming will allow us to speed up the process of revitalizing the scene. Fans worldwide will be able to join us every Wednesday as we unearth the best ‘buried treasure’ in pro wrestling!”
“Uncharted Territory” debuts on IndependentWrestling.TV on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019 at 8pm EST.
About Beyond Wrestling: Founded in 2009 and based in New England, Beyond Wrestling exists to identify overlooked or underutilized wrestlers from around the United States and give them the platform to compete to the best of their abilities. With more than 1.2 Million YouTube subscribers, competitors like Biff Busick, Donovan Dijak, and Keith Lee got their first taste of “superstardom” when footage of their impressive performances at Beyond Wrestling live events was released for free online. Through extensive networking, many athletes starting out with Beyond Wrestling have gone on to compete for NXT, Ring Of Honor, and Impact Wrestling. Beyond Wrestling is the gateway to the national independent wrestling circuit.
So, that’s real exciting!
The truth of the so-called death of the indies is that both takes are fundamentally right— there’s never been more great talent available on the independent scene, but with WWE, ROH, and other promotions signing stars left and right, there are fewer names available to draw people in and get eyes on these immensely talented wrestlers that were hitherto flying under the radar. And, in turn, that makes it harder for any of these up-and-comers to break out and become the next generation of stars and sustain the cycle.
Thus, Uncharted Territory feels like a great way to get eyes on folks and build something approaching an elevator to the top, and I very much am looking forward to checking it out weekly.
Putting it directly opposite the live viewing of NXT is a bold maneuver, but one, I don’t think anyone needs to view this as some kind of Wednesday Night War, and two, Uncharted Territory being live gives folks a strong impetus to give it a try knowing that NXT will be available on VOD immediately after.
Also buried in there is the rebrand of Powerbomb.tv into IndependentWrestling.tv, which is about the only thing about this that I have mixed feelings on. Powerbomb has built itself into a strong brand with a strong logo, and abandoning that in favor of a more generic name seems weird to me. But I’m just the lady blogger writing this up, and not privy to whatever behind-the-scenes justifications may go into this, so like every other name change in wrestling history, I’ll just have to deal with it.
There you have it, folks
Excited to sail out into Uncharted Territory starting this April, Cagesiders?