6 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Nov 10)
5. Insane Insane Championship Wrestling
On the BBC documentary Insane Fight Club (2014), Insane Championship Wrestling owner Mark Dallas announced his mission statement: tired of the juvenile, turgid product presented by WWE in the post-Attitude Era landscape, he longed to bring back the days of violence, fun, and spontaneity. This manifesto manifested into ICW becoming one of the biggest cult leagues in the world.
A few short years later, and he's in bed with Triple H, who made a shock appearance at an ICW show in Cardiff over the weekend.
Cynicism aside - and while the approval of WWE shouldn't automatically validate the company - this was another major, welcome and recockulous visual metaphor for change. A hardcore league like ICW has a ceiling over its head. Many corporate sponsors won't touch PG WWE, let alone an 18+ promotion in which alleged domestic abusers are booked to disfigure folk in grotesque worked shoot angles. This is their ceiling, and Dallas has worked towards it perfectly.
Mind, Triple H did well to cast the group, one of the fastest-growing of the last ten years, as a humble wee upstart. They don't call him 'the Game' just because he kn*bbed Stephanie a few years back.