Best Indie Wrestling Venues

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

The Mid-Hudson Civic Center can feel a little off for the modern WWE product, but NEW had a show there and some photos made it look pretty epic for an indie. Kind of like ROH finally getting a show at MSG, but on a smaller scale. Also, the booking wasn’t completely bungled.

[Deleted]

Well neither of those are really what most folks would consider "indie wrestling venues."

Actual indie wrestling destination venues.....

Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL
3200 Arena "ECW Arena" in Philadelphia, PA
La Boom in Queens, NY
Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
First Avenue in MN
Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in NC
Orpheum in Ybor City, FL
Davis Arena in Louisville, KY
PWG building in Reseda, CA no longer has wrestling, otherwise they would be on the list

[Deleted]

I liked when ROH ran Terminal 5 in NYC

[4TheGlory]

Hammerstein Ballroom and Manhatten Center
Center Stage Theater (Atlanta)
Davis Arena
Stage AE (Pittsburgh)
Golden Dome (Monaca, PA)
Elks Lodge

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Apr 9, 2019 23:48:09 GMT -5 4TheGlory said:

Hammerstein Ballroom and Manhatten Center
Center Stage Theater (Atlanta)
Davis Arena
Stage AE (Pittsburgh)
Golden Dome (Monaca, PA)
Elks Lodge

The Golden Dome was so cool for that first ECW PPV they did there. I think it had Shane Douglas bear Bam Bam to regain the title IIRC.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Apr 9, 2019 20:18:02 GMT -5 @mack619 said:

Well neither of those are really what most folks would consider "indie wrestling venues."

Actual indie wrestling destination venues.....

Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL
3200 Arena "ECW Arena" in Philadelphia, PA
La Boom in Queens, NY
Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
First Avenue in MN
Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in NC
Orpheum in Ybor City, FL
Davis Arena in Louisville, KY
PWG building in Reseda, CA no longer has wrestling, otherwise they would be on the list

In England, the Electric Ballroom for PROGRESS

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

Kyoto KBS Hall, with the massive stained-glass window as the background.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Apr 9, 2019 20:18:02 GMT -5 @mack619 said:

Well neither of those are really what most folks would consider "indie wrestling venues."

I wasn't referring to MSG as an indie venue, but just mentioned it for a point of comparison. I could have mentioned how it was nifty to see a discount burger at a place that sells $100 steaks and it would've been just as valid. As for the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, NEW ran there and NEW is an indie. So technically Mid-Hudson Civic Center is an indie venue

[HMARK Center]

After GCW ran its collective there, I'm now dying for a solid indy or two to run shows at White Eagle Hall, both because I live down the block from it and because it really is a genuinely nice place to see a show, a concert, etc.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Apr 9, 2019 15:35:50 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

The Mid-Hudson Civic Center can feel a little off for the modern WWE product, but NEW had a show there and some photos made it look pretty epic for an indie. Kind of like ROH finally getting a show at MSG, but on a smaller scale. Also, the booking wasn’t completely bungled.

Which NEW show was it?

The Zamora temple in Bessemer, tiny place outside Birmingham, AL is a nice Indy venue. Only drawback is no real locker room. So the stage gets turned into a locker room.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

My understanding was that Reseda gets romanticized a lot but the guy running it Larry was an old piece of shit.

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

Agree on the Mid Hudson Civic Center. The way it's set up makes it look huge.

My vote always goes to the Hammerstein Ballroom

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Apr 10, 2019 9:14:49 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Apr 9, 2019 15:35:50 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

The Mid-Hudson Civic Center can feel a little off for the modern WWE product, but NEW had a show there and some photos made it look pretty epic for an indie. Kind of like ROH finally getting a show at MSG, but on a smaller scale. Also, the booking wasn’t completely bungled.

Which NEW show was it?

The Zamora temple in Bessemer, tiny place outside Birmingham, AL is a nice Indy venue. Only drawback is no real locker room. So the stage gets turned into a locker room.

NEW Redemption. Here is the card (with spoilers): www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=214695

[Deleted]

It aint Indy so to speak but it aint even an arena but a converted warehouse and gawd damn do I love the original LU temple



Dario's office right by the ring which doubles for people to leap off of
4 different entry ways
the staircase acting like temple steps
no guardrails for the bleacher and floor sections..so if you do not move u gettin bowled the f*** over

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Apr 10, 2019 5:55:56 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

Kyoto KBS Hall, with the massive stained-glass window as the background.

