By Laura Mauro @LauraNMauro
WWE’s recent sweep of the British indie wrestling scene has been a predictably polarising subject for the internet wrestling community. With rising stars such as Travis Banks, Toni Storm, El Ligero and Jinny signing WWE contracts, reactions have run the gamut of pro- and anti-WWE sentiment; chief among these is the accusation that WWE have been deliberately snatching British talent out from under the nose of rival UK production World of Sport Wrestling solely so WoSW can’t utilise them. This might seem churlish if not for the admittedly very coincidental timing – WoSW is due to air a matter of weeks after the WWE UK tournament – and with the newly-announced NXT UK series on the way, it’s difficult to argue against the notion that WWE are trying to monopolise the growing UK wrestling scene.
On the other side of the fence we find the equally reasonable argument that nobody is being forced to sign a WWE contract at gunpoint. Current RevPro Cruiserweight champion David Starr weighed in on the debate on Twitter: “The wrestlers made their own decision and they decided that this was best for them & their family. It’s a major opportunity to be seen on one of the biggest stages our industry offers! This is good for them!” He also points out that fears of an impending BritWres talent drought are unfounded: “More wrestlers will get the chance to step up with spots opening up. There are a lot of VERY talented guys that go less noticed and they’ll showcase their talent on a bigger scale.” Starr isn’t wrong; the UK wrestling scene is in robust health, and fears that an irreparable depletion of indie talent is imminent seem incredibly pessimistic. I suspect we’ve not yet scratched the surface of what the scene has to offer.
Equally pessimistic, though perhaps more grounded in reality, is the concern that WWE is eminently liable to misuse this newest crop of talent. This, at least, is an empirical fear: while former indie stars tend to flourish in NXT, my husband and I like to joke that the WWE main roster is where indie careers go to die. I’ve found myself wishing that my current NXT favourites – Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream, Undisputed Era – could stay in NXT indefinitely. Once upon a time, the prospect of indie favourites making the jump was a source of huge excitement; continual mishandling of unquestionably talented wrestlers has considerably dampened enthusiasm over WWE’s apparently endless quest to sign every potential and actual indie star. It’s just too disheartening to watch the likes of Sami Zayn and Finn Balor run through the main roster threshing machine, knowing the heights they reached in their previous wrestling lives, and knowing what they are still capable of (and the less said about the Neville situation, the better.) These days, I wince out loud at the thought of the Young Bucks or Kenny Omega signing with WWE, and that’s surely not a positive sign.
There’s an argument to be made that perhaps the potential for these performers to fit in at main roster level, with its massive following of ‘casual’ fans (a loaded term, to be sure) has been overestimated; perhaps NXT, with its more ‘wrestling’-orientated crowd, is a better home for those who don’t quite fit the WWE ‘Sports Entertainer’ mould. And with that in mind, it bears questioning whether the already heavily stacked WWE roster has room for all this extra talent – and whether WWE have even considered the long-term picture, once the immediate WoSW ‘threat’ is out of the way. Will the NXT UK scene continue to flourish, or will it fall by the wayside? Is NXT likely to represent the endpoint for current BritWres stars? (Given the lacklustre state of the main roster right now, would this really be a terrible thing?)
There are multiple reasons why a wrestler may leap at the chance of signing for the biggest wrestling promotion in the world: money, job security, prestige, lifelong ambition. It’s easy for armchair commentators to complain that wrestlers are selling their souls for a shot at the big time, and perhaps that’s not entirely untrue, but professional wrestling is a difficult industry in which to maintain a sense of integrity. A recent BBC documentary starring Scottish wrestling star Viper (AKA the Mae Young Classic’s Piper Niven) reveals that she works for a living outside of the ring, and she’s almost certainly not exceptional in this regard. An inherently physically taxing career, there are few paths to financial security in wrestling; practicalities aside, the current generation of performers will largely have grown up as WWE fans. For all its numerous sins, WWE still represents ‘the dream’ for many.
The crux of the problem, as far as I see it, is that there is currently no viable competitor to the WWE on the big stage. The closest thing going right now is NJPW, but becoming one of Japan’s top gaijin stars is a difficult task, and for all its unquestionable quality NJPW presently lacks the selling power of WWE, at least in the west. Time will tell what kind of long-term impact All In is going to have, but for the foreseeable future WWE’s stranglehold on the industry shows no signs of loosening – and cornering the UK market will surely only compound the issue. (There’s an entire piece to be written about the sheer unhealthiness of WWE’s aggressive market-cornering tactics married with the still-dominant and incredibly narrow creative vision of one particular elderly gentleman. But that’s a rant for another day…)
With Progress and ICW – arguably the two biggest British promotions – signing WWE deals, the likes of Rev Pro, EVE and Fight Club Pro are left propping up the scene; these promotions, at least, offer a degree of diversity, not least with Rev Pro’s NJPW connection, and if nothing else we can be somewhat reassured that British wrestling in its entirety won’t suffer large-scale homogenisation. And then there’s the as-yet unknown quantity that is WoSW on the horizon, with its ITV TV deal, not to mention the unionisation of its performers (a significant first for the industry). With so many variables and uncertainties, it’ll probably be some time before the full impact of WWE’s expansion into the UK becomes clear.
