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Post by Viking Hall on Oct 22, 2015 18:23:37 GMT -5
I was reminiscing about World of Wrestling Magazine the other day and it got me thinking about some of the independent wrestlers that seemed to get mentioned a lot but came before the big Indie boom that followed a few years later. Names like Reckless Youth, The Colorado Kid, Don Montoya, Mike Modest, Donovan Morgan and one that did end up making waves, Christopher Daniels. Being from the UK we also heard a lot about Jody Fleish, Jonny Storm and The Zebra Kid (among others) too and they were often mentioned as potential stars of the future. So, I guess my question is, who else were the major Indie names (both in terms of wrestlers and promotions) of the time and why did so many get lost in the shuffle when the AJ's, Danielson's and Low-Ki's finally arrived? And also as an extra, who (if any) did you genuinely think might make it further than they eventually did?  |
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Post by Can you afford to pay me, Gah on Oct 22, 2015 18:37:47 GMT -5
Late 99's early 00s Reckless Youth is up there and was all over the place before the days of ROH started. Early 00s SATs was the tag team of all tag team as in they where booked everywhere. They where booked like how The Young Bucks are now. Amazing Red was with them a lot of the time as well. By 05 SAT's just went gone. I know they still wrestle but they are not even close in demand as they used to be for whatever reason.
I know Youth retired for a few years and tried to comeback but I guess his comeback wasn't what was expected. I just watched a UPW just after ECW and WCW died and I was reminded of Tom Howard who was there champion for a while. Bigger strong guy who I know had a run in Japan. Next thing you know nothing at all. UPW also had a guy who was well Umanga before there was Umanga in Sculu.
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Post by Porky's Butthole on Oct 22, 2015 18:53:16 GMT -5
Quackenbush
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Oct 22, 2015 18:55:02 GMT -5
Ace Darling out of ECWA is one that tends to get forgotten about a lot.
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Post by DASH 243✅ on Oct 22, 2015 19:17:55 GMT -5
I thought Tent Acid would make it big.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 19:23:56 GMT -5
Reckless Youth was everywhere in the late 90s, until he messed his back up ripping off some Sabu spots IIRC.
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Post by RedSmile on Oct 22, 2015 23:20:47 GMT -5
Maybe, "Sick" Nick Mondo.
If he could've gotten away from the crazy death matches, I think he could've had a more prolific career.
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Emmet Russell
King Koopa
Quieter
The best wrestler on earth.
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Post by Emmet Russell on Oct 22, 2015 23:26:25 GMT -5
I miss Human Tornado.
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Post by funakifan88 on Oct 22, 2015 23:42:00 GMT -5
These guys were never at the top of the pile but what ever happened to Dunn and Marcos aka The Ring Crew Express? They were pretty big in the formative years of ROH and then seemingly disappeared.
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Oak: Certified Jade Hater
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Edgier than Wayne Brady, Harder than Chinese Arithmetic, and Higher than the ratings for Blade: The Series
TOP ROPE CATCH A VIBE YEAH I SWERVE WHEN I DRIVE
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Post by Oak: Certified Jade Hater on Oct 22, 2015 23:47:06 GMT -5
I remember Tyler Veritas/Ty Hagen getting some good press back when he and Adam Cole were breaking in.
The original House of Truth (Josh Raymond and Christian Able) seemed to fall off the planet.
And of course, for my PWG people, Ronin.
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Post by lemonyellowson on Oct 23, 2015 0:27:18 GMT -5
I remember thinking joy fleish was awesome. Turns out I was incorrect.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Oct 23, 2015 0:32:05 GMT -5
Adam Windsor.
Kid got a lot of press even though he never even made it out of Dory Funks' training camp. Stayed there for years, but was constantly ballyhooed about. Lot of people think now that the Funks were just stringing him along because he had money.
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Post by Raskovnik on Oct 23, 2015 0:45:47 GMT -5
I still don't know what made Reckless Youth so good or why he got so much hype. I'm not saying I don't think he's good at all or anything like that. I don't know enough to judge. People never really explained what made him so special, they just said he was.
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Post by Dave the Dave on Oct 23, 2015 0:58:47 GMT -5
Don't know if Erick Stevens was a darling but i sure liked him.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
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Post by Mozenrath on Oct 23, 2015 1:13:56 GMT -5
I still don't know what made Reckless Youth so good or why he got so much hype. I'm not saying I don't think he's good at all or anything like that. I don't know enough to judge. People never really explained what made him so special, they just said he was. A memorable name probably didn't hurt. |
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Dragonfly
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Post by Dragonfly on Oct 23, 2015 2:08:13 GMT -5
I remember reading an article back in college declaring 2004 the year of Grim Reefer. The same writer wrote a follow-up eight months later claiming it didn't happen because he was an ass backstage.
Wrestling history story is filled with local or regional names that, like Reefer, were deemed to be "sure things." For every one legitimate success story (Ray Rowe, for example), you have fifteen versions of Dingo, John McChesney and Billy Fives. Each guy came close to the big time, but just couldn't quite make it.