The action photos you see coming out of there are just incredible. They are like something out of Kingdom Hearts game.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Apr 9, 2019 20:18:02 GMT -5 @mack619 said:

Well neither of those are really what most folks would consider "indie wrestling venues."

Actual indie wrestling destination venues.....

Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL
3200 Arena "ECW Arena" in Philadelphia, PA
La Boom in Queens, NY
Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
First Avenue in MN
Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in NC
Orpheum in Ybor City, FL
Davis Arena in Louisville, KY
PWG building in Reseda, CA no longer has wrestling, otherwise they would be on the list

Seriously though Eagles Club is great. I went there for a Kaiju Big Battel show and an AAW show. Good crowd, reasonable bar. Lovely mexican place across the street, Tacos Y Salsa.

[bitteroldman]

Apr 10, 2019 14:55:29 GMT -5 YAKMAN is ICHIBAN said:

Apr 9, 2019 20:18:02 GMT -5 @mack619 said:

Well neither of those are really what most folks would consider "indie wrestling venues."

Actual indie wrestling destination venues.....

Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL
3200 Arena "ECW Arena" in Philadelphia, PA
La Boom in Queens, NY
Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
First Avenue in MN
Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium in NC
Orpheum in Ybor City, FL
Davis Arena in Louisville, KY
PWG building in Reseda, CA no longer has wrestling, otherwise they would be on the list

Seriously though Eagles Club is great. I went there for a Kaiju Big Battel show and an AAW show. Good crowd, reasonable bar. Lovely mexican place across the street, Tacos Y Salsa.

Is that a new meme, the Svengoolie face?

[Chainsaw]

Apr 11, 2019 22:25:48 GMT -5 bitteroldman said:

Apr 10, 2019 14:55:29 GMT -5 YAKMAN is ICHIBAN said:

Seriously though Eagles Club is great. I went there for a Kaiju Big Battel show and an AAW show. Good crowd, reasonable bar. Lovely mexican place across the street, Tacos Y Salsa.

Is that a new meme, the Svengoolie face?

Nah, the Berwyn (BERWYYYYYN!!!!) reference is just a Sven routine (although maybe we should make Sven Face a thing). Here's the back story on it:

Why Berwyn? Berwyn loves you—and you love them back. Can you give us a little background on your love affair with BERRRWYN?
I have to start with our own “Why Berwyn?” When Jerry was doing Svengoolie, he remembered that Ernie Anderson, who played a similar horror host in Cleveland named Ghoulardi, made playful jokes about a local suburb there. Jerry wanted to do the same thing, but combining it with the “small town” jokes that Rowan and Martin and Johnny Carson were doing at the time about “beautiful downtown Burbank.” When he learned that Berwyn had a parade each year in honor of mushrooms, the Houby Day parade, he decided that it should be Berwyn! He began that sort of call and response of “BER-wyn???” I was handed that torch when I became Son of Svengoolie. The jokes about Berwyn were always just in fun, and never mean-spirited, despite the opinion of one former mayor. All the other mayors and the people of Berwyn have ALWAYS been so kind and supportive of both Jerry and I! They feel that we’ve put them on the map (and now, I guess, on the national map), but the city itself has done so much in recent years to draw attention to itself. In any interview where Berwyn was brought up, I have always made sure that I made clear that my jokes were ONLY that — just jokes — and that I indeed have a love affair with it and its citizens.

After this weekend, my vote goes to the White Eagle Hall. It was a great venue, somehow small, but feels like the perfect size, and not a bad seat in the house.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Feel like I fanboy a lot for Wrestlecircus, but that venue on Congress just off of 6th street in Austin was immaculate.

[Steveweiser]

As well as the Electric Ballroom, the UK has the following...

York Hall (Rev Pro, but EVE and ROH have run there as well)
Resistance Gallery (mainly EVE, but a lot of smaller indies run out of there)
Cockpit Theatre (Rev Pro's monthly smaller show venue)
Brighthelm Centre in Brighton (Riptide)
The Hangar in Wolverhampton (Fight Club PRO)
The Dome (formerly PROGRESS, now ATTACK!, wXw run there as well)
Cathays Bingo Hall in Cardiff (ATTACK!)
The O2 Ritz in Manchester (PROGRESS)

Top European venues...

Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen
Markthalle in Hamburg
National Stadium in Dublin

The venues that WhiteWolf Wrestling run in Madrid are stunning, but I've never been to them.