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Post by Viking Hall on Oct 23, 2015 5:44:06 GMT -5
Adam Windsor. Kid got a lot of press even though he never even made it out of Dory Funks' training camp. Stayed there for years, but was constantly ballyhooed about. Lot of people think now that the Funks were just stringing him along because he had money. I remember him well, he had a regular if not monthly update in WOW Magazine where, as you say he was constantly bigged up as one for the future. Seeing as this was the late nineties and British Wrestling was still in its WWF seaside ripoff stage this seemed like a massive deal at the time, possibly even bigger than the likes of Fleish and Storm hitting XPW (another promotion that got an inordinate amount of coverage). But yeah, one that was never really heard of again.  Did discover this image from something called 'Wrestle Aid' with the tag line 'Former WWE, WCW and TNA star, and Coventry's very own The Royal Stud Adam Windsor come home for a one of return [sic]'. Ignoring the terrible spelling but I would imagine anyone employed by those companies at the time that didn't have the surname Funk would be hard pushed to remember 'The Royal Stud' let alone realise he was a star attraction for them at some point. But then again, he might do alright in TNA now. Edit: It would seem that Windsor has links to Gentleman Chris Adams too. According to the official Chris Adams website, Adam Windsor was trained by Neil Adams (Chris Adams' brother) prior to heading to the U.S. to train with Funk and is now married to Chris Adams' daughter Jade. There's also hints on the WrestlingClassics board of some shall we say 'dodgy' photo shoots that he did while in the care of the Funks. There's only really insinuations and a few off the cuff comments left now but from what I can make out it was all a bit seedy. |
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Oct 23, 2015 7:35:21 GMT -5
Adam Windsor. Kid got a lot of press even though he never even made it out of Dory Funks' training camp. Stayed there for years, but was constantly ballyhooed about. Lot of people think now that the Funks were just stringing him along because he had money. I remember him well, he had a regular if not monthly update in WOW Magazine where, as you say he was constantly bigged up as one for the future. Seeing as this was the late nineties and British Wrestling was still in its WWF seaside ripoff stage this seemed like a massive deal at the time, possibly even bigger than the likes of Fleish and Storm hitting XPW (another promotion that got an inordinate amount of coverage). But yeah, one that was never really heard of again. Did discover this image from something called 'Wrestle Aid' with the tag line 'Former WWE, WCW and TNA star, and Coventry's very own The Royal Stud Adam Windsor come home for a one of return [sic]'. Ignoring the terrible spelling but I would imagine anyone employed by those companies at the time that didn't have the surname Funk would be hard pushed to remember 'The Royal Stud' let alone realise he was a star attraction for them at some point. But then again, he might do alright in TNA now. Edit: It would seem that Windsor has links to Gentleman Chris Adams too. According to the official Chris Adams website, Adam Windsor was trained by Neil Adams (Chris Adams' brother) prior to heading to the U.S. to train with Funk and is now married to Chris Adams' daughter Jade. There's also hints on the WrestlingClassics board of some shall we say 'dodgy' photo shoots that he did while in the care of the Funks. There's only really insinuations and a few off the cuff comments left now but from what I can make out it was all a bit seedy. I'm guessing you're talking about "apartment wrestling." If so Windsor is far from the only one. Even the WWE Champ Seth Rollins did it back in the day. I'd try to dig up some proof, but that is one Google rabbit hole I'd rather not go down. |
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Post by Viking Hall on Oct 23, 2015 8:30:11 GMT -5
I remember him well, he had a regular if not monthly update in WOW Magazine where, as you say he was constantly bigged up as one for the future. Seeing as this was the late nineties and British Wrestling was still in its WWF seaside ripoff stage this seemed like a massive deal at the time, possibly even bigger than the likes of Fleish and Storm hitting XPW (another promotion that got an inordinate amount of coverage). But yeah, one that was never really heard of again. Did discover this image from something called 'Wrestle Aid' with the tag line 'Former WWE, WCW and TNA star, and Coventry's very own The Royal Stud Adam Windsor come home for a one of return [sic]'. Ignoring the terrible spelling but I would imagine anyone employed by those companies at the time that didn't have the surname Funk would be hard pushed to remember 'The Royal Stud' let alone realise he was a star attraction for them at some point. But then again, he might do alright in TNA now. Edit: It would seem that Windsor has links to Gentleman Chris Adams too. According to the official Chris Adams website, Adam Windsor was trained by Neil Adams (Chris Adams' brother) prior to heading to the U.S. to train with Funk and is now married to Chris Adams' daughter Jade. There's also hints on the WrestlingClassics board of some shall we say 'dodgy' photo shoots that he did while in the care of the Funks. There's only really insinuations and a few off the cuff comments left now but from what I can make out it was all a bit seedy. I'm guessing you're talking about "apartment wrestling." If so Windsor is far from the only one. Even the WWE Champ Seth Rollins did it back in the day. I'd try to dig up some proof, but that is one Google rabbit hole I'd rather not go down. From what I could make out I think this was more directly linked to Dory and his wife Marti. Who knows? As you say, there's certain rabbit holes you don't want venture down. |
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Oct 23, 2015 8:40:01 GMT -5
He still wrestles, apparently, but only on super obscure SoCal indies. |
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